created by Jesus Christ provided it be properly understood what creation is here spoken of. The special and sole object of the apostle here, however, is to show that it was the purpose of God to gather the Gentiles into the kingdom of his Son to be his people, which had been a mystery of former ages, though now made manifest to the world. There does not appear to be any allusion here to the material creation, but only to the conversion of the heathen and bringing them under the spiritual dominion of the Messiah. That the creation of all things by Jesus Christ is spoken only in reference to spiritual things-to a moral regeneration,-is evident from such passages as the following: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Eph. ii. 10.) "Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.' (Eph. ii. 24.) "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, [Kαin Kilσis, a new creation,] old things are passed away; behold all things are become new; (2 Cor. v. 17,) and yet these words are obviously limited to the moral change in the minds, feelings, aims, and lives of believers. It is plainly the drift of all these passages to exhibit, not Christ's pre-existence in point of time, but his pre-eminence in point of authority, dignity and honor in the new dispensation, as the Messiah of God, the divinely appointed head of the church and Saviour of the world. "He is," indeed, "before all things; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." (Col. i. 17, 18.) The word before does not always have reference to time; it sometimes carries the special sense of precedence in rank, power, authority and glory. Thus the Baptist said, "He that cometh after me

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4" This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man that is preferred before me, for he was before me;" (John i. 15,) i. e. says Neander, Who has taken a higher place than I, according to his nature. According to the usage of the Greek and of language generally, the before of place and time may express, figuratively, precedence of dignity; and, in this usage, kμлроobεv μov yeyover is easily interpreted, although (in the order of time) he comes after me, yet (in the order of dignity) he was before me.' In the full certainty of prophetic intuition, the Baptist describes this as already realized.

"It remains a question, whether it would not be more in accordance with the simple conception of the Baptist to take лç@rоs as referring,

is preferred before me, whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to unloose," (John i. 15, 27, 30,) thus acknowledging that it was a preference in point of character, office and honor, which was accorded to the Saviour, rather than pre-existence in time. He was preferred before John the Baptist, before Abraham, before all the most honored of the prophets and sages of old. He was "made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." This more excellent name did not belong to Christ. until his advent in the flesh, for it is expressly predicated of his self-sacrificing devotion to his Father's will, his immaculate purity of life, his works of love and mercy. "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Heb. i. 9.) Here is distinctly presented to view the ground on which Jesus has a superior claim on our homage and love ;-it is his Godlike benevolence, his unwearied, self-sacrificing devotion to God's will and to human welfare. "For the suffering of death he was crowned with glory and honor." Nor does it appear that he existed previous to his being born of Mary, in any other sense than as all men pre-exist in the purpose of God. His pre-eminence is purely moral and on the ground of merit; the exalted powers and gifts bestowed on him by the Father are likened in the Scriptures to the rights of primogeniture, because God hath highly honored him and exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour.

In the first chapter of John's Gospel, the pre-eminence of Christ is set forth in the use of some oriental forms of speech, somewhat different from those we have considered, but borrowed either from the Old Testament or from the Platonic philosophy of the time. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grate and truth." (John i. 14.) This personification of the Logos [word, wisdom, or reason] of God, is almost exactly

not to pre-existence, but to priority of nature, which interpretation I have followed in the text. This involves no tautology; the 'becoming greater' is derived from the being greater.' The word is used, and not corí, to indicate that the 'priority of essence,' preceded the pri ority of dignity,' which was not obtained by Christ in its manifestation, until a later period. It is an oxymoron; he was that, which he has become.'" (Neander's Life of Christ. pp. 161-162.)

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paralleled by the personification of the Sophia [wisdom, skill, science; the Vulgate has sapientia,] of God in Prov. viii. 12, 22, 23. The Psalmist had also said (xxxiii. 6,) "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." That St. John should represent this Logos, this Word of God, this Divine Energy, as residing especially in Jesus, is not difficult to understand. But it does not prove that the man Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary and crucified under the Procurator Pontius Pilate, was the Supreme Jehovah, nor that he existed before he was born, unless this is understood to mean that his existence was predestinated from the beginning of the creation, in which sense doubtless all men may for the same reason be said to have pre-existed. In any other sense than this, the doctrine of Christ's eternal pre-existence is as untenable from anything found in the first chapter of John, as that of his Supreme Godhood, if there be any meaning in Paul's statement that Jesus, as to his nature," was made in all things like unto his brethren." (Heb. ii. 17.)

