+ What the Latins, and we, ftile Only, the Scriptures, and the Greeks,

term onlybegotten.

And in Jesus Christ his only + Son

DO profess to be fully afssur'd of this Affertion, as of a most certain, infallible, and necessary Truth, that Jesus Christ, the Saviour, and the Meffias, is the true, proper, and natural Son of GOD, begotten of the Substance of the Father; which being incapable of Division, or Multiplication, is so really and totally communicated to Him, that He is of the same Effence, GOD of GOD, Light of Light, very GOD of very GOD. And as I affert Him so to be the Son, I do also exclude all other Persons from that kind of Sonship; acknowledging none but Him to be Begot ten of GOD by that proper and natural Generation; and thereby excluding All which are not Begotten, as it is a Generation: All which are faid to be Begotten, and are called Sons, but are so only by Adoption, as it is Natural.

*Job.i. 49.

† Joh. xi. 27.

*Joh. vi. 69.

It is certain, that the Jews as they look'd for a Meffias to come, so they believ'd that Meffias to be the Son of GOD; thơ' since his Coming they have denyed it. Thus Nathaniel, that Ifraelite indeed, made his Confeffion, Rabbi, thou art the Son of GOD, thou art the King of Ifrael * : Thus Martha; I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of GOD, which should come into the World +. Thus St. Peter in the Name of all the Apostles; We believe and are fure that thou art that Chrift, the Son of the Living GOD*:

Thus Thus the High-Prieft himself, in his Inquifition; I adjure thee by the living GOD, that thou tell us, whether thou be the Christ, the Son of GOD +. There are many inferior regards + Mart xxvi.63. in which this Title may be attributed to our Saviour; particularly these four :

36.

1. As He was, by the Spirit of GOD, born of the Virgin Mary. So spake the Angel: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of GOD*. 2. As he was confecra- * Luk.i. 35. ted and commission'd to his high Office, by the immediate and special Will of GOD. This is his own Argument to the Jews: Is it not written in your Law, I said ye are Gods? If he called them Gods unto whom the Word of GOD came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath fanctified and fent into the World, Thou blafphemest, because I said, I am the Son of GOD*? 3. As Joh. x. 34, 35 He was rais'd out of the Grave immediately by GOD unto Immortal Life. GOD bath fulfilled the Promise unto us, in that He hath raised up Jesus again: As it is also written in the fecond Pfalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee †. So true it must needs be of Him what is spok- t A&s xiii. 23. en by Him of others, who are the Children of GOD, being the Children of the Resurrection*: Thus was He constituted, * Lukexx. 36. or, appointed the Son of GOD with Power by the Resurrection from the Dead +. Thus is He not only the First, but the + Rom. i. 4. First-born from the Dead *. 4. As he was made Heir and actual Poffeffor of all things in his Father's House. He is fet down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the Angels, as He hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they †. Of these four Titles to his Sonship, the Fourth supposeth the Third, the Third supposeth the Second, and the Second the First : But even the First supposeth another, that of an Eternal Generation, the most true, and proper, and diftinguishing. The Proof of which, as chiefly design'd in this Article, may be attempted in the following Method:

I. Jesus Christ had a real Being, or Existence, before
He was conceiv'd of the Virgin.

II. This Being was not created, but Divine.

II. Не

Colofs. i. 18.

† Heb. i. 3, 4.

* John vi. 62.

* Eph. iv. 9.

III. He receiv'd this Divine Being by Communication from the Father.

IV. This Communication is a proper Generation.

V. This manner of Communication was never made to any Person but Himself.

I. That Jesus Christ had a real Being before He was conceiv'd of the Virgin, is demonstrated by this Argument, That He was really in Heaven, and truly defcended thence, before that which was begotten of the Virgin, afcended into Heaven. That He was really in Heaven before he afcended thither, is plain from his own Words, What and if ye shall fee the Son of Man afcend up where he was before*? To avoid the force of this Text, the Socinians have contriv'd an antecedent, or preparatory Afcension, by which they say He was in Heaven before the speaking of these Words, tho' after his Conception and Birth. But as their Invention hath not the least countenance from Scripture or Tradition, (neither of which would have pass'd by the most remarkable Action of our Saviour's Life,) so is it contrary to the reveal'd Method of our Redemption, and to Reason it self. As Christ was anointed to the Sacerdotal Office, He was to enter once into the Holy Place, and that not without Blood. And for what reason, if the Father could alike reveal his Will to the Son, on Earth as in Heaven, should the Son ascend into Heaven to learn this Will, and not be known by Men to have ascended thither ? Wherefore his Descent to Earth necessarily preceeded his Ascension into Heaven: As St. Paul argues, Now that He afcended, what is it but that He defcended first * ? Agreeably to his own Declaration; I came forth from the Father, and am come into the World: Again, I leave the World, and go to

† John xvi. 28. the Father+.

