t86 Of the K..!zorvledg of (jod the Father? ~fake); And thefe were the two great Perfons in the Old Tdhmem, to whom ~ and in whofe Name the Promifes were. made. And, . . ' Thirdly,! found,that here thos Tttle ts.gtven htm m refpefl:'Of hts beong o My@-, and fo that to be dieemed the firll: Tttle bf all other, m relatwn umo God's Works ad extra; and that by him as Second Perfon, all was created: and corn. parin~ it with thofe other Scriptures, I confidered, Whether it might bot be gi· ven htm,m relatton to h!S havmg undertaken to be Man,as well as meerly the Son of God. · Fourthlv, I found that Title of Wijilom (which is near a-kin, if not all one with this of the Word) to be underfl:ood of him as God-Man, as fet up in God's Decree, with his own undertaking that Perfonage: So in Prov. 8. and that under that Title, He is there fpoken of as fet up with God long before the Creation. I compared that Scripture with this, and found them parallel in ma– ny refpecrs. I then, fifthly, found Chrill: applying that Title unto himfelf as Son of Man as fending out Prophets, which Wijilom is faid to do; and in the Proverbs, wJ. dom's calling upon her Difciples under the Name of Children, Prov. 8. 32. Now therefore heark._en unto me, 0 ye Ch;tdrm : for blejfed are they that h!ep my Wap. And Chrill: referring to it, lays, Wifdom if jnjlifed of her Childrm, Mat. I 1. 19. and that Speech cloth verily fuppofe him God-Man. Alfo he is found delighting in the Sons of Men on Earth, which P[al.t6.23. is fpokenof Chrill:, as Man. My Righteoufoefs extends to the Saints on Earth, with whom it all my deligf.t; which are almo!l the very words in Prov. 8. 3 I. Rejoice in the habitable part of his Earth, and my Delights were with the Sont of Men. Sixtbiy, When I came to the Creation, as in Gen. I. from whence this Title i~ given him, as by. comparing John and fr!ofes a ppears, I contidered, whether God by a Word Wtthtn htmfelf, dtd fpeak tt as zn Corde. Now fo he had faid, Let there be Light, and that from Everlajling ; and therefore why may we n'ot fuppofe it to have been uttered at the beginning of every days Work? and that Voice being a Creature, Whether that cloathing with words at creation, !hewed not, That Chrifi was to be clothed on with a Creature, to fpeak God's Mind unto us Creatures, and that he had fo undertaken, as being that Wifdom who had fufiained it in God's Purpofe, and now appeared to execute it. The Interpretation of the words, John r. ver( r. In the beginning wtH the Word, and the Word WtH with God, and the Word WtH God; TheLe words do willingly, and without conflraint, offer up this one import of them, That he that was known as the expefl:ed Mejfiah, by the ufual Name of the Word of God, both as the Image of God to himfelf, and as who was ordained to be the Wifdom of God, the Manifell:ation of God to us, the great Interpofer and Mediator in an Humane Nature, to come one day into the World; his Perfon was exill:ing in the beginning, and was God, and with God. Thus for his Perfonal Exill:ence; which having affirmed, as to this exill:ence of his Perfon, Then, verf 2. he adds, The fune WtH in the beginning with God. This being in view but a repetition of the former, and indeed meant of the Exiflenceofhis Perfon, is no other in the fenCe of it: I en~ire therefore, Whe– ther this EXf'l'efiion, T!Je fome WtH in the .beginning with God, be not di!linlt from the fbrmer in this, That qJJa My@-', or tH the Word, as fuflaining that Per– for.agc, (as I have often di!lingui{hed it) That eo Nomine, & Perfona, He was then with God ? He was this fitme Word in the beginning with God; and not only, That he that was the Word, was from the beginning with God. He had faid afore, verf I. That he was in the beginning, and that he was with God. To what end repeats he this? Say I, to this eminent meaning, which as yet ]uhn before had not fpoke out, namely, That as the Word, he had exi!led in the beginning, and was with God as fuch; and fo read it thus,This fame Word fj cken of, was with God in the beginning; or, he was this fame Word from the
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