cious command, then it denotes a medium of divine operation. Therefore when the term word is taken personally as well as divinely, it must denote some glorious person, by whom God reveals himself, his mind and will to creatures, and by whom he operates. In short, it is a personal representation of some glorious medium of God's manifestations and operations.

Now this character eminently agrees to our blessed Saviour: And it is reasonably supposed, that it is upon these accounts chiefly he is so often called the Logos, as it signifies Word.

I. As he was the medium of divine manifestation. So Irenæus speaks, libro ii. capite 56. "The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed and manifested to angels and arch-angels, to principalities and powers, and to men by his Word, who is his Son The Son reveals the Father to all to whom the Father is revealed." So John i. 18. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

II. As he was a medium of divine operation. So Irenæus expresses himself, "The Word ministers to the Father in all things: He made all things by his Word;" libro iv. capite 17, 37. So St. Paul and St. John explain each other, when they describe God the Father as creating all things by his Word, and by Jesus Christ; John i. 3. Eph. iii. 9. Upon a review of the whole we find, that the logos is the divine wisdom itself, a revealer of the divine wisdom, a medium of divine manifestations and divine transactions: And on these accounts it is probable, that our blessed Saviour first obtained, and still keeps the name of Logos, or Word, since his incarnation, as well as before.

Christ is called the Logos in his incarnate state; 1 John i. 1, 2. The Logos, or Word of life, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled; Rev. xix. 13. he is represented as cloathed in a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Logos, or the Word of God." Nor does the apostle John only use this language, but the evangelist Luke seems to speak the same dialect, in the second verse of his gospel, when he calls the apostles eye-witnesses, and ministers of the Logos or Word: For if the term Logos be not taken in its personal sense, it is an improper way of speaking, to call them eye-witnesses instead of ear-witnesses.

It is manifest also, that the term Logos has sometimes a peculiar reference to our blessed Saviour, considered as distinct from flesh and blood, and is so used in those scriptures which speak of him in his pre-existent state. The beginning of St. John's gospel puts this beyond all doubt, if there were no other testimony. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. By him were all things made, and without him was nothing made that was made: And this

Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory; John i. 1, 2, 3, 14.

There are many other places also, which may be fairly and reasonably interpreted concerning our blessed Saviour, as expressed by the term Logos, which Mr. Fleming reckons up Christology," volume I. page 155, &c. As, John v. 58. Ye have not the Word of God, or Logos, abiding in you; for whom the Father has sent, him ye receive not; Titus i. 2, 3. God who hath promised eternal life of old times, hath now manifested his Word, or Logos through preaching; Heb. iv. 12, 13. The Logos or Word of God is quick and powerful,-a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart: Nor is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; 2 Pet. iii. 5. By the Logos or Word of God, the heavens were of old; and by the same Word the heavens and earth, are now kept in store, reserved unto fire; 1 John v. 7. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one: With some other texts.

SECT. II.-A. Difficulty mentioned, with a Proposal for the Solution of it.

Now concerning this "Logos," or the pre-existent nature of Christ, or rather concerning Christ, or the Logos, in his preexistent state, there are such glorious ascriptions given to him, as seem to raise him above the character of all creatures, viz. That he was God; John i. 1. that all things were created by him and for him, whether in heaven or in earth, that he is before all things, and by him all things consist; Col. i. 16, 17. "that he upholds all things by the word of his power; that all the angels of God must worship him; that his throne, as God, is for ever and ever; and that in the beginning he laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of his hands, &c." Heb. i. 3, 6, 8, 10. Yet in these very places of scripture, as well as in several other texts, there are some expressions, which seem to represent him, even in his pre-existent state, below the dignity of godhead: As, when he is called the Son of God, and said to be begotten of the Father; which seems to denote too much derivation and dependence for pure deity: When he is said to be appointed the heir of all things by his Father: When he is called the first-born of every creature, and the beginning of the creation of God; when he is said to be sent by his Father, not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him, that be had a body prepared him by the Father, that the Son can do nothing of himself: And many expressions of the same kind. Now here lies the difficulty, how shall we interpret all these expressions in a consistency with each other? This has been a perplexing and laborious enquiry in all ages of christianity.

Most writers fix their eyes and thoughts so entirely upon the divine dignity of the person of Christ; and out of a holy fear of sinking his character below godhead, have explained many of these diminishing expressions, as mere economical accounts of his sublimest nature, and attributed even these lessening characters to Christ considered as God, by the help of tropes and figures, by catechreses, and economical interpretation. On the other hand, there have been some, who out of a sacred veneration for the supreme majesty of God the Father, and in order to secure the unity of the godhead, have sunk all the sublimer and divine characters given to Christ, or the Loyos, in his preexistent state, and reduced them to some diminished and figurative sense, in order to reconcile them to the inferior characters of Christ; and thereby they have not suffered the person of Christ, in any sense, to arise to the true dignity of godhead.

This has been a matter of dreadful contest in the churches of old, and has been again revived in the present age. The scriptures have been consulted through and through, by each party; and yet there are some difficulties still attending the sacred subject, and the parties are not reconciled. I grant that scripture is the best interpreter of itself, and by comparing one part of the word of God with another, we are led into the meaning of many a difficult text, and find out many an important truth: And, in my esteem, the foregoing difficulties are resolved by the scripture itself. But when persons have employed their labour in this manner, and there still remains a darkness in their opinion, upon the language of scripture, they may, perhaps derive some degrees of light, by consulting the authors that wrote on the same subject, and lived nearest to that age when the scriptures were written.

