Book II
Of the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity. What his person is, considered in himself. He is the eternal Son of the Father, one God in
essence with him. The Son, the second person took the man Jesus into per sonal union with himself; and so Christ is God-man joined into one person.
And ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, by whom are all things, and we by him. 1 COR. Vin. 6.
CHAPTER I.
How greatly it imports us to have a true knoivledge of the person of Christ.
What his person is. That he eodsted from all eternity with God as a per son ; and was not merely a manifestation of the Deity in time, and then only existent when he first appeared in the world.
THERE are two things imported to us in those words of 1 Cor. viii. 6, And one Lord Jesus Christ ;
I. His person, Jesus Christ.
II. His9omce and relation to us, and unto all the creation, One Lord, by whom are all things.
I. I begin first with the setting forth the substance of his person ; what
it is, and of what made up is he, this Christ, the Lord, of whom all things are. And this is the more necessary (though it be largely handled by
others), in relation unto those strange and monstrous opinions, which, as
touching the person of Christ, this age hath produced. Satan being let
loose, hath preached over his old sermons and notions, read over anew, and
refined his old lectures, which he had read to those great heresiarchs in the
primitive times ; who joining philosophical notions about Xoyo?, the Word
(as philosophers had spoken of him), with what the Jewish Cabala had also
said concerning him, made up another Christ than whom the apostles preached. And truly the bottom-cause of men s embracing errors about
this, hath been the seducement of that specious and alluring principle unto man s nature, of being one with God himself, in the highest manner that man s vain heart could find ambition within itself to aspire unto. Mistakes
of union have caused men to shape out such a Christ, as might serve to
their attaining that high and incommunicable union with God, which they have fancied to themselves the creature shall attain ; and hence look, as we
formerly observed, that to the end] they might make way for this, the most
hellish blasphemy that ever was uttered, that the creatures were and should become all one with God himself, partakers of the divine nature ; they therefore throw down the three persons in the nature of God, as alone pos
sessing that privilege, as those that stood in their way to this preferment.
CHAP. I.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 405
Which done, they think each of their persons may be God, as well as they have been voiced to be. So, out of the same principle, they in like manner
serve our Lord Jesus Christ s person ; for there must be no preferment in heaven left, which they must not be capable of, and raised up unto. They must be Christ too, and ascend to the height of his throne.
Yet there being three persons in that divine nature, the man Christ Jesus was capable of being one person with one of these ; the personality, or to be one in person, might be communicated unto a creature, although to be one with God in nature could not, and that is the highest union with God the creature is capable of. And had there not been three persons in the nature of God, this high union with God had not been neither. And then this union with one of these persons is the foundation of all our unions, and by virtueof it it is that God descends to communicate himself to other
creatures (the we in the text), even by uniting himself personally to one
creature, the man Christ Jesus, and so setting him up the Lord and Christ, and choosing us in him ; and he in that his person undertaking for, and
bearing, and representing our persons, thereby we become one with him, and through him with God, in our measure, and in a subordination to
him, according to that, John xiv. 20, At that day ye shall know that I am
hi my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Now in order to clear this distinction of union with God on Christ s part, from that of [ours through Christ. As I have shewed, God was an infinite,
pure being, distinct from the creature, and standing out from those dregs of the creatures into which the fancies of men would drench him, and mingle him with their mud ; so we must now extricate the person of Christ also from the like entanglements, and vindicate the transcendency of his union with God, and distance of his person from ours. And then all unions left below him are left free for us to attain, and shall be obtained by us. And
for the discovery hereof, I am first in pursuit of this, What the person of Christ is ; what he consists of.
The great weight and moment of the true and right knowledge of the
person of Christ, will be evident by a consideration of these two texts of
* Jesus said unto them, What think ye of Christ ? Whose Son is he ? compared with Mat. xvi. 13-18, When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his dis
Scripture compared together : Mat. xxii. 42,
ciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am ? And they
said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist ; some, Elias ; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church ; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
It is acknowledged by all that profess Christian religion, that Christ is the foundation ; yea, and that
* other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 11. But let all know that
it is as much a foundation, and as absolutely necessary to know and be
lieve him that is true (as John s word is, 1 John v. 20), the true Christ, that is, the true person, who and what he is, and not
* another Jesus ; that is, not to mistake his person. Which mistake, or error persona, is
either, 1, When men knoi> not, or do not acknowledge, the individual per son, who he is. Or 2, understand not, but mistake what that person is,
406 T^tE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
and what his person consists of; both which are alike necessary to be understood aright by us. The necessity first you may see by Christ s
speech to the Pharisees, John viii. 24, If you believe not that I am he, that is, this my individual person to be the he, that is, the Messiah,
* ye shall die in your sins.
And the necessity of the latter those two his questions, one put to the
Pharisees, Mat. xxii., and the other to his disciples, Mat. xvi., do also
argue.
1. To the Pharisees ; What think you of Christ? whose son is he ? Mat. xxii. Here he doth not ask them whether they would acknowledge himself to be the Christ, but what manner of person the true Christ should
be ? And the dint and aim of his question is concerning his person, Whose son is he ? which is the true substance of the person of the Mes
siah ; thereby to discover to them, and convince them that they erred as
well in this, what the Christ they looked for should be, as in their not
taking himself that was afore them to be that person ; and fatally in both.
2. He catechiseth his disciples, Mat. xvi. 13, Whom do men say I am ? Whom do ye say I am ? ver. 15. Which, ver. 16, Peter, in the name of
the rest, gives answer to, and withal resolves that question which he put unto the Pharisees,
* Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. In which he speaks home to both particulars.
(1.) That he, individually present with them, was the Christ, Thou art, &c.
