times, God did not frequently press the very substance itself, namely, "a clean heart, and a new fpirit;" ac-" counting all worship fhort thereof, but as the cut"ting off of a dog's neck, and offering of fwine's "blood?" And whether Chrift himfelf did not with his own hands give the bread and wine to his disciples, and yet bid them " do it till he came ?" Whence it is eafy to obferve, that unless the bread and the wine are the very CHRIST, (thereby deftroying the nature of a facrament) and instead of doing it till he came, that he fhould come whenever they do receive it; it must be granted to us, that Chrift prefent_gave them a figure of Chrift to come: therefore to figure out Chrift to come, destroys not Chrift's being come; especially taking our diftinction of the leffer manifeftation from the greater; which nevertheless divides not the light, but that it remains in itself, one pure, eternal being of light, and fun of righteousness, through every difpenfation. And thus much that paffage I have already obferved from the apostle Paul, in answer to the second part of the objection, plainly clears to us for if Chrift, typified out, was their rock, or the rock of that age, even when the brazen ferpent, the type, was in being, I cannot fee but the type,” and the thing typified, might be at one and the fame time; not as to degree, but nature; for fo I would be understood.

Before I conclude, take this notable faying of Chrift to the Jews, and what may be collected from it to our purpose: "Before Abraham was, I am. "Abraham faw my day, and rejoiced.""-Which affords us briefly thus much; that though he was not fo vifibly come, yet it was the very fame he that came above one thoufand fix hundred years ago, who was with the fathers of old; and that Abraham, who lived one thousand nine hundred years before that outward appearance, faw him, and his day. If this be not the import of the place, I know none; for the Jews, not

Ifa. lxvi. 3.

A John viii. 56, 57, 58. • Helv. Chron. CC4 believing

believing him to be the Meffiah, thought it high prefumption for him to compare with Abraham. "Art "thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead, " and the prophets who are dead? Whom makest "thou thyself?" faid that unbelieving people: unto which he answered, (that he might prove himself to be the true Meffiah, the Chrift of God) "Abraham "faw my day, and rejoiced." They, ftill harping upon that visible body, or outward man, not thirtythree years old, replied, "Thou art not yet fifty, and "haft thou feen Abraham?" Taking that to be the Meffiah, the Christ of God, and Saviour of the world he meant, which they faw with their carnal eyes. To which he rejoined with a "Verily, verily, I fay unto "c you, before Abraham was I am: then took they up "ftones to caft at him, &c." By all which it is most clear, that unless our adverfaries will deny him that fo fpoke to be Chrift, who fingled and diftinguished himself as the Meffiah, the Chrift of God, and Saviour of the world, from that visible body, not fifty years old indeed; both Chrift, that then fpoke, must needs have been long before Abraham's time, and that such holy ancients were not without a fight and prospect of him, and the day of his glorious appearance, or that moft fignal manifestation of himself in the body prepared for that great and holy purpofe; witness the exceeding clear and heavenly prophecies in the fcriptures of truth, that were as fo many fore-runners or introducers of the evangelical state.

And this is unquestionably confirmed unto us, by that known and weighty expreffion of the apostle Paul to the Romans: "Whofe are the fathers, and `of "whom, as concerning the flesh, Chrift came, who is

over all, God bleffed for ever, amen; P" fince here Chrift is both diftinguished from the body he took, and also made one with God, who is over all bleffed for ever, amen. As much as to fay, " of whose flesh "Chrift took;" therefore Chrift was before he took it;

› Rom. ix. 5.

or

or his taking it only did not conftitute him Chrift; which Chrift is God: and if God (which cannot be faid of mere flesh, or any corporal lineage) then must he have been from all everlasting.

To conclude; as Abraham outward and natural was the great father of the Jews outward and natural, whofe feed God promifed to bless with earthly bleffings, as Canaan, &c. and that they were figurative of the one feed Chrift, and fuch as he should beget unto a lively hope, through the power of his fpiritual refurrection, it will confequently follow, that this feed must be inward and Spiritual; fince one outward thing cannot be the proper figure or reprefentation of another nor is it the way of holy fcripture fo to teach us. The outward Lamb fhews forth the inward Lamb; the Jew outward, the Jew inward. As God attended the one with many fignal outward mercies (to fay no more) above other nations, fo doth he benefit the Jew in Spirit, above all other people.

