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many miracles, for Uvsuf/^a is miracles by a metonymy." Then let every thing be as the learned man will have it. It is in vain to contend; for surely never was expression so wrested. That Uvsv^a, simply is " miracles" is false; that to have a thing done h uAv^jjan signifies "miracles" is more evidently so, 1 Cor. ii. 4. The apostle speaks not at all of miracles, but of the efficacy of the Spirit with him in his preaching the word, to " convince the world of sin, right- eousness, and judgment," according to the promise of Christ. For the application of this expression to Jesus Christ see above. He adds, dixaiouadai is here "approbare," ut Matt. xi. 19. It is here to "ap- prove;" and that because it was necessary that the learned annotator should douXs-oiiv v-xodsGii. In what sense the word is taken, and how applied to Christ, with the genuine meaning of the place, see above. See also John i. 83, 34. Nor is the gospel anywhere said to be "justified in the Spirit;" nor is this a tolerable exposition, "'Justified in the Spirit,' — that is, it was approved by miracles."
"il^pdrj dyysXoig. " Nempe cum admiratione maxima. Angeli hoc arcanum per homines mortales didicere, Eph. iii. 10 ; 1 Pet. i. 12." How eminently this suits what is spoken of Jesus Christ was showed before. It is true, the angels, as with admiration, look into the things of the gospel ; but that it is said the gospel upOn dyysXoig is not proved.
It is true, the gospel was preached to the Gentiles; but yet this word is most frequently applied to Christ. Acts iiL 20, viii. 5, 2s, ix. 20, xix. 13; 1 Cor. i. 23, xv. 12; 2 Cor. i. 19, iv. 5, xi. 4; Phil. i. 15, are testimonies hereof
'Bmeriudr} h xoff/Mu. " Id est, in magna mundi parte, Rom. i. 8, Col. i. 6." But then, I pray, what difference is between sdixaiwD^ h Uvev/j^art and I'msTivdrt Iv zoc/jbtfj ? The first is, " It was approved by miracles;" the other, " It was believed." Now, to approve the truth of the gospel, taken actively, is to believe it. How much more naturally this is accommodated to Christ, see John iii. 17, 18, and verses 35, 36, vi. 40; Acts x. 43, xvi. 31 ; Kom. iii. 22, x. 8, 9; Gal. ii. 1 6 ; 1 John v. 5, etc.
The last clause is, dnX^ipdri Iv do^p. "Gloriose admodum exaltatum est, nempe quia multo majorem attulit sanctitatem, quam ulla ante- hac dogmata." And this must be the sense of the word amXa/M. CdvofLai in this business: see Luke ix. 51; Mark xvi. 19; Acts i. 2, 11, 22. And in this sense we are indifferent whether Iv do^yj be iig ho^av, " unto glory," which seems to be most properly intended; or 61JV Ut,ri, "with glory," as our adversaries would have it; or "glo- riously," as Grotius : for it was gloriously, with great glory, and into that glory which he had with his Father before the world was. That the gospel is glorious in its doctrine of holiness is true, but not at all spoken of in this place.
Heb. ii. 16 is another testimony insisted on to prove the incarna-
SOO VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^.
tion of Christ; and so, consequently, his subsistence in a divine nature antecedently thereunto. The words are, " For verily he took not on him the nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abra- ham." To this they answer, that —
Herein not so much as any likeness of the incarnation, as they call it, doth ap- pear ; for this writer doth not say that " Christ took" (as some read it, and com- monly they take it in that sense), but " he takes." Nor doth he say " human nature," but the "seed of Abraham;" which in the holy Scriptures denotes them who believe in Christ, as Gal. iii. 29.
Q. What then is the sense of this place ?
A. This is that which this writer intends, that Christ is not the Saviour of angels, but of men believing ; who, because they are subject to afflictions and death (which he before expressed by the participation of flesh and blood), therefore did Christ willingly submit himself unto them, that he might deliver his faithful ones from the fear of death, and might help them in all their afflictions.*
The sense of this place is evident, the objections against it weak. 1. That the word is smXa/MQavsTai, not s'TnXdZe-o, " assumit," not " as- sumpsit," is an enallage of tense so usual as that it can have no force as an objection ; and, verse 14, it is twice used in a contrary sense, the time past being put for the present, as here the present for that which is past, xejco/cwv/jxs for xoivojvsT, and /u^srsg^s for i^iri'/it. See John iii. 31, xxi. 13. 2. That by the " seed of Abraham " is here intended the human nature of the seed of Abraham, appears, — (1.) From the expression going before, of the same import with this, "He took part of flesh and blood," verse 14. (2.) From the opposition here made to angels or the angelical nature ; the Holy Ghost showing that the business of Christ being to save his church by dying for them., he was not therefore to take upon him an angelical, spiritual substance or nature, but the nature of man. 3. The same thing is elsewhere in like manner expressed, as where he is said to be " made of the seed of David according to the flesh," Rom. i. 3, and to "come of the fathers as concerning the flesh," chap. ix. 5. 4. Believers are called Abraham's seed sometimes spiritually, in relation to the faith of Abraham, as Gal. iii. 29, where he is expressly spoken of as father of the faithful by inheriting the promises ; but take it absolutely, to be of the " seed of Abraham" is no more but to be a man of his posterity : John viii. 37, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed." Rom. ix. 7, " Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children." Verse 8, " That is. They are the children of the