* Son of
And (2.) What that Christ was, for the substance of his person,
the living God.
And Christ, in his return to this, definitively pronounceth, that the faith
of both these was the rock which he meant to build his church of the New Testament upon. So then, what the person of Christ is, is of the founda
tion (being the rock), as well as that, that Jesus was the Christ.
And let me add, that this being the rock the whole church of the New Testament hath been built upon, you therefore may safely join issues in
your faith with what hath been the faith and doctrine of the whole church
in all ages, as touching this particular, what his person for the substance of
it is. In this, I say, of all points else, that promise issues which is made
to the whole church, answering to this declaration of Christ, Eph. iv. 13, that they should all come into the unity of the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God. They should all, that were in all ages saved, agree in the
knowledge of this, in whatever other things they might be found to differ. This is the
* Rock of ages. And therefore in this point be wary what you entertain anew, or how you vary from the catholic faith of former ages, or in what shall any way make
his person differ from that person which all the saints have understood him
to be.
I shall not go about setly to confute the errors that are abroad ; only
positively set forth that person which the glass of the gospel holds forth. And I hope, in the end and conclusion, to give forth that challenge which Paul in the like case doth, in that 2 Cor. xi. 4, If he that cometh can shew
you a better, or greater, or more spiritual Christ (I do not say, shall set
out our Christ better, but shew you a better Christ), then you shall do well
to bear with that man, yea, and receive him and his Christ also.
Again, in the setting forth his person, my scope is not herein to set forth
the excellency and glory of his person, but the substance of his person. And in doing this I shall proceed by degrees, as our apostle John also did,
CHAP. I.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 407
when he did set himself to describe him. He doth it by piece-meal, John
i. 1, In the beginning was the Word, that is his first step; and that Word was with God, that is a second ; and the Word in the beginning was with God, that is a third ; and the Word was God, that is a fourth. He might have shut them all up in this sentence,
* The Word was God, with God, in the beginning. But he puts it into so many several positive assertions ; yea, and begins at the lowest, namely, his having existed,
4 The Word was, and that
* in the beginning. And then after that tells us what he is, a person distinct from God ; he was with God, and yet was God.
I shall proceed in the like method, and set him forth in so many several
assertions ; whereof each, or most of them, are directed as opposite to some
error or other about his person which are now abroad in the world. And
I will begin, as John did, at his existence ; that is, his having been, when and how long. And John s first affirmation about him is terminated merely upon his existence :
* He was, says he ; adding withal the circumstance of
* In the beginning. 1. Of his existence. When? And how long ? Then of his person ; who, &c. And of his existence first, because the true understanding thereof
the time of his existence,
will conduce to the knowledge of his person, who he is.
(1.) He is a person who did actually exist before he came into the world and was made flesh ; and that had continued to exist all along the time of
this world, both in the beginning of it, and before the world was, yea, from
eternity.
It is strange that the Socinians should so impudently, in the light of this
gospel and the Scriptures, say that Christ began but then to exist actually, when he was first conceived by the Holy Ghost in the virgin s womb ; and
that before he had existed but in promise, as the day of judgment doth now. As also such who hold Christ to be but the manifestation of God in man s
flesh. God indeed, say they, was afore ; but Christ, as Christ, being but
the manifestation of the Godhead in man s nature, existed not until that
manifestation of God in man s flesh. For the existence of that which is
only and barely a manifestation, lies only in being the manifestation of
something that existed afore, but itself not till then. And this is even as
if a man should say and affirm that what all other men call the sun is all one with what we term day, and nothing else ; which you know begins but
in the morning, and ceaseth at night, and is but the shine and manifesta
tion of the sun, when it riseth and appears above our hemisphere, or this
part of the world. But look, as the sun is a body of light, that exists afore
it is day with us ; and the appearances of it is that which maketh day, yea,
: so Christ the Sun of righteousness is not the bare manifestation of God. but a person that existed with God, yea, and was God, afore that manifestation of God made by him in this world. And he is not only the
is day
bringing in or manifestation of life and immortality which was in God ; but himself was that eternal Life which was with the Father, as distinct from
him, and was manifested to us, 1 John i. 2, so as life and immortality are made manifest by his appearing, as of a person that brings it, and manifests
it with the manifestation of himself, 2 Tim. i. 10. And who also is said
to manifest himself unto us, as well as the Father, John xiv. 21. To confirm this our main assertion, let us trace his existence punctually through all times. The Psalmist says of him, Ps. cii. 24, Thy years are
throughout all generation ^. Which psalm the apostle quoteth of him. Heb. i. 10. Let us go from point to point, and see how in particulars tho
408 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
Scriptures accord with it. The first joint of time we will begin that chrono
logy of his existence withal is that instant afore he was to come into the world.
First, We find him to have existed just afore he came into the world, the instance of his conception, Heb. x. 5, in these words, Wherefore when he comes into the world, says he, A body hast thou prepared me. Ver. 7, Lo, I come to do thy will, God. Here is a person distinct from God the Father, a me, an I, distinct also from that human nature he was to
assume, which he terms a body prepared. A person he is that speaks to God, as one knowing and understanding what he was about to do ; yea, and how it was written of him that he should do, In the volume of thy book it is written of me, ver. 7. Therefore besides and afore that human
nature, there was a divine person that existed, that was not of this world, but that came into it, when he cometh into the world, he says, &c., to become a part of it, and be manifested in it.
