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THE

FAMILY EXPOSITOR.

THE FORMER PART OF THE HISTORY OF CHRIST, AS RECORDED
BY THE EVANGELISTS.

SECT. I.

St. Luke's preface to his history, dedicated to Theophilus, a Christian friend, for whose comfort and establishment he was particularly concerned. Luke I. ver. 1—4.

LUKE I. ver. 1.

FORASMUCH as many

to set forth in order

LUKE I. Verse 1.

i.

I. 1.

have taken in hand WHEREAS many have undertaken to com- SECT. pose the history of those important facts a declaration of those which have been confirmed among us Christians' things which are most with the fullest and most satisfactory evidence, as the great foundation of our common faith; and since some of these historians have written, not on their own personal knowledge, but as they 2 Even as they de- (whether apostles or others) have transmitted

surely believed among us,

livered

2 Whereas many have undertaken.] This must refer to some histories of the life of Christ which are now lost; for Matthew and Mark, the only evangelists which can be supposed to have written before Luke, could not with any propriety be called many; and of these two, Matthew at least wrote from personal knowledge, not the testimony of others. One must readily conclude the books referred to are lost, as none of the apocryphal gospels now extant, published particularly by Fabricius, (in his Codex. Apoc. Nov. Test.) or Mr. Jones, (in his history of the Canon) can with any shadow of reason pretend to equal antiquity with this of St. Luke. But I cannot, with Ambrose and Epiphanius, suppose that the evangelist here intends the gospels of Basilides, Cerinthus, and some other early heretics; since he seems to allow these histories, whatever they were, to have been at least honestly written, according to information received from the most capable judges. And it is strange that Eusebius should imagine the words are intended as a severe censure on the now unknown comVOL. VI.

A

them

pilers of these histories, whoever they were. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 24.

b To compose the history.] To set forth in order a declaration is so antiquated a phrase, that it would hardly be understood any where but here; at least I am sure none could, by reading it, so much as guess at the elegance and propriety of St. Luke's words, avalagaodai dinynor, which may more literally, and, I think, far more justly be rendered, to compose a history: and I doubt not, but our English word compose may express as much regularity in the order of facts as the evangelist meant to intimate.

c Confirmed among us with the fullest evidence.] I think wewλnpopony 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 seems most honourable to the gospel; but as I know the word is ambiguous, and often used in the latter sense, I have chose to express that also in the paraphrase. Compare 2 Tim. iv. 5-17. Gr.

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St. Luke's dedication of his history to Theophilus.

SECT. them to us, who were themselves from the begin- livered them unto us, i. ning of Christ's ministry eye-witnesses of what which from the be

ginning were eye-witLuke passed, and in proof of the sincerity of their testi- nesses, and ministers of I. 2. mony courageously became ministers of the the word:

word, that is, of the gospel, amidst the greatest

cellent Theophilus,

3 opposition; I also having accurately traced all 5 It seemed good to
these things from their first rise, even from the me also, having had
very conception of John the Baptist, who was of all things from the
perfect understanding
the forerunner of our Lord, have thought it pro- very first, to write unto
per to write an orderly account of them: and I thee in order, most ex-
chuse to inscribe it to thee, O most noble Theophi-
lush; because, though thou art already, in the ge-
neral, acquainted with them, yet I cannot but be
4 concerned that thou mayest more fully and cir- 4 That thou mightest
cumstantially know the exact and certain truth know the certainty of
of those things in which thou hast formerly been those things wherein
instructed by those who were the happy instru- ed.
ments of initiating thee into the Christian faith;
and I am persuaded thou wilt be greatly con-
firmed in it by the attentive perusal of that
history with which I here present thee.

d Of the word.] Some have conjectured that hayas, the word, here signifies Christ, 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 these things.] The original, wapnovÎNKOTI WAoiY axfifus, plainly signifies that accuracy of investigation on which the perfect understanding of his subject was built.

