probable, as he immediately mentions Moses, and speaks of his lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. Perhaps he might mean to hint at the superior dignity and importance of the Christian dispensation to that of Moses. Moses ascended the mount, but the Son of Man ascended to heaven.

The Jews in the Targum say, in honour of Moses, that "he ascended into the high heavens," by which they could mean no more than his admission to the divine counsels. See Whitby in loc.

That which is plain and obvious and well understood is said not to be in heaven. Deut. xxx. 11. Rom. x. 6.

See above, and Grotius in loc.

2. The meaning of the first clause being thus settled, that of the second is now to be investigated.

"But he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man."

This clause was understood in a literal sense by the Socinians, who believed in the local ascent of Christ up to heaven, and in his local descent to earth again.

It is interpreted literally by the Arians, who believe that the divine Logos who made the world was the spirit which animated the body of Christ.

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It is interpreted figuratively by the believers in the per deity of Christ, who do not maintain that the deity locally descended from heaven to become incarnate, because God is omnipresent, but that he manifested himself on earth in the person of Christ. So God is said to have descended to see the tower of Babel, and the iniquity of Sodom. Gen. xi. 5; xviii. 21. See Whitby in loc.

It is interpreted figuratively by the Unitarians, who explain the second clause in a similar manner, and as perfectly correlative with the first.

"No man hath ascended up to heaven:" i. e. No one is instructed in the divine counsels:

"But

"But he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man:" i. e. Excepting the Son of Man, who had a commission from God to reveal his will to mankind 81.

First, This is a form of expression which is unquestionably used in Scripture to express what is of divine origin or authority. Matt. xxi. 25, "The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?” This question our Lord put in reply to the question of the chief priests and elders, " By what authority dost thou these things?" So that in the language of our Lord himself, coming from heaven' is equivalent to coming with divine authority 32.

Secondly, This sense best suits the connexion of the words. The second clause, came down from heaven,' is correlate to the first, ascended up to heaven.' It is therefore to be understood similarly. If the first clause is figurative, the second is figurative: if the first is literal,

"Que celui qui en est descendu. C'est à dire, qui a été envoyé aux hommes par Dieu son Père: ou qui est un présent céleste que Dieu leur a fait." Voyez ch. vi. 58. Jam. i. 17; iii. 15, 17. Le Clerc. "If ascending up to heaven' is not to be taken literally, neither is descending from heaven' to be understood of a local descent.

For the Son of Man, as it is here asserted, could not come down from heaven, where he had confessedly never been." Lindsey's Sequel, p. 216.

32

Compare James i. 17, "Every good gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of light." iii. 15-17, "This wisdom descendeth not from above; but the wisdom that is from above is first pure," &c.

....

"E cœlo descendit yvwlı σeaurov."—Juvenal.

"Audire desidero cœlo aliquid lapsum." Arnobius, lib. 7.

It is observable that Mark and Luke relate this incident of the ap. plication of the elders to demand our Lord's authority, and the reply of Jesus concerning John's baptism, in the same words as Matthew, as if they had been solicitous to notify to their readers that descending from heaven signifies nothing more than coming with divine authority. Mark xi. 27. Luke xx. 1.

the

the second is literal. Good writers do not in grave discourse capriciously change the meaning of their words: and in this case there is no necessity to suppose a change. On the contrary, the sense is perfectly clear, intelligible and apposite without it.

It is replied, that it is no uncommon thing, in two antithetic clauses, for the same word to be taken in its primary sense in one clause, and figuratively in the other. Many instances of this kind, it is said, occur in the New Testament, of which 1 Thess. v. 4, et seq. is referred to as an example: "Ye are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief 33," and the like.

But it may be answered that such a change, in the meaning of the same word in the same sentence without notice, is not common, nor to be admitted without necessity.

3. "Who is in heaven."

This clause is omitted in the Vatican and some other manuscripts,

This objection to the common interpretation of the second clause of the text in John, from the change of the sense of an important word without any notice or necessity, though so obvious and forcible, is not, that I recollect, mentioned by any critic but Raphelius, whose words I transcribe. Præf. § 17.

