L.

29. In the records of Truth, before the EVER- CHAP. LASTING FATHER, we see JEHOVAH; and before JEHOVAH, we see I AM; and before I AM, we see GOD; and before GOD, we see the Beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth: for without a beginning God could not be known to exist, and therefore could not exist in relation to things that have a beginning. Canst Job xi. 7. thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?

9, 10, 11.

30. At the beginning of the new creation, the Son of God declared that he was in the Father, and the Father in him; and to the Jews he said, No man John xiv. hath ascended up to heaven, but he from heaven, even the Son of man, en. This he said while on the earth, where the Father was, and only could, or needed to be revealed.

that came down
which is in hèrv-

13.

31. Moses had written the history of the natural creation from the beginning, and not the history of the new creation; but the Evangelists wrote the history of the new creation, and not that of the old, having been eye witnesses of the work of Christ Jesus Lukei. 2. from the beginning, and having received the WoRP, 25. Hel. by which the foundation of that world was laid, and ï. 5. by which they were created anew in Christ Jesus, who was the beginning of that creation.

John vi.

*Gr.

To.

32. In the beginning was the Word, [of Revelation] and the Word was God: The same [Word] John i. was in the beginning with God. Every thing was* by him, and without him was not any thing that was. Εγενε In him was life; and the life was the light of men.- existed.or And the Word was flesh [revealed by Christ Jesus] brought and dwelt among [or in]us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

33. That Word by which Jesus spake, by which the ages were set in order, and which Jesus testified should judge the world at the last day, proceeded from the everlasting substance of the Father, and the Holy Ghost; and hence the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are one, in essence, in nature, and in union, everlasting.

34. But doth this imply "Three Persons, of one

forth.

I.

CHAP. Substance, Power, and Eternity?" or that "The Son is eternally begotten of the Father?" Or doth it imply that the Son is "very and eternal God, equal with the Father?" No such thing. I can of mine own self do nothing, said Jesus: The Word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me :-For my Father is greater than I.

John v. 30.

xiv. 24,

28.

John viii. 56.

35. And doth not nature and reason, as well as the whole order of creation, witness, that he who begets must be before him that is begotten? and that the Father is therefore greater than the Son? and that the Son must have a beginning? How can the Son be eternally begotten? If he is eternally begotten, then the Father must be eternally begetting him, and consequently, of eternal necessity, he must be eternally in the womb, and was never brought forth, never came to the birth, nor ever can while eternity endures.

36. But if the Father had a Son, he was certainly begotten; and if begotten, then certainly brought forth; and as certainly he had a beginning; and that beginning was not all eternity, but the operation of God at a certain period of time; yet his descent was from everlasting, being begotten, conceived, and brought forth from an everlasting source.

37. Jesus said to the Jews, "Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." But how did Abraham see his day? Was it to him present, past, or future? The truth is, it was not to him real, but only by faith in the promise, the fulfilment of which was yet future: for he looked for Heb. i. a city whose builder and maker is God: And what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope and look for?

10. Rom.

viii. 24,25

John i.

27, 30.

38. Again said Jesus, Before Abraham was, I am. This was strictly true; but in what sense? Not in relation to the period of his existence; but in relation to the dignity of his order, office, and work; in this he was preferred before all, and above all that ever were before him. Hence said John the Baptist, the greatest of all the prophets, He it is, who coming after me, is preferred before me for he was before me. 39. Again, it is said that Jesus prayed for the glory which he had with the Father before the world Whatever ideas the natural man may form

was.

I.

from the literal words of scripture, the plain truth is CHAP this Christ Jesus, in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily, knew what was intended, in the mind and purpose of the Father, for him; therefore, when he had finished the work which the Father had given him to do, he prayed, saying, And now, O Fa- John vii ther, glorify thou me, with the glory which I had with 5. thee, [that is, which was in thy mind and purpose concerning me] before the world was.

9.

40. Again, when the apostle said, "God hath sa- 2 Tim. i. ved us, and called us with an holy calling, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." He could not mean the old world; for neither they, nor Christ Jesus existed in the order of time before the old world, but long after.

