and hi8 Son !fejus Chrifi. III and Excellency. Alfo I will ma~ hint myF!rft-born, (~nd what is meant by Firfr- "-A..r'' born, is explained m the next Words,) hrgber than the. Kmg1 of the _Eartb. It~ noteth out therefore an Excellency and a Dtgmty, a hetghth, and a bemg Prince ofthe Kings ofthe Earth, as Rev. r. 5· So a Prince of all the Creatures. 2 . But flill there mufl needs be more 10 tt, for 111 the Scnpture, the Dignity, the Birth:right, was direl.lly founded upon being the Firft-born. So Chrifl is not only [aid to be the Firfl-born, becaufe he was made higher than they all, but becuufe he was born firfl, and therefore higher and greater than all. 2 Chron, 2 x. 3 . He gave the Kingdom to Jehoram, becaufe he was Firfl-born, the firfl: brought forth, the opening of the Womb. So that now the Dignity that Chrifl: bath it is becaufe he is the Fufl:-born, fame way or other of every Creature. The;efore, as it was C1id, it cannot be meant of his Eternal Generation, as Se– cond Perfon. And ifthere were no more, I might add this againll: it, That it were infinitely incongruous, (to [peak after the manner ofMon) to ray that the Creatures lay in the fame W<>mb, or came out ofthe Gme Loins, that the Son ofGod, as Second Perfon, lay in, and came out of. Therefore, there muft be [ome other Womb in which Chrift and the Creatures all lay, and in refpeCl there– unto be is the Firl1-begotten: and that Womb is the Eternal Decrees and Pur– pofes of God; which is the common Womb, both ofJefus Chrill:, as he is God– Man and ofall Creatures elle. For that he was God-Man by Predel1ination is clea:, 1 Pet. 1. 20; Who verily Wtl.f fore-ordained before the Found•tibn ofthe World; and being [o, he was in this;as in all othe: refpeCls, to ha\•e a Primacy and Pre- . heminence, and [o to be 10 a true, and )Ufl Sen[e, the Ftrft-legotten zn that Womb. And thus Rom. 8. 29. a Primogeniture, or a being the firft-born, is attributed to him in refpetl: ofPredel1ination. For the Apoi1Ie in comparing the Rank or Order, wherein we were placed in relpeCl of him, frys, Tl.>at we were predejlinated to be conjOrmed to his Image, therefore he was in liune re.f1'etl: predeO:inated. That (as Jt follows) he nught be the Ftrft-born among many Bre– thren; and lo he, as the Eldel1, came forth firfl: That as in all Binhs,according to the Order ofNature, the Head comes forth before the Body : Co dtd Chril1, the Head of the Rod)', the Cb11rch, (as verf. 18. he is called.) And therefore, Eph. 1. 4· We are [aid to be eletl:ed in Chrijl. Now then, there is this further addi– tion, which heightens the rcafon ofit, That if he be the Firll:-born of the Firft– born of the Creat11res, (for fo ·the Saints are called, Heb. 12. 23. To the general Af Jimbly and Church of the Firft-born, which are written. in HeavC11, and to God the Judg ofall, and to the Spiriti of jufi Men, made perfoiJ: ) then he mull necefla– rily be the Firll:-born of all other Creatures, who were all ordained both for them and him. And this may be one truefenleof that which follows, verf.17. That he is, 1re} 'lJ'Ilivmr·, before aUThings, namely, in refpeCl of the Order of God's Inten– tion. God, though viewing and ordaining all his Works, ad extra, at once, yet therein chiefly aimed at Chtift, as under himfelf, the End and Perfection of all. Which alfo bath been undetl1ood by many to be the true meaning of that umred by Chnft htmlelf (m the Proverb1) under the Name of Wifdom, Prov. 8. 22. The Lord pojfejfed me in the beginning of his Way, before hid Wor~of Old. It is a place much and often cited, as alfo this Text bv them that have been of this Opinion, (which have not been a few in feveral Ages). And, x. God's Ways, arehis Works, ad extra, wherein he purpofed to go forth and manifeft himfelf towards Creatures. Now in the beginning of tl)efe Ways, and the firft thm•ghts of them, did God poflds Chrift God-Man in his Fore-knowledg, as the richel1 Treafure of all his Glory to be manife11ed in his Creation, ,without_ which he would not have proceeded to any other Work, or have walkd forth m any Creature:way, but rel1ed in that blelled Society of the Three Wtthout them. And lt IS not fatd, In the beginning of hh Way, but it is alfo furth~r added,_ that he poj{ejfed him before his Wor~of Old. Which i~ the fame that IS here C1td, He h before all Things; as alfo in fitying, The jiijl– begotten of eve>y Creat11re, And for further illufhation's-f,ke, it is added, verj 23. I wtl.f fit up from Everlajling, e're ever the Earth Wtl.f. The Phra(e (I was fit up) will !eCs permtt us to underl1and it of that eternal Generation of his as he is Second Perfon, than in thole dtlief Expreffions that have been here infihed on;
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