"Coronidis loco objectioni cuidam adhuc respondendum est. Scilicet facile quisquam putet, si ascendere in cœlum idem sit quod scire mysteria divina, opposituni descendere, idem fore quod nescire. Ad quam objectionem respondit Dannhauerus quod ejus nulla sit sequela, quia nihil sit insolitum inter duas voces oppositas, unam proprie, alteram figurate, accipi. Non probavit hanc suam thesin exemplis, quoniam operæ pretium haud esse duxit: cum plurima ejus rei occurrant in S. Codice. Unicum solummodo allegabo, 1 Thess. v. 4. seqq. ubi in una oratione duæ voces nor atque dies modo proprie modo improprie accipiuntur, uti facile intelliget qui verba Pauli debita animi considerabit attentione."

It is singular that, if examples are so numerous, only one should be produced. At any rate this change of signification is not to be admitted without obvious necessity. It is a fair remark, that if'ascending to heaven' signifies knowing the divine counsels, descending from

D

heaven'

α

manuscripts, and is at least of doubtful authenticity. See Griesbach; and the Improved Version.

Of those who receive it as genuine, the believers in the deity of Christ understand it as expressing his omnipresence 34.

Arians and Socinians translate the words, "who was in heaven." So John ix. 25, "Whereas I was blind, now I see 35." The Arians understand the clause of the pre-existence of Christ; the Socinians, of his translation to heaven after his baptism.

The Unitarians in general consider it as a continuation of the figure or allegory in the first and second clauses:

heaven' may signify not knowing them. But the figure is preserved if the person spoken of ascends to learn heavenly truths, and descends to communicate them. And this sense is confirmed by the language of Jesus concerning John's baptism: Matt. xxi. 25.

35

34 Who is in heaven,] as "he is now present there by his divine nature, which fills both heaven and earth." Doddridge. See Whitby. 13°O wv ev Tw spavw, who was in heaven. Compare chap. ix. 25, τυφλος ων, αρτι βλεπω and chap. i. 18, The only begotten Son, ὁ ων EIS TOY HOλTOV, who is or was in the bosom of the Father. "This," says Dr. Harwood. (Soc. Scheme, p. 32,)" is so direct, positive, and solemn an assertion of the pre-existence of our Saviour from the mouth of our blessed Lord himself, that I see not what criticism can evade it. The ancient Socinians indeed framed a hypothesis that our Lord after his baptism was caught up into heaven. But this journey to paradise, which has so much the air of a Mahometan tale, has no existence in the sacred page."-" Nothing can be more unreasonable and groundless," says Dr. Clarke, (Script. Doct. p. 84, No. 574,) "than the Socinians' interpretation of this passage, who feign that Christ was taken up into heaven, as Moses of old into the mount, to receive his instructions, and then came down again to preach. " Perhaps a Socinian might justly retort upon these learned divines, that his fiction is at least as probable as the Arian fiction of a created Logos, who, being invested with such stupendous powers as to supersede the Deity himself in the creation, support, and government of the universe, reduced himself afterwards, by a metamorphosis more wonderful than any recorded by the Roman poet, to the condition of a senseless and helpless infant. But it is time to abstain from harsh language and injurious reflections. These are not the weapons by which this important contest is to be decided, and the battle won.

"The

"The Son of Man, who is in heaven, who is instructed in the gracious purposes of God to man36"

The true sense of the whole text may therefore be expressed thus:

No one has ever been admitted to a participation of the divine counsels, except the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, who has been commissioned to reveal the will of God to men, and who is perfectly instructed and quali fied for this office.

This text seems to be exactly parallel to John i. 18, "No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of his Father, he hath declared him."

q. d. No one knows the purposes of God, but his faithful servant and messenger Jesus Christ, who is instructed in his counsels, and has revealed his will.

To the same purpose, Matt. xi. 27, "All things are delivered to me by my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

9. d. The Father has communicated to the Son his whole will; and no one knoweth the extent of the Son's commission but the Father. Nor is any one instructed in the mind and will of God but the Son, and those who are taught by him $7.

36 This interpretation of the text is not peculiar to the Unitarians. Le Clerc says, "Il faut expliquer ceci comme l'expression monter au ciel: c'est à dire, de la connoissance que Notre Seigneur avoit reçue des secrets du ciel. Voyez ch. i. 18." Dr. Campbell also refers to the same text, which he explains in a similar way: "By the expression WV ELG TOV KOλTOy, who is in the bosom of the Father,' is meant not only who is the special object of the Father's love, but who is admitted to his most secret counsels. By wv sv Tw spavw, who is in heaven,' is meant whose abode, whose residence, whose home is there."

6

"

37 See Improved Version. "Monstrat orationis series agi de mysteriis ad salutem humanam pertinentibus, quorum revelatio Filio est credita." Grotius. See likewise Le Clerc in loc.