Secondly, We find him to have existed afore John the Baptist, though John was conceived and born some months afore him. I note these several
joints of time because the Scripture notes them, and hath set a special mark
upon them : John i. 15, John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me ; for he was before me. This priority of existence is that which John doth
specially give witness unto. And it is priority in existence, for he allegeth
it as a reason why he was preferred afore him ; for he was before me. And therefore these latter words do not note out a priority in dignity, for
that were to prove idem per idem. And this reason holds strong ; for he is such a person as existed afore he was made man or flesh, afore as man he was born ; and so must be more than a man or creature. And then again, he doth not say, He is before me ; but speaks in the time past, He was
before me. And yet, ver. 30, he expresseth it thus, There cometh a man (the same John speaking of Christ) which is preferred before me ; for he was before me. Still he runs upon this priority. And yet as a man he was not afore John ; for John was the elder as man. Therefore as some other person, namely, the Son of God (as he had entitled him, ver.
14), or as the Word (as he had styled him, ver. 1 and so on).
Thirdly, We find him existing when all the prophets wrote and spake, 1 Pet. i. 11. The Spirit of Christ is said to have been in all the prophets, even as Paul, who came after Christ, also speaks, You seek a proof of
Christ speaking in me, 2 Cor. xiii. 3. And therefore he himself, whose
Spirit it was, or whom he sent, must needs exist as a person sending him. And particularly of the prophet Isaiah it is said, when he saw his glory, Isa. vi. 1, which, John xii. 41, is applied to Christ, and ver. 5, says Isaiah,
* I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, which was Christ.
Fourthly, We find him existing in Moses s time, both because it was he
< Neither let us tempt Christ, as some
that was tempted in the wilderness,
of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents, 1 Cor. x. 9 ; and it was Christ that was the person said to be tempted by them, as well as now
by us, as the word xa), as they also, evidently shews. And it points to
that angel that was sent with them, Exod. xxiii. 20, 21, in whom the name
of God was, and who as God had the power of pardoning sins : ver. 21, Beware of him, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgres sions ; for my name is in him. And him that Moses calls Jehovah or
God, Stephen calls an angel. And there is none to whom are given the
CHAP. I.J AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 409
name of an angel, and of God, but to Christ. And Stephen says, Acts
* Moses was a ruler and deliverer in the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. And in Heb. xii. 26 there is a com
vii. 35, that
parison made between Moses and Christ ; and Christ is there said to be he whose voice then shook the earth, ver. 26 ; and, ver. 25, he is termed
the speaker from heaven, alluding to that place, Exod. xx. 22, God said, You have seen I have talked with you from heaven.
fc So then Christ then existed, and also is God. Yea, further, it is he of whom it is there
also said, that his voice then shook the earth. Even as he who now under the gospel speaks from heaven, and whose voice shakes both earth and heaven under the gospel. The same Jesus therefore then existed in
his power that now.
Fifthly, We find him existing in and afore Abraham s time : Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am, John viii. 58. The Jews had undervalued him unto Abraham, Art thou greater than our
father Abraham? ver. 53. And whereas he had said thereupon that
* Abraham rejoiced to see his day, ver. 56, which Abraham had done by faith ; they [will needs cavil, and put this upon him, that he had meant he had seen Abraham, and had lived in his time : Thou art not fifty
years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? ver. 57. Christ doth not answer as he might, that this was a mere cavil as to what his former words did intend or hold forth ; but instead thereof, with a deep assevera
tion, affirms what they thought he had absurdly said of himself, namely, that he had not only lived in Abraham s time, but long afore. And so
their cavil and mistake drew forth from Christ this great truth, as errors use to bring forth truth ; and he utters it with the greatest solemnity and
asseveration, Verily, verily, as being a wonder to utter ; yea, and speaks not in ordinary language, as that
* afore Abraham was I was, but I am, in a correspondency to what God speaks of himself,
* Before the day was, I am, Isa. xliii. 13. We translate it I am he, but word for word it is
I am, signifying thereby that permanent, uninterrupted being of his, which is proper to God, as Ps. xc. 2, Before the mountains were brought
forth, thou art. And Christ s answer in this place was opposite to their demand ; they speak of real existence, and in the same sense and respect doth Christ answer them.
Sixthly, We find him existing in the days of Noah, that preacher of
righteousness, 1 Pet. iii. 19. He says of Christ, that he was put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit. He evidently distin-
guisheth of two natures, his divine and human, even as Rom. i. 3, 4 and elsewhere (as I shall shew) ; and then declares how by that divine nature, which he terms Spirit, in which he was existent in Noah s times, he went and preached to those of the old world, whose souls are now in
* in Spirit, are not put to signify the subject of vivification ; for such neither his soul nor Godhead could be said to be, for that is not quickened which was not dead ; but for the principal and cause of his vivification, which his soul was not, but his Godhead was. And besides, by his Spirit is not meant his soul, for that then must be
prison in hell. Those words,
supposed to have preached to souls in hell (where these are affirmed to
be). Now, there is no preaching where there is no capacity of faith. But his meaning is, that those persons that lived in Noah s time, and were preached unto, their souls or spirits were now, when this was
written, spirits in prison , that is, in hell. And therefore he also adds
( sometimes : who were sometimes disobedient in Noah s days.
this word
410 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
These words give us to understand that this preaching was performed by Noah ministerially, yet by Christ in Noah ; who according to his divine
person was extant, and went with him, as with Moses, and the church in the wilderness, and preached unto them.
