54 Of !he .l(nowledg of Cjod the Father, ~ braham had done by Faith : They will needs cavil, and put this upon him, that BooK ll. be had meant he had leen .Abrahm,,. and had lived in his Time, vnC 57· 1hou L~ m·t not fifty years old, and haft thou fien Abraham _? Chrifi cloth not anfw~r as he might, that this was a meer Cavtl, as to what hts former Words dtd mtend or hold forth ; but inllead thereof, wtth a deep A!feveratwn affirms, what they thought be bad abfurdly laid of himfelf, namely, that he bad not only hved in .dbraham's Time, but long afore. And fo thetr Cavtl and Mtllake drew forth from Chrill this areat Truth; as Errors ufe to brmg forth Truth; and he utters it with the greai;;llSolemnity, and A!feveration, Verily, verily, (as being a Won– der to utter) yea, and !peaks not in ordinary Language, as that afore fbraham wM [I"''"J but [I am J in a correfpondency to what God !peaks ofhimfelf, Be– fore the D<'J w.u, 1am, Ifa. 43· I3. We tranOate tt, 1_ anJ he, but _Word for Word it is 1 anJ: figmfymg thereby that permanent, umnterrupted Bemg of his, which is proper to God, as Pial. 90. 2. '13efore the Mountains were brought forth, thou art. And Chrifi's Anfwer in this Place was oppofite to their Demand; they !peak ofreal Exi!lence,and in the fame Senfe and R.efpeCl: cloth Chrifi ant\ver them. Sixthly, We find him exif1ing in the days of:J(Jah, that Preacher of Righte– oulnefs, I Pet. 3· I 9· He lays ofChrifi, that he was put to Death in the Flej/J, b•t quiek._ncd in the Spirit. He evidently dillinguifheth of two Natures, his Divine, and Human; even as Ram. 1. 3, 4· and elfewhere, (as I fhall fhew) and then de– clares, how by that Divine Nature which he terms Spirit, in which he was exi– fient in Noal!s Times, he went and Preach'd to thole of the old World, whole Souls are now in Prifon in Hell. Thole Words [in Spirit] is not put to fignify the Subject ofVivification; for fuch neither his Soul nor God-head could be faid to be; for that is not quickned which was not dead : But for the Principal and Caufe ofhis Vivification, which his Soul was not but his God-head was. And bdides, by his Spirit is not meant his Soul,for that then mull be fuppofed to have preached to Souls in Hell (where thefe are affirmed to be). Now there is no Preaching where there is no Capacity of Faith: But his meaning is, that thole Perlons that lived in 'JI(jah's Time, and were preacb'd unto, their Souls, or Spi– rits, were now, when this was written, Spirits in Prifon; that is, in Hell. And therefore he alfo adds this Word [Jometimes J who were Jometimes difobedient in No<~h's Days. Thefe Words give us to underlland, that this Preaching was performed by 'JI(jah minillerially; yet by Chrill in Noah: who according to his Divine Perfon was extant, and went with him, as with Mofts, and the Church in the Wildernefs, and preach'd unto them. Scventhly, He was extant at the beginning ofthe World, In the beginning was the Word. In which Words, there being no Predicate or Attribure affirmed of this Word, the Sentence or Affirmation is terminated or ended meerly with his Exillance, He was, and he was then, In the beginning. He mentions not his .Pa– rents, or time ofhis Birth, but Gm~ly that He was : He mentions not any King's Ra1go, or fuch Note of Worldly T1me, but fimply, In the beginning: And he fays not that he wa. made in theBeginning,but that He[war] in the beginning: And it isin the 'Brgi1ming abfolutely without any Limitation. And therefore Mofe/s begmmng, Gen. I. 1. ."meant, as alfothe Words afterfhew, AD wa1 made byhinJ t!Jtlt roas made ; and verf._ 1o. The World he came mto was made by him. And as from the Begmmng, 1s ufually taken from the firll Times or Infancy of the World, Mat. 19. 4· ..Andheanfweredandfaidunto them, Have;·enot read, th.tthe which made thtm at the Beginning, made them Male and Female? So MArlz q.19. Chrifi expounds it the beginning ofthe Creation, which God created· For in thoft D<~;s jl1aUhe Ajflit1ion, jitch as was not from the Begi1mi11g of the Crea:ion wf.ich God created, unto thu Time, neither foal/be. So then, when God began to create, then was our Chrill. And <his here is fet in Oppofition (]oh. 1. '4-) unto the ttme of !m u;mg made Flefh, left that fhould have been thought his Beginning. And unto thts accords that of Heb. I. 10. where !peaking ofChrifi, out of PCaJ. 102. Tl.ou,Lord, in the beginning haft/aid the Foundati"ns ofthe Earth; (o as to be fure he cxificd then. But further, in 'Pfol. 102. 24. it runs thus, Thy Years are tbro11,~Lout aU Generations ( \Ve have run, you fee, through ail Generations, fincc the Creation, and have found his Years throughout them all.) And yet Jell that fhould
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=