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. of (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 understood 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 so 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 destroy the Senfe of ver. 14. as well as of thofe Texts, which speak of Chrift's coming out from GOD, enjoying Glory with him before the World was, &c. very (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 some have exprefsly 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 should here be fo called merely as a Governour, because he is spoken of as exifting before the Production of any Creatures whom he could govern: And it is to me most incredible, that when the Jews were fo 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 Threshold of his Work, and reprefent it as the Chriftian 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 increafed, by recollecting what fo many antient Writers affert, that this Gofpel was written with a particular View of oppofing the Cerinthians and Ebionites; (See Iren. l. i. c. 26. l. iii. c. 11. Eufeb. Eccl. Hift. l. 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 eos without the Article, is ufed to fignify GOD in the highest Senfe of the Word, that it is fomething furprising, fuch a Stress should be laid on the Want of that Article, as a Proof that it is used 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 express 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 difclaim the least 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 2005) is fuch, that fome have thought, the Clause might more exactly be tranflated, GOD was the Word. But there are almost every where fo many Instances of fuch a Conftruction, as our Verfion supposes, that I chose rather to follow it, than to vary from it unneceffarily, 6 John I. 2. All Thing's were made by Him. SECT. 2. of a Nature truly and properly Divine. I 2 The fame was in the repeat it again, that the Condefcenfion of his Beginning with Gov. 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 pleafed God to begin his Work of Creation, all Things in the whole Compafs of Nature were made by him (c), even by this Almighty Word; 3 All Things were made by him, and without him was not any Thing made, that was made. rily, in this important Paffage.-I am deeply fenfible of the fublime and myfterious Nature of the Doctrine of Chrift'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 Confcience 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 leaft the Senfe of Biflop Burnet, "That had not St. John, "and the other Apostles, thought it a Doctrine of great Importance in the Gospel Scheme, they would rather have waved, than afferted and infifted upon it, confi"dering the critical Circumftances in which they wrote." See Burnet on the Articles, pag. 40. (c) All Things were made by him.] 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 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 Purpofe, 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.) fpeaking of the Cherubims on the Mercy-Seat as Symbolical Reprefentations 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 thofe antient Chariots, where, as in the Chairs we ufe upon the Road, the Driver fate clofe to the Perfon driven; which was not the Cafe 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 Powers is directed, and himself who fpeaks to him, as the Rider (or Perfon carried,) "who commands the Charioteer how he is to manage the Reins." OE UTEPαVW To/Wv (fcil. δυναμεως ποιητικής και βασιλικής) ΛΟΓΟΣ ΘΕΙΟΣ, εις ορά ην ουκ ηλθεν Ιδέαν, ατε μη δενι των κατ' αίσθησιν εμφερής ων, αλλ' αυτός είκων υπάρχων Θεός, των νοήτων απαξ απαλών ο πρεσβυλάτος, ο εγγύτατος, μηδενός ούτος μεθοριο διαςήματος, ΤΟΥ ΜΟΝΟΥ ο εσιν αψευδώς αφιδρυμένος. Λεγεται γαρ, Λαλησω σοι ανωθεν το Ιλατηριο ανά μέσον των δυοιν Χερεβώμ' ωσθ' ηνίοχον μεν είναι των δυνάμεων τον ΛΟΓΟΝ, εποχον δε τον λαλενία, επικελευομενον τω ηνιοχώ τα προς ορθήν το πανίος ηνιόχησιν. I infert this, as a Key to a great many other Pafia ges He was the Life and Light of Men. Word; and without him was not any Thing SECT, 2. ges in Philo; and fhall only mention one more: (De Agricult. pag. 195.) Where he 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 con"ftituted his unerring Word, his only begotten Son, to prefide as his Vice-Roy over "this holy Flock :" For the Illuftration of which he quotes thofe remarkable Words, Exod. xxiii. 23. tho' in a Form fomething different from our Reading and Verfion, "Behold, I am; I will find my Angel before thy Face to keep thee in the Way." Την και υδωρ κ. τ. λ. τα μεν θνητα, τα δε θεια, (a remarkable Diftribution,) ως ποιμην και βασιλευς ο Θεος αγε καλα δίκην και νομον, προςησάμενος τον ορθον αυτου ΛΟΓΟΝ προλογο του υιον, ος την επιμέλειαν της ιερας ταύτης αγελής, οια τι μεγάλου βασιλέως υπαρχής, δια δεξέται.. Και γαρ ειρήαι που, ίδου εγω ειμι, αποτελώ αγγελου μου εις προσωπου σου του φυλαξαι σε εν τη οδώ. I (d) Not fo much as one fingle Being.] There is an Emphafis in the Words de su, which thought it proper to exprefs in the Veran, than which nothing can be more literal. (e) That which was in him was Life.] The most antient Fathers, that quote this Text, fo generally join the Words o yeyarev, with this fourth Verfe, that I cannot but apprehend this to be the true Reading. (See Dr. Mill's Proleg.) But if any think it im-probable, that yeyove fhould have different Senfes here, and in the third Verfe, they will please to obferve, that the full Senfe of our Verfion is exprefs'd in the Paraphrafe, and that the Alteration here made is of very fmall Importance. That the Heathens fometimes fpeak of their Deities and Heroes, as the Light and Life of Mankind, Elfner hath fhewn on this Text. (f) Did not apprehend it, & ualenapev.] It might not feem fo ftrange, that the World did not fully comprehend the fpiritual, fince it certainly doth not fully comprehend the material Light, nor indeed any of the moft familiar Objects