f From their first rise.] Some very pious and learned writers have pleaded this text as an argument for the inspiration of St. Luke's gospel, and consequently of the rest, because the word av sometimes signifies from above, or from heaven; as it plainly doth, John iii. $1. Jam. i. 17. iii. 15, 17. But Luke so evidently uses it in the sense here given, Acts xxvi. 5. and that sense is so common elsewhere, and seems so absolutely necessary in this connection with TorepunoдJnxot, that I cannot think this text at all to the purpose. The argument I mention is one of those which, like pieces of superfluous armour, encumber rather than defend; and the more I am concerned about the conclusion here or elsewhere, the more cautious shall I always be, that I may not draw it from such premises.

g To write an orderly account of them, καθεξής σοι ypada.] It is chiefly on the authority of this clause that M. Le Clerc, and many other modern harmonizers have thought (as Beza also did) that all the other gospels are to be reduced to the order of Luke, wherever they differ from it: a conclusion which I apprehend, for reasons that shall afterwards be given at large, to be an occasion of many errors, and particularly

IMPROVE

thou hast been instruct

injurious to the character of St. Matthew. I would only here observe that the foundation of it is very precarious; since it is evident this evangelist might, with great propriety, be said to have given an orderly account of the history of Christ, as the leading facts are in their due series, though some particulars are transposed,

h O most noble Theophilus.] That Theophilus is the name of a particular person eminent in the church in those early days, and not (as Salvian thought it) a general title applicable to every Christian 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 seems that it was pretty considerable; for Kpari was then, as Excellency among us is, a title of honour and respect usual in addressing noble personages (see Acts xxiii. 26. xxiv. 3. xxvi. 25.) and it might with some peculiar propriety be applied here, as Theophilus was so worthy the name he bore, which significs a true lover of God.

i Hast been instructed, wifi wv naînxnns.] The word doth with great accuracy express the instructions given to those who were training up for an admission to the Christian church, whose name of catechumens was, as it is well known, derived from hence, and applied without any particular regard to the age of the persons concerned. Compare Acts xviii. 25. Rom. ii. 18. I endeavour to express this in the paraphrase; but it would be very improper to use the English word which most literally answers to the Greek, because that is now almost wholly appropriated to children.

a The

Reflections on St. Luke's dedication.

IMPROVEMENT.

SECT.

i.

LET us humbly adore the Divine Goodness, that facts of so 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 the Ver. truth, and have given such full proof of their integrity in relating 2 it.-Let us be thankful that we have not only one such history, but that several undertook this excellent and necessary work, by 1 whose united testimony the whole is confirmed; while it is also illustrated by the variety of their narrations, each inserting some considerable circumstance which the rest have omitted. Let us rejoice in that providential care which hath preserved this invaluable treasure through so many succeeding ages, and some of them periods of the grossest darkness and the hottest persecution.

While we study this orderly series of sacred story, let us be 4 concerned that our faith may be established by it, and our other graces proportionably advanced; maintaining a continual dependance on that blessed Spirit, by whose instruction it was written to lead us into wise and pious reflections upon it.

To conclude; from the care which this holy evangelist expresseth 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 spiritual advantage of each other; by endeavouring not only to awaken and instruct those that are entirely unacquainted or unaffected with divine things, but also, as we have opportunity, to confirm the faith and quicken the zeal of the most established Christians with whom we converse. Happy 5 the men whose tongues and whose pens are employed in so good a work: may they never, in the remotest ages, fail of some excellent Theophilus to welcome and encourage their pious attempts!

SECT. II.

St. John begins his gospel with a very sublime and emphatical account of the deity and incarnation of Christ; and of those glorious and important purposes for which he condescended to appear among us in the human nature.

JOHN I. 1.

IN the beginning was the word, and the word

John I. 1-14.

JOHN I. 1.

IN the beginning, before the foundation of the
world, or the first production of any created
being, a glorious person existed, who (on account
of the perfections of his nature and his being in
time the medium of divine manifestations to us)
may properly be called the word of God". And

a The word of God.] The Greek logos is now become so familiar to an English ear,

the

that I doubt not but most of my readers
would have understood me had I retained it

23

24

St. John asserts the Deity of Christ.

