then either He was not made, or He must make Himself, which involves in it a plain contradiction.

(Secondly), That this Word was from all eternity for if He "was in the beginning; " that is, before any thing was made, He must of necessity always have been; because whatever is, must either have been sometime made, or must always have been; for that which was not, and afterwards is, must be made. And this will likewise follow from His being said to be God, and that in the most strict and proper sense; which doth necessarily imply His eternity, because God cannot begin to be, but must of necessity always have been.

(Thirdly), From botl. these it will undeniably follow, that He had an existence before His incarnation, and His being born of the blessed virgin. For if He "was in the beginning," that is, from all eternity, which I have shown to be the meaning of that expression, then certainly He was before His being born of the blessed virgin. And this likewise is implied in the proposition in the text: "And the Word was made flesh," viz., that Word which the evangelist had before so gloriously described; that Word which "was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God," and "by whom all things were made; " I say, that Word was incarnate, and assumed a human nature, and therefore must necessarily exist, and have a being, before He could assume humanity into an union with His Divinity.

And this proposition is directly levelled against the Socinians, who affirm our blessed Saviour to be a mere man, and that He had no existence before He was born of the Virgin Mary, His mother which assertion of theirs does perfectly contradict all the former conclusions which have been drawn from the description here given by St. John of the Word. And their interpretation of this passage of St. John applying it to the beginning of the publication of the Gospel, and to the new creation or reformation of the world by Jesus Christ, doth likewise contradict the interpretation of this passage constantly received, not only by the ancient fathers, but even by the general consent of all Christians for fifteen hundred years together, as I shall hereafter plainly

show for to establish this their opinion, that our blessed Saviour was a mere man, and had no existence before His birth, they are forced to interpret this whole passage in the beginning of St. John's Gospel quite to another sense, never mentioned, nor I believe thought of by any Christian writer whatsoever before Socinus and it is not easy to imagine how any opinion can be loaded with a greater and heavier penalty than this is.

And this I should now take into consideration, and show, besides the novelty of this interpretation, and the great violence and unreasonableness of it, the utter inconsistency of it with other plain texts of the New Testament.

But this is wholly matter of controversy, and will require a large discourse by itself. I shall therefore waive the further prosecution of it at present, and apply myself to that which is more practical and proper for the occasion of this season so that at present I have done with the first thing contained in the first part of the text, viz., The Person here spoken of, Who is said to be incarnate, namely, the Word, it was He that was made

flesh."

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I should then have proceeded to the second thing which I proposed to consider, viz., The mystery itself, or the nature of this incarnation, so far as the Scripture hath revealed and declared it to us, namely, by assuming our nature in such a manner as that the Divinity became united to a human soul and body. But this I have already endeavoured in some measure to explain, and shall do it more fully in some of the following discourses upon this text. I shall now only make a short and useful reflection upon it with relation to the solemnity of this

time.

And it shall be to stir us up to a thankful acknowledgment of the great love of God to mankind in the mystery of our redemption, by the incarnation of the Word, "the only begotten Son of God:" that He should deign to have such a regard to us in our low condition, and to take our case so much to heart, as to think of redeeming and saving mankind from that depth of misery into which we had plunged ourselves; and to do this in so wonderful and astonishing a manner that God should employ His eternal and only begotten Son, who had been with Him from all eternity partaker of His happiness and glory, and was God of God, to save the sons of men by so infinite and amazing a condescension: that God should vouchsafe to become man, to reconcile man to God: that He should come down from heaven to earth, to raise us from earth to heaven: that He should assume our vile, and frail, and mortal nature, that He might clothe us with glory, and

honour, and immortality that He should suffer death to save us from hell, and shed His blood to purchase eternal redemption for us.

For certainly the greater the person is that was employed in this merciful design, so much the greater is the condescension, and the love and goodness expressed in it so much the more admirable: that the Son of God should stoop from the height of glory and happiness to the lowest degree of abasement, and to the very depth of misery for our sakes, who were so mean and inconsiderable, so guilty and obnoxious to the severity of justice, so altogether unworthy of His grace and favour, and so very unwilling to receive it when it was so freely offered to us; for, as the evangelist here tells us, "He came to His own, and His own received Him not:" to His own creatures, and they did not own and acknowledge their Maker; to His own nation and kindred, and they despised Him, and esteemed Him not. Lord! what is man that God should be so mindful of him; or the son of man, that the Son of God should come down from heaven to visit him, in so much humility and condescension, and with so much kindness and compassion.

Blessed God and Saviour of mankind! what shall we render to Thee for such mighty love, for such inestimable benefits as Thou hast purchased for us, and art ready to confer upon us? What shall we say to Thee, O Thou preserver and lover of souls, so often as we approach Thy holy table, there to commemorate this mighty love of Thine to us, and to partake of those invaluable blessings which by Thy precious blood-shedding Thou hast obtained for us? So often as we there remember, that Thou wast pleased to assume our mortal nature, on purpose to live amongst us for our instruction, and for our example, and to lay down Thy life for the redemption of our souls, and for the expiation of our sins and to take part of flesh and blood that Thou mightest shed it for our sakes: what affections should these thoughts raise in us! What vows and resolutions should they engage us in, of perpetual love and gratitude, and obedience to Thee, the most gracious and most glorious redeemer of mankind!

And with what religious solemnity should we, more especially at this time, celebrate the incarnation and birth of the Son of God, by giving praise and glory to God in the highest, and by all possible demonstration of charity and good-will to men! And as He was pleased to assume our nature, so should we, especially at this season, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, sincerely embrace and practise His religion, making no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof: and now that the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon the world, we should walk as children of the light, and demean ourselves as decently as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy and should be very careful not to

abuse ourselves by sin and sensuality, upon this very considera. tion, that the Son hath put such an honour and dignity upon us: we should reverence that nature which God did not disdain to assume, and to inhabit here on earth, and in which He now gloriously reigns in heaven at the right hand of His Father; to Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

CONCERNING THE DIVINITY OF OUR

BLESSED SAVIOUR.

(Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence-Jewry, Jan. 6th, 1679.)

The Word was made flesh.-Joux i. 14.

I PROCEED now to prosecute the third corollary or conclusion, which does necessarily follow from the description which St. John in the beginning of his Gospel gives of the Word, which I have so largely explained in the foregoing discourse: and it was this

That the Word, here described by the evangelist, had an existence before his incarnation, and his being born of the blessed virgin.

This assertion, I told you, is levelled directly against the Socinians, who affirm our blessed Saviour to be a mere man, and deny that He had any existence before He was born of the Virgin Mary, his mother: which position of theirs does perfectly contradict all the former conclusions, which have been so evidently drawn from the description here given of the Word: and not only so, but hath forced them to interpret this whole passage in the beginning of St. John's Gospel in a very different sense from that which was constantly received, not only by the ancient fathers, but by the general consent of all Christians for 1500 years together. For to establish this their opinion of our Saviour's being a mere man, and having no existence before His birth, they have found it necessary to expound this whole passage