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John came to testify of him as the true light.

SECT. remember that the life which was in him was the ii. light of men, as all the light of reason and revelation was the effect of his energy on the mind. 1. 5. And the light long shone in the heathen world,

John

5. And the light

and the darkness com

6 There was a man

name was John;

and under the dispensation of Moses; and it still shineth in darkness, shineth in darkness, even on the minds of the most prehended it not. ignorant and prejudiced part of mankind; and yet the darkness was so gross that it opposed its passage; and such was the prevailing degeneracy of their hearts, that they did not apprehend it', or regard its dictates in such a manner as to secure the blessings to which it would have led them. 6 As this was the case for many ages, the Divine Wisdom was pleased to interpose in these latter sent from God, whose days by a clearer and fuller discovery: and for this purpose, a man, whose name was John, afterwards called the Baptist, was sent as a messenger from God; of whose miraculous conception and important ministry a more particular account is 7 elsewhere given: But here it may be sufficient to observe in general that though he was him- for a witness, to bear witness of the light, self, in an inferior sense," a burning and shining that all men through light," (compare John v. 35.) yet he came only him might believe. under the character of a servant, and for a witness that he might testify concerning Christ the true light, that all who heard his discourses might by his means be engaged to believe and fol8 low that divine illumination. And accordingly he most readily confessed that he himself was not that light, but only [came] to bear witness con9 cerning it. The true light of which he spake 9 That was the true was Christ, even that Sun of righteousness and light which lighteth Source of truth which, coming into the world, en- eth into the world, lighteneth every man, dispersing his beams, as

f Did not apprehend it, & zarskaf.] It might not seem so strange that the world did not fully comprehend the spiritual, since it certainly doth not fully comprehend the material light, nor indeed any of the most familiar objects it discovers: but the word is capable of other senses, and is sometimes used for apprehending or laying hold of a thing, 1 Cor. ix. 24. Phil. iii. 12, 13. and sometimes for perceiving it, Acts iv. 13. x. 34. Compare Acts xiv. 17. xvii. 25. Rom. i. 20. which all illustrate the evangelist's assertion.

g The true light was Christ.] The original yet more clearly expresses the antithesis between this and the former verse: I have endeavoured to follow it in my version without supposing autos understood here

it

7 The same came

8 He was not that

light, but was sent to

bear witness of that

light.

every man that com

to answer to Exos there. I cannot but think the conjecture of the learned Heinsius very elegant, that the " at the beginning of this verse 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 existed and came) that he might bear witness to that light: the true light, &c. was in the world, &c. See Heinsius in loc.

h Which coming into the world, enlighteneth. every man.] So I chuse to render it, though I acknowledge that our version may be consistent with the truth, and that it most exactly suits the order of the words in the original; but the other is also very grammatical, φως ερχομενον εις τον κόσμον, and suggests an idea more distinct from ver. 4

Not

The world was made by him, yet knew him not.

was made by him,

him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

ii.

27

John

I. 10.

it were from one end of the heavens to the other, SECT. to the Gentile world, which was in midnight darknesss, as well as to the Jews, who enjoyed but 10 He was in the a kind of twilight. He was in the world in a world, and the world human form; and though the world was made by and the world knew him, yet the world knew and acknowledged him not. Yea, he came into his own [territories], 11 even to the Jewish nation, which was under such distinguished obligations to him, and to whom he had been so expressly promised as their great Messiah; yet his own [people] did not receive him as they ought; but, on the contrary, treated him in the most contemptuous and ungrateful man12 But as many as ner. Nevertheless the detriment was theirs, and 12 received him, to them it was indeed unspeakably great to them; for come the sons of God, to as many as received him, and by a firm and even to them that be- lively faith believed on his name, [even] to all of them, without any exception of even the poorest or the vilest, he granted the glorious privilege of becoming the sons of God; that is, he adopted them into God's family, so that they became entitled to the present immunities and the future eternal 13 Which were born, inheritance of his children. And they who thus 13 not of blood, nor of the believed on him were possessed of these privithe will of man, but leges, not in consequence of their being born of blood, of their being descended from the loins of the holy patriarchs, or sharing in circumcision

gave he power to be

here on his name :

will of the flesh, nor of

of God.

Not to urge that the phrase of coming into the world is with peculiar emphasis used of Christ, 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.

