2 St. LUKE'S Dedication SECT. 1. left and most fatisfactory Evidence (c), as the great Foundation of our common Faith; Luke I. 2. And fince fome of these Hiftorians have written, not on their own perfonal Knowledge, but as They, (whether Apoftles, or others,) have tranfmitted them to us, who were themselves, from the Beginning of Chrift's Ministry, Eye-witnesses of what paffed, and in Proof of the Sincerity of their Testimony, couragiously became Minifters of the Word (d), that is, of the Gospel, amidst the 3 greatest Oppofition ; I also having accurately traced all these Things (e) from their first Rife (f), even from the very Conception of John the Baptist, who was the Forerunner of our Lord, have thought it proper to 2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from Witneffes, and Minifters of the Beginning were Eyethe Word: 3 It feemed good to me alfo, having had perfect Understanding of all Things from the very firft, to write unto thee in Order, most excellent Theophilus, the now unknown Compilers of thefe Hiftories, whoever they were. Eufeb. Ecclef. Hift. lib. iii. cap. 24. (b) To compofe the Hiftory.] To fet forth in order a Declaration, is fo antiquated a Phrase, that it would hardly be understood any where, but here; at leaft I am fure, none could, by reading it, fo much as guess at the Elegance and Propriety of St. Luke's Words, avalağada Siny now, which may more literally, and I think far more juftly, be render'd, to compofe a History: And I doubt not, but our English Word compofe, may express as much Regularity in the Order of Facts, as the Evangelist meant to inti mate. (c) Confirmed among us with the fullest Evidence.] I think weλnpopopnuɛvwv is rather to be understood, as referring to the Fulness of that Evidence with which the Facts were attended, than to the Confidence with which they were believed. This feems most honourable to the Gofpel; but as I know the Word is ambiguous, and often used in the latter Senfe, I have chofe to exprefs that also in the Paraphrase. Compare 2 Tim. iv. 5, 17. Gr. (d) of the Word.] Some have conjectured, that λoyos, the Word, here fignifies Chrift, as in the Beginning of St. John's Gospel: Perhaps it may; but I did not think it so evident, as to venture fixing it to that Sense. (e) Having accurately traced all thefe Things.] The Original, wapnxoλ0nxori wasi axes, plainly fignifies that Accuracy of Investigation, on which the perfect underStanding of his Subject was built. (f) From their first Rife.] Some very pious and learned Writers have pleaded this Text, as an Argument for the. Inspiration of St. Luke's Gospel, and confequently of the reft; becaufe the Word avade fometimes fignifies from Above, or from Heaven; as it plainly doth, John iii. 31. Fam. i. 17. iii. 15, 17. But Luke fo evidently uses it in the Sense here given, Acts xxvi. 5. and that Senfe is fo common elsewhere, and feems fo abfolutely neceffary in this Connection with @anzano, that I cannot think this Text at all to the Purpose. The Argument I mention, is one of those, which, like Pieces of fuperfluous Armour, encumber rather than defend; and the more I am concerned about the Conclufion, here or elsewhere, the more cautious shall I always be, that I may not draw it from fuch Premifes, of his Hiftory to THEOPHILUS. 4 That thou mightest know the Certainty of thofe Things, wherein thou haft been inftructed. 3 to write an orderly Account of them (g): And SECT. 1. Theophilus (b); Because, though thou Luke I. 4. (g) To write an orderly Account of them, nadens oor pafar.] It is chiefly on the Authority of this Claufe, that M. Le Clerc, and many other modern Harmonizers, have thought, (as Beza alfo did,) that all the other Gofpels are to be reduced to the Order of Luke, wherever they differ from it: A Conclufion, which I apprehend, for Reasons that fhall afterwards be given at large, to be an Occafion of many Errors, and particularly injurious to the Character of St. Matthew. I would only here obferve, that the Foundation of it is very precarious; fince it is evident, this Evangelift might, with great Propriety, be faid to have given an orderly Account of the Hiftory of Chrift, as the leading Facts are in their due Series, tho' fome Particulars are tranfpofed. (b) O most noble Theophilus.] That Theophilus is the Name of a particular Perfon, eminent in the Church in thofe early Days, and not, (as Salvian thought it,) a general Title applicable to every Chriftian as a Lover of GOD, Dr. Whitby, after many others, hath abundantly proved. What his Rank in Life was, we do not indeed certainly know; but it feems, that it was pretty confiderable: for Kparise was then, as Excellency among us is, a Title of Honour and Refpect ufual in addreffing noble Perfonages: (See Acts xxiii 26. xxiv. 3. xxvi. 25.) And it might with fome peculiar Propriety be applied here, as Theophilus was fo worthy the Name he bore, which fignifies a true Lover of GOD. (i) Haft been inftructed, wept av naluxnns.] The Word doth with great Accuracy exprefs the Inftructions given to thofe, who were training up for an Admiffion to the Christian Church; whofe Name of Catechumens was, as it is well known, derived from hence, and applied, without any particular Regard to the Age of the Perfons concerned. Compare Acts xviii. 