works, because his glory shall endure for ever; then is it absolutely neceffary we should confess him Maker of heaven and earth, that we may fufficiPfal. 148. 13. ently praife and glorify him. Let them praise the name of the Lord, faith David, for his name alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth and heaven. Thus did the Levites teach the Children of Ifrael to glorify God: Neh. 9. 5, 6. Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever : and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou even thou art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens,. with all their hosts, the earth and all things that are therein. And the

:

Rom. 11. 36. fame hath S. Paul taught us: For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever, Amen. Furthermore, that we may be affured that he which made both Heaven and Earth will be glorified in both, the Prophet calls upon all those celestial hosts to bear their part in his Pfal. 148. 2, Hymn: Praise ye him all his Angels, praise ye him all his Hofts. Praise ye him Sun and Moon, praise him all ye Stars of light. Praise him ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for be commanded, and they were created. And the

3,4,5.

Rev. 4. 10,11. 24 Elders in the Revelation of S. John, fall down before him that fitteth on the Throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and caft their Crowns, the emblems of their borrowed and derived glories, before the Throne, the feat of infinite and eternal Majesty, faying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power: for thou hast crea ted all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Wherefore, if the heavens declare the glory of God, and all his works praise him; Pfal. 145. 10, then shall his Saints bless him, they shall speak of the glory of his kingdom, and talk of his power. And if Man be filent, God will speak; while we through ingratitude will not celebrate, he himself will declare it, and proJer. 27. 5. mulgate. I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power, and by my out-stretched arm.

Pfal. 19. 1.

11.

4

Secondly, The Doctrine of the World's Creation, is most properly effeCtual towards man's Humiliation. As there is nothing more destructive to humanity than Pride, and yet not any thing to which we are more prone than that; so nothing can be more properly applied to abate the swelling of our proud conceptions, than a due confideration of the other works of God, with a sober reflection upon our own original. When I considered the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; when I view those glorious apparent bodies with my eye, and by the advantage of a glafs find great numbers, before beyond the power of my fight, and from thence judge there may be many millions more which neither eye nor instrument can reach; when I contemplate those far more glorious Spirits, the inhabitants of the Heavens, and attendants on thy Throne; I cannot but break forth into that admiration of the Prophet, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? what is that off-fpring of the earth, that dust and ashes? what is that fon of man, that thou visitest him? what is there in the progeny of an ejected and condemned Father, that thou shouldeft look down from Heaven, the place of thy dwelling, and take care or notice of him? But if our Original ought so far to humble us, how should our Fall abase us? That of all the creatures which God made, we should comply with him who first oppofed his Maker, and would be equal unto him from whom he new received his Being. All other works of God, which we think inferior to us, because not furnished with the light of understanding, or endued with the power of election, are in a happy impoffibility of finning, and fo offending of their Maker: The glorious Spirits which attend upon the Throne of God, once in a condition of themselves to fall, now by the grace of God preferved, and placed beyond all poffibility of finning, are entred upon the greatest happiness, of which the workmanship of

3

God

God is capable: but men, the fons of fall'n Adam, and sinners after the fimilitude of him, of all the creatures are the only companions of those Angels which left their own habitatious, and are delivered into chains of darkness, Fude $. 6. to be referved unto Judgment. How should a serious apprehenfion of our own corruption, mingled with the thoughts of our creation, humble us in the fight of him, whom we alone of all the Creatures by our unrepented fins drew unto repentance? How can we look without confufion of face upon that monument of our infamy, recorded by Mofes, who first penned the original of Humanity, It repented the Lord that he had made man on Gen. 6. 6. the earth, and it grieved him at his heart ?