There are several appellatives given to Jesus in the Scriptures as titles of office, honor and distinction, whose significance depends on Scripture usage. John bestows on him the title," only begotten Son," as expressive of endearment, of eminent rank, of precedence in authority and honor above other sons of God; but it will not bear to be strained nor to be understood literally, because Scripture usage forbids it. For instance, Abraham is commonly reckoned the first born son of Terah, not because he was actually the oldest, for he was probably the youngest; Haran being the oldest son of Terah. But Abraham is reckoned first to denote his supreme rank, to show that to him belong the rights of primogeniture. (Gen. xi. 27.) Isaac, for a similar reason, is called by way of favor and distinction the only begotten son of Abraham. Yet Abraham had other sons; Ishmael was fourteen years older than Isaac, the latter being the child of Sarah's old age, but he is reckoned first in order of rank, just as Jesus is reckoned before John the Baptist, before Abraham, before all that had ever lived, yea, the first-born of every creature."

Cruden says very justly that this word (first-born) is not always to be understood strictly according to the letter; it is

sometimes taken for that which is first, most excellent, most distinguished in anything. The privilege of the first-born among the Jews consisted: (1.) In a right to the priesthood, which, before the giving of the Law, was fixed to the eldest of the family; (2.) The first-born had a double portion of his father's estate. By this rule of primogeniture, Shem, the second of Noah's sons, is usually reckoned the first, (Gen. v. 32,) and Japheth, who was in fact the oldest, is reckoned the last. (Gen. x. 21.) Jehoshaphat gave to his sons "great gifts of silver and of gold and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah; but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram, because he was the first-born;" (2 Chron. xxi. 3.) he being thus by birthright made lord over his brethren; just as Isaac said to Esau, after bestowing the rights of primogeniture on Jacob,-" Behold I have made. him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants." Hence it was that with the Hebrews the terms "first-born," "lord" and "heir," came to be nearly synonymous. The words in Exod. iv. 22,-" Israel is my son, even my first-born "-mean, according to Dr. A. Clarke, "The Hebrew people are unutterably dear to me."

When, therefore, St. John calls Jesus "the only begotten of the Father," and when St. Paul designates him as "the first-born of every creature," "the heir of all things," and when John the Baptist declares that Christ" was preferred before" him, and when Jesus says to the Jews that before Abraham was, (that venerated ancestor whom they looked upon as the special friend and servant of God,) he was appointed and fore-ordained as the Messiah,-we understand all these different modes of speech as clearly indicating the Divine purpose that in all things he should have the preeminence; but we see no sufficient reason to suppose that he existed before he was born any more than other men. In short when we come to understand the Scripture use of terms, the oriental figures of speech and the idiomatic and elliptical phrases which have been relied upon to prove the doctrine of Christ's pre-existence, and have harmonized them together, then the foundation of the doctrine seems to disappear.

There is another aspect of the subject which ought not, perhaps, to be overlooked in this connection. There are in

the Old Testament some prophecies of the Messiah, which may be supposed to involve his pre-existence.

The Christology, as it is called, of the Old Testament, is a subject which greatly needs to be presented and illustrated anew, from a stand-point of reason and common sense; but to properly treat so wide and inviting a topic would require more time and space than we now have at our command. At present, therefore, we only refer to a single passage with reference to its supposed bearing on the subject of Christ's pre-existence. The Lord directed Moses to say to the Jews, (Deut. xviii. 15-18.) "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." These words were spoken just before the close of Moses' long, eventful and honorable career, as the leader and legislator of the Israelites, who are here assured that though he is taken away from them yet his place shall be filled by another true prophet whom the Lord would send in his own name, and they are commanded to receive and hearken to him. What is this, in short, but a promise of a succession of inspired prophets to be kept up in Israel; whose office it should be, as that of Moses had been, to teach the people God's holy law, reprove them for their faults, remind them of their duty, foretell things to come, judgments for warning and deliverances for their comfort. And having such a prophet always to refer to, they need not use divinations nor consult with familiar spirits, for they might inquire of God's inspired prophets for guidance in all their perplexities. And it was furthermore said that the people might know the true prophet by this sign, viz.: by his words coming to pass and his predictions being fulfilled. These would be the credentials of the prophet whom the Lord would send, and would establish his claim to the regard and confidence of the people. (Deut. xviii. 21, 22.) In conformity with this promise the Lord raised up the prophet Samuel and his successors who fulfilled the expectations raised by the words of Moses to the Israelites. It is to a race, a succession of prophets to be raised up and continued among them, that Moses refers, rather than to any one individual on whom his mantle should fall. Yet Adam Clarke, Matthew Henry, and the whole race of orthodox commentators insist at great and wearisome length on applying these words of Moses espec