The world was made by him.] Some have supposed this particularly levelled against the Gnostics, who maintained that the world was made by an evil genius; and that the God of the Old Testament and the New were different and contrary persons. It is certain that Irenæus, and several others of the fathers, with great propriety have urged this text against that mad notion. Eusebius exposes these wretches in a very just and lively manner, and makes use of words which, if he had been our contemporary, might have seemed directly levelled at a late unhappy writer, who strangely took it into his head to call himself, The moral philosopher. But, alas! every succeeding age has had its moral philosophers, who have attempted to remove that burthen some stone the Bible, and have found it returning upon them, so as to grind them, and their schemes

and

and their confidence to powder. The words
in my view are these: (Euseb. Eccles.
Hist. lib. v. cap. 28. in fin.) Απλως
αρνησάμενοι τον τε νόμον και τους προφήτας,
ανόμου και άθεου διδασκαλίας, προφάσει
xapilos, ELC εσχαλόν απωλείας όλεθρον
καλολίσθησαν. "Some" (who yet, it
seems, pretended to be Christians)" ab-
solutely rejecting the law and the prophets
by à licentious and atheistical doctrine,
which they introduced under a pretence
of magnifying the divine goodness, or the
gospel," (for xalos, grace, may signify
either) "have plunged themselves into
the lowest gulf of perdition."

k He came into his own [territories], yet
his own [people] did not receive him.] It is so
difficult to express the difference between
εις τα ίδια, and οι ίδιοι, that few versions
have attempted it; yet, as Grotius hath
well observed, the energy of the text can-
not be understood without attending to it.
That the Jewish nation was, in some pe-
culiar sense, under the care and guardian-
ship of Christ before his incarnation, this
passage seems strongly to intimate; and
many learned men have shewn it in what
appears to me a convincing light.

28

ii.

John

The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

SECT. and the blood of the sacrifices; nor could they ascribe it merely to the will of the flesh, or to their own superior wisdom and goodness, as if, 1.13. by the power of corrupted nature alone, they had made themselves to differ; nor to the will of man, or to the wisest advice and most powerful exhortations which their fellow-creatures might address to them; but most humbly acknowledge that they were born of God', and indebted to the efficacious influences of his regenerating grace for all their privileges and for all their hopes. Compare John iii. 1-8. Tit. iii. 3-7. and Jam. 1. 18.

14

14 And the word was made flesh and

Father) full of grace

and truth.

And in order to raise us sinful creatures to such illustrious dignity and happiness, the divine dwelt among us, (and and eternal word, that glorious person whom we we beheld his glory, mentioned above, by a most amazing condescen- the glory as of the sion was made flesh, that is, united himself to Only-begotten of the our inferior and miserable nature with all its innocent infirmities; and he not only made us a transient visit for an hour or a day, but for a considerable time pitched his tabernacle among us on earth; and we who are now recording these things contemplated his glory (compare 1 John i. 1.) with so strict an attention that, from our own personal knowledge, we can bear our testimony to it, that it was in every respect such a glory as became the Only-begotten of the Father; for it shone forth, not merely in that radiant appearance which invested him on the

1 Who were not born of blood, &c. but of God.] I am sensible this verse is liable to great difficulty and ambiguity. It is an amazing liberty the author of the New Translation, published 1727, has taken with it, in explaining it of a birth which they had not from circumcision, nor from the constitution of the body, nor from the institution of man, but from God. I readily allow that asalur, of bloods, may include circumcision, but cannot confine it to that: patriarchal descent and the blood of sacrifices were so much depended upon by the Jews, that one would suppose them included. Dr. Whitby, with many others, takes the will of the flesh to signify carnal descent; and the will of man adoption; which I should prefer to the opinion of Mess. L'Enfant and Beausobre, who, without any reason assigned, understand by those born of the will of man, proselytes, as opposed to native Jews; a sense in which I never could find the phrase used. The

mount

paraphrase I have given, keeps the ideas distinct; answers the frequent signification of flesh elsewhere; (compare John iii. 6. Rom. vii. 25. viii. 3, 8, 12. and Gal. v. 17.) and conveys an important and edifying sense, very agreeable to the tenor of scripture. But I submit it to the reader, without pretending that it is the only interpretation the words will bear. I hope he will always carefully distinguish between the text and the paraphrase, and remember how very different a regard is owing to the one and the other.

m Was made flesh.] Flesh often signifies man in this infirm and calamitous state. Compare Gen. vi. 12. Numb. xvi. 22. Deut. v. 26. Psal. cxlv. 21. Isa. xlix. 26. Acts ii. 17. 1 Cor. i. 29. and many other places.

n Pitched his tabernacle among us.] There is so visible a reference in the word ɛoxnvwon, to the dwelling of the Shechinah in the tabernacle of Moses, that it was very proper to render it by the word I have used. • Full

Reflections on the deity and incarnation of Christ.

ii.

John

29

mount of transfiguration, and in the splendor of SECT.
his continued miracles, but in all his temper,
ministration and conduct, through the whole
series of his life, in which he appeared full of I. 14.
grace and truth; that is, as he was in himself
most benevolent and upright, so he made the
amplest discoveries of pardon to sinners, which
the Mosaic dispensation could not possibly do,
and exhibited the most important and substan-
tial blessings P, whereas that was at best but
a shadow of good things to come." Com-
pare Heb. x. 1.