"He was by

SECT. the word was originally with God the Father of word was with God, ii. all; so that to him the words of Solomon might and the word was God. John justly be applied, Prov. viii. 30. 1. 1. him as one brought up with him, and was daily his delight. Nay, by a generation which none can declare, and an union which none can fully conceive, the word was himself God, that is, possessed of a nature truly and pro2 perly divine. I repeat it again, that the condescension of his incarnation may be more atten- the tively considered, this divine [word] was in the God. very beginning with God, and, by virtue of his most intimate union with him, was possessed of 3 infinite glory and felicity. And when it pleased God to begin his work of creation, all things in made by him; and

in my translation; which, on account of the
singularity of the idea here signified by it,
I should 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 passage.
I know that some of the fathers render
logos, reason, as M. Le Clerc doth; though
I apprehend they mean it in a very diffe-
rent sense from him, who seems to under-
staud it only as a strong eastern phrase, to
signify the consummate wisdom of the gos-
pel scheme. See his Harmony, p. 44. But
this will entirely enervate and destroy the
sense of ver. 14. as well as of those texts
which speak of Christ'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 necessary consequence of which is (as indeed some have expressly avowed it) that this clause should be rendered The word was a god, that is, a kind of inferior deity, as governors are called gods. See John x. 34, and 1 Cor. viii. 5. But it is impossible be should here be so called merely as a governor, because he is spoken of as existing before the production of any creatures whom he could govern: and it is to me most incredible that, when the Jews were so exceeding averse to idolatry, and the Gentiles so unhappily prone to it, such a plain writer as this apostle should lay so dangerous a stumbling-block on the very threshold of his work, and represent it as the Christian doctrine, that in the beginning of all things there were two gods, one supreme and the other subordinate: a difficulty which, if possible, would be yet farther increased by recollecting what so many ancient writers assert, that this gospel was written with a particular view of opposing the Ce

the

2. The same was in beginning with

3. All things were

without

rinthians and Ebionites (see Iren. 1. i. c. 26;
1. iii. c. 11 ; Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. vi. c. 14),
on which account a greater accuracy of ex-
pression must have been necessary. There
are so many instances in the writings of
this apostle, and even in this chapter (see
ver. 6, 12, 13, 18,) where Oros, without the
article, is used to signify Godin the highest
sense of the word, that it is something sur-
prising such a stress should be laid on the
want of that article, as a proof that it is
used only in a subordinate sense.-On the
other hand, to conceive of Christ as a dis-
tinct and co-ordinate God, would be equally
inconsistent with the most express de-
clarations of scripture, and far more irrecon-
cileable with reason. Nothing I have said
above can, by any means, be justly inter-
preted in such a sense: and I here solemnly
disclaim the least intention of insinuating
one thought of that kind, by any thing I
have ever written, here or elsewhere.-
The order of the words in the original
(ɛng mv a λoyo;), is such, that some have
thought the clause might more exactly be
translated, God was the word. But there
are almost every where so many instances
of such a construction as our version sup-
poses, that I chose rather to follow it than
to vary from it, unnecessarily, in this im-
portant passage.-I am deeply sensible of
the sublime and mysterious nature of the
doctrine of Christ's deity, as here declared;
but it would be quite foreign to my pur-
pose to enter into a large discussion 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 strongly to declare
my belief of it; and, on the other, to leave
it as far as I could in the simplicity of
scripture expressions. I shall only add in
the words, or at least in the sense of Bishop
Burnet, "That had not St. John and the

other

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All Things were made by him.

ii.

25

without him was not the whole compass of nature were made by him, SECT. any thing made that even by his almighty word; and without him was made. was not any thing made, not so much as one John single being, whether among the noblest or the 1.4. That fulness which was in him, was the fountain of life to the whole creation and it si in particular our concern to

4. In him was life, meanest of God's various works. and the life was the of power, wisdom, and benignity, light of men.

other apostles thought it a doctrine of great importance in the gospel scheme, they would rather have waved than asserted and insisted upon it, considering the critical circumstances in which they wrote.” See Burnet on the Articles, page 40.

