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C Η Α Ρ Τ Ε R

VII.

Of John being thought to have been the first

who clearly and boldly taught the doctrines

of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Christ. AS

S this is an article of considerable con

sequence, I shall produce a redundance of evidence in support of it ; nothing being. better calculated to satisfy us, that, in the opinion of the christian l'athers, the doctrines of the pre-existence and divinity of Christ were not generally received in the life-time of the other apostles ; and, therefore, that simple unitarianism could not have been considered as any herefy in the early ages.

These authorities I shall produce, as I have generally done others, nearly in the order of time in which the writers flourished. I shall only first observe, that John seems to have got the title of Secroyo, divine, from this circumstance, of his teaching the doctrine of the divine logos, which was supposed to be peculiar to him. This 3

appellation

appellation is given to him in the title to the book of Revelation. It is mentioned by Athanafius in his Sermo Major de Fide*, and alfo by Cyril of Alexandria+. For a fimilar reason Ifaiah is ftiled Theologus by Eufebius, in If. xxiv. 10.

I fhall also remind my reader in this place, that this hypothefis of John having taught the doctrine of the divinity of Chrift in the introduction of his gofpel, does not occur in the earliest writers. These being nearer to the fource of information, fay that John had a view to the Gnoftics only, both in his epiftles, and the introduction to his gofpel. This was the opinion of Irenæus, who wrote about the year 170; for which fee this work, vol. I. p. 253. The first writer who fays that John meant the unitarians, I believe, was Origen.

* Montfaucon's Collectio, vol. 2. p. 13. + Hom. Opera, vol. 2. p. 75.

Montfaucon's Collectio, vol. 2. p. 450,

SE C

The Acknowledgments of the Chriftian Fathers that John was the first who taught the doctrines above-mentioned.

ORIGEN, though a zealous defender of the doctrines of the pre-existence and divinity of Chrift, yet, as will appear in its proper place, only confidered them as more fublime doctrines, fit for the more perfect chriftians. He fays, that " John "alone introduced the knowledge of the

eternity of Chrift to the minds of the Fathers *." "John himself was tranf"formed into God, and fo became partaker

of the truth, and then pronounced that "the word of God was in God from the beginning +."

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"No one," fays this writer, " taught the "divinity of Chrift fo clearly as John, who

prefents him to us, faying, I am the light "of the world, I am the way, the truth, and "the life, I am the refurrection, I am the

gate, I am the good Shepherd, and in the "Revelation, I am the alpha and the omega, "the beginning and the end, the first and the laft. We may therefore boldly say, that, "as the gofpels are the first fruits" (or the "most excellent part)" of the fcriptures, "of "fo the gospel of John is the first fruits of "the gofpels; the fenfe of which no per"fon can conceive, except he who reclines "on the breast of Jefus, and who receives "from Jefus his mother Mary, and makes "her his own. He must be another John, "who was shewn by Jefus as another Jesus. "For he who is perfect does not himself

live, but Chrift lives in him. And fince "Chrift lives in him, he fays to Mary con

cerning him, Behold thy Son, Chrift " himself*.”

The meaning of this is, that, to have the knowledge of the fublime doctrines of the pre-existence and divinity of Chrift, as taught by John, a man must be a christian of the first class and rank, far above the ordinary fort. He must be a fecond John, and a fecond Jefus, imbibing their fpirit, and entering into their most profound meaning.

Eufebius, fays, that " John began the “ doctrine of the divinity of Chrift, that being referved for him, as the most "worthy *.'