Seventhly, He was extant at the beginning of the world, In the beginning was the Word. In which words, there being no predicate or attribute
affirmed of this^ Word, the sentence or affirmation is terminated or ended
* in the beginning. He mentions not his parents, or time of his birth, but simply that he was. He mentions not any king s reign, or such note or worldly time, but simply
merely with his existence ; he was, and he was then,
in the beginning. And he says not that he was made in the beginning, but that
* he was in the beginning. And it is in the beginning absolutely, without any limitation. And therefore Moses s beginning, Gen. i. 1, is
meant, as also the words after shew, All was made by him that was made ; and, ver. 10, the world he came into was made by him. And as from the beginning is usually taken from the first times or infancy of the world: And he answered and said \ unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female ? Mat. xix. 4. So Mark xiii. 19. Christ expounds it in the beginning of the creation which God created, For in those days shall be affliction, such
as was not from the beginning of the creation, which God created, unto this
time, neither shall be. So then, when God began to create, then was our
Christ. And this here is set in opposition (John i. 14) unto the time of
his being made flesh, lest that should have been thought his beginning. And unto this accords that of Heb. i. 10, where, speaking of Christ, out of
Ps. cii., Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the
earth ; so as to be sure he existed then. But further, in Ps. cii. 24, it runs thus, Thy years are throughout all generations. We have run, you
see, through all generations since the creation, and have found his years throughout them all. And yet lest that should be taken only of the gene* rations of this world, he adds (as Rivet expounds it),
* Before thou laidst
the foundation of the earth.
Eighthly, So then we are come to this, that he hath been before the
creation, yea, from everlasting. Which,
First, Is made forth, in that it is said, He was in the beginning (meaning of the creation), and therefore from everlasting. The consequence of which
appears,
Both because there was but that one beginning of producing things by God, and so what was then must needs be before ; yea, from everlasting, as having had no beginning. The angels were not afore that beginning mentioned by Moses. For it is said, Exod. xx. 11,
* God made heaven and earth, and all that in them is, whereof the angels are part. And, Mark xiii. 19, it is termed the
* beginning of the creation which God
created ; and so of the creation of anything whatever that God made. So
then Christ must needs have had no beginning afore, as well as that he
existed then.
* from the beginning, is used to express
And, in Scripture phrase, in, or
: From the beginning, when the day was, I am, Isa. xliii. 13. So they read it ; that is, from eternity. But if that will not carry it, you have it more express, The Lord pos sessed me afore his works of old, Prov. viii. 22; it is spoken of Christ.
eternity
Now, to be sure, by that phrase of being afore his works, even God s
: Before the mountains were brought forth,
eternity is expressed thereby
CHAP. I.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 411
or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God, Ps. xc. 2.
But, Ninthly, If you would have his eternity yet more express, see Heb.
vii. 3, where mentioning Melchisedec, Christ s type, he renders him to have been his type in thisWithout father, without mother, without descent,
having neither beginning of days, nor end of life ; but, made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Where his meaning is to declare
that, look what Melchisedec was typice, or umbraliter, in a shadow, that our
Christ was really and substantially. It is the manner and custom of all
historians, yea, and of Moses in that sacred story of his, if they bring in
any person more eminent, and as performing any more excellent exploit, to
relate his parents, his descent, whom he came of, and what became of him. And this Moses had been careful and diligent to relate of all the patriarchs,
telling us whose sons they were, rehearsing their genealogy, how many
years they lived, and how then they died. Which is especially observable
in that short catalogue, Gen. v. In the close it is added of every one, and he died, when he relates little else. But this Melchisedec was a man
greater in dignity, in office, than any of the patriarchs (for whom would
yourselves pitch on as the greatest of all that Moses wrote of, but Abraham, the father of all the faithful ?). Now (says the apostle, ver. 4), consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the
tenth of the spoils, yea (as ver. 5), greater than all the tribes ; and so the whole nation of the Jews, and people of God that followed. For whereas
all the other tribes paid tithes to Levi (says the apostle here), Levi and
all the tribes paid tithes to him in Abraham s loins. Yea, and ver. 6,
* This man blessed him, namely Abraham, who had the promises for him
self and all his seed. And without all contradiction, the lesser is blessed
of the greater, ver. 7. Now when Moses had in his story brought upon the stage a man thus heightened and sublimated, which would for ever set
all curious thoughts on longing to know who and what this man was, what
his original was, what his end, who his parents, &c., he causeth him, as
it were, on a sudden to vanish, contrary to his wont concerning other
persons, as if he had been a man dropped out of the clouds, telling (as we
say) neither whence he came, nor whither he would go. Paul, that observed
this, tells us plainly, that it was consultb, or on purpose done. There was a mystery in it, which was to signify the eternity of Christ s
priesthood and person ; and whereas neither Melchisedec nor any creature was or could exist from everlasting, and so in the reality could not have wherewith to shadow out Christ s existence from everlasting, therefore it
is signified by silence, or omission, there being nothing in the story that
hints his original or beginning ; and so it was, as if he had had no begin
: and it being setly and on purpose done, it had intentionally this
ning
secret mystery in it. There was nothing in Christ, but some type or other was ordained some way or other to shadow it. And when the matter was
such as could not in the kind or reality be personated, it was done by that which might most nearly shadow it. As the sacrifice of his body was by the burnt-offerings of beasts, but for the sacrifice of his reasonable soul under the wrath of God, there was not any thing in the sacrificing of a
beast, of like kind, which could shadow it out, yet God appointed that which was as near in resemblance as might be ; and that was the pouring forth of
