the Church, First-born from the Dead. Thefe then are different States, and founded in different Characters.

Thus in St. John we may often obferve the fame Difference. To raise the Dead is a Power equivalent to that of Creation; and therefore St. John tells us, The Hour is coming, and now is, when the Dead fhall hear the Voice of the Son of God. John v. 25. In the very next Verse but one, speaking of his being Judge of the World, which belongs to him in virtue of the Redemption, and is one of the Glories of his Exaltation, he says, that the Father hath given him Authority to execute Judgment alfo, because he is the Son of Man. Surely it is not for nothing that St. John, in the Compass of four or five Lines, fpeaks of him under different Characters; and what can the Reason be, but that there are diftinct Powers and Glories belonging to his diftinct States? And therefore when the Evangelist mentions the Powers of one Kind, it was neceffary to mention the proper Character from whence they flowed; when he mentioned the Powers of the other Kind, it was neceffary to mention the other Character to which they belonged; and therefore it is

that

that he says, the Dead shall be raised by the Voice of the Son of God, but they fhall be judged by the Voice of the Son of Man.

;

The fame likewife may be observed in the first Chapter of the Hebrews. In the fecond and third Verfes the Apostle describes the Dignity and Excellence of the Perfon whom God fent to our Redemption: He bath in thefe laft Days fpoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed Heir of all Things; by whom alfo be made the Worlds who being the Brightness of his Glory, and the exprefs Image of his Perfon, and upholding all Things by the Word of his Power: Thus far he evidently describes the Glory which Chrift had with the Father before the Worlds; for this is the Character of the Perfon whom he fent to redeem us. Then it follows, When he had by himself purged our Sins, fat down on the Right-Hand of the Majefty on high, being made fo much better than the Angels, as he bath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they. The Apostle, who had before spoken of the State of Dignity which he had before the Worlds, now speaks of his State of Exaltation, which he received. after his Sufferings: According to the Dig

nity of Nature, he was the Brightness of his Father's Glory, and the exprefs Image of his Perfon, and the Upholder of all Things by the Word of his Power: But, according to the Honour of his Office, after he had purged our Sins, he fat down on the Right-Hand of the Majefty on high, being made fo much better than the Angels, as he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they.

In the ninth Verse of the second Chapter, the Apostle fays, that Jefus was made a little lower than the Angels; and yet here he says he was made better than the Angels: If he was made lower, in order to redeem us, it feems to imply he was really and by Nature higher; and if he was made higher, it seems to imply he was really and by Nature lower: But this Difficulty vanishes, by rightly diftinguishing his three States of Dignity, of Humiliation, and of Exaltation; which you fee evidently mentioned in the Philippians, the Place now under Confideration, and fo often fuppofed and referred to in other Parts of Holy Writ. According to this Key, we may expound the Apostle to the Hebrews, by the Apostle to the Philippians: For, when he, who was in the Form of God, made himself

I

himself of no Reputation, and took upon him the Form of a Servant, and was made in the Likenefs of Man, he was then in these several Respects made lower than the Angels: But when, after his fuffering Death upon the Crofs, he was exalted by God, and had a Name given him above every Name, then was he made fo much better than the Angels, as he had by Inheritance a more excellent Name than they; a Name to which even they were to pay their Homage and Adoration.

In the Beginning of St. John's Gospel we find him thus defcribed: In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The fame was in the Beginning with God. All Things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And in the eighth Chapter we find our Saviour giving this Teftimony of himself: Before Abraham was, I am. Suppose he had faid, Before Abraham was, I was; thus much at least would have been the Confequence, That he had an Existence before Abraham; and yet he was born into the World long after Abraham: Evidently then the Result would have been,

that

that he had long existed before his coming into the World: But now that he fays, Before Abraham was, I am, fomething more is implied; fomething that peculiarly belongs to the Expreffion, I am; and what that is, we may learn from the original Use of the Words. They are the Words which God made choice of to exprefs his own Eternity and Power, when Mofes inquired after the Name of God: He answered him, I am that I am. Thus fhalt thou say to the Children of Ifrael, I AM hath sent me unto you. Exod. iii. 14. What now could tempt our Saviour to use and apply this Expreffion to himself? He knew it never had been applied to any but God, and would have been, in the Man fo applying it, in the highest Degree, committing the Robbery of making himself equal with God: Befides, they are a mere Solecism, and according to Analogy of Language exprefs nothing: No Idea belongs to them; for a Man cannot in his Mind carry the present Time back, › and make it antecedent to the Time already paft; and therefore to fay, Before fuch a Thing was, I am, is fhuffling Ideas together, which can have no Place in the Mind or Understanding.