2 Pet. 2. 4.

Thirdly, This Doctrine is properly efficacious and productive of most chearful and universal Obedience. It made the Prophet call for the Commandments of God, and earnestly defire to know what he should obey. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding that I Pfal. 119. 73. may learn thy commandments. By virtue of our first production, God hath undeniably absolute dominion over us, and consequently there must be due unto him the most exact and complete obedience from us. Which reason will appear more convincing, if we consider of all the creatures which have been derived from the fame fountain of God's goodness, none ever disobeyed his voice but the Devil and Man. Mine hand, faith he, hath laid the Ifa. 48. 13. foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spann'd the heavens; when I call unto them they stand up together. The most loyal and obedient servants which stand continually before the most illustrious Prince are not so ready to receive and execute the commands of their Sovereign Lord, as all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth to attend upon the will of their Creator. Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things, Ifa 40. 26. that bringeth out their hosts by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth, but, every one maketh his appearance, ready press'd to observe the designs of their Commander in chief. Thus the Lord commanded and they fought from heaven, the stars in their courses fought against Sifera. He Judg. 5. 20. commanded the Ravens to feed Elias, and they brought him bread and flesh 1 King 17. in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and so one Prophet lived merely upon the obedience of the Fowls of the air. He spake to the devouring Whale, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land; and so Jonah 2. 10. another Prophet was delivered from the jaws of death by the obedience of the Fishes of the Sea. Do we not read of fire and hail, snow and vapour, Pfal. 148. 8. Stormy wind fulfilling his word ? Shall there be a greater coldnefs in man than in the snow? more vanity in us than in a vapour? more inconftancy than in the wind? If the universal obedience of the creature to the will of the Creator cannot move us to the fame affection and defire to serve and please him, they will all conspire to testifie against us and condemn us, when God shall call unto them; faying, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, Ifa. 1.2. for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

4,6.

Lastly, The Creation of the World is of most necessary meditation for the confolation of the servants of God in all the variety of their conditions, Happy is he whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made Pf. 146.5, 6. Heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is. This happiness consisteth partly in a full assurance of his power to fecure us, his ability to fatisfie us. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, the world and Pfal. 24. 1, 2. they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the feas, and established it upon the floods. By virtue of the first production he hath a perpetual right unto, and power to dispose of all things: and he which can order and dispose of all, must necessarily be esteemed able to secure and fatis

K 2

fie

Ifa. 40. 28. fic any Creature. Haft thou not known, haft thou not heard, that the everlafting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no external resistance or oppofition where Omnipotency worketh, no internal weakness or defection of power where the Almighty is the Agent; and confequently there remaineth a full and firm perfuafion of his ability in all conditions to preserve us. Again, this happiness consisteth partly in a comfortable assurance, arifing from this Meditation, of the will of God to protect and fuccour us, of his defire to preservé and bless us. My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth: he will not fuffer thy foot to be moved, faith the Prophet David; at once expreffing the foundation of his own expectancy and our security. God will not despise the work of his hands, neither will he suffer the rest of his Creatures to do the least injury to his own Image. Behold, faith he, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work. No weapon that is formed against thee shall proSper. This is the heritage of the fervants of the Lord.

Pfal. 121.2,

3.

Job 10. 3.

Ifa. 54. 16,

17.

Joh. 14. 1. b1 Joh. 3.23. * Eadem regula veritatis

docet nos

in Filium Dei, Chri

Wherefore to conclude our explication of the first Article, and to render a clear account of the last part thereof; That every one may understand what it is I intend, when I make confession of my faith in the Maker of heaven and earth, I do truly profess, that I really believe, and am fully perfuaded, that both heaven and earth and all things contained in them have not their being of themselves, but were made in the beginning; that the manner by which all things were made was by mediate or immediate creation; so that antecedently to all things beside, there was at first nothing but God, who produced most part of the World merely out of nothing, and the reft out of that which was formerly made of nothing. This I believe was done by the most free and voluntary act of the will of God, of which no reason can be alledged, no motive affigned, but his goodness; performed by the determination of his will at that time which pleased him, most probably within one hundred and thirty generations of men, most certainly within not more than fix, or at farthest seven, thousand years. I acknowledge this God Creator of the World to be the fame God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Chrift: and in this full latitude, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

ARTICLE II.

