~(their State by Creation. 7 Alas! thou iladfi no being then, much lefs knowledge of thefe things.Bur accor- ~ ding to this wretched Opinion, rifcn up in thefe days, if true • . 1•6 mig ltt Chap. ::.. have anfwered boldly, I was witlllhre , ~nd I, was ut thee, and m a happi- ~ er ftate of Union with thee, than Jam in Now: Not in a frate of Union wah tldhand blood, but one in Spirit wirh thee. Ay , indeed fays God, (fpealling ironically to him ) K11owe{/ thou it, becrmf' thott wofl thm borrt? Verf 21, Thou art very 0:ld Job ., and of great franding, and the Number of thy d,IJ·S is great, as it follows there. · Now, if the Creatures, or the Souls oLMcr\ had really been exifient in God, and as truly as Chri(\ h'imfclf, as to his Exifience, no otherwife than they aJtirm themfelve.s to have been; Then God might af,\ell have faid to Chrifr, Where waf/thot~ whm I laidthe Fo;mdattons of the E<Jrth 'i But,fucll a G.!Jefrion, Chrifr hath prevented, and pm out· of Qt,!efiion, faying, 'l:'rov. 8. 29. The~~ I was by htm;ye~ , and wm hu Cotm{ellour, ns lj'tl. 40. 13. Botil which are fpol<en there ot Chrifl. . . . ·. .. .~nd whereas it is objeCted by thofe Men, That in that 8Pro'IJ. it is alfo af• firmed, That tbe Sons of Men who were his EleCl:, ·cl id then exifr in God, iri a lpor_rful life in God, t<_Jgetber with Chrifr, becau(e it is faid Verj; jl. That he w.ts •·ejoyci12g in tbe hrlbita61t part of his Earth; , ar.d( it folloWs ) ipy de· ltghts were with the So11s oj Mm: And that therefore ,·.though Men did nor cxifi under the appearance of flelh and blood, as now; yet they were exi(!ing in Sp!Tit in him, and with him. And that they being put our of God , into the.vail of flelh and blood; Therefore it was , that Chrifr came forth from God after them, and took tlefh and blood alfo : For fo they apply that of the lle6rcws z, 1j, q. . . . · 'the Anfwer is clear, that it proves the cle~r contrlry., out of the very Text : For Chrifi's Rejoycing then, is faid to have been i1: the ha6ita61e pilrts of: hu Earth: Therefore it mu(\ be meant of Men as inhabiting the Earth 1 and not as e.xifiing with him from Eternity. Verf 26. of Prov. 8, tells (1s ; that they 'iJJert •tpt then "'"de: Hence therefore, his rejoycing in them, mufr ne– cdfarily be fpoken in refpeCl: of the foreiight of what they lhould be , and fo as cxifiing afore the World but in God's Qecree, in refpeCl: of what he would af• ter make them to be, aod.thereby prefented to him beforehand, as foreview• ing what thofe Children llloul9 tie, whom God hath given to him; when once tli~y !hould come \O inhabitc this Earth : And fuch, to be fure, they were not adually then; for he exprcfly faith, Ver[23. Thefe his delights were afore the Earth it felf was. . . . . , . , And had there been, a! th~n ; any other Exifiencc pf them, but in ft;>re. light and Decree, as the caufe of that he delighted ih them, he would much rather have mentioned that as the Object of his prefent delight, than this o– ther which was (o long after to come, when they !hould inhabit aod dwell here on Earth below. And it all had been in God before in being, why then all might pray as well as Ghrifr, glortjie 1IS l'rJith that glory we had with thee be~ fer. the World was And then they might fay of themfelves, even as Ctlrifr f•ith of himfelf; ; •ou jhatt (ee tht Son of Man ajcmd "P whi:rt he was br• fore. . . , And then likewife , that had not been true whith the Apo(!!e fays, r Con. i )· 46- where fpeakibg ofDa'IJid's Creation, he fays, that W<JS not ftrft which is Spiritual , but that which is JX!<Jtur<JI, alld afterwards , . that which is Spi;itual: Whereas, had they had ah Exij/ellce in God ill Spirit; before the World was; then he hadfirft btm th<Jt wl>ichu Spiritual,and fljterwards,that which is Natural. And then again, that benefit <lf Creation, which yet we are caught t~ praife God fa much for, had been a worfting of the Condition ofchef, Elecc Ones; a lhooung them out of a Spiritual Condition, into a Namral, without ...any fin of them. CHAP,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=