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to write from materials collected with care from those whom he thought to be beft informed of the tranfactions he was about to relate.

His work is addreffed to Theophilus, of whom we know nothing more than his name; but he was probably a perfon of eminence in the chriftian church, who had expressed a defire of having a full account of the hiftory of Jefus from Luke, whom he knew to be well qualified to give it.

John I. 1. I have obferved that the phrafeology of John is peculiar to himself, and it is no where more fo than in this introduction to his gofpel. In order to understand it, and fee the propriety of it, we must attend to the state of things at the time in which he wrote, and this we may eafly collect from his epiftles. The profeffed object of them was to oppofe the doctrine of the Gnoftics, which was very prevalent before this apostle died, or to prove that Jesus and the Christ was the fame perfon, and that Jefus had real flesh and blood, like other men, and was not merely man in appearance. The ormer of thefe all the Gnoftics denied, and the latter, "fome of them. For they held that the Christ was a fuper-angelic being, who entered into Jefus at his baptism, and many of them said that Jefus had only the outward appearance of a man, and that he was incapable of feeling pain, or of dying, which they thought to be unworthy of his dignity. For the firft corrup tions of the christian doctrine were introduced on the idea of magnifying the perfon of Chrift, many perfons objecting to chriflianity on account of the meannefs of its founder.

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That John wrote his gofpel, as well as his epiftles, with a view to counteract thefe doctrines, is evident from his declaration at the clofe of it. Ch. xx, 21. These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. This is the very language of his epiftles, in which it unquestionably was his object to oppose the Gnostic doctrines. To me it is evident that the peculiar phrafeology of this introduction was owing to his alluding to the terms made ufe of in the Gnoftic fyftem, and his fhewing in what fenfe they may be adopted by Christians.

The Gnoflics, agreeably to the philofophy of the times, fuppofed that all fpirits were emanations from the fupre me mind, or fomething emitted from his fubftance, like light from the fun. For the idea of creation out of nothing was univerfally disclaimed by those who were called philofophers. They also said that the fupreme mind dwelt in what they called the λngwa πληρωμα within which is literally rendered fullness, without the bounds of which refided the divine emanations, to which fome of them gave the name of ons. Of thefe Eons they enumerated a 'great number, defcribing their mutual relation, and the production of fome of them from others in a regular fucceffion, or generation, like the genealogics of men. They were alfo particularly dif tinguished by a number of different names, fome of which were life, light, grace, truth, only begotten, and logos, which we tranflate, the word; all of which the evangelift fhews might be mediately or immediately applied to Chrift.

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