fince it was poffible for him to have enjoyed ftate of dignity previous to his birth, and at the fame time to be a creature, who derived his exiftence and all his powers from God. Profeffing myfelf, however, to be of opinion, that our Lord had no exiftence before he was born, I will proceed to examine all the paffages Mr. Hawker has brought forwards to prove the contrary doctrine. John xvii. 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own feif, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. But fo far is this prayer from proving the deity of Jefus Chrift, that it is a moft direct and folemn avowal of his own to the contrary; a most direct and folemn avowal, that the glory for which he prayed, of whatever nature it might be, was folely at the difpofal of his heavenly Father. Perhaps it may be faid, that our faviour did not put up this prayer in his divine, but in his human nature. To this it may be answered, that the human nature had no glory with the Father before the world was, not exifting, as the Trinitarians themselves allow, till it was born of Mary. Those of them, therefore, who contend that the interpretation Mr. Hawker has given, is the true oné, are are reduced to the neceffity of fuppofing, that the fecond perfon in the trinity prayed to the firft, that is, that God prayed to God, or, of giving up the paffage, as proving nothing in favour of their fcheme, Thofe, who difbelieve the pre-exiftent ftate of Chrift, fuppofe that the glory, for which he prayed, was a glory which he had in the divine counfels before the world was, and which was about to be conferred upon him. The reafons for this interpretation are the following. 1. That this glory does not appear, from the connection, to have been a glory which he before poffeffed, but a glory which he was to receive as the reward of his meritorious conduct. v. 4. 5. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work thou gavest me to do, and now O Father, &c. 2. That the glory was not of a nature peculiar to Chrift, but which he himself speaks of as enjoying in common with his disciples. v. 22. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. It deferves attention alfo, that the phrafeology of the laft mentioned verfe, is fimilar to that of the paífage we are confidering. Chrift afferts, that he had given the difciples this glory. Not that we are to fuppofe, he had put them into actual poffeffion poffeffion of it; but had given it to them in the same manner that he had received it, by appointment, and by promise. 3. There are other fimilar expreffions in the New Testament, which Trinitarians, as well as ourselves, are obliged to explain in the fame manner. Eph. i. 4, Chriftians are faid to be chofen in Chrift before the foundation of the world; and II. Tim. i. 9, Grace is faid to have been given us in Chrift Jefus, before the world began. John vi. 38. I came down from heaven. John viii. 42. I proceeded forth, and came from God. To these paffages may be added John viii. 23. Ye are from beneath, I am from above: Ye are of this world, I am not of this world; and John xvi. 28. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. That by thefe expreffions our Lord intended nothing more than that he was a divine meffenger invested with a divine commiffion, feems evident from the following fimilar paffages. Matt. xxi 25. The baptifm of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? that is, was it of divine or of human authority? John i. 6. There was a man fent from God, whofe name was John. John xvii.18. As thou haft fent me into the world, even fo have I alfo fent them into the world. What Jefus meant by faying, he proceeded forth and came same from God, he himself explains John viii. 42. Jefus faid, I proceeded forth, and came from God; neither came I of myjelf, but he fent me. Thus evidently teaching us, that the phrafes, proceeding forth, and coming from God, are fynonomous to the phrafe, fent from God. It may be observed alfo concerning thefe expreffions, that in whatever manner they are explained, they flatly contradi&t the doctrine of our Lord's deity. The person who Jends, and the person who is fent, must neceffarily be distinct, and the one fuperior to the other. John viii. 58. Before Abraham was, I am. Το understand this paffage, nothing more is neceffary than to attend to its connection. The Jews had been reproving Chrift for making himself fuperior to Abraham. He answered them, that Abraham, great as he was, rejoiced to fee his day, that he faw it, and was glad. Now Mr. Hawker, I suppose, will agree with me, that by this nothing more was intended, than that Abraham rejoiced in the prospect of his day, owing to the promise which God had made him, that in his feed fhould all the nations of the earth be bleffed. The Jews, however, imagining, or pretending to imagine, that he meant he had actually seen Abraham in the flesh, afk him how it was poffible, fince he was not yet fifty years old. For reafons of his own he did not chufe to explain himself, but repeats his former affertion in ftill fill ftronger terms, Verily, verily I fay unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. As if he had faid, "You need not be surprised at what I inform you, for I was not only promifed, as the Meffiah, to your father Abraham, but exifted, in the divine appointment and promife, long before the time of Abraham." The arguments in favour of this interpretation are the following. 1. That there is as much reafon to put this conftruction on the laft affertion of our Saviour, as on the first, viz. that Abraham rejoiced to fee his day, that he Jaw it, and was glad. Now no one fupposes from this, that Abraham really faw Christ in the flesh; but that he saw him only as exifting in the divine decree and promife. Why then should we not have recourse to the fame method of interpretation in explaining the laft affertion, and conclude, that Jefus did not mean, that he perfonally existed before Abraham, but only that he was appointed by God to be the Meffiah, and promised to the world before Abraham? 2. It is unnatural to fuppofe, that Jefus fhould fo fuddenly change his meaning, when the phrases are fo fimilar, from afferting that he only existed, in the divine purpose and promife, at the time of Abraham, |