Page images
PDF
EPUB

eft, inquit, de Sp. S. eft. De carne Chrifti, c. 19. and of that in S. Luke, Hæc & ab Angelo exceperat fecundùm noitrum Evangelium, Propterea quod in te nafcetur vocabitur fanctum, filius Dei, adv. Marcion. I. 4. c. 7. Yet quod in ea natum eft cannot be proper, while it is yet in the womb; nor can the child firft be faid to be born, and then that the mother shall bring it forth. 'Tis true indeed, vvv fignifies not always to beget, but fometimes to bear or bring forth; as * You Co EXIGÉGET Huvirs you Co, Luke 1. 13. and v. 57. infirmore you. So to 5 Ino fornir & Beau, Matth. 2. 1. must neceffarily be underflood of Chrift's nativity, for it is moft certain that he was not begotten or conceived at Bethlehem. And this without question must be the meaning of Herod's inquifition wo Xessos Hove, where the Meffias was to be born. But though over have fometime the fignification of bearing or bringing forth; yet to cauty govneèv cannot be fo interpreted, because it speaks of fomething as past, when as yet Chrift was not born; and though the conception was already paft, and we tranflate it fo, which is conceived; yet S. Bafil rejects that interpretation, over is one thing, Cuaλaubave another. Seeing then the Nativity was not yet come, and ovner Speaks of fomething already past, therefore the old Tranflation is not good, quod in ea natum eft. Seeing, though the Conception indeed were past, yet over fignifieth not to conceive, and fo is not properly to be interpreted, thar which is conceived; feeing over is most properly to beget, as on the generative faculty: therefore I conceive the fitteft interpretation of those words, to v auTH Humber, that which is begotten in her. And because the Angel in S. Luke fpeaks of the fame thing, therefore I interpret to evapor C, in the fame manner, that which is begotten of thee.

35, 36.

[ocr errors]

gel to the Virgin; The Holy Ghoft fhall come upon thee, and the power of the Higheft ball overfhadow thee: therefore alfo that holy thing which shall be born of thee (or, which is begotten of thee) fhall be called the Son of God. And the reafon is clear, because that the Holy Ghoft is God. For were he any Creature, and not God himself, by whom our Saviour was thus born of the Virgin, he must have been the Son of a Creature, not of God.

Secondly, It is as undoubtedly true, that the fame Chrift, thus born of the Virgin by the Spirit of God, was defigned to fo high an Office by the fpecial and immediate will of God, that by virtue thereof he must be acknowledged John 10. 34, the Son of God. He urgeth this argument himself against the Jews; Is it not written in your Law, I faid, Te are Gods? Are not these the very words of the eighty fecond Pfalm? If he called them Gods, if God himself fo fpake, or the Pfalmift from him, if this be the language of the Scripture, if they be called Gods unto whom the word of God came, (and the Scripture cannot be broken, nor the authority thereof in any particular denied) Say ye of him whom the Father bath fanctified and fent into the world, whom he hath confecrated and commiffioned to the moft eminent and extraordinary Office, fay ye of him, Thou blafphemeft, because I said I am the Son of God.

Thirdly, Chrift must therefore be acknowledged the Son of God, because he is raifed immediately by God out of the earth unto immortal life. For Afts 13.33. God hath fulfilled the promise unto us, in that he hath raised up Jefus again; as it is also written in the fecond Pfalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. The grave is as the womb of the earth; Chrift who is raised from thence, is as it were begotten to another life: and God who raised him, is his Father. So true it must needs be of him, which is fpoken of others, who are the children of God, being the children of the reJurrection. Thus was he defined, or conftituted, and appointed the Son of God with power by the refurrection from the dead: neither is he called fimply the first that rofe, but with a note of generation, the first-born from the dead.

Luke 20. 36.
Rom. 1. 4.

Col. 1. 18.

Fourthly, Christ, after his refurrection from the dead, is made actually heir of all things in his Father's House, and Lord of all the Spirits which minister unto him, from whence he alfo hath the title of the Son of God. Heb. 1. 3,4,5. He is fet down on the right hand of the Majefty on high; Being made fo much better than the Angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the Angels faid he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? From all which teftimonies of the Scriptures it is evident, that Chrift hath this fourfold right unto the Title of the Son of God: by Generation, as begotten of God; by commiffion, as fent by him; by refurrection, as the first-born; by actual poffef fion, as heir of all.