• All things were made by him.] It would be the work of a treatise rather than a note to represent the Jewish doctrine of the creation of all things by the divine Logos; to which (rather than the platonic) there may be some reference here. They who have no opportunity of examining the original authors, may see what those learned men have said, to whom Dr. A. Taylor refers in his Treatise on the Trinity, p. 258; to which add Dr. Pearson on the Creed, p. 118; Dr. Scott's Christian Life, Vol. III. p. 565, &c. fol. and Dr. Watts's Dissertation on the Trinity, No. IV. § 3.-There is, however, a remarkable passage shall mention to this purpose as a specimen of the rest; 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 sense in any. Philo Judzus (de Profug. p. 465.) speaking of the cherubims on the mercy seat as symbolical representations of what he calls the creating and governing powers, makes this additional reflection : « The divine Word (Logos) is above these, of whom we can have no idea by the sight or any other sense; he being himself the image of God, the eldest of all intelligent beings, sitting nearest to Him who is truly THE HOLY ONE, there being no distance between them :" (alluding, I suppose, to the form of those ancient chariots where, as in the chairs we use upon the road, the driver sat close to the person driven; which was not the case in all: compare Acts viii. 58. "And therefore be (that is, God) says, I will speak unto thee from the mercy seat between the two cherubims; thereby representing the Logos as the charioteer by whom the motion of these powers is directed; and himself who speaks to him as the rider (or person carried) who commands the charioteer how he is to manage the reins." Ode UTTEрy Telwv (scil. Jurapsus wainlinng xai Barinin;) ΛΟΓΟΣ ΘΕΙΟΣ, εις φραίην ουκ ήλθεν Ιδίαν, απε

e

remember

μηδενι των κατ' αίσθησιν εμφέρης ων, αλλ' αυτός είκων υπάρχον Θεό, των νοηίων απαξ απαγίων ο πρεσβύτατος, ο εγγύτατος, μηδενος οντος μεθορια diagnμalos, Tor ΜΟΝΟΥ εςιν αψευδώς αφιδρυμένος. Λεγεται γαρ, Λαλήσω σοι ανωθεν το Ιλαςήρια ανα μέσον των δυοιν Χερεβει με ωσθ' wνοχον μεν είναι των δυναμεων τον ΛΟΓΟΝ, εποχον δε τον λαλογία, επικε ευόμενον τω ηνιοχώ τα προς ώρθην το πανίος ηνιοχησιν. I insert this as a key to a great many other passages in Philo; and shall only mention one more (De Agricult. p. 195) where he represents God as "governing the whole course of nature, both in heaven and earth, as the great Shepherd and King, by wise and righteous laws; having constituted his unerring Word, his only begotten Son, to preside as his viceroy over his holy flock :" for the illustration of which he quotes those remarkable words, Exod. xxiii. 20, though in a form something different from our reading and version, “Behold I am; I will send my angel before thy face to keep thee in the way” Γ'ην και υδωρ κ. τ. λ. — Mer Tvnla, ra de Gea, (a remarkable distribution) ως ποιμήν και βασιλευς ο Θεός αγει καλα δίκην και νόμον, προςησάμενος τον ορθον αυτε ΛΟΓΟΝ πρωτογονον υιον, ως την επιμελείαν της ιερας ταυλης αγέλης, για τι μεγάλου βασιλέως υπαρχος, διαδέξεται. Και γαρ είρηται που, Ιδου εγω ειμι, αποτελώ αγγελον μου τις προσωπου σου φυλάξαι σε εν τη οδών.

τα

d Not so much as one single being.] There is an emphasis in the words de EV, which I thought it proper to express in the version, than which nothing can be more literal.

The

e That which was in him was life.] most ancient fathers that quote this text so generally join the words o yeyover with this fourth verse, that I cannot but apprehend this to be the true reading. (See Dr. Mill's Proleg.) But if any think it improbable that yeyove should have different senses here and in the third verse, they will please to observe that the full sense of our version is expressed in the paraphrase, and that the alteration here made is of very small importance. That the Heathens sometimes speak of their deities and heroes as the light and life of mankind, Elsner has shown on this text.

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