it discovers: But the Word: -is capable of other Senfes, and is fometimes used, for apprehending, or laying hold of a Thing, 5 8 JOHN came to teftify of him, as the true Light. SECT. 2. Manner, as to fecure the Bleffings to which John I. 6. it would have led them. John; The fame came for a Witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all Men thro' him might believe. As this was the Cafe for many Ages, the 6 There was a Man sent Divine Wisdom wa pleased to interpofe in from GoD, whofe Name was thefe latter Days, by a clearer and fuller Difcovery; and for this Purpose a Man, whofe Name was John, afterwards called the Baptift, was fent as a Meffenger from GOD; of whofe miraculous Conception and important Ministry, a more particular Account 7 is elsewhere given: But here it may be fufficient to obferve in general, that tho' he was himself, in an inferior Senfe, "a burning "and fhining Light;" (compare John v. 35.) yet he came only under the Character of a Servant, and for a Witness, that he might testify concerning Chrift the true Light, that all who heard his Difcourfes, might by his means be engaged to believe, and follow that Divine 8 Illumination. And accordingly he most readily confeffed, that he himself was not that Light, but only [came] to bear Witness con9 cerning it. The true Light, of which he fpake, was Chrift (g), even that Sun of Righteoufnefs and Source of Truth, which coming into the World, inlighteneth every Man (h), dif 8 He was not that Light, but was fent to bear witness of that Light, 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World. Thing, 1 Cor. ix. 24. Phil. iii. 12, 13. and fometimes for perceiving it, Acts iv. 13. x. 34. Compare Acts xiv. 17. xvii. 25. Rom. i.20. which all illuftrate the Evangelift's Affertion. (g) The true Light was Chrift.] The Original yet more clearly expreffes the Antithefis, between this, and the former Verfe; I have endeavoured to follow it in my Verfion, without fuppofing aulos understood here, to answer to exemos there. I cannot but think the Conjecture of the learned Heinfius very elegant, that the n at the Beginning of this Verfe, might belong to the End of the former: The exact Construction then would be, He, viz. John, was not that Light, but he was, (that is, he exifted, and came,) that he might bear Witness to that Light: The true Light, &c. was in the World, &c. See Heinf. in loc. (b) Which coming into the World, inlighteneth every Man.] So I chufe to render it, tho' I acknowledge that our Verfion may be confiftent with the Truth, and that it moft exactly fuits the Order of the Words in the Original; but the other is also very Grammatical, pws EPXOMEVOVES TOV Noμov, and fuggefts an Idea more diftinct from ver. 4. Not to urge, that the Phrafe of coming into the World, is with peculiar Emphafis ufed of Chrift, and especially under the Notion of a Light. Compare John xii. 46. I am come a Light into the World. John iii. 19. This is the Condemnation, that Light is come into the World. (i) The The World was made by him, yet knew him not. ΙΟ 9 difperfing his Beams, as it were, from one End SECT. 2. of the Heavens to the other, to the Gentile John I. 9. World, which was in Midnight Darkness, as well as to the Jews, who enjoyed but a Kind of Twilight. He was in the World in a Human Form; and tho' the World was made by him (i), yet the World knew and acknowledged him not. Yea, he came into his II own [Territories,] even to the Jewish Nation, which was under such distinguished Obligations to him, and to whom he had been fo expressly promised as their great Meffiah yet his own [People] did not receive him (k) as they ought; but on the contrary, treated him in the most contemptuous and ungrateful Manner. Nevertheless the Detriment was theirs, and it was indeed unfpeakably great to them; for to as many as received him, and by a firm and lively Faith believed on his Name, [even] to all of them, without any Exception, of even the pooreft or the vileft, be granted ; (i) The World was made by him.] Some have fuppofed this particularly levelled against the Gnofticks, who maintained that the World was made by an evil Genius, and that the GOD of the Old Teftament, and the New, were different and contrary Perfons. It is certain, that Irenæus, and feveral others of the Fathers, with great Propriety have urged this Text against that mad Notion.-Eufebius exposes these Wretches in a very juft and lively Manner, and makes Ufe of Words, which, if he had been our Contemporary, might have feemed directly levelled at a late unhappy Writer, who strangely took it into his Head to call himself The Moral Philofopher. But alas, every fucceeding Age has had its Moral Philofophers, who have attempted to remove that burthenfome Stone the Bible, and have found it returning upon them, fo as to grind them, and their Schemes, and their Confidence, to Powder. The Words View are thefe: (Eufeb. Ecclef. Hift. Lib. v. cap. 28. in fin.) Aπλws apvno aμevos τον τε νόμου και τους προφήτας, ανόμου και αθέου διδασκαλίας, προφάσεις χαρίζος, εις εχαίου arwλeas onegov nalarialno av. "Some" (who yet it seems pretended to be Chriftians,) abfolutely rejecting the Law and the Prophets, by a licentious and atheiftical Doc"trine, which they introduced under a Pretence of magnifying the Divine Good"nefs, or the Gofpel," (for xasilos, Grace, may fignify either,)" have plunged themselves into the lowest Gulf of Perdition.” in my (k) He came into his own [Territories,] yet his own [People] did not receive him.] It is fo difficult to exprefs the Difference between es ra dia, and odio, that few Verfions have attempted it; yet, as Grotius hath well obferved, the Energy of the Text cannot be understood without attending to it. That the Jewish Nation was, in some peculiar Senfe, under the Care and Guardianfhip of Christ before his Incarnation, this Paffage feems ftrongly to intimate, and many learned Men have fhewn it, in what appears to me a convincing Light. VOL, L B (1) Who 12 |