But befide these four, we must find yet a more peculiar ground of our Saviour's Filiation, totally diftinct from any which belongs unto the reft of the Sons of God, that he may be clearly and fully acknowledged the only begotten

Son. For although to be born of a Virgin be in it felf miraculous, and justly entitles Chrift unto the Son of God; yet it is not fo far above the production of all mankind, as to place him in that fingular eminence which muft be attributed to the Only-begotten. We read of Adam the Son of God, as Luke 3. 38. well as Seth the Son of Adam: and furely the framing Christ out of a woman cannot so far tranfcend the making Adam out of the earth as to cause fo great a distance as we must believe between the first and second Adam. Befide, there were many while our Saviour preached on earth who did believe his doctrine, and did confefs him to be the Son of God, who in all probability understood nothing of his being born of a Virgin; much less did they foresee his rifing from the dead, or inheriting all things. Wherefore fuppofing all these ways by which Chrift is reprefented to us as the Son of God, we fhall find out one more yet, far more proper in it felf, and more peculiar unto him, in which no other Son can have the leaft pretence of fhare or of fimilitude, and consequently in refpect of which we must confess him the Only-begotten.

To which purposfe I obferve, that the actual poffeffion of his inheritance, which was our fourth title to his Sonfhip, prefuppofes his Refurrection, which was the third: and his commiffion to his office, which was the fecond, prefuppofeth his generation of a Virgin, as the firft. But I fhall now endeavour to find another generation, by which the fame Christ was begotten, and confequently a Son before he was conceived in the Virgin's Womb. Which that I may be able to evince, I fhall proceed in this following method, as not only moft facile and perfpicuous, but alfo moft convincing and conclufive. First, I will clearly prove out of the holy Scriptures, that Jefus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, had an actual being or fubfiftence before the Holy Ghoft did come upon the Virgin, or the power of the Highest did overshadow her. Secondly, I will demonftrate from the fame Scriptures, that the being which he had antecedently to his conception in the Virgin's Womb was not any created Being but effentially Divine. Thirdly, we will fhew that the Divine Effence which he had, he received as communicated to him by the Father. Fourthly, we will declare this Communication of the Divine Nature to be a proper Generation, by which he which communicateth is a proper Father, and he to whom it is communicated, a proper Son. Lastly, we will manifeft that the Divine Effence was never communicated in that manner to any perfon but to him, that never any was fo begotten befides himself, and confequently, in refpect of that Divine Generation, he is most properly and perfectly the only begotten Son of the Father.

As for the first, that Jefus Christ had a real being or existence, by which he truly was, before he was conceived of the Virgin Mary, I thus demonftrate. He which was really in Heaven, and truly defcended from thence, and came into the world from the Father, before that which was begotten of the Virgin afcended into Heaven or went unto the Father, he had a real being or existence before he was conceived in the Virgin, and diftinct from that Being which was conceived in her. This is moft clear and evident, upon these three fuppofitions not to be denied. First, that Chrift did receive no other being or nature after his Conception before his Afcenfion, than what was begotten of the Virgin. Secondly, that what was begotten of the Virgin had its firft being here on earth, and therefore could not really be in Heaven till it afcended thither. Thirdly, that what was really in Heaven, really was; because nothing can be prefent in any place, which is not. Upon thefe fuppofitions certainly true, the firft propofition cannot be denied. Wherefore I affume; Jefus Chrift was really in Heaven, and truly defcended from thence, and came into the World from the Father, before P 2 that

1

John 6. 62.

Sewenσe as it came to

pass, Baró

TAY OUT

πήρθη. Ας Ι. 9. όπε ω.