I have these two fhort arguments farther to prove what I believe and affert, as to the fpirituality of the true feed, and a clearer overthrow it is to the opinion of our adverfaries concerning the true Chrift. First, every thing begets its like: what is fimply natural produces not a spiritual being: material things bring not forth things that are immaterial. Now, because the nature, or image, begotten in the hearts of true believers is fpiritual, it will follow, that the feed, which fo begets and brings forth that birth, must be the fame in nature with that which is begotten; therefore Spiritual: then Chrift's body, or what he had from the virgin, ftrictly confidered as fuch, was not the feed.

Secondly, It is clear from hence: the ferpent is a Spirit. Now nothing bruifes the head of the ferpent in man, but fomething that is also internal and fpiritual, as the ferpent is. But if that body of Christ were only the feed, then could he not bruise the serpent's head in all, because the body of Chrift is not so much as in any one (though too many have weakly con

cluded

cluded it upon us, from a perversion or mistake of our doctrine of Chrift in man, by his light and spirit); and confequently the feed of the promise is an boly and fpiritual principle of light, life, and power, which being received into the heart, bruifeth the ferpent's head. And because the feed (which in this fenfe cannot be that body) is Chrift, as teftify the fcriptures, the feed is ONE, and that feed CHRIST, and Christ GOD over all, bleffed for ever, we do conclude that Christ was, and is, the divine word of light and life, that was in the beginning with God, and was and is God over all, bleffed for ever.

And that this may yet more evidently appear, let it but be seriously weighed, that antecedent to that vifible appearance, the feed bruifed, in good measure, the serpent's head, in the holy men and women of all generations; otherwife they had not been holy, but Jerpentine and wicked. And if the feed was before, and that feed be Chrift, (because there is but one Christ, as well as but one feed) it doth clearly follow that Chrift was Chrift before that outward appearance; and confequently it could but be a more excellent and free manifeftation of his truth, righteoufnefs, falvation, wifdom, power, glory, and dominion; as indeed it

was.

For notwithstanding that this heavenly feed was in fome measure known, and what was wrought of inward deliverance in that day was by and through the power and virtue of it, as the minds of people were retired to the Word of God nigh in the heart, to cleanse and redeem; and though particular perfons might arrive at great attainments, even to a beholding the day of the feed's complete redemption, and conqueft over all its oppreffors (when that which was but in the condition of a feed, or new-born child, fhould become the "Only Son, the Wonderful Coun"fellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, " and the Prince of Peace, of the increase of whose

• Gal. iii. 16.

" govern

"government there fhall be no end," as speaks the prophet); yet it is granted, through that good underftanding the Lord hath given us in these weighty things, that the generality were but weak, dark, and imbondaged, as faith the apoftle, under carnal and beggarly elements, not clearly feeing through those outward fervices, by which (if I may fo fpeak) God held them in hand, condefcending to their weakness, that he might both keep them from gadding after the pompous inventions and idolatrous worship of other nations, and point out unto them, under their great carnality, that more hidden glory and fpiritual difpenfation, which should afterwards be revealed, to wit, The complete redemption of the foul, and reign of the holy feed, from the Child born, and the Son given, to the Wonderful Counfellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of whofe government there shall be no end.'

So that then we ought, and we do, by abfolute force of truth, conclude, ift. That the feed, which is Chrift, was in all ages; with Abraham, with the Ifraelites, with the prophets; therefore he was as well before he came in that prepared body, as then and fince. 2dly. Yet it is confeffed that he was not fo clearly revealed, perfectly brought forth, and generally known before his fo coming, as then and since, but more darkly figured out by types and fhadowy fervices; which, though they cleanfed not, faved not, redeemed not, yet did they fhew forth a more hidden and spiritual fubftance, that was able to cleanse, save and redeem, and actually did, all that received it, and were truly fubject to it, and that both from fin and wrath. 3dly. That it therefore is not at all abfurd, that the more excellent manifeftation of truth fhould be typified and prophefied of under the enjoyment of the leffer, fince the reafon of the thing, and the testi

Ifa. ix. 6.

monies