66

IMPROVEMENT.

4

Justly hath our Redeemer said, Blessed is the man that is not Ver. offended in me: and we may peculiarly apply the words to that 1, 2 great and glorious doctrine of the deity of Christ, which is here before us. A thousand high and curious thoughts will naturally arise in our corrupt hearts on this view of it; but may Divine Grace subdue them all to the obedience of an humble faith; so that, with Thomas, we may each of us fall down at his feet, and cry out with sincere and unreserved devotion, My Lord and my God! Let us adore him as the Creator and Preserver of all, the over- 3, flowing Fountain of light and life. Let us with unutterable pleasure hail this Sun of Righteousness, whose rays, by the tender mercies of the Father, have visited our benighted world to guide our feet into the way of peace: and while we lament that the darkness 5 hath not apprehended and received him, let us earnestly pray that he may ere long penetrate every cloud of ignorance and mist of error, and may diffuse among all the nations knowledge and grace, purity and joy. Let us especially pray that he may penetrate our beclouded souls; and that they may, in holy correspondence to the purposes of his appearing, be turned as clay to the seal. Job 10 xxxviii. 14.—The world knew him not; but may we know him, and give him that honourable and grateful reception which so great a favour may justly demand!-Yet what returns can be

• Full of grace and truth.] It is plain that those words, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, are to be considered as a parenthesis; and these are to be joined with the preceding, thus, He dwelt among us-full of grace and truth. But the length of the paraphrase made it inconvenient to transpose them.

P The most substantial blessings.] That truth is sometimes used, not so much in opposition to falsehood, as to hieroglyphicks, sharlows and types, an attentive reader must often have observed, See

VOL. VI.

pro

Heb. viii. 2. ix. 24. and Dan. vii. 16.
Compare Col. ii. 17.

q Turned as clay to the seal.] This beau-
tiful metaphor of the inspired writer seems,
by a very expressive contrast, to illustrate
the meaning of & xaltλabɛv in the fifth verse.
It was for want of this the darkness did not
apprehend or receive the light; did not form
itself into a due correspondence to it so as
to put on its habit, and clothe itself with the
lustre of its reflected beams. How glorious
and happy is that soul on which the know-
ledge of Christ hath that genuine influence!
B
a Moral

30

The character of Zacharias and Elizabeth.

SECT. proportionable to his condescension in becoming flesh for us, and ii. pitching his tabernacle among miserable and sinful mortals?— Ver. Happy apostles that beheld his glory! And surely there are in his 11 word such reflections of it as we may also behold, and as will oblige us to acknowledge it to be a glory that became the Onlybegotten of the Father.

Let us cordially receive him as full of grace and truth, that we 12 also may stand entitled to the privileges of God's children. And if we are already of that happy number, let us not arrogate the glory of it to ourselves, or ascribe it entirely to those who have been the instruments of this important change; but remember that of his 13 own will God hath begotten us by the word of his power, and that of him we are in Christ Jesus: to him then let us refer the ultimate praise, if that divine and almighty Saviour be made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 1 Cor. i. 30.

SECT.

111.

Luke

I. 5.

SECT. III.

An angel appears to Zacharias to give him notice of the birth of
John the Baptist; and his mother on her conception retires.
Luke I. 5-25.

LUKE I. 5.

LUKE I. 5.

days of Herod,

Zacharias of the course

IN N the days of Herod the Great, whom the THERE was in the
Romans had made king of Judea, there was the king of Judea, a
a priest named Zacharias, who belonged to that certain priest, named
course of priests in the temple which was called of Abiah: and his wife
the course of Abiah: as Abiah was the head of was of the daughters of
one of the twenty-four courses into which David Aaron, and her name
distributed the priests (compare 1 Chron. xxiii.
6, and xxiv. 10.) whose memory was still kept
up, though none of his line returned from the
captivity: And his wife (that is, the wife of Za-
charias) was one of the daughters of the honour-
able family of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

was Elizabeth.

6 And they were

blameless.

6 And they were both of them persons of a very fair both righteous before
character among men; and not only so, but God, walking in all the
sincerely and eminently righteous in the sight of commandments and or-
God, walking before him in the simplicity of their dinances of the Lord
hearts, in a faithful observance of all the moral
commands, as well as ceremonial ordinances and
institutions of the Lord, in a very blameless and
7 exemplary manner. And they had no child, be-
cause Elizabeth was barren; and so pious a man

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a Moral commands, as well as ceremonial institutions.] Some have thought this distinction too nice: but it is certain the word dixwala is sometimes used to signify ceremonial institutions (see Heb. ix. 1, 10), though it is often taken in a much more extensive sense. It is, however,

as

7 And they had no child, because that Elizabeth

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