that which was begotten of the Virgin afcended into Heaven, or went unto the Father; as I fhall particularly prove by the exprefs words of the Scripture. Therefore I conclude, that fefus Chrift had a real being or exiftence before he was conceived in the Virgin, and diftinct from that being which was conceived in her. Now that he was really in Heaven before he afcended thither, appeareth by his own words to his Difciples; What and if you shall fee the Son of man afcend up where he was before? For he fpeaketh of a real afcenfion, fuch as was to be seen or looked upon, fuch as they might view as Spectators. The place to which that ascension tended was truly and really the Heaven of Heavens. The verb fubftantive, not otherwife used, fufficiently teftifieth, not a figurative but a real being, efpecially confidering the oppofition in the word before. Whether we look upon the time of fpeaking, then present, or the time of his afcenfion, then to come, his being or exifting in Heaven was before. Nor is this now at last denied, that he was in Heaven before the afcenfion mentioned in these words, but that he was there before he afcended at all. We fhall therefore farther fhew that this afcenfion was the firft; that what was born of the Virgin was never in Heaven before this time of which he speaks: and being in Heaven before this afcenfion, he must be acknowledged to have been there before he afcended at all. If Chrift had afcended into Heaven before his death, and defcended from thence, it had been the most remarkable action in all his life, and the proof thereof of the greatest efficacy toward the diffeminating of the Gofpel. And can we imagine fo divine an action of fo high concernment could have paffed, and none of the Evangelifts ever make mention of it? Those which are fo diligent in the description of his Nativity and Circumcifion, his oblation in the Temple, his reception by Simeon, his adoration by the Wife men; those which have described his descent into Egypt; would they have omitted his ascent into Heaven? Do they tell us of the wisdom which he fhewed when he difputed with the Doctors? and were it not worthy our knowledge whether it were before he was in Heaven or after? The diligent feeking of Jofeph and Mary, and her Luke 2. 48. words when they found him, Son, why haft thou dealt fo with us? fhew that he had not been miffing from them till then, and confequently not afcended into Heaven. After that he went down to Nazareth, and was fubject unto them: and I understand not how he fhould afcend into Heaven, and at the fame time be fubject to them; or there receive his Commiffion and Inftructions as the great Legate of God, or Embaffador from Heaven, and return again unto his old fubjection; and afterwards to go to John to be baptized of him, and to expect the descent of the Spirit for his Inauguration. Immediately from Jordan he is carried into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, and 'twere ftrange if any time could then be found for his afcenMark 1. 13. fion: for he was forty days in the Wilderness, and certainly Heaven is no fuch kind of place; he was all that time with the beafts, who undoubtedly are none of the celestial Hierarchy; and tempted of Satan, whofe dominion reacheth no higher than the Air. Wherefore in those forty days Chrift afcended not into Heaven, but rather Heaven defcended unto him; for the Angels miniftred unto him. After this he returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there exercised his Prophetical Office: after which there is not the least pretence of any reafon for his afcenfion. Befide, the whole frame of this antecedent or preparatory afcenfion of Chrift is not only raised, without any written teftimony of the Word, or unwritten testimony of Tradition, but is without any reafon in it felf, and contrary to the revealed way of our Redemption. For what reafon fhould Chrift afcend into Heaven to know the will of God, and not be known to afcend thither? Certainly the Father could reveal his will unto the Son as well on Earth as in Hea

Mark 1. 13.
Luke 4. 14.

7.

12:

ven. And if men must be ignorant of his afcenfion, to what purpose should they fay he afcended, except they imagine either an impotency in the Father or diffatisfaction in the Son? Nor is this only afferted without reason, but also against that rule to be obferved by Christ as he was anointed to the Sacerdotal Office. For the Holy of Holies made with hands was the figure of Heb.9. 24. the true (that is, Heaven it felf) into which the High-prieft alone went once every year and Chrift as our High-prieft entred in once into the holy place. If then they deny Chrift was a Prieft before he preached the Gospel, then did he not enter into Heaven, because the High-priest alone went into the type thereof, the Holy of Holies. If they confefs he was, then did he not afcend till after his death, because he was to enter in but once, and that not without Blood. Wherefore being Chrift afcended not into Heaven till after his death, being he certainly was in Heaven before that ascension, we have fufficiently made good that part of our Argument, that Jefus Christ was in Heaven before that which was begotten of the Virgin afcended thither. Now that which followeth will both illuftrate and confirm it; for as he was there, fo he defcended from thence before he afcended thither. This he often teftifieth and inculcateth of himself: The bread of God is he which co- Joh. 6.33, 5 tó meth down from heaven; and, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. He opposeth himself unto the Manna in the Wilderness, which never was really in Heaven, or had its original from thence. Mofes gave you Verse 32. not that bread from heaven, but the Father gave Chrift really from thence. Wherefore he faith, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but verse 38. the will of him that fent me. Now never any perfon upon any occafion is faid to defcend from Heaven, but fuch as were really there before they appeared on Earth, as the Father, the Holy Ghoft, and the Angels: but no man, however born, however fanctified, fent, or dignified, is faid thereby to defcend from thence; but rather when any is opposed to Christ, the oppofition is placed in this very origination. John the Baptift was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb; born of an aged Father and Luke 1. 15. a barren Mother, by the power of God: and yet he distinguisheth himself from Christ in this; He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of John 3. 31. the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from heaven is above all. Adam was framed immediately by God, without the intervention of man or woman; and yet he is fo far from being thereby from Heaven, that even in that he is diftinguished from the fecond Adam. For the first man is of the earth earthy, the fecond man is the Lord from hea- 1 Cor. 15.47. ven. Wherefore the defcent of Chrift from Heaven doth really pre-fuppofe his being there, and that antecedently to any afcent thither. For that he Eph. 4. 9. afcended, what is it, but that he alfo defcended firft? So S. Paul, afferting a defcent as neceffarily preceding his afcenfion, teaching us never to imagine an afcent of Christ as his firft motion between Heaven and Earth; and confequently, that the first being or existence which Chrift had was not what he received by his conception here on earth, but what he had before in Heaven, in refpect whereof he was with the Father, from whom he came. His Difciples believed that he came out from God: and he commended that Faith, and confirmed the object of it by this affertion; I came forth from the Father, Joh. 16. 27, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father. 28. Thus having by undoubted teftimonies, made good the latter part of the Argument, I may fafely conclude, that being Christ was really in Heaven, and defcended from thence, and came forth from the Father, before that which was conceived of the Holy Ghoft afcended thither; it cannot with any fhew of reafon be denied, that Christ had a real being and existence antecedent unto his conception here on earth, and distinct from the being which he received here.

