andM Son !fefus C!Jrifl. ~ Ver( 9 . That war the tme Light, which lighteth every eJ/1., that c_omcth into the~ World. And fo he is called the tme Light, that is, which is naturally, and of Hi'mfelf fuch, (&un cp1s, as 'Plato called him,) not fhining with a borrowed Light, as John, and all elfe do, and who in that refpeil: are not true Lightr; for Truth is oppofed to what is obtained aliunde, andwhtch ts.not natural. As you_cal_l that folfe Hair which is nor, and that true Hatr whtch IS ones own. So Chrtfl: IS cal– led the tme Son, I ]oh. 5· 22. that is, the Natural, we being but Adopted. And all this is what Chrifi did, and 'twas before his Incarnation. Now having proceeded thus far in this Chapter,as proper to the Subjeil: I have in Hand; IwillbrieflygoovertherefioftheVerfes, fromverfiO. to verfi5. Wherein he £hews his coming into theWorld himfelf, as before he had £hewn, how he had done all in the World before he came into it. And therein, Firfi, He defcribes the manner ofhis coming: As, I. How he was in the Wo~ld as one unknown. Ver( ro. He rvar in the World, and the World war made by him, and the World k.pew him not. LikeVl]jfer, who came as a Beggar difguifed to his own Houfe: So obfcurc was Chrifi'scoming into the World. 2. He [war,] implying that heisnowgoneoutoftheWorld again; as ha· ving (as it were) fecretly pail: through it. Secondly, He fetsout the Entertainment ofhim in this World. And herein, 1. He tells what bad Entertainment the moll afforded him, with the Aggrava· tion ofthis their Sin. o. The good Entertainment that fome gave him: To illuflrate all which, he covertly compares the World ·unto a Houfe wherein Men are the In-dwellers,but ChriO: the Owner ofit,and all Things in it (as v. 1 r.) and that by a double Title. I. Of Creation, VerC 10. The World war made by him. 2. OfPurchafe, infinuated VerC r I. He cameu11to hiJ own, and hir own received him not. Now when he came into this his Houfe, and rvar in it, or converfed in it (ao verf 10.) His Entertainmen was, 1. That fame did not fo much as !<.nowhim, v. 10. 2. Others, tho they •.new him, yet received hint not, as v. I I. They £hut him out of Doors, not receiving him into their Hearts, which the Evangelifi lets down as an Ag~ravation of the Sin ofUnbelief; his Scope being toperfuade to, and work Faith, or receiving of ChriO: into Mens Hearts, by !hewing from what an one ChriO: is alld was to us, •what an inhumane Sin Unbelief is, both againll the Law of Creation, and 'llonds of Nature, and alfo of Grace. It is to re· fufe him whole own we are, as having made the World and us at firO:, and when we were fallen, bought us, and upheld us. So as the very Benefit of Creation, and the Propriety that ChriO: bath in us, as a Lord of us, and of all we have, cloth oblige us to believe in him, and to own him at leafi, ( even the Ox k.powr !Jis Owner) otherwife it becomes an Aggravation ofour Sin, as £hut– ring ChriO: oun>f his own; for t?e vyord [receiving J v~rf. II. (being put for beltcvmg) IS all one wtth owmng h1m as a Lord and Savtour ; as a King is faid to be received in his own Dominions, when he is fubmitted to, and acknow· . !edged, and owned for their King._ I know Come interpret the World, to be all Manf<!nd ; and h>I own, ( menttoned, verf I I.) to be the 'jewr ; and hi< be– ing in the World, ·to be in refpeil: of the Light he gave of himfelf to the Gen– tiles. But for thts latter, lure by his making the World, the Gentiles could not know him, tho the Godhead they might ; and that natural Light which He gave, was only of the Godhead, not of his Perfon, as God-Man, nor yet ofthe Myftery of the Trinity, there being no Footlleps of it in the Creation. And ,, I take it, hi< own is meant alfo and as well of the VVorld, as made and purcha· fed by him, as of the 'jewr, his own Country-Men: Therefore he fays, [ -n< i'Jl"',] C e 2 as
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