105 Devil, Luke 4. 1, 2. and he return'd from thence in the power of the Spirit, ver. 14. And the perpetual Prefence of the fame Spirit appears in the whole Course of his Actions. And accordingly you truly affirm, that (b) during the Time of his Incarnation, he was all along under the Conduct of the Holy Spirit. And again you (c) fay, The Holy Spirit is defcrib'd in the new Teftament, as the immediate Author and Worker of all Miracles, even of thofe done by our Lord himself; and as the Conducter of Chrift in all the Actions of his Life, during his State of Humiliation bere upon Earth. And again, fpeaking of the Holy Spirit, you (d) fay, He is defcrib'd as being the Conducter and Guide of our Lord during his State of Humiliation here upon Earth. Nor did Chrift ever perform any thing throughout the whole Space of his Miniftry, which might not be perform'd by a mere Man conducted and affifted by the Holy Spirit. And confequently, during his Ministry, his Difciples could not learn from his wonderful Actions, that he was God as well as Man. Thirdly, Thofe Declarations which our Lord was pleas'd to make concerning himself, did not cause his Difciples to believe, that he was more than a Man conducted and affifted by the Spirit of God. That this may appear, I fhall go through them diftinctly. They are of three different Sorts." First, In diverfe of them he declares what was paft at the time of his fpeaking. 1. He faid feveral times, that he came down from Heaven. I need not obferve to you, that those who fuppofe the WORD to be the Very (b) Script. Doctr. p. 197, 198. God, God, can't poffibly interpret feveral of thofe Texts of the Defcent of Chrift's Divine Nature, without the Affiftance of fuch forcible Strains, as (I hope) I fhall never dare allow my felf the the Ufe of. But fince I have fhewn, that Chrift's Human Soul preexifted, they are all of them very plain and eafy. For let us examin Particulars. Our Lord fays, No man bath afcended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man av in seave (that is, not as we tranflate it, which is in heaven, but) which was in heaven, John 3. 13. For tis notorious, that the Participle muft fome 示 times be conftrued in the Preter Tenfe, For the Proof of this I need go no farther than the 31ft Verse of this Chapter, where the Baptift fays, Ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμος ἐπάνω πάντων δείν. Ὁ ὢν ἐκ τ γῆς, ἐκ $gus ba, y cn i gus xaneï à ca to seave isów indyou Adv. Now 'tis certain, that ought in this Place to be rendred, he that came; and confequently, anys, which Phrafe is manifeftly opposed to iné, must be rendred, he that was from the earth. Thus alfo the Participle او is us'd elfewhere. For Inftance, Tupads av den Batm, whereas I was blind, I now fee, John 9. 25. Καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκρές τοῖς απλώμασι συνεζωοποίησε την Χες, which ought to be rendred thus, And us, who were dead in fins, bath be quickened together with Chrift, Eph. 2. 5. And accordingly the Baptift's Meaning is plainly this; He that was from the earth, is (or continues ftill to be) from the earth, that is, a common Man, &c. So that our Savior's Words are very clear and intelligible. For his Meaning is, that the Son of Man, which was in Heaven, because his Human Soul preexifted there, came down from Heaven, when his preexiftent Soul was cloath'd with a Body,and convers'd amongst us as a Man. Again, Chrift fays, the bread of God is be which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world, John 6. 33. and again, I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that fent me, v. 38. Thefe Texts mean, that the Man Chrift Jefus became incarnat, that he might perform God's Will; and that the fame Man Chrift Jefus gives Life to the World, by Virtue of that Authority and Power, which God has given for that Purpose. Thus also, when he fays, What and if ye shall fee the Son of man afcend up where he was before? v. 62. he means, that his human Soul was in Heaven before his Incarnation. But there is one Verse, which (I think) requires another Senfe. Our Lord fays, I am the living bread, which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he fhall live for ever: and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world, v. 51. In this Paffage our Savior afferts, that his Flesh came down from Heaven. But did his Body then exift before the Incarnation? And did his preexifting Body defcend thro' the Bleffed Virgin's Womb? No; but as I have (e) elsewhere ob- . ferved, by coming down from heaven in this Place is meant, being begotten by the immediat Power of God. For our Savior's Flesh, tho' born of the Virgin Mary, was conceiv'd in her by the Overfhadowing of the Holy Ghoft. And thus the Jews understood our Savior. For they knew, that by his pretending, that his Flesh came from Heaven, he meant that he was not born of the Will of Man; and therefore they objected his having Earthly Parents, and could not understand, how he could be (e) Confutation of Quakerifm, Ch. 12, p. 153. faid faid to come down from Heaven with respect to his outward Man. This is plain from the Text, which fays, The Jews then murmured against him, because he faid, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they faid, is not this Jefus the Son of Jofeph, whofe father and mother we know? How is it then that he faith, I came down from Heaven? V.41, 42. So that our Bleffed Savior came down from Heaven with respect to his Body as well as his Soul. His Soul preexifted there, and his Body came therefore down from Heaven, because it was begotten by the Will and Operation of God. Thus St. John's Baptifm was faid to be from heaven, Matt. 21. 25, that is, to proceed from God, and to be of Divine Original; in Oppofition to its being of Men, that is, inftituted by human Authority. 2. He fpeaks of the Glory, which he had with the Father before the World was, John 17. 5. and of his Father's Loving him before the foundation of the world, V. 24. Thefe Paffages have been already explain'd of the Preexiftence of his Human Soul in the Seventh Chapter. And as for his faying, Before Abrabam was, I am (or as it ought to be rendred, I was, by a known Scriptural Figure) it moft evidently relates to the fame Preexiftence of his Human Soul. Secondly, Other Declarations of the Bleffed Jefus relate to the then prefent Time. 1. Our Lord cals himself the only begotten Son of God, John 3. 16, 18. and this he truly was with refpect to his Human Nature. For tho' Adam is call'd the Son of God, Luke 3. 39. yet that was upon 3.39. the Account of his Formation out of the Duft, and not because he was really begotten of a Woman by the Holy Ghoft. Adam could not be faid to have been begotten by God but our Lord Jefus Chrift was as truly begotten by God, as we are by our re fpective spective natural Fathers. Nor was any other Man ever fo begotten by God; and therefore Chrift is God's only begotten Son as to his Human Nature. Whether he is not alfo the only begotten Son of God as to his Divine Nature, I do not now inquire. What I at préfent affert, is, that his declaring himfelf to be the only begotten Son of God, did not -difcover to his Difciples or others, that he was more than a Man, or had any Divine Nature at - all. 2. He speaks of the intimat Union between God and himself, and declares, that God was in him, and he in God, faying, I and my Father are one, John -10. 30. Though ye believe not me, believe the works: that je may know and believe, that the Father is in me, " and I in bim, v. 33. At that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you, John 14. 20. And now I am no more in the world, but thefe are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep thro -thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are, John 17. 11. That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and 1 in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe,that thou haft fent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know, that thou baft fent me, and haft loved them, as thou hast loved me, V. 21, 22, 23. Now it must be observ'd, that the very fame Phrafes, which exprefs the Union between God and Chrift, do alfo exprefs the Union between Chrift and his Difciples, and between the Disciples themfelves. As God is faid to be in Chrift, and Chrift in God, John 10. 38. fo Chrift is faid to be in his Difciples, and his Difciples in him, even as God is in Christ, John 14. 20. And as Chrift |