Secondly,

I

Secondly, We fhall prove not only a bare priority of existence, but a preexiftence of fome certain and acknowledged space of duration. For whofoever was before John the Baptist and before Abraham, was fome space of time before Chrift was man. This no man can deny, because all must confefs the blessed Virgin was first faluted by the Angel fix months after Elizabeth conceived, and many hundred years after Abraham died. But Jefus Christ was really existent before John the Baptist, and before Abraham, as we shall make good by the testimony of the Scriptures. Therefore it cannot be denied but Christ had a real being and existence fome space of time before he was made man. For the first, it is the exprefs teftimony of John himself; John 1. 15. This is he of whom I fpake, he that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. In which words, first, he taketh to himself a priority of time, fpeaking of Chrift, he that cometh after me: for fo he came after him into the womb, at his Conception; into the world, at his Nativity; unto his Office, at his Baptifm; always after John, and at the fame distance. John 1. 27. Secondly, he attributeth unto Chrift a priority of dignity, faying, he is preferred before me, as appeareth by the reiteration of thefe words; He it is who coming after me, is preferred before me, whofe fhoes latchet I am not worthy to unloofe. The addition of which expreffion of his own unworthiness fheweth, that to be preferred before him is the fame with being worthier than he, to which the fame expreffion is conftantly added by all the other three Evangelifts. Thirdly, he rendreth the reafon or caufe of that great dignity which belonged to Christ, faying for, or rather, because he was before me. And being the cause must be fuppofed different and distinct from the effect, therefore the priority last mentioned cannot be that of dignity. For to affign any thing as the cause or reafon of it self, is a great abfurdity, and the expreffion of it a vain tautology. Wherefore that priority must have relation to time or duration, (as the very tenfe, he was before me, fufficiently fignifieth) and fo be placed in oppofition to his coming after him. As if John the Baptift had thus fpoke at large: This man Chrift Jefus, who came into the world, and entred on his Prophetical Office fix months after me, is notwithstanding of far more worth and greater dignity than I am; even fo much greater, that I must acknowledge my felf unworthy to stoop down and unloofe the latchet of his fhoes: and the reafon of this tranfcendent dignity is from the excellency of that nature which he had before I was; for though he cometh after me, yet he was before me.

Now as Chrift was before John, which speaks a finall, fo was he also before Abraham, which speaks a larger time. Jefus himself hath afferted this preJoh. 8. 58. existence to the Jews; Verily, verily, I fay unto you, Before Abraham was I am. Which words, plainly and literally expounded, muft evidently contain this truth. For first, Abraham in all the Scriptures never hath any other fignification than fuch as denotes the perfon called by that name; and the queftion to which these words are directed by way of anfwer, without controversie, spake of the fame perfon. Befide, Abraham must be the Subject of that propofition, Abraham was; because a propofition cannot be without a fubject, and if Abraham be the predicate, there is none. Again, as we tranflate Abraham was, in a tenfe fignifying the time paft; fo it is most certainly to be understood, because that which he speaks unto, is the pre-existence of Abraham, and that of long duration; fo that whatsoever had concerned his prefent estate or future condition had been wholly impertinent to the precedent queftion. Laft*So Nonnus ly, the expreffion, I am, feeming fomething unufual or improper to fignify a priority in respect of any thing paft, becaufe no prefent inftant is before that plainly than which precedeth, but that which followeth: yet the *use of it fufficiently

here more

briefly and

ufual: 'Agu

πείν που έχει εξω πέλον. So John 14.9. τοσῦτον χρόνον μεθ ̓ ὑμῶν εἰμι, καὶ ἐκ ἔγνωκάς με; Have I been fo long time with you, and yet haft thou not known me? and John 15. 27. öτi áñ' ágxйs mel' imò isi, becaufe ye have been (or con3 tinued

« PreviousContinue »