DISCOURSE III. 841 foundation of the world ; and yet his Father's love is said to be continued to him, and to be bestowed on him, on the account of this obedience ; John xiv. 10. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's com- mandments and abide in his love. John x. 17. Therefore cloth tiny Father love me because I lay down my lfe. We must na- turally suppose this to imply some additional instances and effects of the Father's love bestowed, dr tobe bestowed ou Christ, be- cause of his obedience unto death : And what additional instan- ces, manifestations or effects of the Father's love did the man Jesus receive, if his exaltation to superior degrees of honour and, glory in heaven be not reckoned among them ? ObjectionV. " If the human soul of Christ had a being before his incarnation, bow comes it to be expressed, that God was manifest in the flesh, and that the Word was God, and this Word was made flesh ? . Would it not have beenmuch more pro- per to say, the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ was thus made flesh, or manifested in flesh 1" Answer I. The most usual way of expressing the incarna- tion of Christ is, by representing the Son of God as coming in the. flesh, Christ coming into the world, the Son of God made of a woman, the Son of God sent into this world,, dirc. This is themost frequent language of the New Testamen : Now these words do most properly include, if not chiefly denote the soul of Christ under the character of the Messiah. This was the Son of God which was intimately united to flesh and blood. It is possible that the name, Son of God, may not so directly refer to the godhead of Christ, as it does to his human soul and his body ; for since the idea of sonship carries in it the notion of de- rivation and dependence, and inferiority, we should not without great necessity apply such such ideas to godhead, whose very na- ture is to be supreme, underived and independent. This hath been made toappear more so large in an essay on that name " the Son of God," which see. It is granted there are two or threeplaces which represent the divine nature or God himself as appearing in the flesh ; and this may be written in those few places, with a special design to aggrandize the mystery of the incarnation, and spread a divine glory over it : always remembering that it is a great truth that " God himself was incarnate," though the more immediate sub- ject of union to flesh was the human soul. II. It might be noted also, that evangelical interpreter of scripture Dr. Goodwin explains the Logos or Word, even as it is described in the first chapter of St. John's gospel, so as to include the idea of God-man, and to take in the human nature of Christ as well as the divine, when the Word was with God, and when all things were made by him. That author indeed supposes the human, nature to be united at that time only in the 9L. Pi. S s
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=