a The Order of Diſcourſe requires we begin with the laſt thing in this Verſe, ths Word of Life.” This phraſe [the Word] is, by this Apoſtle (not here to enquire in what Notion, ſome, both Zemws and Pagans before took it) familiarty uſed, to ſignifie the Ererna! Son of Gol : And whereas this is his uſual Stile in ſpeaking of 'rhis $a- cred Perſon, as in the entrance of his Geſpel (fo very like that of this Epiſtle) ſo often over in his Revelation, chap. 19. 13. and that af-
terwards in this Epiſtle it ſelf, chap. 5. 7. he ſo readily falls into | ; of him frequent in Scripture, Prov.' 8. and elſewhere) comprehend-
| ing all 7deas of things to be created or done ; tous, the immediate
the mention of him by this Name (as not doubting to be under- ſtood) it is ſcarce to be ſuppoſed, that being ſo conſtant to him- ſelf herein, he ſhould uſe the ſame form of Speech, without any ſuch Intendment in this place, where the Circumſtances do both al- low and invite us ſo to underſtand him. Nor doth the addition to it ' here [the Word of Life] render it the /efs fit to be- applied to this purpoſe, but rather the more ; as ſerving to denote the peculiar Excellency of this word, that he 1s the living and vivifyins Word ; whereupon he alfo ſtiles him in the following Verſe, ſimply, the Liſe; and that eternal Life {which is fit to be noted here, v;x. that
theſe three Expreſſions, the Word of Life, the Life, and that eternal Life ; do by the contexture of the Diſcourſe, plainly mean the fame thing, and ſeem in their principle Intendment, to be ſet down as ſo many Titles of the Son of God) deſigning to repreſent him as the original and radical Life, the root of the holy divine Life, to all who partake-thereof agreeably to his own words concerning him in the Goſpel, Fohn 1. 4. In him (viz. the Word) was Life, and the Life
was the Light of Men, (i. e. the Word was a vital enlivening Light)
and chap. 5. 20. of this Epiſtle, He (viz. the Sohn of God) is Eter- nal Life: And to our Lord's Words of himſelf, I am the Life, John 11.25. chap. 14.6, and that the Father had given him to have Life in himſelf, chap. 5. 26. (and conſequently, to be capable of being to others, an Original, or Fountain of Life.) Yet whereas by | the Word) and [ the Word of Hed is often fhgnified the Goſpel, (chap. 2. 5. Phil. 2.16. and elſewhere) it ſeems not incongruous or diſagree- able to this Context, to underſtand the Apoſtle, as defigning to comprehend both the meanings together, in one Expreſſion apt enough to include them both. { See Dr. Hammond in loco.) Nor are they of ſo remote an Import, conſidered in their relation t0, 1s, as not fitly to
' admit of being both intended at once. The Son of God being his
interngl Word, the Word of his Mind, his Wiſdom (another appellation
Original of Light and Life, and by whoſe vivitying Beams we arc, eſpecially 'to be transformed into the Divine Likeneſs ; © the Goſpel being his external Word, the Word of his Mouth, the Radiation of
thoſe Beams themſelves. As wedo our ſelves firſt conceive, and form
in our Minds, . what we afterwards utter.and expreſs : Only where- as our thought, or, the Word of our Mind, *is fluid and ſoon vaniſhes ;
God's (in whom is no change) is permanent,” con-ſubſtantial and
co-eternal with himſelf, The Word was with God, and. the Word wa
God *
Chap. L.
*Mark 1 J. 23,
, Chan. I.
* John 1, I, 2,
that one Expretfion, thatin common Diſcourſe, ſpeaking of the Sun, in reference to our ſelves; we often coniprehend together 1n our mean- ing, both the Boxy of the Sun it ſelf, and its Beams, as when we ſay it enlightens us, revives us, ſhines in at this Window, or upon that Dial, wedo not intend ( as reaſonably we cannot ) to exclude either, but mean the Sun doth it by its Beams. And now the Notion being ſetled of { the iVord of Life ] which was neceſſary firſt to be done, and which required a larger Diſcourſe) we may the more eaſily perceive, how what is here ſaid of it, may inthe one Senſe or the other be ap- plied thereto. b So the Living Word, in the fir$ ſenſe was, viz. when all things elfe began ; which is not ſaid z# ſelf then to have begun, as Fohn 1. 1. In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and, at the next ſtep, the Word was God. And with what is ſaid by this Word himſelf ( then taking another, but an equivalent Name, the Wiſdom of God ) Prov. 8. 22, 23, to 30. The Lord poſſeſſed me in the beginning of his way before his Works of old. T was ſet up from Ever- laſting, from the Beginning, or ever the Earth was, when, &C.m— Then was I by :m, as one brought up with him, &c. were | from the Bezinning ] and | from Everlaſting ] we ſee is all one. See of this Epiſtle chap. 2. 13, 14. c Theſe are all Expreffions indifferently ap- plicable both, 1. To the Perſon of the S5n of God, primarily meant by the Word of Life ;, for that ſame glorious Perſon who was from the Begin- niag with the Father, viz. being now incarnate, became the Obje& of theſe their very Senſes, to this, and the other Apoſtles, who had ſo frequent opportunity to hear, and ſee, and behold him, and even to handle him with their Hands, Luke 24. 39. fohn 20. 25. And: 2. To the Goſpel Revelation, a ſecondary ( not unintended ) No- tion of the Word of Life ; and whereof theſe latter Expreſſions ſeem more ſpecially meant ; they denote the perfed certainty the Apo- ſtles had ( the reſt of whom his manner of ſpeaking 'feems pur- poſely to comprehend with himſelf) af that Truth, which ( as he after ſpeaks ) they teſti/f2d. It being their Office and Buſineſs as Apoftles fo to do, fee Join n5.27. Afs 1.21, 22. Chap. 4. 20, And it was neceſſary they ſhould be able to do it with ſuch allwance as theſe Expreſſions import. Therefore having ſaid what wehve heard, which imports a more overly Notice, 'tis added, which, we have ſeen, a much more certain way of knowing, as 2 Pet. I. 16, \7, and with our Eyes, a more lively Expreſſion of that Certainty, ys Fob expreſſes his expetted fight of his Redeemer, chap. 19. 27. All to ſiznifie it was not a caſual, tranſient Glance, 'tis farther ſaid, |
hy
I FOHN, God, Fobn 1, 1. Neither are theſe two Senſes of [" the Word of Life } lefs ntiy ( or with more impropriety ) comprehended together under |