4. Fourthly, That Christ was God subsisting in the divine nature. I shall bring two places to prove that. The first, Phil. ii. 6, ' Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation.' He was first in the form of God, before he appeared in the form of a servant. The form of God is his divine glory and blessedness, every way equal to God ; the form of a servant is either his coming in the similitude of sinful flesh, or his subjecting himself to the curse of the law, or his humble and mean condition while he lived among men. It consists in one of these, or in all three. Now before he submitted to this, he existed in the form of God — that is, was clothed with divine majesty, and in all things equal with God the Father : his being and existence which he then had was truly divine. The form of God is the very divine essence, as clothed with glory and majesty ; this did justly and naturally belong to him, and was not usurped by him. The other place is Christ's prayer : John xvii. 5, ' And now, 0 Father, glorify
Col. I. 17.] fee-existence of christ before all things. 447
thou me with thy own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.' God is said to glorify any person when he giveth him glorious qualities and jDOwers ; or by revealing and manifesting those glorious qualities which he hath ; or when he doth receive him and treat him agreeably to his glory. The meaning of Christ's prayer, then, must be of one or other of all these senses. When he prayeth that the Father would glorify him with that glory that he had with him before the world was, if you take it in the first sense, he desireth that Grod would bestow upon him as Mediator, or God incarnate, a glory suitable to that glory be had with him from all eternity ; if in the second sense, he desireth his glory may be revealed, or become conspicuous in his human nature ; if in the third, that God would receive him honourably and agreeably to that glory : Avhich sense is the chiefest, for it containeth the other two. The meaning, then, in short, is, that he might be received to the full enjoyment of that glory which he had before the world was. Christ was from all eternity the glorious God. This glory of his Godhead, by his humiliation was not diminished and lessened, but obscured and hidden ; and therefore prayeth that he may be received by the Father, and openly declared to the world to be the Son of God ; or that the glory of his Godhead might shine forth in the person of Christ, God-man. Well, then, before any creature was, Christ had a divine glory. How had it he ? The enemies of this truth say, By decree or designation, not by possession. But that can- not be : he that is not, hath nothing. If he had not a divine being, how could he have divine glory before the world ? None can say Paul was an apostle of Christ before the world was, because he was appointed or designed to this work ; yea, none can say he had faith and brotherly love when he was yet an unbeliever and persecutor ; yet it pleased God to separate him from his mother's womb, and predestinated him to have these things. Again, then, all true believers may thus pray to God, ' Glorify me with,' &c., for they are thereunto appointed. But this is absurd. Besides, if he had it then, how could he want it now ? The decree is the same. It remaineth, then, that Christ had a being and substance in the Godhead before any of the creatures were made.
Use 1. This serveth for the confutation of those atheists that say, Christ took upon him the appellation of a god to make his doctrine more authentic and effectual. They confess the morals of Christianity are most excellent for the establishment of piety and honesty, but, men's inclination carrying them more powerfully to vice than virtue, this doctrine would not be received with any reverence if it came recommended to them by a mere man, and therefore Christ assumed the glorious appellation of the Son of God, or pretended to be God — a blasphemy very derogatory both to the honour of Christ and Chris- tianity, and quite contrary to the drift of the scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, The Messiah promised in the Old Testament was to be God, all the prophets agree in that. Jesus Christ proved himself to be God by his word and works, and the apostles still assert it. Could they that lived in so many several ages as the prophets and apostles did, lay their heads together and have intelligence one with another to convey this imposture to the world ? Surely, if Christ be the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, as clearly he is, then he
44S PRE-EXISTENCE OF CHRIST BEFORE ALL THINGS, [SeR. IV.
is God, for that describeth him to be siicli ; and if Christ usurped tliis honour, how did God so highly favour hiiu with such extra- ordinary graces, by inspiring him with the knowledge of the best religion in the world, to authorise him with miracles, to raise him from the dead ? And must this religion, that condemneth all frauds, and doing evil that good may come of it, be supported by a lie ? Or cannot God govern the world without countenancing such a deceit ? Or is it possible that such holy persons as our Lord Jesus and his apostles were, could be guilty of such an imposture ? Did they do this by command of God ? No, surely ; for God, which is the God of truth, would not command them to teach a lie, or to make use of one. He hath power enough to cause the truth to be embraced by some other means; and a greater injury cannot be done him than to go about to gratify him with what he hateth ; much less would God have commanded a mere man to call himself his eternal Son, and God equal to him, which is a blasphemy and sacrilege as well as a lie — the greatest of the kind, for mortal man to take upon himself to be the eternal God. If it were not by his express commandment, would he suffer such an attempt to go unpunished ? Would he witness from heaven, ' This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ' ? Would he have raised him from the dead, and so engaged the world to believe in him and adore him? Acts xvii. 31.