not feem to have had his information fo much from dreams, as by vifions of angels. Thus, Chap. i. verfe 11. And there appeared unto him (viz. Zacharias) an angel of the Lord, ftanding on the right fide of the altar of incenfe, verfes 26, 27. And in the fixth month, (after Elizabeth's conception) the angel Gabriel was fent from God, into a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin efpoufed to a man whofe name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary, Chap. ii. verse 9. And lo the angel of the Lord came upon them, (viz. the shepherds) and the glory of the Lord fhone round about them; and they were fore afraid. verses 13, 14. And fuddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly boft, praifing God, and faying, glory to God in the bigbeft, and on earth peace, good will towards men. This hiftorian, we fee, does not ground his informations upon dreams, as the other does, but on vifions of angels, though, I think, dreams feem the most credible; that is, it is much more likely that men should dream of feeing angels and a heavenly host, than that fuch things should really take place in fact. When these histories were written, then the doctrines or opinions of divine

dreams,

dreams, of vifions of angels, of poffeffions of devils, of witches and apparitions, were currently received, which gave credit and reputation to relations of thefe kinds, and that difpofed the people eafily and readily to go into the belief of them; whereas now the cafe is otherwife, men's difpofition to make a ftrict inquifition into these things has almost put an end to them. For tho' there may be fome small remains of these; yet they take place only where fuperftition and priestly power gain the afcendant, and confequently, where an open and free enquiry is greatly checked and restrained. So that the evidence for the fupport of Chrift's extraordinary or divine conception seems much too weak for a fact of fo uncommon a nature. Nor does it appear that the hiftorians received their informations from thofe dreammers and visionaries themselves; and therefore, may have had them at fecond or third hand.

As to St. John's ftiling Chrift the only begotten fon of God, this is ufually applied to Chrift's eternal and ineffable generation; that is, to fuch a kind of generation as we have no conception of, except that it is perpetual; nor have we any thing to ground the

fuppofition upon, nor, indeed, can it poffibly take place in nature. For whatever is eternally generating, that thing can never be generated; because when a thing is generated, it then ceases to be generating; and whereas Jefus Chrift was generated, and had a perfonal existence, therefore he must have ceafed to be generating, which destroys the idea of eternal generation, with respect to him. So that when the term begotten is thus applied, it amounts to just nothing at all. And if we apply thofe terms [only begotten] to Chrift's conception in the womb of his mother, this is what we have no authority for; feeing St. John has not explained himself, and fhewed what he intended by thofe terms. Nor, indeed, does any thing appear to be proved from those words of St. John; because, at laft, it may be no more than barely his own private opinion touching this matter, and how he came to take up fuch opinion the Lord only knows. Befides, applying the term begetting to the Deity, as diftinguished from any, or all other ways of his giving existence to intelligent beings, feems to me to favour of impiety. For though God may if he pleafes, out of the common courfe of nature, and by à

mere

mere act of his power and will, give exiftence to beings of the fame fpecies with us, because whatever he willeth to exist at any time, that thing must exist according as God willeth; yet to confider God, after the manner of men, to beget a fon of, or on the body of a woman, this, I think, is too grofs and carnal, and gives him too great a likenefs to the fictitious Deities of the Pagans, who, according to the poets, begat children, both males and females, of the Goddeffes, by which means those fictitious Deities, both Gods and Goddeffes, were greatly multiplied. If it should be faid, that God may, if he pleafes, by an immediate act of his power and will, create or otherwise produce human feed in the womb of a woman, and make it answer the fame purpose as if it had been introduced in the ordinary course of generation; and that this may have been the cafe with respect to Jefus Chrift, upon which account he may well be called the only begotten fon of God, as he was the only perfon who was ever begotten by the Deity in this way. To this it may be answered, that the. term begetting is only used, and intended to express a particular operation of a male upon the body of a female, when it produces a particular effect; and therefore, whereever U 3

that

that particular operation is wanting, as well as when that effect is wanting, in either cafe begetting is wanting; and confequently, if the operation of a male was wanting in the production of Jefus Christ, then begetting was wanting in his production alfo; fo that he would be fo far from being the begotten, that on the contrary he would be the unbegotten fon of God; feeing in that case he would not have been begotten at all. And though God may, if he pleases, bring a man into being this way, that is, he may, if he pleafes, create, or otherwife produce human feed in the womb of a woman, and make it answer the fame purpose as if it had been introduced by the operation of a man, in the ordinary course of generation; yet it is not likely to have been the case with respect to Jefus Chrift, feeing it does not appear that any great and good purpose was served by it, which it might well be expected such an extraordinary production would be subservient to. Moreover, the word begotten is often used in a figurative fenfe in the New Teftament. Thus Chriftians are faid to be begotten by, or through the gofpel; and to be begotten again to a lively hope. And thus the term begotten is applied to Chrift's

refur