6t THE GLORY ON MUST A.S GOD-MAN. divine idea, and by way of " prolepsis" or anticipation : But if we suppose the term Logos or word to include the human soul then actually united to the divine nature, which Dr.. Goodwill takes onlyproleptically, then it will follow that when the evan- gelist adds, verse 1.1. The word was made flesh, or toók a body upon Min, he plainly includes the incarnation both Of the human soul and the godhead together. The Logos, that is, the human soul united to godhead, or if you cause rather to say the eternal Word in union with the human soul, became incarnate. Objection VI. " This doctrine expounds some of those Scriptures to another sense, which were wont to be employed for the defence of the divinity of Christ, and that byapplying them to his pre-existent soul : It exalts his human nature indeed, but perhaps it weakens the saered articleofhis divine nature, by with. drawing some of the proofs of it." Answer. There are many and sufficient arguments drawn from the word of God to support the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, which cannot with any evidence or truth or justice be turned to another sense, and indeed it is by such arguments as these that doctrine must be established ; for if it be possible with fairness or justice to the text and context to interpret a scripture otherwise, and apply it merely to the pre-existent soul of Christ, it can never l# a convincing and effectual proof of his divinity. It is no injury to any cause to remove those arguments from it, which are in themselves feeble and unsupporting, lest when the adversary finds several of them trifling and utterly insufficient he should be tempted to despise all the rest. If there be any of those scriptures which are used to prove any doctrine that in their most natural, most proper, and most rational sense, and in their relation to the context do rather signify something else, then they had muchbetter bedropped or left ()Min the proof of that doctrine. So if these scriptures cited in this discourseare in a much more natural and primer, easy andobvious manner applied to the pre- existent soul of Christ than the, are or can be to the pure divine nature, then it is better to drop them in that argument titan to insist upon them, for all the reason in the world will lead us to give them the most obvious and natural exposition, and apply them to this pre-existent spirit. We ought not to deal falsely with the word of God, nor give it in unfair and improbable sense under pretence of supporting the greatest truth. The gospel of Christ needs not our feeble artifices. Itshould be observed alse, that several of those passages of scripture, which may be applied to the pre -existent soul of Christ, cannot properly be applied to it considered alone by it- self without the personal union to his godhead, such are those ; Col. i. 15.-19. Heb. i. 3 -8. Prov. viii. 22-31. And in this view they continue tosupport the divinity Of Christ, as well as they did before : And in my opinion when they are set in this light, they render these proofs of his divinity more defensible,
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