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

HE second Article of the Creed presents unto us, as the object of our Faith, the second Person of the blessed Trinity; that as in the Divinity there is nothing intervening between the Father and the Son, so that immediate union might be perpetually expressed by a constant conjunction in our Christian Confeffion. And that credere poft upon no less authority than of the Author and Finisher of our Faith, who in Patrem etiam the Persons of the Apostles gave this command to us, a Ye believe in God, believe also in me. Nor speaketh he this of himself, but from the Father stum Jesum, which sent him: For this is his commandment, that we should believe on Dominum the name of his Son Jesus Christ. According therefore to the Son's prefcristrum, fed Dei ption, the Father's injunction, and the Sacramental institution, as we are Filium; hu- baptized, so do we * believe in the name of the Father, and the Son. jus Dei qui & Our blessed Saviour is here represented under a threefold description: first, eft, conditor by his Nomination, as Jesus Christ; secondly, by his Generation, as the fcilicet rerum only Son of God; thirdly, by his Dominion, as our Lord.

Deum no

unus & folus

omnium. No

vat, de Trinit." But when I refer Jesus Christ to the nomination of our Saviour, because

he

* Si tamen

he is in the Scriptures promifcuously and indifferently fometimes called Jefus, sometimes Christ, I would be understood so as not to make each of them equally, or in like propriety, his name. * His name was called Fe- Luke 2. 21. fus, which was so named of the Angel before he was conceived in the Mat. 1. 16. womb: who is also called Christ, not by name, but by Office and title. nomen eft Which observation, feemingly trivial, is neceffary for the full explication Chriftus, & of this part of the Article; for by this diftinction we are led unto a dou- non appellable notion, and so resolve our Faith into these two Propositions, I believe Unitus enim there was and is a man, whose name was actually, and is truly in the most fignificatur. high importance, Jefus, the Saviour of the world. I believe the man who tem non mabare that name to be the Christ, that is, the Meffias promised of old by gis nomen eft God, and expected by the Jews.

tio potius;

Unctus au

quam veititus, quàm

calceatus, accidens nomini res. Tertul. adv. Prax. c. 28. Quorum nominum alterum est proprium, quod ab An gelo impofitum est; alterum accidens, quod ab unctione convenit. Ibid. Chriftus commune dignitatis eft nomen, Jesus proprium vocabulum Salvatoris. S. Hieron. in Mat. 16. 20. Jesus inter homines nominatur; nam Chriftus non proprium nomen est, sed nuncupatio poteftatis & regni. Lactan. de Falfa Sap. 1. 4. c. 7. Dum dicitur Chriftus, commune nomen dignitatis eft; dum Jesus Christus, proprium vocabulum Salvatoris est. Ifidor. Orig. 1. 7. 0.2. Ἰησᾶς καλεῖ) φερονύμως. S. Cyril. Catech. 10.

name was

b

*Acts 13. 6. Ju

rum vacuis

enim nec lu

nard. in Cant.

4. 8.

