Chapter III
That he was the Son of God, who existed throughout all ages, and from eter
nity. This proved by all those instances of Scriptures wherein his eternal
existence is asserted, and wherein the title of Son of God is also ascribed to him.
This most eminent title of Son of God doth simply express what and who the second person is in himself, and in relation to his Father, and so
singly speaks the substance of his person ; and, it is certain, was that more general and renow, jd title the first primitive times knew him by. Under which Christ himself and all the apostles unanimously represented
420 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
him unto the church, which all believers then professed to helieve in, and
concerning which that promise is made and uttered unto all the saints in
* That all should come to the unity of the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God. The other of Xoyos, the Word, was
succeeding ages, Eph. iv. 13,
(if used by any other apostle than John, yet but covertly) by John sparingly mentioned after all the apostles were dead, and but thrice by him. And
though it was a known title to heathens and Jews, yet received but upon occasion of heresies, which took the advantage of the use of that title among
philosophers, to deform the person of our Jesus.
And further, he was acknowledged and declared to be that Son of God by
all sorts of witnesses, either in heaven, or earth, or hell.
1. By those witnesses in heaven.
(1.) The Father, Mat. iii. 17, And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; and chap. xvii. 5.
(2.) The Son himself, in every chapter of John, and Luke x. 22.
(3.) By the Holy Ghost, who (besides that his testimony is included in
all the scriptures that speak him the Son of God, because he wrote them
all) personally appears in the likeness of a dove, to join with the Father s witness of him. This is my beloved Son, Mat. iii. 16, 17, And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him : and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And so the Baptist doth interpret that signal place, John i. 32, 33, 34, And John bare record,
saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode
upon him. And I knew him not : but he that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit de
scending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
(4.) The same was witnessed by the angels.
[l.J The good, Luke i. 35, And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of
thee, shall be called the Son of God.
[2.] The bad, Mat. iv. 3, 6, and chap. viii. 29, And, behold, they cried
out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God ? art thou come hither to torment us before the time ? Mark iii. 11, and chap, v. 7; Luke iv. 3, and chap. iv. 81.
2. On earth. (1.) Wicked men, as the centurion, Mat. xxvii. 54, Of a truth, this was the Son of God.
(2.) The apostles all jointly by Peter, John vi. 69, And we believe, and
are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
(3.) Lastly, the whole church, Eph. iv. 13. So that we may boldly assert ; Assertion 2. That our Christ, for the substance of his person, is the Son
of God ; so styled, not in respect only of God s taking man s nature, but
as existing as such afore he took man s nature. And this is one of the
great foundations of the gospel, and universally acknowledged by believers
in the first times. This general assertion will require many particulars to
explain it.
1. That he that thus existed (as hath been proved) through all ages, and from eternity, was this Son of God, and so styled afore ever he assumed man s nature.
2. How and in what manner this title is given to him.
CHAP. III.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 421
1. For the first; That he that thus existed through all ages was the Son of God, and so
styled afore ever he assumed man s nature.
For the evidence of this I shall run the same race I did in the former
assertion ; when I proved his existence, I went through all ages, even up to everlasting. And so I shall do in this, step by step, demonstrating that
it was the Son of God that as such is said in all ages to have existed.
(1.) He of whom John the Baptist affirmed that he existed afore him
(as was shewn), his person by him is styled The only-begotten Son of God ; John i. 15, 18, 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. No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him ; compared with ver. 30, 34,
* This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me ; for he was before me. And I saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God.
(2.) He, as the Son, was over the church, as his own house, in Moses s time. To him, as the Son, was Moses a servant in his house ; so then he must exist as the Son. Thus you read expressly, Heb. iii. 5, 6, Moses
verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, but Christ as a Son over
his own house, even then. Even he that then said, in Num. xii. 7, Moses
is faithful in all my house ; he was this Son, says Paul, and therefore existed as such ; for it was he spake those words in Num. xii. 7.
(3.) Again, it was proved in the first assertion that our Christ was a
person that existed at the creation. Now he that then existed, and so afore man s nature was made, and four thousand years afore this man was made,
is then called the Son. Of him, as the Son, it is said, Heb. i. 1, His Son, by whom he made the worlds.
4 ) It was shewn that he was a person existing throughout all genera tions from the creation. And this was the Son : John v. 17, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work ; that is, hitherto my Father hath wrought from the creation, both on Sabbath days and every other day. It was
spoken to justify the healing on the Sabbath. And it was not his own
working only virtually or instrumentally ; for his word is 6/xo/wj, in like manner, ver. 19. And he that then is said to work must be acknowledged in the highest manner to exist. And it is the Son that did this : ver. 19, 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. And as in the words, ver. 17, it is manifest, My Father works, and I that am his Son.