the blood, in which was the soul of life, signifying the pouring forth of his
soul as an offering for sii,, as Isaiah speaks, Isa. liii. 10, 12. Now so here, there being nothing in respect of any real existence from eternity that any
412 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
man was capable of, therefore an historical eternity is given him, by way of silence concerning his birth, &c. So as he was (as the text there hath
it) made like to the Son of God ; that is, rendered, in respect of what useth to be the course and manner of story, like to him in this respect. As
in law things that appear not are in value as if they were not,
5 so here. Now in that it is said, He was made like to the Son of God, it imports him to have herein been the shadow, the picture of Christ, who is the body and substance. God having his Son, and all he was and should be, in his
eye, did all along the Old Testament draw his picture in the examples of
r in any person that was extraordinary and transcendent ; Christ being really the abstract of them all. Some pieces, or limbs, one
all eminences
patriarch affording, others another ; and this of eternity was Melchisedec s
lot to hold forth, and that in the manner specified. Now that he shadowed out the eternity of Christ s person and priesthood for time to come, all
acknowledge, Socinus himself. Therefore also in the eternity of his person for time past, for that is as well put in,
* without beginning of days, as without end of life. And so these other attributes,
* without father, as a man, without mother, as God. And who can tell his generation? saith Isaiah, chap. liii. 8. All which not only import what he was in
respect of his priesthood, but of his person ; for the things he takes for him are such as are common to all men s persons, as they are men. As when he says he was without father or mother, insomuch that whereas Adam was without father or mother, yet we read of the beginning of his
days, it is recorded, and his end of life, but not so of Melchisedec ; and so represented in all things differing from all the men that ever were or
shall be. And further, if that had been his only type, it had not been material to shew the eternity of his priesthood, to say he was without father. For if Moses had set down his father s name, and withal had shewn that
his father was not a priest, it had been all one as to that point. So as these are spoken chiefly in respect of his person, the subject of this priest hood ; yea, and if his priesthood were from everlasting, his person must
exist from everlasting ; for these two are joined. Heb. v. 6, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ; and, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. If therefore it signifies the everlastingness of the priesthood, d parte ante, or from time past, that that hath been for ever (and it must so signify, if that other opposite, without end of days,
signifies the eternity of his priesthood for time to come), then withal it must
import the eternity of his person, and himself to have been without begin ning of days.
Lastly, Add to this that in Micah v. 2, But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting ; where he evidently speaks of two births Christ had, under the metaphor of going forth : one as man at Bethlehem in the fulness of time, the other as Son of God from everlasting. Which
latter is added on purpose, upon occasion of the prophecy of that other, to
prevent that thought, that he had not existed afore he was born or conceived
at Bethlehem ; and his birth is expressed by that phrase of going or com
ing forth, in both respects. His birth as man, Mat. ii. 6, is so expressed,
* Out of thee shall come forth, which, ver. 4, is interpreted to be born. And, 2. As Son of God, his goings forth (that is, his birth) are from
everlasting. And it is termed
* goings forth, in the plural ; because it is * Non entia et non apparentia sequiparantur in jure.
CHAP. L] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 413
actus continuus, and hath been every moment continued from everlasting. As the sun begets light and beams every moment, so God doth his Son.
So then we have two everlastings attributed to Christ s person ; one to
come, Heb. i. 10, and another past, here in Micah v. 2. And so as of God
himself it is said, Ps. xc. 2, From everlasting to everlasting thou art God, so also of Christ.
And to confirm this existence of his yet more ; if you ask where he was
all that while ? John resolves you, together with this his assertion, that he
was; and tells you with whom he was. At the creation, or in the beginning, he was with God, when none but God and he were alone, and no creature with them ;
* in the bosom of the Father, John i. 18. And in Prov. viii.
30, Then I was by him as one brought up with him. And accordingly, John xvii. 8, Christ says, I came forth from thee, speaking to his Father ; and ver. 18, Thou didst send me into the world ; and John xvi. 28, I am come forth from the Father, and am come into the world.
Now ask the manifestarians, that is, those that say, Christ, as Christ,
is only a manifestation of God ; How was it when it is said, that he was
* with God in the beginning of the creation, when there was no creature ?
when, according to them, his sole being (as Christ) is barely a manifesta
tion. I ask them to whom he was then a manifestation ? Not to God,
for, according to them, he is the manifestation of God in us ; and to him he needed not be the manifestation of himself in their sense, but to us
only. Now then we were not, nor any creature to whom he should be manifested.
Use 1. Let believers comfort themselves with this existence of their head and redeemer Christ ; 1 John ii. 14, he reckons it up a privilege to raise up their hearts withal, Ye have known him that is from the beginning, namely, Christ, of whom, 1 John i. 1, 2, he says, That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of
life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was mani
. This was the great privilege John and the apostles boasted of; as it follows, ver. 3, That which we have seen and heard
fested unto us)
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. When
therefore he saith, We have known him that is from the beginning, it
carries a great privilege, and confirmation, and establishment of them in
their faith, and also an exhortation with it.
(1.) A confirmation of them in their faith, and to see and rejoice in their
privilege ; and is as if he had said, there cannot be any Christ proposed to them that is more ancient, and therefore he is the best, the sole or only Christ. As the gospel coming after could not make void the law, so no manifestation can put down or excel that which is made of God himself in
Christ, for it is he that was from the beginning.
