the use of the word firft-born among the Hebrews, and likewife to the defcription given of Chrift in that parallel text which I cited out of the epiftle to the Hebrews, then this expreffion of the firft-born of every creature is no thing at all to the purpofe either of the Arians or the Socinians, to prove the Son of God to be a creature: bcfides that the interpretation which I have given of it makes the Apostle's fenfe much more current and easy; for then the text will run thus, who is the image of the invifible God, heir and lord of the whole creation; for by him all things were made.

So that, in these four expreffions of the evangelift, which I have explained, there are these four things diftinctly affirmed of the Word.

1. That he was in the beginning; that is, that he already was, and did exift, when things began to be created. He was before any thing was made, and confequently is without any beginning of time; for that which was never made, could have no beginning of its being.

2. That in that state of his existence before the creation of the world, he was partaker of the divine glory and happiness. And this I have fhewed to be the meaning of that expreffion, And the Word was with God: for thus our bleffed Saviour does explain his being with God before the world was, And now, OFather, glorify me with thine own felf, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

3. That he was God: And the Word was God; not God the Father, who is the principle and fountain of the Deity. To prevent that mistake, after he had faid that the Word was God, he immediately adds in the next verfe, The fame was in the beginning with God. He was God, by participation of the divine nature and hap piness together with the Father, and by way of derivation from him, as the light is from the fun; which is the common illuftration which the ancient fathers of the Christian church give us of this mystery; and is perhaps the best and fitteft that can be given of it. For, among finite beings, it is not to be expected, because not poffible, to find any exact resemblance of that which is infinite, and confequently incomprehenfible; because

whatever

whatever is infinite, is for that reafon incomprehenfible by a finite understanding, which is too short and shallow to measure that which is infinite; and whoever attempts it, will foon find himself out of his depth.

4. That all things were made by him: which could not have been more emphatically expreffed, than it is here by the Evangelift, after the manner of the Hebrews; who, when they would fay a thing with the greatest force and certainty, are wont to exprefs it both affirmatively and negatively; as, He shall live, and not die; that is, he fhall most affuredly live: So here, All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made; that is, he made all creatures without exception; and confequently he himself is not a creature, because it is evidently impoffible that any thing fhould ever make itfelf: but then, if he be, and yet was never made, it is certainly true, that he always was, even from all eternity.

All these affertions are plainly and exprefsly contained in this defcription which the Evangelift St John here makes of the Word: and this according to the interpretation of thefe expreffions by the unanimous confent of the moft ancient writers of the Chriftian church; who, fome of them, had the advantage of receiving it from the immediate difciples of St. John: which furely is no fmall prejudice against any newly invented and contrary interpretation; as I fhall hereafter more fully fhew, when I come to confider the strange and extravagant interpretation which the Socinians make of this paffage of St. John; which is plain enough of itself, if they, under a pretence of explaining and making it more clear, had not disturbed and darkened it.

Now, from this description which the Evangelift here gives of the Word, and which I have fo largely explained in the foregoing difcourfe, these three corollaries or conclufions do neceffarily follow.

1. That the Word here defcribed by St. John is not a creature. This conclufion is directly against the Arians, who affirmed that the Son of God was a creature. They grant indeed that he is the first of all the creatures, both in dignity and duration; for fo they understand that expreffion of the Apostle, wherein he is called the first-born

VOL. III.

D

of

of every creature. But this I have endeavoured already to fhew not to be the meaning of that expreffion.

They grant him indeed to have been God's agent or inftrument in the creation of the world, and that all other creatures befides himself were made by him; but ftill they contend, that he is a creature, and was made. Now, this cannot poffibly confift with what St. John fays of him, that he was in the beginning, that is, as hath been already fhewn, before any thing was made; and likewife, because he is faid to have made all things, and that without him was not any thing made that was made: and therefore he himself, who made all things, is neceffarily excepted out of the condition or rank of a creature; as the Apostle reasons in another cafe: He hath put all things under his feet: but when he faith, all things are put under him, it is manifeft, that he is excepted who did put all things under him. In like manner, if by him all things were made, and without him was not any thing made that was made, then either he was not made, or he must make himself; which involves in it a plain contradiction.