25. Rom. ii. 18. 1 endeavour to express this in the Paraphrafe, but it would be very improper to use the English Word which most literally answers to the Greek, because that is now almoft wholly appropriated to Children. L IMPROVEME N T. ETus humbly adore the Divine Goodness, that Facts of fo great Importance, as these now to be laid before us, were not left to the Uncertainty of Oral Tradition; but delivered to the Church in Writing, by Persons who had so many Opportunities of learning Ver. 2. the Truth, and have given fuch full Proof of their Integrity in relating it. Let us be thankful, that we have not only one fuch 4 Ver. 1. Reflections on St. LUKE's Dedication. Sect. 1. History, but that feveral undertook this excellent and neceffary Work, by whose united Testimony the whole is confirmed; while it is also illuftrated by the Variety of their Narrations, each inserting fome confiderable Circumftance which the reft have omitted. Let us rejoice in that providential Care, which hath preserved this invaluable Treasure through fo many fucceeding Ages, and fome of them Periods of the groffeft Darkness, and the hottest Perfecution. Ver. 4. While we study this orderly Series of Sacred Story, let us be concerned, that our Faith may be established by it, and our other Graces proportionably advanced; maintaining a continual Dependance on that bleffed Spirit, by whose Inftruction it was written, to lead us into wife and pious Reflections upon it. To conclude; from the Care, which this holy Evangelift expreffeth, for the Edification and Comfort of his Friend Theophilus, let us learn to regard it, as one of the most important Offices of Friendship, to labour for the fpiritual Advantage of each other; by endeavouring, not only to awaken and inftruct thofe, that are entirely unacquainted or unaffected with Divine Things, but alfo, as we have Opportunity, to confirm the Faith, and quicken the Zeal, of the most established Ver. 3. Chriftians with whom we converse. Happy the Men, whofe Tongues, and whose Pens, are employed in fo good a Work: May they never, in the remotest Ages, fail of fome excellent Theophilus, to welcome and encourage their pious Attempts! SECT. II. St. JOHN begins his Gospel, with a very fublime and emphatical Account, of the Deity, and Incarnation of CHRIST, and of those glorious and important Purposes, for which he condefcended to appear among us in the Human Nature. John I. 1,--14. JOHN I. I. N JOHN I. I. SECT. 2. IN the Beginning, before the Foundation the Beginning was the of the World, or the firft Production of John I. 1. any created Being, a glorious Perfon exifted, who (on Account of the Perfections of his Nature, and his being in Time the Medium: 2. of Word, and was St. JOHN afferts the Deity of CHRIST. was with GOD, and the Word was God. 5 of Divine Manifestations to us,) may pro- SECT. 2. was by him, as one brought up with him, (a) The Word of GOD.] The Greek Logos is now become fo familiar to an English Ear, that I doubt not, but most of my Readers would have underfood me, had I retained it in my Tranflation; which, on Account of the Singularity of the Idea here fignified by it, I fhould have done, had I not feared, it might have been unintelligible to a few at least, and so have impaired the Pleasure they might find in fo excellent a Paffage. I know, that fome of the Fathers render Logos, Reafon, as M. Le Clerc doth; tho' I apprehend they mean it in a very different Senfe from him, who feems to underftand it only as a strong Eastern Phrase, to fignify the confummate Wisdom of the Gospel Scheme. See his Harmony, p. 44. But this will entirely enervate, and deftroy the Senfe of ver. 14. as well as of thofe Texts, which fpeak of Chrift's coming out from GOD, enjoying Glory with him before the World was, &c. (b) The Word was GOD ] I know how eagerly many have contended, that the Word GOD is used here in an inferior Sense; the neceffary Confequence of which is, (as indeed fome have expressly avowed it,) that this Clause should be render'd, The Word was a God, that is, a kind of inferior Deity, as Governours are called Gods. See John x. 34. and I Cor. viii. 5. But it is impoffible, he fhould here be fo called merely as a Governour, because he is fpoken of as exifting before the Production of any Creatures whom he could govern: And it is to me mcft incredible, that when the Jews were so exceeding averfe to Idolatry, and the Gentiles fo unhappily prone to it, fuch a plain Writer, as this Apoftle, fhould lay fo dangerous a Stumbling-block on the very Threshold of his Work, and reprefent it as the Christian Doctrine, that in the Beginning of all Things there were two Gods, one fupream, and the other fubordinate: A Difficulty, which, if poffible, would be yet farther increased, by recollecting what fo many antient Writers affert, that this Gospel was written with a particular View of oppofing the Cerinthians and Ebionites; (See Tren. l. i. c. 