6.

41. Therefore it is written, "Thou art my Son, rea. ü. 7. this day have I begotten thee :" which could not be Heb. i. 5, the day in which David wrote: for again he saith, I.. will (in the future tense) be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a son. And when he bringeth the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. Which was expressly fulfilled when the tidings of his birth were brought to the shepherds, four thousand years after the visible creation began, and never before.

See John

XV. 4, 16.

5.

24.

42. The apostles and true followers of Christ Jesus, were indeed called and chosen to be in him, as xiv. 20. he was in the Father, and to be witnesses of him, Acts i. 2. before the foundation of that world, new creation, or Heb. i. 4 new age was fully established, which, according to Acts . promise, was at the day of Pentecost; then it was actually brought forth, according to the purpose of God, which he purposed in himself before all worlds. But we must distinguish between the purpose of God, and its actual accomplishment.

43. A man might purpose to build a city, and exhibit the plan according to his purpose; but would the plan be the city itself? And provided the city was built, from what period would the building of the city be dated? from the time of its actual building? or of forming the plan? Not from the plan, but from the actual building of the city.

44. And should he, at the same time, include in

CHAP. the plan the building of a meaner city, preparatory I. to that which he intended for glory and duration, and

Luke'i.

3 & 35.

in which he intended to live and abide; would not every person of common sense grant, that the last could only be first in point of dignity and glory, and not in the order of time?

45. The purpose of God is eternal, and equally includes the existence of all his works, to be created, and to exist in their own order of times; therefore no one thing can be considered as prior to another, in that eternal purpose, otherwise than as it respects the times of their actual existence, and the dignity of their order.

46. As one thing must exist before another, in regard to time; so in this respect, the first man Adam was first, as to actual existence; and the first born Son of God, was preferred before him in the purpose of God, respecting man's redemption; but was not first as to actual existence, any more than the whole human race existed on the earth before God said, "Let us make man in our image."

47. When David spake by the Spirit, saying, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; many ages had to pass away before this prophecy could be fulfilled. But when the fulness of time was come, for the Son to be begotten, conceived, and brought forth into the world, then the manner of his conception and birth, his name and office, were particularly declared by the angel Gabriel, unto Mary, a virgin espoused to Joseph.

48. "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.-The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee."

49. Here then, were the first operations of that Word, by which the first begotten Son of God entered the world. And as he was the second Adam, therefore he was not before the first Adam. And as he was the beginning of the creation of God, which is the New creation; therefore he was not in existence before the beginning of the Old creation.

CHAPTER II.

The Subject continued.

HERE is a natural body, and there is a spir- CHAP.

"Titual body?" and as there is a natural birth to

II.

the natural body, so there is a spiritual birth to the spiritual body, which is produced by the work of regeneration, and is called the new birth, or being born again. Hence it is written, The first man Adam was 1 Cor. xv made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

2. The living soul of the first man was a spiritual body, and occupied the natural body of the first Adam, and constituted the first natural man. The quickening spirit of the second man was the Lord from heaven, and occupied the spiritual body of the second Adam, and constituted the first spiritual man, the true Christ the Son of God.

3. That natural body or tabernacle, in which the Lord Jesus dwelt, was visible to the human eye, like the natural bodies of other men; but his spiritual body, in which was Christ the Lord, was invisible, and was seen and known only by revelation to those who received his Word; and no man could call him Lord but by the Holy Ghost.

4. How greatly, then, are they mistaken, who suppose that the virgin Mary was the true and real Mother of the Son of God. With as much propriety it might be said, that the dust of the ground was the true and real Mother of the first living soul.

5. It is true, a body was formed of the dust of the ground, into which the Lord God breathed the breath of life; but the ground could be no more than the Mother of that body in which the living soul was formed for the natural dust of the ground had nothing to do in conceiving the living soul.

6. And although there was a natural body taken out of the virgin Mary, in which the true spiritual body of the Lord Jesus was formed, it could consti

Bbb

45, 46, 47.