2. That this Word was from all eternity for if he was in the beginning, that is, before any thing was made, he must of neceffity always have been; because whatever is, muft either have been sometime made, or muft always have been; for that which was not, and afterwards is, must be made. And this will likewife follow from his being faid to be God, and that in the moft ftrict and proper fenfe, which doth neceffarily imply his eternity; becaufe God cannot begin to be, but muft of neceffity always have been.

3. From both thefe, it will undeniably follow, that he had an existence before his incarnation, and his being born of the blessed virgin: for if he was in the beginning, that is, from all eternity, which I have fhewn to be the meaning of that expreffion, then certainly he was before his being born of the bleffed virgin. And this likewife is implied in the propofition in the text, And the Word was made flesh, viz. that Word which the Evangelift had before fo gloriously defcribed; that Word which was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God, and by whom all things were made: I fay, that Word

was

was incarnate, and affumed a human nature; and therefore must neceffarily exist and have a being before he could affume humanity into an union with his divinity.

And this propofition is directly levelled against the Socinians, who affirm our bleffed Saviour to be a merc man, and that he had no existence before he was born of the virgin Mary his mother. Which affertion of theirs doth perfectly contradict all the former conclufions which have been drawn from the defcription here given by St. John of the Word: and their interpretation of this paffage of St. John, applying it to the beginning of the publication of the gofpel, and to the new creation or reformation of the world by Jefus Chrift, doth likewife contradict the interpretation of this paffage conftantly received, not only by the ancient fathers, but even by the general confent of all Chriftians for fifteen hundred years together; as I fhall hereafter plainly fhew for, to establish this their opinion, that our bleffed Saviour was a mere man, and had no existence before his birth, they are forced to interpret this whole paffage in the beginning of St. John's gofpel quite to another fenfe, never mentioned, nor, 1 believe, thought of by any Chriftian writer whatfoever before Socinus. And it is not eafy to imagine how any opinion can be loaded with a greater and heavier prejudice than this is.

And this I should now take into confideration, and fhew, befides the novelty of this interpretation, and the great violence and unreasonableness of it, the utter inconfiftency of it with other plain texts of the New Teftament.

But this is wholly matter of controversy, and will require a large discourse by itself: I fhall therefore wave the further profecution of it at prefent, and apply myfelf to that which is more practical, and proper for the occafion of this feafon. So that at prefent I have done with the first thing contained in the first part of the text, viz. the perfon here spoken of, who is faid to be incarnate, namely, the Word; it was he that was made fefb.

I fhould then have proceeded to the fecond thing which I proposed to confider, viz. the mystery D 2

itfelf,

itself, or the nature of this incarnation, fo far as the fcripture hath revealed and declared it to us, namely, by affuming our nature in fuch a manner as that the divinity became united to a human foul and body. But this I have already endeavoured in fome measure to explain, and fhall do it more fully in fome of the following difcourfes upon this text. I fhall now only make a short and useful reflexion upon it with relation to the folemnity of this time.

And it fhall be to ftir us up to a thankful acknowledgment of the great love of God to mankind, in the mystery of our redemption by the incarnation of the Word, the only begotten Son of God; that he fhould deign to have fuch a regard to us in our low condition, and to take our cafe so much to heart, as to think of redeeming and faving mankind from that depth of mifery into which we had plunged ourselves, and to do this in fo wonderful and aftonishing a manner; that God fhould employ his eternal and only begotten Son, who had been with him from all eternity, partaker of his happinefs and glory, and was God of God, to fave the fons of men by fo infinite and amazing a condescension ; that God fhould vouchfafe to become man, to reconcile man to God; that he should come down from heaven to earth, to raise us from earth to heaven; that he should affume our vile, and frail, and mortal nature, that he might clothe us with glory, and honour, and immortality; that he fhould fuffer death to fave us from hell, and fhed his blood to purchase eternal redemption for us.

For certainly the greater the perfon is that was employed in this merciful defign, fo much the greater is the condefcenfion, and the love and goodnefs expreffed in it fo much the more admirable; that the Son of God fhould floop from the height of glory and happinefs, to the lowest degree of abafement, and to the very depth of mifery, for our fakes, who were fo mean and inconfiderable, fo guilty and obnoxious to the feverity of his juftice, fo altogether unworthy of his grace and favour, and fo very unwilling to receive it when it was fo freely offered to us: for, as the Evangelift here tells us, He came to his own, and his own received him not; to his own creatures, and they did not own and acknowledge