110 Of the l(nowledg of (jod the Father~ ~ Chrifi is God, as Second Perfon; this Interpretation that I am about to give, BooK 111 • cloth not overthrow it, but efiablifn it : For thefe Things could not have been l....f~ faid of him, had he not been God·. And there are other Scriptures,tbat do more plainly and directly efiablifh that, fully enough: but yet fo, here I take it, that Eternal Generation, is not meant direa:Iy, or immediately, though by Confe– quence it is argued, and mofi firongly. And there are thefe two Reafons for this. 1. Becaufe in Scripture phrafe, he is not in refpeCl: to that his Eternal Genera– tion, called PrimogenitJH, the Firft-begotten, but VnigenitJH, the Only-begotten. But this here is another Phrafe; it is the Firft-begotten. 2. If that had been direa:Jy ,intended, he would not have called him the Firjl. begotten, in Comparifon unto Creatures ; but here he Gith rheFirjl-born ofevery Creat11re: Every Creature having had a Birth in the Apoflle's Intention, as well as he. He is fitid in ]ob, to be the Father of the Snow, and of the Ice, Job 38. 28, 29. But here, firfi, to make Chrifi, fimply as Second Perfon confidered, and his Eternal Generation, as the Only-begotten Son, to be meant here; and then to compare and range him, in refpeCl: ofthat Generation, with the Birth of all Creatures elfe, and that he is theJirfi-begottcn ofevery Creature in that Sen[e; this had not been fuitable. For as between him, as fo confidered, and them, there is no Comparifon can be made : [o nor between his Generation, and theirs. His Title, and Heraldry, would have been emblazoned, from the order he bears with tho[e of his own Rank, the other Perfons, Father, and Holy-Ghofi; a– mong whom to have been called the Secondofthofe glorious Perfons, is worthy of him, as fuch: But to fay, The Fi11-born of eve>) Creat11re, and mean his Eter– nal Generation; ofwhich the Prophet fays, ·Who h•th /znown it? Prov. 30. 4· The very Comparifon ofthis high Birth ofhis, with the metaphorical Generation (fa I 1nufi call it, when attributed to the mofi of Creatures inanimate, &c.) of every ordinary Creature, this had difiJOnoured him too much. I mufi fay ofthis, what the Apoflle ofMelchifedec's Generation, Heb. 7· 6. Hir Defcent (or Pedi– gree) is not counted among them, nor theirs to be named with his. That that Name, which Agur in the ProverbJ, Ch.30-4- fo adores, as not to be known by us, and equals it, and compares it with God's only ; What iJ hi< Name! (\peaking ofGod) a11d what hiJ Som Ndme l lfthOit canft tell. Should be fet in the Alpha, the firfi Name in the Alphabet, and Catalogue of Creatures; no, it is altioris ordiniJ, ofanother, and an higher Rank and Kind than [o. This bath cau[ed me to think, that the Firfl-begotten of everyCreat11re, it is fpoken of him, as he is admitted into the Catalogue, or Society ofthe Creatures, as his Fellows, (a£ I may fo [peak) into their Mtmber, or, as be is become one ofthem. Or, take him as he is the Son ofGod, ordained to Human Nature, and then to have his Name f!and higheft in the Tables, amongfi all the rei! of the Creatures; and to be called the Firjl-begotten of tbem, it is no way a difparagement to him; for he is become as one ofthem, even a Creature among them, a Man, and fo of the fame kind or rank with other Creatures. Again, that which yet heightens, and further prefents the Incongruity ofit, is, that it is not faid here, that he was the Firft-born of"'""Y '13retbrm, but of every Creat11re. To have [aid it in refpect of thole his many Brethren, they being only Sons though adopted, and he the Na– tural, had held a better Equipage; but 'tis far lower, even of every Creature. And when he is laid to be the Firfi-born of many Brethren ; as in Ram. 8. 29. For whom he didforekzorv, he alfo did predejlinate to be conformed to the Imageofhir Son, that he might be the Firft-born among many '13rethren. 'Tis fpoken of him in refi,eCl: ofPredeftioation, not of his Eternal Generation, as you may fee there. And fo much for the Negative, in what Senfe it is not direa:Iy to be underfiood. Therefore, H. To fhew Pofitively, in what refpeCl: this Primacy and Primo– geniture, and this in Comparifon with every Creature, is attributed to him. I. It is fpoken of him in refpeCl: of a Dignity, and a Birth-right, thatthis God-Man bath at that Infiant; he is admitted amongfi the Creatures (as by being ordained to Human Nature he was admitted): That though he thereby became oftheir Rank, yet he mu(I be the chief, and have the Birth-right. In Pj«/.89.27. Yon Hull find the Birth-right (and that as fpoken.ofChrirt) is put for Dignity and
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