Dr. Watts, moreover, supposes that the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul of Christ explains dark and difficult Scriptures, and discovers many beauties and proprieties of expression in the Word of God, which on any other plan lie unobserved. For instance, in Col. i, 15, etc., Christ is described as the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. His being the image of the invisible God cannot refer merely to his divine nature, for that is as invisible in the Son as in the Father; therefore it seems to refer to his pre-exist- ent soul in union with the Godhead. Again, when man is said to be created in the image of God (Gen. i, 2), it may refer to the God-man, to Christ in his pre-existent state. God says, " Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The word is redoubled, perhaps to inti- mate that Adam was made in the likeness of the human soul of Christ, as well as that he bore something of the image and resemblance of the divine nature. Dr. Sam- uel Clarke, it will be borne in mind by the well-read student of Christology, did not accept the general orthodox view of the Trinity doctrine, but endeavored to form a theory holding an intermediate place between the Arian and orthodox systems, neither allowing Jesus to be called a creature nor admitting his equality with the Father. He held that from the beginning there ex- isted along with the Father a second Person, called the Word or Son, who derived his being, attributes, and powers from the Father. The Jews uniformly main- tained the pre-existence of the Messiah. In English' theology, Dr. Watts was the ablest espouser of this doc- trine. In American theology the Rev. Noah Worcester advocated Dr. Watts's theory, but with decided mod- ifications founded on the title " Son of God," which is so
frequently applied to Christ in the N. T., and which Worcester alleged "must import that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Father as truly as Isaac was the son of Abraham ; not that he is a created intelligent being, but a being who properly derived his existence and nat- ure from God." Mr. Worcester thus maintains that Jesus Christ is not a self-existent being, for it is impos- sible even for God to produce a self-existent son ; but as Christ derived his existence and nature from the Father, he is as truly the image of the invisible God as Seth was the likeness of Adam. He is therefore a per- son of divine dignity, constituted the creator of the world, the angel of God's presence, or the medium by which God manifested himself to the ancient patriarchs. According to this theory the Son of God became man, or the Son of man, by becoming the soul of a human body.
Those who object to the doctrine of the pre-existence of the human soul of Christ do so on the principle that such a doctrine weakens and subverts that of his divine personality, and assign as grounds for such a position that— 1. A pure intelligent spirit, the first, the most an- cient, and the most excellent of creatures, created before the foundation of the world, so exactly resembles the second Person of the Arian Trinity that it is impossible to show the least difference except in name. 2. This pre-existent Intelligence, supposed in this doctrine, is so confounded with those other intelligences called angels that there is great danger of mistaking this human soul for an angel, and so of making the person of Christ to consist of three natures. 3. If Jesus Christ had nothing in common like the rest of mankind except a body, how could this semi-conformity make him a real man? 4. The passages quoted in proof of the pre-existence of the human soul of Jesus Christ are of the same sort with those which others allege in proof of the pre-existence of all human souls. 5. This opinion, by ascribing the dignity of the work of redemption to this sublime hu- man soul, detracts from the deity of Christ, and renders the last as passive as the first is active. G. This notion is contrary to the Scripture. St. Paul says, "In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his breth- ren" (Heb. ii, 17): he partook of all our infirmities ex- cept sin. St. Luke says, " He increased in stature and wisdom" (Luke ii, 52). Upon the whole, this scheme, adopted to relieve the difficulties which must always surround mysteries so great, only creates new ones. This is the usual fate of similar speculations, and shows the wisdom of resting in the plain interpretation of the Word of God. See Robinson, Claude, i, 214, 311; Watts, Works, v. 274, 385 ; Gill, Body of Divinity, ii, 51 ; Robinson, Plea, p. 140; Fleming, Christology; Simpson, Apology for the Trinity, p. 190 ; Hawker, Sermon on the Divinity of Christ, p. 44, 45 ; Haag, Histoire des Dogmes Chret. ; Martensen, Dogmatics; Mttller, Doctrine of Sin; Liddon, Divinity of Christ; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doc- trines ; Studien ii, Kritiken, 1860, No. 3. Comp. In- dwelling Scheme; Jesus Christ.
Pre-existents (or Preexistiani) is the name given to those who hold the hypothesis of the pre- existence of souls, or the doctrine that, at the beginning of creation, not that of this world simply, but of all worlds, God created the souls of all men. which, how- ever, are not united to the body till the individuals for whom they are destined are begotten or born into the world. According to this theory, says Schedd, "Men were angelic spirits at first. Because of their apostasy in the angelic sphere, they were transferred, as a pun- ishment for their sin, into material bodies in this mun- dane sphere, and are now passing through a disciplinary process, in order to be restored, all of them, without exception, to their pre-existent and angelic condition. These bodies to which they are joined come into exist- ence by the ordinary course of physical propagation ; so that the sensuous and material part of human nature has no existence previous to Adam. It is only the ra- tional and spiritual principle of which a preadamic life is asserted."