of Mofes, in

For the first, it is undoubtedly the proper name of our Saviour given unto him, according to the custom of the Jews, at his Circumcifion: and as the Baptist was called John, even so the Christ was called Jesus. Beside, as the imposition was after the vulgar manner, so was the name it felf of ordinary ufe. We read in the Scriptures of Jesus which was called Justus, a fellow-worker with S. Paul; and of a certain Sorcerer, a Few, whose Col. 4. 11. * Barjesus, that is, the Son of Jesus. Josephus, in his Hifto- Habuit & ry, mentioneth one Jefus the Son of Ananus, another the Son of Sapha- dæa quofdam tes, a third the Son of Judas, flain in the Temple: and many of the high Fefus, quoPriefts, or Priefts were called by that name; as the Son of Damnaus, of gloriatur voGamaliel, of Onias, of Phabes, and of Thebuth. Ecclefiafticus is called cabulis. Illa the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, and that Sirach the Son of ano- cent, nec pather Jesus. S. Stephen speaks of the Tabernacle of witness brought in fcunt,necmewith Jefus into the possession of the Gentiles; and the Apostle in his ex-dentur. Ber plication of those words of David, To day if you will hear his voice, ob- Serm. 15. ferveth that, if Jefus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards Aft. 7.45have spoken of another day. Which two Scriptures being undoubtedlyHeb understood of Joshua, the Son of Nun, teach us as infallibly that Jesus is as generaily the same name with Joshua. Which being at the first * imposition in the in the Books full extent of pronunciation Jehoshua, in process of time contracted to Je- Joshua, shuah, by the omission of the last letter, (strange and difficult to other Judges, Salanguages) and the addition of the Greek termination, became Jesus. muel, the Wherefore it will be necessary, for the proper interpretation of Jefus, ven in Haggai to look back upon the first that bare that name, who was the Son of Nun, and Zechariof the Tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses, and so named by him, aracte as it is written, d and Moses called Oshea the Son of Nun Jehoshuah. His, as in first name then imposed at his Circumcifion was Osheab, or Hofeah; the the 1 Chron. fame with the name of the son of Azaziah, ruler of Ephraim, of the and * fon of Elah, king of Ifrael, of the & fon of Beeri, the Prophet: and the constantly in interpretation of this first name † Hofeah is Saviour. Now we must not Next the last letter y was but lightly pronounced, as appears by the Greek Translation, I Chron. 7. 27. where יהושע is rendred in the Roman and Alexandrian Copy 'Inosè, in the Aldus and Complutensian Editions "lwoni, and by Eusebius, who expresseth it truer than those Copies, ̓Ιωσγέ. At last y was totally left out both in the pronunciation and the writing, and the whole name of Joshua contracted to ישו . d Numb. 13.16. CI Chron.27.20. £2 King. 17. 1, 8 Hof. I. I. Ofee in lingua nostra Salvatorem fonat, quod nomen habuit etiam Jofue filius Nun, antequam ei a Deo vocabulum mutaretur. S. Hier. in Ofee, c. 1. V. 1. l. 1. adv. Jovinianum. I read indeed of other interpretations among the Greeks, no good expositors of the Hebrew names: as in an ancient MS. of the LXX. Translation of the Prophets, now in the Library of Cardinal Barberini, at the beginning of Hofeah. Ωσηέ, λυπόμμα, and again, ̓Ωσηέ, (εσωστ μπύο, ή (υσκιάζων· (Of which the first and last are far from the Original and the middle agreeable with the root, with the conjugation, as being deduced from not in Niphal, but in Hiphil) And in another MS. of the Prophets in the King's Library at St. James's, Ὡσης (κιάζων, ἢ φύλης. and again, Ωσηέ, έρμι (ωζόμα, which is the interpre

not

3

Kings, yea

ah: then con

31. 15.

Ezra and Nehemiah.

interpretation inserted into Hefychius ; in whom for Ωσής we must read one and so I suppose Salmafius intended it, the the Holland Edition hath made his emendation Ωσχέ.

* As the Sa- imagine this to be * no mutation, neither must we look upon it as a † tomaritan Pen- tal alteration, but observe it as a change not trivial or † inconfiderable. tateuch makes And being Hofeah was a name afterwards used by some, and Jehoshuab, name, which as diftinct, by others, it will necessarily follow, there was some difference he was first between these two names; and it will be fit to enquire what was the adnamed, panaddition, and in what the force of the alteration doth confift.

