Word was God; to which Word he ascribes the creation of all things, and therefore must be before them, as well as be a divine Person; and he is in both places represented as a distinct Person, as he must be, from him, by whom, and with whom, he was a Person eternally existing; being not only before Abraham, but before Adam, or any creature was in being; a Person co-existing, as a Son with the Father, being co-essential and co-eternal with his Father; and was by him, and at his side, on a level with him; Jehovah's fellow, equal to him, possessed of the same perfections; and being by him, and in his presence, was infinitely delighted in by him; and was as one brought up with him, as a Son with a Father, and so denotes his relation to him, being begotten of him, his own Son, the Son of the Father, in truth and love; and the Father's tender regard of him, and delight in him; being, as some render the word, nursed up by him, and carried in his bosom, as a nursing Father bears the sucking child; so to express the exceeding great tenderness of the Father to the Son, and his delight in him, the only begotten Son, he is said to be in the bosom of the Father, John i. 18. Though the phrase may also have respect to Christ, in his mediatorial capacity, who was foreordained and constituted as Mediator by his Fathe1, and trained up in his office, and to whom he pointed out the work, he was to do as such; to bring Jacob again, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel; and be his salvation unto the ends of the earth, Isai. xlix. 5, 6. And I was daily his delight; day by day, or every day; not that there are, properly speaking, days in eternity; but the phrase is expressive of the constant and invariable delight the Father had in his Son; as well as the greatness of it is signified by the word in the plural number, delights; he was his exceeding great delight, superlatively delightful to him; and so he was, as he was his Son, a Son of delights, the dear Son of his love; whom he loved before the foundation of the world, with a love of complacency and delight; he was always his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased; partly because of his likeness to him, being the image of the invisible God, the express image of his Person; as every like loves its like; and partly because of the same nature with him, having the same perfections, even the whole fulness of the Godhead in him: he was also his delight, considered in his office as Mediator; Behold my Servant, whom I uphold; mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth, Isai. xlii. 1. He delighted in him, as engaging in covenant to be the Mediator and Surety of it; as with admiration, so with the utmost pleasure and delight, he said, Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me, saith the Lord? Jer. xxx. 21. to strike hands with me, and become a Surety for my people. And with equal pleasure, did he behold him acceding and assenting to his proposals in covenant, saying Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God! Psal. xl. 7, 8. He delighted in him as the God-man; being fit, as such, for the, work he assigned unto him; and whereas he proposed to him in covenant, to assume human nature in time, for that purpose, and he agreed unto it, he viewed him hencefor ward as the God-man; and he bore the repute of it with him, and considered him under this character; he delighted in the foreviews of his future assumption of human nature; and a little before the time, by Zechariah, one of the last of the prophets, expressed his joy at the near approach of it; Behold, I will bring forth my Servant, the Branch; that is, speedily, in a very short time; and again, Behold, the Man, whose name is the Branch, he shall grow up out of his place, Zech. iii. 8. and vi. 12. which is signified to be future, yet near. And he delighted in the foreviews of that obedience to his will his Son should yield in that nature, by which the law would be magnified and made honourable; and of his sufferings and death in it, whereby full satisfaction would be given for the sins of his people; and of his glorification at his right hand in that nature he had promised him; and of his own glory displayed in the salvation of men by him, and a full accomplishment of that; an affair his heart was so much set upon from everlasting. In the foreviews of all this was Christ as Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour, as well as God's own Son, the object of his infinite delight and pleasure from everlasting. II. The Son of God also had the same delight and pleasure in his divine Father, before the world was; and when there was no creature in being, he was then rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in being possessed of the same nature and perfections his Father was, being like and equal to him in all things and rejoicing that he stood in such a relation to him as a Son to a Father; with what exultation does he repeat the words of his Father to him, declaring this relation; The Lord hath said unto me, and that was in eternity, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, Psal. ii. 7. He delighted in the foreviews of his future incarnation, as being agreeable to his Father's will; A body hast thou prepared me, Heb. x. 5. which he spoke with pleasure, and as being willing and desirous to assume it; in which he should do his Father's will and work, and which would be his meat and drink, and accomplish the salvation of his people, which was the joy set before him; and he rejoiced in the foreviews of his Father being glorified by it, and of his own glory upon it, John xiii. 31, 32, and xvii. 1-5. III. Though the third Person, the holy Spirit, is not mentioned in the passtage in Proverbs; yet as the Father delights in the Son, and the Son in the Father, so both of them delight in the Spirit, as proceeding from them, and he in them; for these Three are One, of the same nature and perfections, and have a = mutual in-being in each other, and so a complacency in one another; for as the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, John x. 38. and xiv. 10. so the Spirit is in them, and they in him; and in consequence must have a mutual delight in each other: the Spirit, as he is of the same nature with the Father and the Son, always took infinite delight in his own nature and perfections; and as he was privy to all the thoughts, purposes, and counsels of God, which