THE GLORY OF CnnR1sT AS GOD -MAW. express his incarnation and- mission, though without any reluc- tance. John vi. 38. I carne down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will ofhim that sent me. Now would it not sound very harsh to suppose the godhead of Christ, saying, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will if him that sent me, when it is utterly and eternally impossible that the godhead of Christ should have any will different from God the Father ? It is in the same manner that our Lord speaks in prophecy concerninghimself, Psal. xl. 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God ; yea thy law is within my heart. Now that this refers to his incarnation in an especial manner, we may learn from the epistle to the Hebrews, where this prophecy is cited and ex- plained, chapter x. 5, 7. When he corneth into the world, he sailh, Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me ;lo Icome to do thy will, O God. This seems tobe the proper language of his human soul, and not of pure godhead. Those who refuse to expound this con- cerning Christ's pre-existent soul, apply it to his inferior and delegated character as Mediator, andas the Father's servant employed in this great errand. But I appeal to every one who reads the words, whether this language does not naturally seem much rather to belong to an inferior being, than to the eternal godhead assuming an inferior character. Consideration IV. " Christ represents his own coming into the world, and being sent hither by the Father, in such a man- ner as naturally leads one to suppose he had a real and proper dwelling in another place*, and in another manner before lie came into this world, and that he then changed »is place and company and manner of life; all which seem more agreeable to a human spirit, than to a divine person." 'I'he mere repetition of our Saviour's own language in se- veral scriptures would naturally lead one to these ideas. John vi. 38. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Verse 51. I am the liv- ing bread which came downfrom heaven, in imitation of the mannawhich came from the clouds. Verse62. What, and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was beforet ? >s i do not here .enter into that philosophical question, whether separate souls have proper places or no, or any local motion, but 1 speak after the Com- mon manner of speech, and the language of scripture. Some may object against this text, and say, That it cannot mean that the human soul ascended where it was before, for the human soul is its pre-existent state cannot be called the Son of man. I answer, I. That the name Son of man ordinarily sign.fies no more than man, orsome considerable man, and when ap- plied to Christ it means the Messiah. 2. It is at leasta more proper term to signify Christ's human soul, than it is to signify his divine nature, and to say, " What if ye shall see the Son of man, that is, the human nature ascend where
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