(5.) He who was without beginning of days, and end of life, of whom Melchisedec was the type and shadow (as was shewn out of Heb. vii. 3), he is expressly termed the
* Son of God in that place. For thus the words concerning Melchisedec run : Having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but was made like unto the Son of God ; who therefore, as Son of God, hath this in a real and substantial manner true of him. And therefore the Son is not only in respect of this man Jesus his being united unto God, but,
(6.) In Kom. i. verses 2, 3, 4, Paul says, that the gospel was promised by God before by the prophets concerning his Son, whose person he thus
describes, Who was made of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, or human nature, and decla^d to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness, or a divine nature, (as shall after be shewn). Now that Spirit,
422 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
or divine nature, in which, a Son of God, he existed, and was now declared, is called the eternal Spirit, Heb. ix. 14, by whom also he offered up himself, as there.
(7.) Seeing this place hath mentioned how the prophets speak of him as God s Son, let us see how they spake thus afore of him as the Son ; whereby will be decided, whether or no they styled him not such, over and above the consideration of that human nature ; in regard to which only, say some, it and its being united to God, and God manifested therein, it
is, say they, that he is called the Son of God ; and not as a distinct
person from the Father, who in himself is the Son of God, and who took the human nature into the same sonship of his person which he had with out it.
[1.] Ps. ii. 7, Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee. God s
Hodie, or to-day/is the style of eternity. Verbs^and adverbs of the present time do best express eternity.
< Before Abraham was, lam, John viii. 58. And I AM hath sent thee, Exod iii. 14. So,
* To-day have I begotten thee.
To-day with God is no to-morrow, nor yesterday. As God was always God, so always a Father ; and so he is a Son always unto God. Neither had he been God s Son by generation, by begetting, if only he had been his Son, as man, by union. So he had been the Son of the Holy Ghost, and he his
Father, rather than God (whom the Scriptures only term his Father), be cause this man was by the Holy Ghost conceived, formed, and united unto God. And the Spirit was not the cause of his being a Son, for this very
* But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Gal. iv. 6, And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
Spirit is termed the Spirit of this Son : Rom. viii. 9,
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And sent by him, John xvi. 15, All
things that the Father hath are mine ; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. And although this Scripture of Ps. ii.
is applied to the resurrection of Christ, Acts xiii. 32, 33, yet it is evident, by Paul s quotation of it, Heb. i. 5, and his denying unto all the angels, that so transcendent a generation intended in that second psalm by the
psalmist.
Neither by the resurrection was he first made the Son of God (as man), for he is termed so all along in the evangelists before. But it was then
declared, as Paul s phrase is, Bom. i. 3, Declared the Son of God with
power, by the resurrection from the dead. For thereby it was shewn that he had life in himself, and was that eternal Life that had been from the be
ginning, 1 John i. 1 ; whom therefore it was impossible death should hold, Acts ii. 24. And unto this sense it is, that those words of the psalmist are applied by Peter to the resurrection, Acts xiii. 32, 33. God, by Christ s
being raised up, had confirmed the truth of that promise made, to give his
Son for us, whom he had from eternity begotten, and did by his resurrec tion declare him to be such.
* We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same
unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again ; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son; this day have;I begotten thee ; thus, or thereby proving him to be the Son of God, whom God had from everlasting begotten, who was promised to be given to us. Yea, his incarnation and conception as man (which was the first foundation of
his being man), was but the beginning of the manifestation of the Son of God : John i. 14, The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we
CHAP. III.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHEIST. 423
beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father. And therefore this was not the constituting him a Son. So likewise it is termed, 1 Tim. iii. 16, G-od was manifest in the flesh. Likewise 1 John iii. 8, The Son of God was manifested. Now manifestation is of what was extant afore ; but
production is the bringing forth of a thing from a not being to a being.
[2.] Agur speaks of a person distinct from God, then -existing, whom he
calls God s Son ; Prov. xxx. 4, What is his name, and what is his Son s
name, if thou canst tell ? He demands of the one, as well as of the other, known to the Jews, whose name or being was ineffable.
[3.] Isaiah, in chap. ix. 6, To us a child is born, a Son is given, which
is applied to Christ, Mat. iv. 15, a child ; that title only is given to one
that is of mankind, and in that respect he is said to be born. But that
title of a Son is in a further relation given him. For else that first title of
child had been enough. And in that he adds thereto, as a further thing, and distinct from child, that is, A Son is given, this argues his existence
as a Son afore, for that is given which first is. And then, the angel coming to Mary, a virgin, points her to the prophecy of Isaiah : Behold, thou, a virgin, shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son ; which you have
Isa. vii. 14, Behold, a virgin, &c. Now Isaiah had prophesied two things
First, That a virgin should bring forth : Isa. vii. 14, Therefore the Lord
himself shall give you a sign ; Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a
Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Second, That he that was so brought forth should be the Son of God :
Isa. ix. 6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given ; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called,
Wonderful, Counseller, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of peace.
