soul of Christ is due to its union with the divine nature. It was because of this union that when the soul of Christ, while here on earth, willed to perform a miracle, the effect immediately followed. So " the man Ciirist may give forth all the commands of God whereby the world is governed." ^ " Upon this representation of things," he adds, "the various language of Scripture appears to be true, and is made very intelligible. Christ says ' He can do nothing of Himself, He knew not the day of judgment' when He was here on earth, etc., and yet He is said to ' know the hearts of men, and to know all things ' ; for as fast as the divine mind united to Him was pleased to communicate all these ideas, so fast was his human nature capable of receiving them." ^
The third discourse is devoted to proving the preexistence of the human soul of Christ. He argues from tjie fact that there are many expressions in the Bible, which seem to imply that He had a dependent nature before He came into this world. He is called the angel or messenger of God, and is represented as sent to exe- cute his will. He urges also the fact that He is said to be the image of God. But the divine essence or nature cannot be the hnage of itself. That term can only apply to a created nature united to the divine, so that the " complex person " thus consti- tuted, should reveal what God is. An argument is also drawn from all those passages in which Christ is said to have humbled Himself, to have become poor, to have made Himself of no reputa- tion. All this cannot, he says, be properly understood of the divine nature, but is perfectly intelligible and full of meaning if referred to the human soul of our Lord. It was an act of unspeakable condescension for the highest intelligent creature to " empty Himself " and become as ignorant and feeble as an infant, and to submit not only to grow in wisdom, but to subject Himself to the infirmities and sufferings of our mortal state. If asked how so exalted an intellect can be reduced to the condition or state of an infant, he answers, that something analogous to this not unfrequently occurs, even in human experience. Men of ma- ture age and of extensive learning have lost all their knowledge, and have been reduced to the necessity of learning it all over again, though in some cases it has returned suddenly. It was the same nature that emptied itself that was afterwards filled with glory as a recompense. Another argument for the preexistence ol the soul of Christ, he says, may be drawn from the fact that his incarnation " ' is always expressed in some corporeal language, 1 Watts, Works, ut supra, vol. vi. p. 795. ' Ibid. p. 796.
426 PART in. Ch. m. — the person of CHRIST.
inch as denotes his taking on Him animal nature, or body, or flesh, without the least mention of taking a soul." '* ^
Again,- " ' The covenant betwixt God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ for the redemption of mankind, is represented in Scripture as being made and agreed upon from or before tlie foun- dation of the world. Is it not then most proper that both real parties should be actually present, and that this should not be transacted merely within the divine essence by such sort of distinct personalities as have no distinct mind and will ? Tiie essence of God is generally agreed by our Protestant divines to be the same single numerical essence in all tliree personalities, and therefore it can be but one conscious mind or spirit. Now can one single un- derstanding and will make such a covenant as Scripture repre- sents ? ' I grant the divine nature which is in Christ from eternity cx)ntrived and agreed all the parts of this covenant. But does it not add a lustre and glory, and more conspicuous equity, to this covenant, to suppose the man Christ Jesus who is most properly the mediator according to 1 Tim. ii. 5, to be also present before the world was made, to be chosen and appointed as the redeemer or reconciler of mankind, to be then ordained the head of his future pyeople, to receive promises, grace, and blessings in their name, and to accept the solemn and weighty trust from the hand of his Father, that is, to take care of millions of souls ? "
He also argues from what the Bible teaches of the Sonship of Christ. •' When He is called a Son, a begotten Son, this seems to imply derivation and dependency ; and perhaps the Sonship of Christ, and his beins the only begotten of the Father, may be better explained by attributing it to his human soul, existing by some peculiar and immediate manner of creation, formation, or derivation from the Father, before other creatures were formed ; especiallv if we include in the same idea of Sonship his union to the divine nature, and if we add also his exaltation to the office of the Messiah, as King and Lord of all." ^
Dr. Watts explains clearly what he means by the preexistence of the humanity of Christ, when he says : * '• All the idea which I have of a human soul is this, namely, a created mind or spirit which hath understanding and will, and rational powers, and which is fit to be miited to a human body, in such a manner as to exert the powers of a man, to feel the appetites and sensibilities and passions of a man, as to receive impressions or sensations, whether
1 "Warts' Wbrkt, vol. tI p. 820. » Jbid. p. 819.
» Ibid. p. 825. ♦ Ibid. p. U^