Of the I(no"'P!edg of (jod the Father, ~and lfa. 2l~-Without him.God could, or at leall, would do nothing, no not ~- firll begin to Create, and he was then the Word, as taken for the "Power ofGod, in a double refpeil. . . . . . 1. As his bearing this Perfon, was m Gods Mmd, that whtch dtd uphold God's Purpofcto Create, and this before the World was; fo Prov.B. 30 1 3. I. I war b1 hi111 then before the World was, educans, ftjlerrng, and i<£tijfca•u 1erram Jitam (as Tremelius read~ it) gladding his E_arth, his bearing the Perfon of God-Man: one Day to be by him ailumed, was 1t that made the Creatures extft 111 God's Purpofe; God elfe would never have thought ofthem, but for his Sake, as God– Man : therefore he is faid to be the Firft·horn ofevery Creature, for whom, and by whom all things were made. . . Yea fecondly, when God came to make the Creatures, he dtd tt by him as fuftaining this Perfon: the Scripture fays, God created all Thingr by Jefos Chriji, Eph. 3· 9· . . John having thus enlltled htm th~ Word, verf r,2. Then goes on to !hew how from him, as fuch lt ts, that all Thmgs are, AUThmgswere created by him: Yea . it is added, Nothing was made without him, that was made ; meerly to !hew the inftrumental general Dependance God had ofhim in this Work: He was his AU in .dU, as we fay ofone that is a right Hand to another, [He does nothing without hiNI.] Such was Chrift to God ; not that God had not Power Elfential to have Created without him : For it is by that Power that Chrift did it, but that this Power God's Will would never have put forth, but for his alfuming to be God– Man ; even as although God bath Elfential Power to fanilify a Sinner : And Chrift adds no fuch Power to God, or his Spirit, which they had not before, but becaufe God without Chrift would never have put forth that Power : there· fore he is faid to be the Power ofGod therein. Now therefore, he is faid to create as God-Man, not only becaufe he undertook or promifed to become a Man, and fo in virtue ofthat, God put his Power forth. But further, God ere· ated by him, as fullaining that Relation, and bearing that Title with God, (as in the Similitude afore-mentioned) one of a Society chofen Treafurer, lays the Corner-Stone ofa Colledg, out ofhis own Purfe. And many Interpreters, and . others, do obferve, that the Evangelill calls him ,; My®-", in reference to that of lvfofes, Gen. r. That whereas Mofesin the Creation, had made mention not on· ly ofGod Creating, but as by a Word, Godfaid, Let there he Light. God the Fa· ther he had been mentioned as the Creator, in thofe firll Words, In the beginning God Created; and the Spirit, as moving upon the Waters: But the Second Perfon [the Word], is couched, perfonated, and lignified, in Dixit, that [God SAID.] The greatefl: Objeilion againll this is from verf. r4. For ifhis being coniidered ·;, My@", the Word, had imported his beingGod-Man, how comes it after to be faid, That he was made Flefo; for that argues he had been fpoken of as Second Pcrfon only afore, the Man-hood not included? Anfw. r. That Word [Made] imports evidently, ' His having now acru· ally alfumed Man's Nature ; and fo in dillipilion from his having hithe~to but fullained that Perfon afore God, in Contrail with God; which now in the ful– nefs ofTime, He, according to his Contrail, did perform : and until this Per· formance de fat1o, he had born the Title ofthe Word, which he fullained ,1t the Creation, and from thence on frill until this Alfumption. But now, though he bears it llill, yet ever after, John (peaks of him as Jefus and Chrill:, &c. For now he was actually made Man in frail Flefo. The 2d .dnfw. l;es in that other Word, Made Flejh, that is, 4frail Man, taking a Tabernacle of Flelh; not a glorious Body as was his due,as he was My®-", the Word: and fo it carries this with it, That whereas his due, according to that firll defigned Glory and Repute, which he had had with God before the World was, was to have had a glorified Nature, fuch as now he bath in Heaven ; in1\ead ofthis the Evangelill exprelfeth it, That he took frail Flelb, he took that Nature in Frailties at the firll, and dwelt with"' ill a T4hemacle, (as the Word i•) which was to be taken down. And though he had had a Glory with God anfwerable
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