I.

CHAP. But how did Abraham see his day? Was it to him present, past, or future? The truth is, it was not to him reHeb. xi. 10 al, but only by faith in the promise, the fulfilment of Rom. viii. which was yet future: for he looked for a city whose builder and maker is God: And what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope and look for?

24, 25.

Johni. 27. 30.

38. Again said Jesus, "Before Abraham was, I am.” This was strictly true; but in what sense? Not in relation to the period of his existence; but in relation to the dignity of his order, office, and work; in this he was preferred before all, and above all that ever were before him. Hence said John the Baptist, the greatest of all the prophets, "He it is, who, coming after me, is preferred before me-for he was before me."

39. Again, it is said that Jesus prayed for the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. Whatever ideas the natural man may form from the literal words of scripture, the plain truth is this: Christ Jesus, in whom dwelt the fulness of the Father, knew what was intended, in the mind and purpose of the Father, for him; therefore, when he had finished the work which the Father had given him to do, he prayed, saying, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee [that is, John xvii. which was in thy mind and purpose concerning me] before the world was.' 99*

2 Tim. i.

9.

Psa. ii. 7.

6.

40. Again, when the apostle said, "God hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began," he could not mean the old world; for neither they nor Christ Jesus existed, in the order of time, before the old world, but long after.

41. Therefore it is written, "Thou art my Son, this Heb. i. 5, day have I begotten thee:" which could not be the day in which David wrote: for again he saith, I will [in future tense] be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son. And when he bringeth the first begotten into the world, he saith, "And let all the angels of God worship him." Which was expressly fulfilled when the tidings of his birth were brought to the shepherds, four thousand years after the visible creation began, and never before.

42. The apostles and true followers of Christ Jesus,

The Divine Nature, with which Christ Jesus was glorified, war. with the Father before all worlds..

were indeed called and chosen to be in him, as he was in the Father, and to be witnesses of him, before the foundation of that world, new creation, or new age was fully established, which, according to promise, was at the day of Pentecost; then it was actually brought forth, according to the purpose of God, which he purposed in himself before all worlds. But we must distinguish between the purpose of God, and its actual accomplishment.

43. A man might purpose to build a city, and exhibit the plan according to his purpose; but would the plan be the city itself? And provided the city was built, from what period would the building of the city be dated? from the time of its actual building? or of forming the plan? Not from the plan, but from the actual building of the city.

44. And should he, at the same time, include in the plan the building of a meaner city, preparatory to that which he intended for glory and duration, and in which be intended to live and abide; would not every person of common sense grant, that the last could only be first in point of dignity and glory, and not in the order of time?

45. The purpose of God is eternal, and equally includeth the existence of all his works, to be created, and to exist in their own order of times; therefore no one thing can be considered as prior to another, in that eternal purpose, otherwise than as it respecteth the times of their actual existence, and the dignity of their order.

46. As one thing must exist before another, in regard to time; so in this respect the first Adam was first, as to actual existence; and the first-born Son of God was preferred before him in the purpose of God, respecting man's redemption; but was not first as to actual existence, any more than the whole human race existed on the earth before God said, "Let us make man in our image."

47. When David spake by the Spirit, saying, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee;" many ages had to pass away before this prophecy could be fulfilled. But when the fulness of time was come, for the Son to be begotten, conceived, and brought forth into the world, then the manner of his conception and birth, his name and office, were particularly declared by the angel Gabriel, unto Mary, a virgin espoused to Joseph.

48. "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and

W w

II.

CHAP. bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the 31, and 35 power of the Highest shall overshadow thee."

Luke ii.

49. Here then, were the first operations of that Word, by which the first-begotten Son of God entered the world. And as he was the second Adam, therefore he was not before the first Adam. And as he was the beginning of the creation of God, which is the New creation; therefore he was not in existence before the beginning of the Old creation.

45, 46, 47.

"T"

CHAPTER II.

The Revelation of the Holy Ghost.*

1 Cor. x. "HERE is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body:" and as there is a natural birth to the natural body, so there is a spiritual birth to the spiritual body, which is produced by the work of regeneration, and is called the new birth, or being born again. Hence it is written, "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual."

2. The living soul of the first man was a spiritual body, and occupied the natural body of the first Adam, and constituted the first natural man. The quickening spirit of the second man was the Lord from heaven, and occupied the spiritual body of the second Adam, and constituted the first spiritual man, the true Christ the Son of God.