And since the christian religion is built upon the same general foundations with the Jewish; and the New Testament is a divine comment upon the Old, perhaps we may borrow some advantages for the interpretation of dark passages in the gospel from the modes of speech, and the common sentiments of the Jews in that age; as well as from the primitive fathers of the christian church, who lived nearest to the apostolic times. It may be also observed, that the sacred writers of the New Testament, were Jews themselves; and though they were converted to the faith of Christ, yet it is very evident, that they used several peculiar words and phrases, according to the sense and meaning of their countrymen, and brought several of the idioms of the Hebrew language into their Greek writings: This is agreed among all the learned. Upon these accounts the ancient Jews, as well as the first christians, may give us their assistance toward the better understanding of these terms and expressions, "The Word of God," the "Son of God," &c. and add some light to that doctrine which we derive from scripture.

SECT. III-The Sentiments of the ancient Jews concerning the Logos, viz. the Apochryphal Writers, the Targumists, and Philo the Jew.

Since Logos, or the Word, is a name frequently given to our blessed Saviour, by the sacred writers of the New Testament; since he is also called the Son of God frequently: Let us therefore enquire a little what sentiments the ancient Jews had of this matter, and what they meant by the Logos; and in what sense he is the Son of God. The books of the Old Testament speak of the Son of God. Ps. ii. 7. Thou art my Son; Ps. lxxxix. 27. I will make him my first-born. Prov. xxx. 4. What is his name, or what is his Son's name? They speak also of the word and wisdom of God, which the ancient christian fathers understood as denoting Christ; Prov. viii. where he is called wisdom, has been cited already. See Ps. xxxiii. 6. where the heavens were made by the word of God. Ps. cvii. 20. God sent forth his word and healed the people, &c. Which word the seventy Jewish interpreters call the logos.

Upon this account the Jewish writers of the apocryphal books, speak of the word and wisdom of God in the same manner; Ec. i. 1, 4, 5, 9, 10. "all wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with him for ever. Wisdom hath been created before all things: He poured her out upon all his works. The word of God in the highest, is the fountain of wisdom. Πηγη σοφίας λιγο

as: By which, it is probable, the author does not mean the written word, but the logos, or word that dwells on high. Verse 10." She is with all flesh according to his gift." Now these expressions are very much a-kin to the beginning of St. John's gospel, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. All things were created by him. This is the light that lighteth every man who cometh into the world. So in the book of Wisdom, chapter xvi. 12. "It was neither herb, nor mollifying plaister, that restored them to health; but thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things:" So Wisdom xviii. 15, 16, 17. "Thy almighty word* leaped down from heaven, out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war, into the midst of a land of destruction, and brought thy unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled up all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth." Wisdom ix. 1. "O God of my fathers, who hast made all things with thy word." Verse 4. "Wisdom sitteth by thy throne."And chapter vii. 21, &c. "Wisdom is called the breath of the power of God; a pure influence flowing from the glory of the

This almighty word Aoy avloduva, may seem the essential divine word, or may be referred to the glorious archangel called Logos, armed with almightiness by the indwelling godhead, that is, the angel of the covenant, who is also Jehovab, the true God. Of which hereafter more particularly.

Almighty; the worker of all things; the brightness of the everlasting light; the image of the goodness of God." To which it is supposed the apostle might allude; Heb. i. 3. "when he calls Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. And it is probable that the author of Ecclesiasticus gives an intimation of the Son of God, chapter li. 14. "And I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord."

From all these citations we may derive this degree of light, that the writers of the New Testament, do not imitate the language of Plato, or other heathen philosophers, when they des eribe the logos, the word of God, or his wisdom, and that sometimes in a personal manner; but rather that they follow the language of scripture, and of the Jewish church: And that they had many hints from the Old Testament itself, as well as from their traditional expositions of it, as Dr. Allix informs us, that their great expected Messiah was to be the Son of God, and the Word of God, as being the fittest characters of a person who was to represent the wisdom and grace of God amongst them; and to be an illustrious medium of divine manifestations and operations.

It is allowed, indeed, that Plato may call the divine impres sions on the works of nature, hoyo, or words; and he spake of the Aoyo, the word, or reason of the Creator; but is much more probable from ancient history, that Plato, and other Grecians, borrowed that term from converse with the Jews, or their neighbours the Phoenicians, and the Chaldeans*, than that the Jews should borrow it from him or them; or that St. John, who was a poor Jewish fisherman, should be acquainted with the Grecian learning of the Gentiles, and imitate their phrases, when the same phrases were more common and ancient in his own nation. I proceed now to consider what we find concerning the word, and the Son of God, in the Jewish commentaries on scripture which are called the targums. Here I shall make a free acknowledgment, that what I cite upon this occasion, is borrowed chiefly from Dr. Allix, Dr. Owen, Dr. Lightfoot, Mr. Ainsworth, and Mr. Fleming. My acquaintance with the Chaldean or Rabbinical language, was never sufficient to read the rabbies, or their comments on scripture: But I may reasonably presume, that these learned authors have made faithful citations from these Jewish writers, and given a just account of their sentiments.

Grotius on John i. 1. affirms that the Greeks cite the creation of the sun and moon, by the word, out of the ancient books of the Chaldees: And that the writer of the orpheic verses, thence borrowed his en Ay, and his aud Tergos, the divine word, and the voice of the Father, whereby he made the world. That learned author, Mr. Theophilus Gale, in his "Court of the Gentiles," part II. book iii. chapter 3, and 9, has shewn at large how Plato borrowed his notions originally from the Jews, by the Pythagoreans, the Egyptians, and Phoenicians: And many other very learned men have been of the same mind,