are the deep things he searches and reveals; he must have taken pleasure in them, and in the foreviews of the execution of them; and as he approved and assented to all the articles in the council and covenant of peace, he must have had infinite delight in the view of the accomplishment of them, as well as of those things which he himself in covenant undertook to perform. IV. This mutual delight and complacency which each Person had in one another, lay in and arose from the perfect knowledge they had of each other; As the Father knoweth me, says Christ, so know I the Father, John x. 15. and the Spirit knows them both, and the things that are in them, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. and hence arises mutual love to each other; the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, John iii. 35. and v. 20. and xiv. 31. and the Spirit proceeding from them both, loves them both; and it cannot be otherwise, since there is such a nearness to, and mutual in-being in each other. Moreover, IV. The three diving Persons had from eternity, and before any creature was in actual being, the utmost delight and complacency in the elect of God, and in the foreviews of their salvation and happiness. The joy and delight of the Son in them are strongly expressed in Prov. viii. 31. Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men; that is, from everlasting; before ever the earth was made, or any creature in it; then was the Son of God rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth; in the foreviews of those spots of ground, houses and cottages, where it was known the chosen vessels of mercy would dwell: for God has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; and Christ knew beforehand in what places he should have a people, and in which this and that man should be born again, Acts xvii. 26. and xviii, 10. Psal. lxxxvii. 4-6. and as lovers express their love to the objects of their love, by saying they love the ground on which they tread; so Christ having loved his people with a love of complacency and delight, rejoiced in the foresight of those parts of the habitable world, where he saw their habitations would be: the church of God on earth, may be called the habitable part of his earth, being the dwelling-place which he has chosen for himself as such, and where he delights to dwell, and they were from everlasting his Hephzibah and Beulah. Some respect may be had to the new earth, or the second Adam's earth; in which only righteous persons will dwell; and where the tabernacle of God will be with men, his chosen ones; and where he will dwell with them a thousand years; and in this also the Son of God was rejoicing in the foreviews of: nor am I averse to take in the human nature of Christ, into the sense of the words; who, though with respect to his divine Person, and mediatorial office, is the Lord from heaven; yet, as to his human nature, he was curiously wrought, by the power and skill of the Holy Ghost, in the lowest parts of the earth, in the womb of the virgin, and therefore called the fruit of the earth, being born of an earthly woman, Psal. cxxxix. 15. Isai. iv. 2. and which human nature is a tabernacle God pitched, and not men; a tabernacle for the eternal word to dwell in, and where the fulness of the and Godhead dwells bodily; and in the views of this the Son of God was rejoicing before the world was; and in time expressed his desire of it, and delight in it, before it became his habitation; as may be concluded from his frequent appear ances in an human form, before his incarnation, as preludiums of it: as to Adam, Abraham, Jacob, and other patriarchs; he rejoiced in the foreviews of it, as it would be of the same kind with that of the children given him, and he had undertook to redeem and save; and as it would be the produce of the holy Spirit, and so free from sin; and as it would be filled and adorned with his gifts graces; and as after he had done the will of God in it, it would be crowned with glory and honour, and set down at the right hand of God; and all this joy and delight were with a peculiar respect unto the elect of God, as follows; And my delights were with the sons of men, the posterity of Adam, fallen creatures, the chosen of God among them, who sinned in him, and on whom judgment came unto condemnation, and who are conceived and born in sin, and by nature children of wrath as others; and yet the delights of Christ, his exceeding great delight, expressed by the plural number, were with them as they were loved by his Father, chosen in him, and given to him; and as he viewed them redeemed by him, washed in his blood, and clothed with his righteousness and as he saw them in the glass of his Father's purposes and decrees, in all the glory he designed to bring them to, even to be a glorious church without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Now not only the Son of God took delight and complacency in the elect of God, before the world was; but the Father and Spirit also; for God the Fa ther of Christ loved them, and chose them in him, before the foundation of the world, 2 Thess. ii. 13, Eph. i. 4. And this love was a love of complacency and delight; because he delighted in them, therefore he chose them to be his peculiar people, as he did Israel of old, in a national sense, Deut. x. 15. And from the same delight in them arose the council held by him with the other two Persons concerning them; and the covenant of grace he entered into with them. And so the holy Spirit, his delights were with the same Persons, as they were chosen in Christ, through sanctification by him; and in the foreviews of their being temples for him to dwell in; and in whom he should abide as the earnest and pledge of their future glory; and as the sealer of them to the day of redemption; and as they should be sanctified and made meet by him for eternal glory and happiness. Thus we see what delight and complacency, satisfaction and happiness, God had in himself before any creature existed; and would have continued the same, if none had ever been created: so that he needed not for his own sake, to go forth in acts of power, to bring creatures into being, since he would have been as happy without them as with them; wherefore the production of them into being is purely the effect of his sovereign will and pleasure; and we see what the thoughts of God were employed about, and chiefly concerned in, in |