5-10. The Messiah himself is introduced as speaking and stating the promise of God to him, that "he should be a light to the Gentiles, and salvation to the ends of the earth 59." And again, chap. Ixi. 1-3, " The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted," a prophecy which our Lord declares to have received its accomplishment in his own person: Luke iv. 21.

In these instances, and in other similar prophecies, the Messiah is described as actually invested with the insignia of his office, and performing its duties. To the Jews, therefore, who were familiar with the language and imagery of their own prophets, our Lord's declaration of his existence as the Messiah before the birth of Abraham would not sound so harsh and offensive as it does to modern readers; who, not being accustomed to the bold dramatic language of prophecy, are apt to understand that of actual existence which the Jews would easily perceive to be figurative. The prophetic representations in the Jewish Scriptures amply justify the language of Christ in reference to them. If the prophets describe the Messiah as contemporary with them, Christ might with propriety speak of himself under that character, as their contemporary. If Isaiah writes as having seen the Messiah, having heard his complaints, and having been witness to his labours, his miracles, and his sufferings; our Lord might with equal propriety represent himself under his official

59 "The character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in general terms at the beginning of chap. xlii.; but here he is introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission, which is not only to restore the Israelites, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God." Bishop Lowth in loc. See Cardale's True Doct, of the New Testament concerning Christ, p. 84-87.

character,

character, as having existed in the days of Isaiah. If Abraham saw his day; he, as the Messiah, must have coexisted with the patriarch, and, by parity of reason, before Abraham's birth. But all allow that the prophetic representations of the Messiah's existence are figurative: they only express what existed in the divine purpose, and imply nothing more than certainty of event. Let it then be granted, that, when our Lord speaks of himself as the Messiah before Abraham was born, he means the same thing that his language only implies that he was the Messiah in the divine purpose. No reasoning, I think, can be more conclusive.

2.] The same language of anticipation occurs in the New Testament, in which persons, and things, and states of things, are described as actually existing, which only existed in the divine mind and declared purpose; particularly those which relate to the Messiah, and the dispensation of the Gospel 60.

Of this language a very remarkable instance occurs, Luke xx. 38. Our Lord argues against the Sadducees the doctrine of the resurrection, from the declaration of God to Moses, Exod. iii. 6, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: for he is not a God of the dead, but of the living." And to obviate the objection that the patriarchs were now in fact dead, he adds,

for all live to him:" that is, As it is the determined purpose of God to raise them to life, they are in his allcomprehending view actually alive.

The Gospel and its blessings are represented as peculi

Nothing is more common with the writers of the New Testament than to represent those things as having had existence from the beginning, which were always designed by God to come to pass, and were promised in the prophets. And as this was more especially the case in the Gospel, so we find it represented throughout the Scripture as having existed in the eternal counsels of the Almighty." Dr. Dawson at Moyer's Lectures, p. 68, 69.

arly

arly the objects of the divine purpose and decree. Matt. xxv. 34, "Come, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 1 Cor. ii. 7, "The mystery which God ordained before the world to our glory." Eph. iii. 9, "The mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God."

This dispensation and its blessings had been promised and foretold by the prophets. Rom. i. 2, "The gospel of God which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy Scriptures." See also Acts xxvi. 22, 23. 1 Pet. i.

10, 11.

Of this dispensation it was the divine purpose that Jesus should be the publisher, and the medium through which its blessings were to be conveyed to mankind. 1 Pet. i. 20, "Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world." Acts ii. 23; iv. 27, 28. John i. 44.

Hence he was the object of the Father's love-John xvii. 24, "Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" and " had glory with the Father before the world was." ver. 5. And his violent death constituting an essential part of the divine plan, he is represented, Rev. xiii. 8, as "the lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

And the happy state of things under the dispensation of the Messiah being thus predestinated in the divine counsels, Abraham is represented as having actually seen them two thousand years before the birth of Christ. John viii. 56, "Your father Abraham desired to see my day; he saw it, and was glad." The prophet Isaiah also "saw his glory." John xii. 41.

Believers are "chosen before the foundation of the world, and predestinated to the adoption of children," Eph. i. 4, 5: "predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will." ver. 11.