26. l. iii. c. 11. Eufeb. Eccl. Hift. I vi. c. 14.) on which Account a greater Accuracy of Expreffion must have been neceffary. There are fo many Instances in the Writings of this Apoftle, and even in this Chapter, (fee ver. 6, 12, 13, 18.) where sos without the Article, is used to fignify GOD in the highest Senfe of the Word, that it is fomething surprising, fuch a Stress fhould be laid on the Want of that Article, as a Proof that it is ufed only in a fubordinate Sense. On the other Hand, to conceive of Chrift as a diftinct and co-ordinate GOD, would be equally inconfiftent with the most exprefs Declarations of Scripture, and far more irreconcileable with Reafon. Nothing I have faid above, can by any means be juftly interpreted in fuch a Senfe: And I here folemnly disclaim the leaft Intention of infinuating one Thought of that Kind, by any Thing I have ever written, here or elsewhere.-The Order of the Words in the Original, (sos nuo λoyos,) is fuch, that fome have thought, the Claufe might more exactly be tranflated, GOD was the Word. But there are almost every where so many Instances of fuch a Construction, as our Verfion fuppofes, that I chofe rather to follow it, than to vary from it unneceffa rily, 6 All Things were made by Him. SECT. 2. of a Nature truly and properly Divine. John I. 2. I 2 The fame was in the repeat it again, that the Condefcenfion of his Beginning with God. Incarnation may be more attentively confidered, this Divine [Word] was in the very Beginning with GOD, and by Virtue of his moft intimate Union with him, was poffeffed of 3 infinite Glory and Felicity. And when it 3 All Things were made pleased God to begin his Work of Creation, by him, and without him was not any Thing made, ail Things in the whole Compass of Nature that was made. were made by him (c), even by this Almighty Word; rily, in this important Paffage. I am deeply fenfible of the fublime and myfterious Nature of the Doctrine of Christ's Deity, as here declared: But it would be quite foreign to my Purpose, to enter into a large Difcuffion of that great Foundation of our Faith; it has often been done by much abler Hands. It was, however, Matter of Conscience with me, on the one Hand, thus ftrongly to declare my Belief of it, and on the other, to leave it as far as I could in the Simplicity of Scripture Expreffions. I fhall only add, in the Words, or at least the Senfe of Bishop Burnet, "That had not St. John, "and the other Apoftles, thought it a Doctrine of great Importance in the Gofpel "Scheme, they would rather have waved, than afferted and infifted upon it, confidering the critical Circumftances in which they wrote." See Burnet on the Articles, pag. 40. re (c) All Things were made by him.] It would be the Work of a Treatife, rather than a Note, to represent the Jewish Doctrine, of the Creation of all Things by the Divine Logos; to which, (rather than the Platonick,) there may be fome Reference here. They who have no Opportunity of examining the original Authors, may fee what thofe learned Men have faid, to whom Dr. A. Taylor refers, in his Treatife on the Trinity, p. 258. to which add, Dr. Pearfon on the Creed, pag. 118. Dr. Scot's Chriftian Life, vol. iii. pag. 565, &c. fol. and Dr. Watts's Differt. on the Trinity, No. iv. §. 3. There is however a remarkable Paffage I fhall mention to this Purpose, as a Specimen of the reft; and the rather, because it is omitted in most of the Collections I have seen on this Head, and not fully cited and explained in what I take to be its exact Senfe in any. Philo Judæus, (de Profug. pag. 465.) speaking of the Cherubims on the Mercy-Seat as Symbolical Representations of what he calls the creating and governing Powers, makes this additional Reflexion: "The Divine Word (Logos) is a"bove thefe, of whom we can have no Idea by the Sight, or any other Senfe; He "being himself the Image of GOD, the Eldeft of all intelligible Beings, fitting near"eft to Him who is truly THE ONLY ONE, there being no Distance between "them:" (Alluding, I fuppofe, to the Form of those antient Chariots, where, as in the Chairs we use upon the Road, the Driver fate close to the Perfon driven; which was not the Case in all: Compare Acts viii. 38.) "And therefore He (that is, GoD) " fays, I will speak unto thee from the Mercy-Seat between the Two Cherubims; thereby "reprefenting the Logos, as the Charioteer by whom the Motion of thefe Powis directed, and himself who fpeaks to him, as the Rider (or Perfon carried,) "who commands the Charioteer how he is to manage the Reins." OJE UTEFAVW Tel WV (fcil. δυνάμεως ποιητικης και βασιλικής) ΛΟΓΟΣ ΘΕΙΟΣ, εις οράζην ουκ ηλθεν Ιδεαν, ατε μη δενι των κατ' αιθησιν εμφερής ων, αλλ' αυτος είκων υπαρχων Θεό, των νοήτων απαξ απαντων ο πρεσβύλαλος, ο εγγύτατος, μηδενός ούτος μεθοριο διασηματός, ΤΟΥ ΜΟΝΟΥ ο εσιν αψευδώς αφιδρυμένος. Λεγεται γαρ, Λαλήσω σοι ανωθεν το Ιλατηρια ανα μέσον των δυοιν Χερεβιμ' ωσθ' ενίοχον μεν είναι των δυνάμεων τον ΛΟΓΟΝ, εποχον δε τον λαλονία, επικελευόμενον τω ήνιοχω τα προς ορθήν τε παντος ηνιόχησιν. I infert this, as a Key to a great many other Pafiages '' ers |