PROPOSITION XVII1 175 Now there are some things that seem inferior to the'dig- nity of. godhead, which are attributed to the Son, even before his coming in the flesh, and being horn of a virgin; as, that God theFather sent his Son into the world, which seems to im- ply his being before. That he " came down fromheaven, not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him ;" John vi. 38, 39. Gal. iv. 4. That he left the " glorywhich he had with the Father before the beginning of the world ;" John xvii. 5. That God the Father " prepared a body for him ;" Heb. x. 5. The Son came and assumed that body." to do the will of God on earth ;" verses 7, 9. compared with Ps. xl. 6, 7, 8. as he. had been God's angel or messenger to the patriarchs. Now if we can give ourselves leave to suppose, that the human soul of our Lord Jesus Christ had a being, and was per- sonally united to the divine nature, long before his body was born of the virgin, even from the very foundation of the world, and that this was the angel who conversed with Abraham, Moses, Joshua, &c. then we may most easily account for these expres- sions of scripture, which signify something inferior to godhead before his incarnation; and we may attribute them to the human soul of Christ ; which, though infinitely inferior to God, yet doubtless is a spirit of a very excellent and noble nature, as being formed on purpose to be united to God, and never existed but in a personal union with God. There is nothing in the whole word of God, that I knowof, which discountenances such a supposition as this ; and there are a great many texts both of the Old and New Testament, which are with the greatest ease explained and reconciled this. way, which it is very hard to account for, without admitting this opinion ; nor has it the least ill aspect on any other article of our faith'. But if we dare not venture our thoughts so far out of the common track, as to suppose that the human. soul of Christ had any being, before he took flesh, then we suppose,that he existed * Hang of my readers imagine, that eitherbere, or in the endof this chapter, 1 have forgot the wordsof my title page,and have used the aid of human schemes, I intreat them to remember, that I have built nothing at all toward the proof 0f theTrinity, upon any such supposition or scheme whatsoever; but have only proposed an illustration, a simile, a thought or notion, whereby the divine doc- trine maybe more easily apprehended, or whereby many texts of scripture may be more naturally explained, and more happily reconciled. Those whodisapprove these hints, may entirely neglect them, and the plain scriptural doctrine of the Trinity abides the same still. 1 do net mention this pre-existence of the human soul of Christ as a point of faith, which I firmly believe, but merelyas a matter of opinion not to be rash- ly rejected, and well worth our farther enquiry; for I have not met with any thing yet published against it, that is sufficient to forbid the proposal of it llene ; and perhaps 1 shall any mach more for it, if I should live to publish some short " dissertations" that I have written relating. to the rr doctrine of the Trinity."
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