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is changed into ο παλοδύναμος σε λόγος από εξαγων 15, 16, Thy ALMIGHTY WORD from heaven. And Siracidis, 43. 25. εν λόγω αις συγκειται παιδία, By his Word all things are eftablished. Nay, the Septuagint hath changed Shaddai, the undoubted name of the omnipotent God, into hoyos, the Word. And, therefore, Celfus, writing in the perfon of a Jew, acknowledgeth that the Word is the Son of God :-- ει γε ο λογος εσιν υμιν υιος το θεό, και ημεις επαινόμεν, -If with you the WORD, is the Son of God, this we alfo approve of."

12. Agreeable to this extract from Bp. Pearfon, Dr. Doddridge, in his Note on John i. 2. obferves, "It would be the work of a Treatife, rather than a Note, to reprefent the Jewish doctrine of the Creation of all things by the divine Xoyos or Word." And he prefents us with the following remarkable paffage from Philo, as a fpecimen of the reft. "De Profug. P. 465. Speaking of the Cherubim on the Mercy-feat, as fymbolical reprefentations of what he calls the creating and governing powers, Philo Judæus makes this additional reflection, "The divine Word (Xoyos) is above these, of whom we can have no idea by the fight, or any other fenfe-he being the image of God, the eldest of all intelligent Beings, fitting nearest to him who is truly THE ONLY ONE, there being no diftance between them. And, therefore, he (that is God) fays, I will fpeak unto thee from the Mercy-feat between the two Cherubim; thereby representing the Logos or Word, as the Charioteer by whom the motion of thofe powers is directed; and himself who speaks to him as the Rider, (or perfon carried) who commands the Charioteer how he is to manage the reins." This, Dr. Doddridge thinks is a key to a great many other paffages in Philo. He quotes another (from his Book, De Agricult. p. 195.) where Philo reprefents God, as governing the whole courfe of Nature, both in heaven and earth, as the great Shepherd and King, by wife and righteous laws,. having constituted his unerring Word, his only begotten

begotten Son, to prefide as his Viceroy over his holy flock." For the illuftration of which, he (Philo) quotes Exod. xxiii. 23. though in a form fomewhat different from our reading-" Behold, I AM: I will fend my Angel before thy face, to keep thee in the way." See Doddridge's Family Expofitor.

13. But to drop this. Let us fee what further light we can get from the other Apostles, or from other paffages of the New Testament, concerning the more important of the particulars above named, and whether the sense in which I underftand this paffage of St. John's Gofpel really appear to be the genuine fenfe. As to the firft:He who is by St. John termed the Locos or WORD, and the ONLY BEGOTTEN of the Father is by St. Paul, Col. i. 15. called the image of the invifible God, the first-born of every creature, or, as maong how means, of the whole creation, and, by the Author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews, is faid to be the brightness of his Father's glory, (απαύγασμα της δόξης, the effulgence of his glory) and the exprefs image, (xaparing rus vnosaoses avle, the character, exact delineation, or perfect refemblance) of his perfon. By the firft-born of the whole creation, the Apostle muft mean either begotten before the existence of any creature,* viz. from everlafting, as Micah has it, or the head, the Lord, the heir of the whole creation, the firft-born being heir and lord of all. Hence the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews fays the Father hath appointed him heir of all things, and St. Peter entitles him Lord of all, Heb. i. 2. Acts x. 36. The image of the invifible God, is an expreffion, which must at least fignify, that he exactly re

fembles

"The firfl-born of every creature-that is (fays Bp. Pearson) begotten by God, as the Son of his love, antecedently to all other emanations, before any thing proceeded from him, or was framed and created by him. And that precedency is prefently proved by this undeniable argument, that all other emanations or produc tions, came from him, and whatfoever received its being by crea tion, was created by him." Pearfon on the Creed. P.

fembles his Father, and is the perfon in and by whom the invifible God is, as it were, made vifible, in and through whom the glory of God is dif played, and fhines forth to his creatures. According to the words of St. John, No one (das) hath feen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bofom of the Father, he hath declared him, and according to the words of our Lord himfelt to Philip, when Philip faid Lord, Shew us the Father, and it fufficeth us: and Jefus replied, Have I been fo long time with you, and yet haft thou not known me, Philip? He that hath feen me, hath feen the Father; and how fayeft thou, Shew us the Father? In the fame fenfe he is undoubtedly faid to be the brightness or effulgence of his glory, and the exprefs image, or exact delineation of his perfon.

