More correctly; "By which also, after he was gone, he preached to the spirits, i. e. persons 10 in prison: who formerly disbelieved."

q. d. By which spirit, communicated to his apostles after his ascension, (mogulsis, see ver. 22, where the very same word is used in the same sense,) he proclaimed the Gospel to persons who were imprisoned in ignorance, idolatry, and vice, of the same description with those to whom Noah preached while the ark was building. Who indeed then preached with little effect, &c.

Those to whom Christ preaches by his spirit since his ascension are not the self-same persons to whom Noah preached, but persons of the same cast and character, the same race of idolaters and unbelievers, bound in the same chains of ignorance, vice, and prejudice.

This is the interpretation of Grotius11, and seems to be the best solution of this obscure and entangled text.

Of the advocates for the pre-existence and divinity of Christ, some suppose with Dr. Whitby, Dr. Doddridge, &c., that Christ by his prophetic spirit, in the days of Noah, warned the inhabitants of the antediluvian world,

10

Spirit is not unfrequently used for person. See 1 Tim. vi. 21, compared with 2 Tim. iv. 22. Philem. v. 25. 1 John iv. 2, 3.

11 av, per quem Dei spiritum missum in apostolos. mogußais, postquam in cœlum ascendit: vid. ver. 22 Joh. xiv. 2, 3. ev quλany, i. e. in carne. άTTEIDŋoaσI TOTE. H. 7. λ. loquitur quasi iidem fuissent, et fuerant iidem non app, sed genere. Homines a Deo planè abalienati. Noæ non crediderunt: Christo crediderunt." Grotius.

Christ was raised to life by the spirit, that is, the power of God: by which spirit, after he was gone to heaven, he preached by the ministry of his apostles to the spirits in prison, not to the dead, but to the Gentile world who were without any sense or knowledge of God. Chap. iv. 6, "The Gospel was preached to them that were dead." Isa. xlii. 6, 7, "I give thee for a light to the Gentiles, to bring out the prisoners from the prison. Who were some time disobedient in the days of Noah."--" He preached not to the same individual persous; but to men like them, in the same circumstances." Lindsey's Seq. p. 283-288. Dr. Clarke makes no use of this text. See Imp. Ver. not. in loc.

who

who then rejected his admonitions, and are now suffering in prison, i. e. in hell.

Others, with Gregory Nazianzen, understand this text as teaching that Christ descended into hell to preach the Gospel to the imprisoned souls of those who perished in Noah's flood.

18. 1 John i. 1, 2. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life; for the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.'

This text is parallel to John i. 1-14; and they are mutually explanatory of each other. Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of the Christian faith, who is there called the Word,' is here entitled the Word of Life,' -he is there said to have been "in the beginning;" here, he is "that which was from the beginning," i. e. from the commencement of the new dispensation.—In the Gospel it is said, "in him was Life;" in the Epistle he is styled "the Life," "the Eternal Life;" for this was the main object of his mission, the great doctrine which he was authorized to reveal.-In the Gospel," the Word was with God;" in the Epistle, "this Eternal Life was with the Father," i. e. he was instructed by God, and received his commission from him.-In the Gospel, "the Life was the Light of men, and John was sent to bear witness to it ;" in the Epistle," the Life was manifested, and his disciples saw it and bare witness."-Finally, in the Gospel, "the Word was flesh;" the teacher of life was a real man in the Epistle, this Word of life was also a real person, the object of sense; he was heard, and seen, and felt. He was not, as the Docetæ then taught, a spi

ritual being in the shape of a man, but without the essential properties of humanity, intangible, and impassible 12. 19. 1 John iv. 2. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God." See ver. 3, and 2 John, ver. 7.

Calvin and bishop Horsley argue from this phrase the pre-existence and divinity of Christ. Grotius and the old Socinians interpret the words coming in the flesh,' of the humble and suffering state in which Christ appeared. Dr. Priestley and Mr. Lindsey explain the phrase as expressive of the real and proper humanity of Christ, in opposition to the doctrine of the Docetæ, which was then growing into fashion, that Christ was a man in only. Of this doctrine the apostle expresses the strongest disapprobation, ver. 3, "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist"-" which the world heareth." Ver. 5.

appearance

Thus it appears that the doctrine against which the apostle expresses a marked indignation, and which he denounces as the very essence and spirit of antichrist, is that which denies Christ to be a real man, and which maintains that he was a being different from what he appeared to be. This was the doctrine which the world received with applause; and the reason is plain: because it diminished the odium which was attached to the Christian religion, from the low extraction, the mean condition, and the ignominious execution of its original founder 13. 20. Rev. xxii. 16. "I am the root and the offspring of David." Comp. chap. v. 5.

18 See Sect. III. No. 1 Also Impr. Version in loc.

q. d.

13 Lindsey's Sequel, p. 288-291.-" Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is truly man is of God, in opposition to the Docetæ, who maintained that he was man only in appearance." Dr.

Priestley's

q.

d. I am a sucker or plant from the root of David. That root, of which it was foretold that it should grow out of the house of David. Isa. xi. 1, "There shall come forth a root from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." Ver. 10, "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse." Isa. liii. 2. Hos. xiv. 6. Rom. xv. 12. See Grotius in loc.

From the review which has been taken of the texts contained in this Section, we may conclude, that, though if the doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ had been an undoubted fact, established upon independent evidence, some of these passages might be understood as containing an allusion to it, yet that no one of them can be admitted as a direct proof of the popular doctrine. All of them may be well explained upon the supposition of the proper humanity of Jesus Christ, and the majority of them are in fact interpreted by the most learned and judicious of the Arian and Trinitarian expositors as having no bearing upon the doctrine of the pre-existence.

6

Priestley's History of Corrupt. vol. i. p. 8.-" Coming in the flesh' is a very awkward and unnatural phrase," says bishop Horsley, "to express no more than his being truly man: it naturally leads to the notion of one who had his choice of different ways of coming." Horsley's Charge, p. 15-18.-But the controversy with the Docetæ made that expression proper, which would otherwise have been harsh. And this sufficiently accounts for the apostle's using it, without having recourse to the unfounded and unscriptural supposition of our Lord's having a choice of different ways of coming into the world.

SECTION

SECTION V.

ATTRIBUTES SUPPOSED TO BE ASCRIBED TO CHRIST,

WHICH INFER HIS PRE-EXISTENCE AND DIVINITY.

ઃઃ

I. Eternity.

1. John i. 1. “In the beginning was the Word." Answer. The beginning of the Gospel dispensation is here intended. See Sect. III. 1.

2. Col. i. 15. "The first-born of every creature." Answer. Compare ver. 18. The first who was raised from the dead to immortal life. Sect. III. 18.

3. Heb. vii. 3. "Having neither beginning of days nor end of life."

Answer. This being predicated of Melchisedec, and not proving his eternity, it cannot prove the eternity of Christ. Sect. IV. 12.

4. Heb. xiii. 8. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

Answer. That is, the doctrine of Christ, as the context requires, and Calvin himself allows. Sect. IV. 15.

II. Immutability.

Heb. i. 10-12.'" And thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands: they will perish, but thou wilt remain," &c.

Answer. These words are a quotation from Ps. cii. 25, and are certainly addressed to the eternal God. The writer of this epistle having cited the promise, Ps. xlv. 6, that God would support the throne of the Messiah, in an eloquent