And (2.) it hath an exhortation in it ; that therefore they should always, and to the end, that is, for ever, cleave to him. It is he that was from the
* The same to-day, yesterday, and for ever, as Heb. xiii. Use 2. Embrace him as thy chiefest treasure ; for he is being and
beginning. There can be no other Jesus ;
existence itself. The world passeth away, and the glory of it : but the word of God endures for ever. If the truth of this written word, then much more this substantin 1 Word, the person of Christ, in whom all other
* by whom all
truths are Yea and amen. He is, I say, existence itself,
414 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHEK, [BOOK II.
c exist, Heb. i. 13. And in the text,
things consist, Col. i. 17, and
1 through whom are all things, and we by him. And it is faith in us that
gives a subsistence to him in our souls, we thereby close with him ; Prov.
viii. 21, Wisdom, that is, Christ exhorting us to embrace him, holds forth
this promise, I cause those that love me to inherit substance. All other
things are shadows. And how doth he confirm this to them, that he is
able to give them substance ? but by this, that he existed before the world was ; which is the subject of his discourse for ten whole verses together next following, beginning thus : ver. 22,
* The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of his way, before his works of old : I was set up from everlast
ing, ere ever the earth was, &c. Then only I was ; but God himself accounted me as a treasure to himself. The Lord possessed me, ver. 22. And therefore I may well be yours. If God esteemed me such to himself, you may well do so to yourselves. When the apostle says,
l He that was
rich, for your sakes became poor, 2 Cor. viii. 9, it implies him to have been infinitely rich afore he came into the world, where it was he was made
poor, and from his birth born to nothing. And to conclude, as he only is
existence, so that being you have in him is alone true being. Of him ye are in Christ Jesus.
Use 3. You see how it came to pass, that we who existed not afore the world had yet then the promise given, 1 Tim. ii. : Grace given us in
* chosen in him afore the world
Christ afore the world, 1 Tim. i. 9; and
was, Eph. i. 4 ; even because that, Christ was a person who then existed, and took all the deeds of gift ordained us from God for us. Isa. vi. 9, he
* The everlasting Father, which he had not been if he had not
is styled
existed ; for of all else, to be a father, implies existence at the time when he is said to be a father ; for it notes antiquity and priority. As Adam is
said to be a father in time, so Christ from everlasting ; and as Adam must be supposed to exist, when he was a father, so must Christ be supposed also. And therefore if an everlasting Father, then he existed in that ever
lasting.
CHAPTEE II.
Who this person was that existed from eternity. The two titles which are
given to him, as existing before the world was : 1. That he is l the Word;
2. The Son of God. His first title, the Word, imports two things: his
being eternally begotten of the Father, as the image of his essential glory; and that he is given to us by God as his word, whereby he manifests himself.
You have seen that Christ was a person who existed throughout all
generations, and from everlasting, before he took flesh. The next inquiry
is, who he was that had always so existed ; thus as yet I, proceeding by
degrees, do limit it; for as concerning what he is upon the assuming human
nature, that is to follow afterward.
There are two eminent titles given to Christ, existing before the world, and both of them in the first chapter of John: 6 Xoyof , the Word, John
i. 1, In the beginning was the Word, &c. 2. The Son of God, ver. 14. Of whom as such John Baptist thrice affirmeth he was afore him, ver. 15,
18, 30, 34. And parallel to this in the Book of Proverbs he is styled ; 1. Wisdom, Prov. viii., from ver. 22 to 33. Then, 2. The Son of God.
* What is his name, and his Son s name, canst thou tell ? Prov. xxx. 4.
CHAP. II. J AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 415
I will not hear much dispute as concerning the first, whether that title of
\6yog, the Wor4, be the title of his person simply considered in himself ; or whether withal, in respect unto his being ordained the manifestation and
revelation of God to us ; yet something must be said. There are two
opinions about it.
First, Some say it imports the divine substance of his person, simply considered, and so merely notes out that relation he hath to his Father, as
begotten of him ; in respect of which he should be termed the Word. That
look, what the inward thought, conceptus, conceit or apprehension of the
mind, is to the mind, being the first-born thereof, and remains within the mind itself, and is the image of the mind to itself, though never uttered to
any other : such, say they, and in such a respect, is the person of Christ termed the Word, unto God his Father. Now it is clear, that both in
the Jewish and Greek language, that which we in English call Word, and which we apply only unto speech, doth with them betoken the inward
thought*of the mind. Aristotle distinguished between Xoyo& e and Xoyoj
svdu, the external of the mouth and the internal of the mind. Thus also, Job xxxii. 18, I am full of matter ; so we translate it. And he speaks of
his mind or spirit ; so it follows, My spirit within me is full of matter. Now in the Hebrew it is, full of words. Thus, Dixit in corde,
l The fool hath said in his heart, is put to express the inward thoughts of bad men, Ps. xiv. 1 ; as also of good men, Ps. xxxvi. 1 ; for words spoken are but
thoughts appearing. So that, according to this, the whole object of God s inward thoughts and wisdom is here termed the Word, which comprehen
sively is Christ. And this notion or ground, why he is termed Xdyos, the
fathers and schoolmen have more generally and greedily entertained, as
that which was most lively and really expressive of the eternal generation of the person of the Son of God. That as the mind, when it would under stand itself, begets within itself an idea or likeness of itself, in which it views and understands itself ; like as the eye, when it would see and view a thing without itself, takes in an image of the thing ; so the mind doth, when it knows itself or any other thing. And that thus God, in the know
ing of himself, doth beget within himself the image of himself, as, Heb. i. 2, Christ is also called. And it is observable that his eternal generation, as the Son, should be expressed by the same phrase (and so they should so
fitly agree) that the production of the thoughts or image in the mind is
expressed by. The phrase used to express the generation of him as God s Son is, that he came forth from the Father, John viii. 42 ; xvi. 28 ;
xvii. 8. And the same word is used to express the begetting of the thoughts and purposes by the mind, and in the mind, Mat. xv. 18.
But this import of it many of our reformed divines * have been and are
shy of, as too curious ; and yet, as I have observed, the same authors are
. in other following passages glad to make use of the similitude thereof again
and again, to express the generation of the Son of God thereby, as most
apposite and subservient thereunto ; and so might have been glad that the
Scriptures speak so near thereto.