*The first appearing of Christ, in the simplest terms of language, is the Revelation of the Father, and the second appearing of Christ is the Revelation of the Mother; but for the subject under consideration we have preferred the title, "The Revelation of the Holy Ghost," as the most forcible and striking of all other scripture terms, that can be applied to convey an understanding of the fundamental doctrines of Christ in the present day. In the scriptures the same things are very frequently expressed in very different words, and under different names and titles. And it is not very essential what terms are used to convey the truth to a lost world, provided it can thereby find an entrance into the heart, and by its superior light, dispel those clouds of confused ideas, and false notions of God, by which Antichrist hath long bewil dered mankind.

II.

3. The natural body or tabernacle, in which the Lord CHAP. Jesus dwelt, was visible to the natural eye, like the natural bodies of other men; but his spiritual body, in which was Christ the Lord, was invisible, and was seen and known only by revelation to those who received his Word; and no man could call him Lord but by the Holy Ghost.

4. How greatly, then, are they mistaken, who suppose that the virgin Mary was the true and real Mother of the Son of God. With as much propriety it might be said, that the dust of the ground was the true and real Mother of the first living soul.

5. It is true, a body was formed of the dust of the ground, into which the Lord God breathed the breath of life; but the ground could be no more than the mother of that body in which the living soul was formed: for the natural dust of the ground had nothing to do in conceiving the living soul.

6. And although there was a natural body taken out of the virgin Mary, in which the true spiritual body of the Lord Jesus was formed, it could constitute no higher relation between Mary and the second Adam, the quickening spirit, than was between the dust of the ground and the first living soul.

7. Such as have considered Mary as the real Mother of Christ, by falling into that mistake, have equally mistaken every thing else concerning Christ. They have admitted that Mary was a fallen creature, possessed of the same corrupt nature with other women.

And thus they have supposed that Christ was the offspring of a holy God and a sinful woman, possessed of the nature of both, God and man in two distinct natures, having both the nature of his Father and mother, "united in one person, and that without any change, mixture or confusion."

8. From this notion hath arisen the inconsistent and absurd doctrine, that good and evil are united in the children of God; that "the corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated.”— And consequently the first followers of Christ were at least half-blooded sinners, and degenerated, from age to age, to the mother's side, until they could scarcely tell whether they had any thing of God in them or notDaily transgressors, never able to keep the commandments of God during the term of life; when the pointed truth is, that, Whosoever sinneth hath neither seen. 1 John. Christ, nor known him.

6.

СНАР.

II.

2 Cor. v.

16.

John vi. 42. and viii. 15, 23, 42,

9. It is evident, that in Christ Jesus was no sin, that he did no evil, neither was guile found in his mouth; therefore it followeth, that he derived no part of his substance from a sinful woman, any more than the substance of the human soul is derived from the dust of the ground. That which he took upon him through the medium of a woman, he never owned as any part of his divine substance, but crucified it unto the death.

10. And as he was manifested to be the fall and perfect Son of God, by the Spirit and fruits of holiness; therefore the above opinion is founded upon a misunderstanding of his true lineage, which was not partly divine and partly human, but fully and perfectly divine in both parts of his parentage. But as the Son came to reveal the Father only, therefore the mistake could never be rectified till the Mother was revealed by the Daughter.

11. Whatever may have been said by the disciples of Christ, or others, concerning his genealogy, his own tesfimony deserveth the highest credit; for he never pretended to contradict any thing he said, or to intimate that he was in the least mistaken; and he expressly saith to such as judged after the flesh, "Ye know not whence I am."

12. The Evangelists and others wrote according to the best of their knowledge; and hence there is such a diversity in their writings at different periods. For seeing that Christ was to come of the seed and lineage of David, and knowing for certain that he had come; theretore they gave his genealogy in that line, through Joseph and Mary, as his supposed parents; when at the same time, they all agree that Joseph was not his real father.

13. In accommodation to the blind prejudices of the Jewish nation, the apostles showed that Christ came of Joseph and Mary, according to the flesh: but at the same time, they prove that he did not come after the flesh at all. "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, (saith Paul) yet now henceforth know we him no more."

14. The common people made no distinction; they say, "Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?" But Jesus who knew all things from the beginning, saith, "Ye judge after the fleshYe are from beneath; I am from above.-I proceeded forth and came from God." The Evangelists, who wrote