But not to stop at a bare Priority of Existence, it will be convenient to assign some certain and acknowledg'd Marks of Time, before which he appears to have had this Pre-existence. And these may be, 1. Before John the Baptist: Thus John himself expressly witnesseth, He is preferr'd before me, for He was before me*. In which Words we must understand a Priority of Worth and Dignity, founded in another another Priority of Existence; else the same thing will be made the Cause and Reason of it self, 2. Before Abrabam. Verily, 1 say unto you, before Abraham was, I am+: † Johnviii. 18. i. e. Before the Birth of Abraham, I had a real Being or Existence, in which I have continued till now. This literal and plain Interpretation is sufficiently confirm'd by the poor Shifts of the Socinians in receeding from it. For (not to expose their Art of making the Words an Ellipfis, and supplying them from Verse twelve, I am the Light of the World) whether they apply the former Part (before Abraham was,) to the calling of the Gentiles, or the latter (I am,) to the Divine Designation, so that the Meaning shall run thus, Before Abraham shall become what was signi'fied by his Name, a Father of many Nations, I am : Or, Before Abraham's Birth, I was in the Prescience and De'cree of GOD: As neither of these Answers is any way pertinent to the Jews Question, so neither of them could possibly move their Resentment, but might have been spoken by any one of the Hearers, as well as by Christ. 3. Before the Flood. Thus St. Peter: Being put to Death in the Flesh, but quickened in the Spirit; by which alfo He went and preached to the Spirits in Prison; which sometime were difobedient, when once the long-suffering of GOD waited in the days of Noah, while the Ark was preparing *. This Text * 1 Pet. iii. 18, was by along Mistake falsely expounded, as will be shewn 19, 20. on another occasion; but must be acknowledg'd plainly to affert that Chrift did preach to those Men before the Flood, (tho' by the Ministry of a Prophet, and not immediately in Perfon,) and consequently that He was beforețit. 4. Before the Creation of the World: For the Scriptures in the most ample manner assure us, that He made it. To evade which numerous and positive Texts, the Socinians, make use of these two Stratagems: If the Places alledg'd speak so clearly of Chrift's Person, as not to be applicable to any other, then they endeavour to prove that the Creation there spoken of is Metaphorical; on the other hand, if the Work of Creation be so plainly express'd, as not to bear a figurative Construction, then they pretend that the Person to whom it is ascrib'd is not Chrift. Both which Artifices must fail them, if we produce an Instance or two which neither can pervert. First, therefore, we will bring such Texts, as being beyond all Dispute spoken of Chrift, as to the Person, cannot be figurative as to the Creation. And

!

15. 16, 17.

And such is that of St. Paul; in whom we have redemption through his Blood:-Who is the Image of the invisible GOD the First-born of every Creature. For by him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible; whether they be Thrones or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things con↑ Coloff. i. 14, fist +, Here the Apostle cannot speak of the New and Metaphorical Creation, by which those who had loft the Image of GOD are restored to it again. For the Object of this being not Universal, how can it be faid that all things were thus created, which are in Heaven, and which are in Earth? How can the Invisible World of Spirits, the Thrones, and Dominions, &c. be capable of this Renovation by Chrift? Wherefore, the Words cannot be wrested from what they truly import, the first Creation, or real Production of the World. And they have this farther strength in them, that as they extend the Creation to its utmost compass, to things visible and invisible, so they affert Chrift to be the final, and the preferving Cause, as well as the efficient: All things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things confift. But the Doctrine of the World's Creation by the Son of GOD is with so wonderful and so perfpicuous a Brevity delivered by St. John, as to take off all Objections, and remove all Prejudices, in this Point. And the reason why the Evangelift exprefs'd so great a Mystery in so few Words, was, because the Jews, to whom he principally spoke, could not but apprehend him at the first hint; who by the familiar use of the Chaldee Paraphrafe, and the like Expositions, were constantly taught, that the Word of GOD was no cther than GOD, and that by this Word all things were made: That which as yet they knew not, and which St. John was now to inform them of, was, that the Word was made Flesb, and that the Word made Flesh was Jesus Chrift. The Socinian Gloss on this place is made up of Contradictions. For if they will have the Beginning to be the preaching of John Baptist, and the Word the preaching of Fefus Christ, this Word was not in that Beginning. If they say, the Word was with GOD, i. e. was only known to GOD, and yet make in the Beginning, here, the same, as from the Beginning, in St. John's Epistle, then it must follow, that the Apostles saw, and heard, and handled, the Word, as