There have been two things, among many others, that have made them
shy to own this, as the Scriptures intention in this phrase. 1. That the conceptus, or images in the mind, are accidents, and
less than the mind itself, as also vanishing and transient, and not of the same substance with it, and equal to it, which is dangerous to hold forth of Christ.
* Zanchy, Professores Leidenses, and others.
416 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
But that is easily answered : (1.) That a full similitude, from things earthly, holding in all things like, could not be found of this mystery. And, (2.) Themselves say of the persons in the divine nature, that they being but various modes or manner of subsistings of that one divine
nature, the Godhead ; that though those several modes in a creature would be but accidents, yet in the Godhead they are persons
: so why not in the case in hand? That image which in the mind of man is but an accident, this in God, and of God himself, is a person equal to God. Especially, seeing otherwise, he should not know himself perfectly as he is in himself.
2. The second is, that to say Christ is the Word of the Father, as the
thoughts or reason, or counsel is the word of the mind, vergeth and inclines too much into the notion of Plato, and other heathen philoso phers, who, acknowledging God the maker of this world, conceived of this Word of God in God to be no other thing in God than the idea or platform of all that which God meant to make. And so, as an artificer having the model of a ship or frame of building in his head, that model, or frame, or
pattern of what he means to make is one thing, and his own being or nature as a man is another ; and, indeed, thus did these wise folks, philosophising of God s making the world, distinguish between God and this Word in God thus : that by God they conceived one person only that enjoyed that divine nature to himself, only he having all the creation in him, the pattern of
all these, or idea of them, according unto which he made them, they termed this the Word, or Xoyoj, in God s mind; so making the whole of the being or subsistence of that Word in God to be wholly distinct from the nature of God as God, and to be only that in God which was the ori
ginal and sampler of his creation, and so to be but the head of the creation, that is, the top and chief and original of it, and a mere respect thereto. This was Plato s Xoyog, or Word ; and I fear is all that others, bringing but up old philosophy for new divinity, do intend, by that which they so
usually cry up and term the eternal Word. But that the philosophers meant by the notion of Xoyo^, or the Word, no more but the model of the creation, needed not have deterred Chris
tians from the owning of this phrase the Word, to intend the image of what was, and is, in God, and that as a distinct person that had the true nature of the Godhead, and as that which was not in God merely, or only the pattern of his creation.
(1.) If indeed the whole of the image of God s mind, or object of God s
thoughts and knowledge, had been but the image of the creatures, in which God only foresaw what he would or could create, then indeed John s o AC/OS, or the Word, had been, nor could have been no other than this sampler of God s creation ; but the chief object of God s knowledge is himself in the
first place, and thereby it is he knows all things else he can produce, and
that at second hand, by first knowing of himself. And indeed if the idea
or sampler of his creation alone were all the image or object of his know
ledge he had in himself of himself, then he should only have but an im
perfect knowledge of himself, and such as we have at the lowest of him. For to know God but in the creatures, is but that which was in Adam by the law of creation ; and we profess to look for a higher, to see God face
to face, and in himself, which is our perfection. And therefore surely God s perfection is to see himself in himself much more. Neither indeed can God know himself perfectly, but by such an image of himself as is as
perfect as himself. We creatures indeed know nothing perfectly, because
CHAP. II. J AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 417
our understandings penetrate not into the things themselves, and so we know them only by such images as fall short of the substance of the things themselves. But God s knowledge is perfect, especially that which he hath
of himself must be equal to himself. So then, if the import of this phrase,
* the Word, relates at all unto God s inward thoughts and apprehensions, and the object of them, it must more especially carry in it Christ, he being the immediate image of God himself.
3. It is certain, that Christ himself (who himself knew best what himself
was) doth speak of himself as of a person unto whom his Father doth shew, or make known, the pattern and model of all his works he means to do ; and therefore the substance or being of his person consisteth not in his
being the idea or model of the creation that is in God s mind, but he is
the person to whom God makes known those platforms of all. Thus John
* Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do : for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise. For
v. 19, 20,
the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doth : and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
(1.) These words suppose the idea of what he means to work, to be in common between the Father and the Son, and in the Father first ; as in him the being or essence of God is first, and so communicated or shewn unto the Son (as indeed all the platform or form of God s works is common
to all three persons, in that they are alike God). And therefore it were absurd to say, that the Son himself is nothing else but that platform itself
of what God means to work.
(2.) These words suppose a person whom God loves, and a person of
understanding and knowledge, such as to whom the idea of all God means
to effect is shewn. Now as it were absurd for a carpenter to say to that form in his mind, I will shew thee all I am about to do, so here there would be the same absurdity.
And (3.) In ver. 17, Christ says he is one that works, and hath a power ful hand to effect all that is done, as well as the Father ; and therefore is
himself a person distinct from this idea of all things, and not the bare image of them. And lest it should be understood of him as Son of man only, he
puts in that word hitherto. My Father works hitherto, and I work. That word takes in all God hath ever done since the creation. For that
hitherto must relate to some time afore, either eternity, or a beginning ; and we know that that beginning of God s working was the beginning of the
creation ; and (from that time hitherto, says Christ) I work. And be it what it will that the Father hath done at any time, the Son hath done the same ; for verse 19, Whatever things the Father doth, these also doth
the Son likewise.
4. These two expressions, (1.) That he is one begotten of the Father, elsewhere used ; and (2.) this here, That he is one to whom
* the Father Bheweth all he doth ; do imply two differing things ; even as for a Father
first to beget his Son, his substantial image, and then to teach and instruct him in his trade, and shew him what he is to do.