14. Now that he, whofe perfon is characterized in this language, is not a mere creature, is plain, because the Apoftle diftinguishes him from all creatures, even from the most exalted-from Angels, and that in four respects: First, He is a Son, and the Angels are but Servants. Being fo much better than the Angels, (fays he, ver. 4, 5.) as he hath by inheritance obtained (xsxλngorounner, hath inherited) a more excellent name than they, viz. the name of a SON. For unto which of the Angels, faid he, at any time, Thou art my Son: This day have. I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he fhall be unto me a Son. Not but that the Angels may be called, and are Sons of God, as Mr. Fletcher has obferved above: but not in a proper fenfe: For being mere creatures, they have no natural right to the appellation: They do not inherit it, as the Apoftle's expreffion is-it is not theirs. by birth-right. Not fo the Son: he being the WISDOM and WORD of the Father, begotten of him before any creature, the brightness of the everlafting Light, the unfpotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodnefs, (fee Wifdom vii. 26.) is properly a Son; and, therefore, when he takes upon him the character and form of a Servant, he empties himself of his original and proper dignity,

dignity, and ufes great condefcenfion, (as the Apoftle informs us, Phil. ii. 7.) in fo doing.

15. Again. As a fecond reason why he is better than the Angels, and therefore not a mere creature, the inspired Penman, applying to him a pafTage quoted from the 7th verfe of the 97th Pfalm, viz. Worship him all ye gods, fays, When he bringeth his firft begotten into the world, he faith, And let all the angels of GOD worship him. Now certainly he who hath forbidden Idolatry to men, would not enjoin it to angels. Surely he would not command thofe bright intelligences to fall down before one like themfelves, a mere creature, at an infinite diftance from true and proper Deity.

16. As a third reafon why he is to be preferred before angels, and therefore before the most exalted creatures, the Apoftle next reminds us that his character is drawn in very different language from that in which theirs is drawn, in the Old Teftament, ver. 7-12. Of the angels he faith, Who maketh his angels fpirits, and his minifters a flame of fire: But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne O GOD, is for ever and ever, a fceptre of righteoufness is the fceptre of thy kingdom: Thou haft loved righteoufnefs, and hated wickedness; therefore God, even thy GOD, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladnefs above thy fellows. And Thou, Lord, in the beginning, haft laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands: They fhall perish, but thou remaineft, and they all fhall wax old, as doth a garment; and as a vefture halt thou fold them up, and they fhall be changed; but thou art the fame, and thy years fail not. And, fourthly, no creature, not even the highest angel, hath been exalted to the dignity, authority, and power, to which the Son is exalted: For [ver. 13.] Unto which of the angels faid he at any time, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footftool: Their highest honour is ver. 14.] to be miniftering fpirits fent forth to minifter to them that shall be heirs of falvation.

17. In

17. In perfect confiftency with all this, he infers, laftly, in the beginning of the next Chapter, from this manifeft fuperiority of the Son to Angels, that the guilt of those who reject or flight the Golpel fpoken by Him, is greater than that of thofe who formerly tranfgreffed the law delivered by them. Therefore [fays he] we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, left at any time we fhould let them flip. For if the word spoken by Angels was ftedfaft, (viz. the law delivered by their miniftry) and every tranfgreffion and difobedience received a juft recompence of reward,-how fhall we efcape, if we neglect fo great falvation, which at the firft began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by thofe that heard him, God alfo (viz. the Father) bearing them witnefs with figns and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghoft, according to his own will?

18. It appears, therefore, beyond difpute, firft, That the author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews confidered the Son of God as a Being fuperior to Angels-that is, to the moft exalted creatures, as he exprefsly, and of set purpose, distinguishes him from them all, giving us, regularly, four explicit reafons why he is better than they. And, fecondly, it appears that he believed him to be poffelfed of a nature truly and properly divine, becaufe among other paffages quoted from the Old Teftament, he produces two, and applies them to the Son, which David undoubtedly meant of Jehovah the true God,-I mean the pailages taken from the 97th Pfalm, and from the 102d. Now whether we confider that the Author of this Epiftle (moft probably St. Paul) was divinely inIpired, and therefore could not be mistaken, at leaft, in fo important a point, as whether his Mafter was truly God, or only a mere creatures or whether we confider the conclusiveness of his reafoning from the writings of the Old Teftament, which (as our Lord fays cannot be broken, or are infallible)-we are certainly authorized to believe and maintain, that the Locos, the WORD, G

the

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