And what is thus predestinated is described as actually accomplished from the beginning of time, 2 Tim. i. 9, "Who hath saved us-according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Our Lord describes his apostles as already in posses. sion of the honour which he intended for them. John xvii. 22, "The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them." And the apostle Paul represents virtuous believers in general, as already in possession of that felicity which God in his great wisdom and mercy has ordained for them. Rom. viii. 29, 30, "Whom he foreknew he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son; whom he did predestinate, them he also called: whom he called, them he also justified: whom he justified, them he also glorified:" in purpose glorified is archbishop Newcome's translation, with whom agree Grotius, Locke, Doddridge, and others. John v. 24, our Lord declares, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life." See also John vi. 47. 54.

From this induction it clearly follows that persons, things, and states of things, are not unfrequently described in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament as actually existing, when they exist only in the divine purpose and decree61. When therefore our Lord declares to the Jews, "Before Abraham was born I was he," the plain meaning is, I was marked out in the divine counsels as the Messiah.

5.) Though this interpretation is by some expositors rejected with contempt, it is not destitute of support from the authority of many able and learned critics and divines 62"

"This,"

See Slichtingius and Wolzogenius in loc. Also Cardale's True Doctrine of N. T. p. 84-92. and Simpson's Dissert. Essay ix. 61 Eyw E, præsens pro imperfecto, eram. Syrus. Sic in Græc. Psalm xc. 2. Fuerat autem ante Abrahamum Jesus, in divina con

stitutione."

"This," says Dr. Lardner, (on the Logos, p. 14,) may be thought a strong text for the pre-existence of our Saviour's soul. But really he there only represents his dignity as the Messiah, the special favour of God to

stitutione." Rev. xiii. 8. 1 Pet. i. 20. Grotius in loc.-" Ego quamvis non existimem Christum hîc simpliciter agere de se, quatenus Deus est, sed quatenus est oculis fidei visus ab Abrahamo, Dei videlicet hominum mediator, sive Deus in carne manifestatus, (nam alioqui non videretur Christus appositè disserere,) tamen quia ut mediator considerari non potest, nisi vere sit Emmanuel, et hâc etiam ratione dicitur agnus à constitutione mundi occisus, imo vero Christus fuisse heri et hodie, putavi servandam esse antithesin." Beza in loc.

Regessit Jesus eos multum falli in æstimanda ætate sua: nam, primo, se fuisse ab omni æternitate. Secundo, licet tricessimum multis annis superâsse non videretur, attamen de se in mundum mittendo, longe ante Abrahami tempora, decretum à Deo factum esse, quod cum benignè à Deo Abrahamo revelatum fuisset, se eâ quoque ratione, Abrahamo notum fuisse." Hammond in loc.

This reference, by Beza and Hammond, of the existence of Christ as mediator, to an existence in the divine decree, is the more remarkable, as the known orthodoxy of these expositors places them above all suspicion of partiality to Unitarian interpretations.

"Priusquam Abraham esset ego sum. Judæi ipsi dicunt, legem ac Messiam longe ante mundum conditum fuisse. Nam quæ a Deo destinata et constituta sunt, antequam rebus et factis ipsis exhibeantur, apud Deum esse dicuntur. Sic Joannes de vita æterna dicit: 1 Joh. i. 2. Hinc et Petrum Christum præcognitum dicit ante mundi constitutionem." Slichtingius in loc.

"Poterat Christus dicere se fuisse ante Abrahamum non actu sed divinâ prædestinatione ac constitutione. Vid. 1 Pet. i. 20. Atque hic sensus pulchrè convenit cum eo quod Christus supra dixerat Abrahamum vidisse diem suam. Neque est quod quis hanc responsionem vel explicationem textus frigidam vocet, propterea quod sic non Christus tantum sed omnia quæ in decreto divino fuerunt, fuisse dici possunt antequam Abraham fieret. Observandum enim est Christum non simpliciter dicere se fuisse in Dei decreto antequam Abraham fieret, sed se fuisse Messiam. Itaque indicat Christus se ad hanc dignitatem tam sublimem, longe antequam Abraham nasceretur, Dei decreto esse designatum." Wolzogenius in loc.

"Notre Seigneur veut dire qu'il n'est pas surprenant qu'Abraham ait prévu le tems auquel Dieu avoit résolu de leur envoyer son Fils, parceque le Fils de Dieu étoit avant Abraham. Surquoi les interprêtes sont partagés. Les uns entendent le verbe J'étois de la divinité éternelle qui a habité en Jesus Christ dans le tems marqué par la Sagesse divine: et les autres, entre lesquels est Theodore de Beza, de l'humanité mesme de Jesus Christ, qui étoit dans le décret de Dieu, qui appelle ce qui n'est pas, comme s'il étoit." Le Clerc in loc.

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