Yet I may add this, that God the Father, communicating the form of all
things to his Son, so vieweth his own thoughts and purposes thereabout, as
they shine forth in his Son ; as a man doth his own thoughts in his friend s mind or judgment. Hence Christ the Word, may in a more eminent manner be styled the idea of all things, in comparison with the other persons. Yet
so as this is, because he is the image of God himself ; and so, because he VOL. iv. D d
418 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
of all persons in the Trinity bears the title or character of being the image of God. Hence he doth in like manner, together with the image of God s
being, bear the platform of all things else that are in God ; as in whose breast God the Father views over his own thoughts and designs, and in whom they are presented to him.
5. Lastly, Whereas it may be said, that the philosophers having used that
phrase afore John, in this or the like sense, that therefore John taking up out of choice the same title, and giving it to Christ, that therefore he should use it in their sense and intention. Answer is,
(1.) That John originally used this word from the Old Testament itself. For the Jews expressed their Messiah, or Christ to come, under this notion,
the Word, and the Word of God, as appears by the Chaldee paraphrasts (who are at least as ancient as Christ) often, when God the Son is men tioned and spoken of, they translate it the Word. So Hosea i. 7, I will save them by the Lord their God ; they render it,
* I will redeem them by the Word of the Lord their God. So Ps. ex. 1, The Lord said to my Lord ; the paraphrasts expound it, The Lord said to the Word. And so
Isa. xlv. 17, Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salva
tion ; they read it, by the Word of the Lord, namely Christ. And this
phrase not the Jews only, but the Scriptures themselves, do use, as 2 Sam.
* For thy Word s sake, says David, that is, for thy Christ s sake. For 1 Chron. xvii. 19, it is rendered, For thy servant s sake.; and is all one with that, Dan. ix., For the Lord s sake. Philo (a Jew never turned
vii. 21,
Christian, and not long after Christ s time) in his writings calls him o Xoyog, as before did Plato and those heathens who stole their knowledge from the
Jews, and vended it as their own.
Yet, (2.) That the occasion why John, when he wrote his Gospel, used
that title of the Word, which no other evangelist did, was that which was
mentioned, namely, that the Gnostics of those times he wrote in, profess ing Christianity, formed up such a Christ, according to what the heathen
philosophers had set him forth by ; he therefore gives him the same title
(the Old Testament having given it him) ; but in full and direct opposition to them, and what they said of him, he at first dash affirms, both that his
Xoyof, or Christ, was God, and also equal with God, and a person distinct from God, in those other words, He was with God ; the contrary to which was their doctrine of him.
Thus much for the first opinion, why he is called
>.oyof, the Word. The second opinion, why Christ should be termed Xoyoc,
< the Word, is
that it imports what God had afore all worlds ordained Christ to be, and
Christ himself undertook to be, even his Word, whereby to utter or mani
fest himself to us. And indeed, although the person whom John calls Xoyof did actually then exist, yet it cannot be denied but that this title of Xdyog, the Word, doth withal connotate or import what Christ undertook to be, and God designed him to be, namely, the revelation of God unto us. Which
is made forth, 1. Because the inward thoughts themselves are usually termed
the word, but in relation to their being uttered ; and therefore in such a
respect may also this be supposed given to him, seeing he is the manifester
of God unto us, Et interpres voluntatis divina, the interpreter of God s mind unto us, Heb. i. 1. And, 2. In that Christ is said to be the Wisdom
of God, namely, manifestative, and as he is made wisdom unto us, by whom we know God in the form of Jesus Christ. Thus 1 Cor. i. 24,
* But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God, compared with verse 30, But of him
ClIAP. III.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 419
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteous
ness, and sanctification, and redemption. And in this sense it is that Solomon calls him Wisdom, which is all one with this of John, X6yo$, the
Word, which the English or Latin reach not. And it were easy to parallel John here, and Solomon there, in Prov. viii., which I have elsewhere done. So then, Christ as he is the power of God in the creation ; God said, and it was created, Gen. i. ; and as he is the power and the wisdom of God to us in redemption, in whom and by whom we know God, in this
respect it is he is termed the Word : and so, although John and Solomon
affirm the person that was thus ordained to be thus to us was then existing,
yet the title given him imports what he was to be when the world began, and after the world began, unto the world and to the saints. And thus John himself, in his first epistle, chap. i. ver. 1, 2, explains himself, That which was from the beginning, says he, and which our (the
apostles ) hands have handled of the Word of life, namely, Christ. This
life was manifested, and we shew to you that eternal life, which was with
the Father, and was manifested to us.
So then Christ the Word, in order to manifestation to us, is termed the Word of life. And as he is termed the Word in both these respects men
tioned, so also that other title John gives him, of eternal Life, is in like manner given in respect unto what he was ordained from the beginning to be to us, 1 John v. 11, And this is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal life ; and this life is in his Son ; as well as what he is in his
person, even the fountain of, or life itself, in himself. So, ver. 20 of that
chapter, he speaks of him, This is the true God, and eternal life/ To conclude this. When God exhibited him first unto the world by a
voice from heaven, This is my beloved Son, he adds, hear him. And
it is as if he had said, As he is my Son, so he is my Word and interpreter unto you, the speaker from heaven ; as, Heb. xii. 25, he is called. And
see these two titles of his Son and of the Word met in that one proclama tion made of him by his Father.
Which of these two accounts given, why he is termed Xoyoc, or the Word,
is most to be received, I will not dispute ; because indeed I take in both. In doing which there is no more inconveniency to be found than in inter
preting other styles and attributes of his in a double sense, and taking in both ; as in that of being styled The image of the invisible God, Col. i., which Pareus and other divines (whom he to that purpose cites) in his
Opuscula, upon Col. i. 15. I now come to that other title, more frequent in the Scriptures.