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

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

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

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

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

of

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

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

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

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

was

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

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

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

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

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

or

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

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

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

to his

their maker; to his own nation and kindred, and they defpifed him, and esteemed him not. Lord! what is man, that God fhould be fo mindful of him? or the fon of man, that the Son of God fhould come down from heaven to visit him, in fo much humility and condefcenfion, and with so much kindness and compaffion?

Blessed God and Saviour of mankind, what shall we render to thee for fuch mighty love, for fuch inestimable benefits as thou haft purchased for us, and art ready to confer upon us? What fhall we fay to thee, O thou preferver and lover of fouls, so often as we approach thy holy table, there to commemorate this mighty love of thine to us, and to partake of those invaluable bleffings which, by thy precious blood-fhedding, thou haft obtained for us? So often as we there remember, that thou waft pleased to affume our mortal nature, on purpofe to live amongst us for our inftruction, and for our example, and to lay down thy life for the redemption of our fouls, and for the expiation of our fins; and to take part of flesh and blood, that thou mightest shed it for our fakes; what affections fhould thefe thoughts raise in us? what vows and refolutions fhould they engage us in, of perpetual love, and gratitude, and obedience, to thee the most gracious and most glorious Redeemer of mankind?

And with what religious folemnity fhould we, more efpecially at this time, celebrate the incarnation and birth of the Son of God, by giving praife and glory to God in the higheft, and by all poffible demonstration of charity and good-will to men? And as he was pleased to affume our nature, fo fhould we, especially at this feason, put on the Lord Jefus Chrift; that is, fincerely embrace and practife his religion, making no provifion for the flesh to fulfil the lufts thereof. And now that the fun of righteousness is rifen upon the world, we should walk as children of the light, and demean ourselves decently as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonnefs, not in ftrife and envy; and fhould be very careful not to abufe ourselves by fin and fenfuality, upon this very confideration, that the Son hath put fuch an honour and dignity upon us. We fhould reverence that nature which God did not difdain to affume, and