for the place where thou ftandeft is holy; and Jofhuah did fo.'

Gen. vi. 6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.' Ifa. lxiii. 9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the an6 gel of his presence faved them.'

It is furely more agreeable to fcripture and reafon, to fuppofe, that the person who appeared in a human form, and is fpoken of as having hands and feet, parts and paffions, is that being who holds a middle rank between finite and infinite, between the mutability of creatures, and the immutability of the felf-exifting God; who in the fulness of time was to become a real man, live on earth, and feel the griefs and afflictions to which human nature in this ftate is fubject;. than to fuppofe that the invifible God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, affumed fuch forms, and that he should be spoken of as having parts and passions, that seem incompatible with the fimplicity, perfection, and immutabili ty of his nature.

We know that when Chrift was in the world in the days of his flesh, he was tempted by the pharifees and lawyers; and the scriptures also say, that the Ifraelites tempted him in the wilderness. We also know from the fame fource of information, that he was grieved at the hardness of heart and unbelief that prevailed among the Jews when he preached among them in the days of his flefh, and wept at the afflictions he faw coming upon them for their unbelief; and have

we

we not every reason to believe that he would be affected in a fimilar manner for thofe who refifted his fpirit in the prophets who were employed in the fame benevolent defign in the former difpenfation.

IX. The existence of Jefus before his incarnation, appears alfo from feveral paflages that fpeak of him as living, and conducting the operations of nature and affairs of the church in the former difpenfation, and as being in the form of a God before he took upon him the form of a fervant.

Jobxix. 25. 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, • and that he shall stand at the latter day upon 'the earth.'

6

Ifa. I. 2, 3, 4. Is my hand fhortened at all that it cannot redeem? or have I no strength to deliver? Behold at my rebuke I dry up the fea, I make the rivers a wildernefs; their fifh ftinketh, becaufe there is no water, and dieth for thirft. I clothe the heavens with blacknefs, and make fackcloth their covering. The Lord "God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I fhould know how to speak a word in feafon to him that is weary.'

Ifa. xliii. 1o. Before me there was no God formed, neither fhall there be after` • me.'

Rev. xxii. 13. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the laft.' Philip. ii. 6, 7. Who being in the form of a God, took upon him the form of a fervant.' See p. 86.

Ifa.

Ifa. Ixiii. 9. The angel of his prefence faved them; in his love and in his pity he redeem'ed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.'

In one of these paffages Job fpeaks of his Redeemer, who was to ftand on the earth at the latter day, as then living; in another, Isaiah mentions a perfon speaking of himfelf as a formed God; and in another, the apostle Paul fays of Chrift that he was in the form of God, or a God. Have we not therefore ground to conclude that Jefus Chrift is intended in these

texts..

When our Lord was fo concerned for the Jews in the days of his flesh, as to weep over Jerufalem; this concern is generally attributed to his human nature, because the divine nature is fuppofed to be incapable of being fo affected. Can we fuppofe fimple Deity more fufceptible of grief and affliction before, than after the incar nation of Christ? May not even this confideration induce us to think, that Jefus Chrift then existed in the form of God, distinct from the invisible God his Father, whofe image he was, and from whom he received that brightnessofglo

ry and God-like form; and that what is said Gen. vi. 6. applies moft properly to him? And as he is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the laft, in all the agency of the invifible God in or upon his creatures; before him there was no God formed, neither fhall there be after him, Agreeable to this the fcriptures inform us, that as the Father began his agency refpecting

his creatures, by creating all things by Jefus • Christ;' so he will finish what refpects their happiness, by reconciling all things by him.' To us therefore there is one God the Father,' of whom are all things; and one Lord Jefus Christ, by whom are all things.' 1 Cor. viii. 6. ́. X. The existence of Jefus Christ before his incarnation appears alfo from what is faid of the kings and princes of the earth fetting them felves against him then as well as the Father, and their being required then to fubmit to him; and alfo from the Father's addreffing him, long before he was incarnate.

.

Pfal. ii. 2. The kings of the earth set themfelves, and the rulers take counsel together, a-, gainst the Lord and against his anointed.' ver. 10. Be wife now, therefore, O ye kings; be inftructed, O ye judges of the earth. ver. 12. kifs the Son left he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.'

Pfal. ii. 7. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Pfal. cx. Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Heb. i. 8. Unto the Son he faith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. See Pfal. lxv. 6.

In Pfal. ii. 2. the kings and rulers of the earth are fpoken of as actually oppofing the Lord or Jehovah and his anointed, in as direct terms as theobftinacy of the Jews is spokenof, Ifa. vi. 9. And this paffage of the Pfalm being fulfilled in the kings and rulers of the world who crucified the Lord of glory, can no more warrant

denial,

denial, that those who lived in the days of the Pfalmift opposed the fame Lord the anointed of Jehovah; than the prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled in the Jews who fhut their eyes and hardened their hearts against the doctrines of Christ, can warrant a denial that the Jews who lived in the days of Isaiah did also harden their hearts from the fear of God, and refufed to walk in his ways. And the precepts for kings, &c. to be wife, and to fubmit to the Son, have every appearance of being as practical as other precepts; but they could not then be practical, nor could there be then any fenfe in a precept to fubmit to the Son, if he then had no existence. The idea of the early existence of Chrift, not only gives a clear and confiftent fenfe to all the above and many other texts, but alfo agrees with what the Father fays to Chrift as his begotten Son, whom he had fet or anointed king over Zion, before that time.

XI. The existence of Jefus Christ before his incarnation, and that in a nature or character inferior to that of the Father; appears from his laying afide a glory, divesting himself of riches, and emptying himself of a fulness which he enjoyed before he came into the world in a state of humiliation.

John xvii. 5. And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own felf, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.'

2 Cor. viii. 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that though he was rich, yet for your fakes he became poor, that

ye