Mary doubts of the first, and the angel resolves her in that, in the first
part of his speech, ver. 35, Then the angel answered and said, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.
And then, from this wonderful conception of hers, the angel doth infer, that he that should be thus conceived and brought forth by a virgin, should
undoubtedly be the Son of God, which the same Isaiah had spoken of in his
9th chapter, To us a Son is given. And so it follows in the latter part of the verse, in Luke, Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born
of thee, shall be called the Son of God. This particle, therefore, refers not to his conception, as a cause of this effect, as if that therefore, because
conceived by the Holy Ghost, he should be thereby constituted the Son of God. But it is an inference or demonstration, that therefore she might be
assured he was that Son of God that Isaiah had spoken of, that should be
so born of her. Yea, and that child should be called the Son of God ; that
is, owned, reckoned, and acknowledged, to be the Son of God, by personal union with him, as he is and hath been by the believing world to this day ; and called, that is, really made the Son of God by that union. Or, it was he that was to be declared the Son of God, who was afore Deus absconditus, God that was hidden, as Isa. xlv. 15. Arid so Matthew also interprets the
: Mat. i. 22, 23, Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name
prophecy
Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us. So then this Son in
Isaiah is the Son of God, by the angel s interpretation ; God united to man s
nature, and so dwelling amongst us. And the angels they had known him, and conversed with him all along afore during the Old Testament, and
424 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK II.
appeared together with him unto Ahraham, and others, and so were meet witnesses of him, what and who he was, when he came into the world.
[4.J And to this head may be referred that in the story of the fiery fur nace : The form of the fourth, appearing with the three children, says Nebuchadnezzar, is like the Son of God, Dan. iii. 25. Thus far we may more than probably conclude, that this appearance was of the person of Christ himself, the Son of God, who had formerly appeared to the fathers
in the shape of man ; and so with these three children, to comfort them, and strike dread into the tyrant. And so he was then extant as the Son
of God ; yea, and possibly this prince, though an heathen, might have re ceived some glimmering notion of God s Son. And he now seeing one
appearing in so great and so superlatively differing a glory from the rest ; and such a glory as struck him, though so great a king, as outshone his, and had overcome him ; he concluded that it must represent God s Son, who by inheritance was Lord of all ; of God, I say, whose kingdom, as
after he confesseth, is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion from
generation to generation, chap. iv. 3. And the scope of that prophecy is
to discover that there was a kingdom to come after the four monarchies
ended, which appertained to the Son of God. And God having been pleased to vouchsafe to this king the knowledge of that kingdom itself, as in the former chapter, chap. ii. ver. 34, 44, 45 ; so here in this, which was the next occurrence, he gives him the knowledge of his Son (in this appear
ance), to whom this kingdom appertained, expressly calling himself the Son of God, whom Daniel, in his vision, chap, vii., terms the Son of man : who, as then existing as Son of God, appeared in a differing glory with these three children, comforting of them, countenancing, owning them, and being then present with them in their afflictions, as, Isa. Ixiii., it is
also said, he was with the church in the wilderness.
To conclude this. If he existed afore the world was, when he was not man, and during all the times of these prophets, afore he took man s nature,
it must be supposed that such a person so existing must have some emi nent known title given him, between God and him, the import of which should be to speak his relation unto him. And if so, then surely it must be this, which is thus afore given him by those prophets, and as uttered by God, Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee, Ps. ii. 7. And what is his name ? speaking of the Father ;
* and what is his Son s name ? So then he was called the Son, Prov. xxx. 4.
He is not termed a Son, as if only made such when he was conceived
or made man ; but, on the contrary, being and existing the Son, he is said
to be sent and made of a woman: Gal. iv. 4, But when the fulness of
the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law.
And unto this purpose it is further observable, that Christ, in his dis
courses to his disciples, affirms himself not only to be one sent into the world by his Father (which sufficiently imports his existence afore), but
further, to notify to us his eternal generation, and proceeding from him as
a Son, and as such existent afore. He therefore distinguisheth and sever-
* I came from the Father, so first ; and then, And I came into the world ; or
eth these two things (as appears in several speeches of his) ;
thus, And he hath sent me. This is not only oft repeated, but this very order observed as oft as repeated
: John vii. 29, I know him : for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
CHAP. IV.] AND ms SON JESUS CHRIST. 425