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XVII.

Col. i. 17. "He is before all things 93:"

i. e. in time, dignity, and excellence, in the natural creation, if that be the subject of the apostle's discourse; or, of the new creation, if that be the subject treated of, as Unitarians maintain. This question will be discussed hereafter. Mr. Lindsey explains the phrase of "priority in the destination and purpose of Almighty God," Seq. p. 482. Grotius, Brennius, and the old Socinians understand it of the high rank and dignity to which he is now advanced, and the authority which is given him over all creatures, as they apprehend.

No argument for the pre-existence of Christ can be drawn from this ambiguous text.

Rev. iii. 14.

XVIII.

"These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning," or head, "of the creation of God."

The natural creation, according to Arians and Trinita rians-the new moral creation, as Unitarians believe. And that it will bear this interpretation is acknowledged by learned Trinitarians themselves. Beza and Hammond both explain the words in this sense 94.

Mr.Lindsey justly observes, that "our Lord having characterized himself, first, as the truth, or teacher of truth; next, as the faithful martyr to the truth; it is much more consistent with these characters to proceed to represent himself as the head of the new creation, the leader and chief

93

και αυτός εστι προ παντων.] προ is an adverb of time and place, and sometimes, figuratively, of excellence. James v. 12. 1 Pet. iv. 8.” Schleusner.

94 67

apx, a quo principium ducunt omnes res conditæ: vel potius

chief of the whole army of martyrs, than as the being who created all things." Comm. and Essays, vol. i. p. 449.

The old Socinians understood the words of the universal dominion to which Christ was, as they thought, advanced after his ascension into heaven 95.

These are all the passages which the author, many years ago, after a careful perusal of the New Testament, could discover and select as what then appeared to him clear and unequivocal assertions of the pre-existence of Jesus Christ; as to the generality of Christians they still appear. He has stated those criticisms and interpretations of them which he now thinks to be just, and by which he was gradually, and not without much reluctance, induced to abandon his former conclusions as erroneous and unscriptural. He does not expect that these interpretations will afford the same satisfaction to all his readers, even to those who are most candid and ingenuous, who are sincere inquirers after truth, and who value it above all price. It was long before he himself attained the satisfaction which he now feels. But truth, aided by time, will gradually make its way. And in the mean while, it is surely not too much to expect, that it will be allowed that these texts, which at the first glance appear so decisively to assert the pre-existence of Christ, nevertheless admit of an interpretation, founded upon the principles of just criticism, perfectly consistent with his proper and simple humanity.

Upon these texts, which lie at the very foundation of the Arian and Trinitarian doctrines, it has been thought expedient to insist at large. These being thus copiously discussed, the remaining articles may be dispatched with greater brevity.

novi seculi, i. e. ecclesiæ, caput verum, et unicum principium." Beza. "Qui primus pater et auctor est ecclesiæ christianæ." Hammond. "Nova creationis." Grotius.

95 66 Princeps omnium creaturarum Dei." Brennius.

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SECTION IV.

A COLLECTION OF TEXTS, WHICH, IF THEY DO NOT DIRECTLY ASSERT THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF CHRIST, HAVE NEVERTHELESS BEEN THOUGHT TO ALLUDE TO IT, AND TO BE MOST EASILY EXPLAINED UPON THAT HYPOTHESIS.

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In the preceding Section it has been shown that the phrases to be with God,' and to ascend into heaven,' mean, to be made acquainted with the divine purposes and will and that the correlate phrases to be sent by God,' to come from God,'' to descend from heaven,' and the like, express a divine commission to reveal the purposes and will of God to mankind.

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Also, that the phrase, being in the form and likeness of God,' signifies being invested with miraculous powers; and the correspondent phrases, 'being in the likeness of a man,' or the form of a servant,' when put in opposition to the form of God,' signify appearing in a humble condition, like an ordinary man, who possessed no such miraculous powers.

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It has also been proved that, in the language of Scripture, persons, or things, or states of things, are spoken of as actually existing, when they exist only in the divine purpose and decree.

These principles being premised, there will be little difficulty in the explanation of those texts which, though they cannot be regarded as asserting, are nevertheless understood by many as alluding to, the pre-existence of

Christ.

1. John vi. 46. "Not that any one hath seen the Father, save he who is of God, he hath seen the Father."

i. e. No one is acquainted with the Father's will, but he who hath received a commission from him.

2. John viii. 14, "I know whence I came and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go.

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i. e. I know from whom I received my authority, and to whom I am accountable; but you are wilfully ignorant of both.

3. John viii. 23. " Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world."

i. e. You are of a mean and worldly disposition; I am, i. e. my doctrine is, from heaven; and its tendency is to purify and exalt the mind. John xv. 19. Col. iii. 2.

4. John viii. 38. "I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which you have seen with your Father." Ver. 44, "Ye are of your Father the devil."

i. e. I teach you what I have learned from God: ye do what you have learned from the devil. The expression in both clauses is figurative.

5. John xiv. 28. "My Father is greater than I." This is a very perplexing text to those who believe in the proper deity of Christ. Some say, the Father is greater than the Son in his divine nature, the Son being an emanation from him1;-others, that he is greater than

1 Of this mind are the Athanasians ancient and modern; Alexander of Alexandria, Athanasius, Novatian, Gregory Nazianzen, Bull, Waterland, Whitby. "Quod autem Hilarius dicit, Patrem esse majorem Filio, Filium tamen non esse minorem,' intelligendum est Patrem esse principium Filii, qui naturâ tamen est æqualis Patri. In divinis personis, ordo est: inæqualitas non est: quemadmodum distinctio est, diversitas nulla est." Erasmus." The primitive fathers owned that the Father was greater than the Son as to his original, the Son being begotten by him; and yet declared that he was God, and equal to God, as to his essence. Whitby.

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the Son in his human nature2;-and some, in his official capacity as mediator. This latter is the interpretation of Hammond, Doddridge, and Guyse..

The Arians claim this text as decisive in their favour. "The sense," says Dr. Clarke in his usual manner, "in which the Socinian writers understand these words is very low and mean. The plain meaning is, that God the Father is greater than the Son." Scr. Doct. No. 830.

But this learned writer appears not to have recollected that his own Logos was as much inferior to the infinite self-existent Deity, as the meanest worm. Nor would Dr. Clarke say, whatever our Lord might mean, that his disciples understood him in this sublime sense: it is plain that they must have regarded him as a human being, otherwise their minds would have been overwhelmed with astonishment and terror. But surely our Lord must have used his words in that sense in which he knew that his hearers would understand them, viz.

That God was infinitely more wise and powerful and good than he; and therefore able to reward him, and to protect them when he was withdrawn from them3. This is the interpretation of the Unitarians. Nor is this phraseology, which Dr. Clarke thinks so "flat and insipid," without example in Scripture. Job xxxiii. 12, 13, "God is greater than man: why then dost thou strive against

*Beza is very angry with the Arians for not being satisfied with one or other of these solutions, either of which ought to have silenced them, "si sanabiles fuissent aut etiamnum essent." Neither of them, however, in Beza's judgement, expresses our Lord's true meaning, viz. "that his future state of exaltation would be greatly superior to his present state of humiliation." But the pious reformer seems to have thought that any arguments were good enough for the Arians. they might have guessed a good while befere they had discovered what he tells them is the truth.

And

5 Πατηρ με μείζων, mittens misso. Hoc autem ideo dicitur ut intelligatur, et se ibi tutum fore, et ipsis in Patre plus futurum præsidii, quam in sua corporali præsentia." Grotius.

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