it the same

afterwards; as if Moses had only called Oshea, Othea. † So Justin Martyr speaks of Hofeah aς μεζονομασθέντα τῷ Ἰησᾶ ὀνόμαζι. And comparing it with that alteration of Jacob's name; τὸ ἐπώνυμον Ἰακώβ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπικληθέντι ἐδόθη, κὶ τὸ Αὐση ὄνομα Ιησᾶς ἐπεκλήθη· where, to pass by his mistake in supposing him first named Israel, and after called Jacob, he makes the alteration of Hofeah to Joshua equal to that of Jacob to Ifrael. The reason whereof was the Greek version of the name, who for Hofeah translated it Αὐσῆς· ἐπωνόμασε Μωσῆς ἢ Αὐση τὸν Νανή Ιησῶν, Numb. 13. 16. Dum Moysi successor destinaretur Auses filius Nave transfertur certè de priftino nomine, & incipit vocari Jesus, Tertul. adv. Jud. & adv. Marcion. 1. 3. §. 16. Igitur Moyfes his administratis Ausem quendam nomine præponens populo, qui eos revocaret ad patriam terram, Clem. l. 1. Recognit. Qui cum primùm Auses vocaretur, Mofes juffit eum Jesum vocari. Lactan.de vera Sap. c. 17. Οὐ πρότερον γὲν (Μωϋσῆς) ἢ αὐτὸ Ἀλάδοχον τῇ τὸ Ἰησῦ κεκρημθύον προσηΓορία, ὀνόμαζι ἢ ἑτέρῳ τῷ Αὐση, ὅπερ οἱ λυνήσαντες αὐτες τέθειν), καλέμμον, Ἰησῶν αὐτὸς ἀναδορούει. Eufeb. Eccl. Hift. 1. 1. c. 3. Thus was the Hofeah fomething disguised by Auses, and was farther estranged yet by those which frequently called him Nαυσῆς, as Eufeb. Demonft. Ev. 1. 5. c. 17. thrice. This Justin Martyr charges ::pon the Jews as neglefted by them, and affirms the reason why they received not Jesus for the Christ, was their not observing the alteration of Hofeah into Josua or Jesus. Αύσιὼ κα λέμθμον Ἰησῶν Μωσῆς ἀκάλεσε, τῶτο (νὰ ζητεῖς· δ ̓ ἣν αἰτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἐκ Σπορεῖς, ἐδὲ φιλοπουσεῖς, τοιδαρῶν λέληθέ (ε ὁ Χρισός, κ ̓ ἀναδιδνώσκων & ζενins. And whereas they spake much of the change made in the names of Abram and Sarai, which were but of a letter, they took no notice of this total alteration of the name : So he, Διὰ τί μὲν ἄλφα πρώτῳ προσελέθη της Αβρα άμ ὀνομαζι θεολοΓεῖς, κὶ λλα τί ἐν ῥῷ τῷ Σάρρας ὀνόμαζι ὁμοίως κομπολοδεῖς· 2/9 τὸ ἢ τὸ πατρόθεν ὄνομα τῷ Αὐσῇ τῷ ἡῷ Navn ὅλον μετωνόμασαι τις Ιησε, ὁ ζητεῖς. Where, to pass by the vulgar mistake of the Greeks, who generally deliver the addition of a in the name of Abraham, and e in the name of Sarah, when the first was an Addition of the second a change of into he would make that of Hosea into Jesus a far more confiderable alteration than that of Abraham or of Sarah.

* הושע

well be

is added to make the

For יהושיע

First therefore we observe that all the original letters in the name * Hofeah יהושע are preferved in that of Joshuah from whence 'tis evident that this alteration was not made by a verbal mutation, as when Jacob was called Ifrael, ner † For it may by any literal change, as when Sarai was named Sarah, nor yet by diminution thought that or mutilation; but by addition, as when Abram was called Abraham. Secondly it must be confefsed that there is but one literal addition, and that of name that letter which is most frequent in the Hebrew names: but being thus fothe same with lemnly added by Mofes, upon so remarkable an occafion as the viewing of the third per- the land of Canaan was, and that unto a name already known, and after used; fon of the future in Hiphil, it cannot be thought to give any less than a † present designation of his per-fon to be a Saviour of the people, and future certainty of falvation included characterifti in his name unto the Ifraelites by his means. Thirdly, tho' the number of cal letter of the letters be augmented actually but to one, yet it is not improbable that athe conjuga- nother may be virtually added, and in the fignification understood. For beexcluded in ing the first letter of Hofeah will not endure a duplication, and if the same the future letter were to be added, one of them must be absorpt; 'tis possible another tenfe, and fo of the same might be by Mofes intended, and one of them fuppreffed. If word be יש then unto the name Hofeah we join one of the titles of God, which is Jab, frequently in there will refult from both, by the custom of that Hebrewtongue, Jehoshuah; yet fome and fo not only the † instrumental, but also the original caule of the Jews exprefssed, as it deliverance will be found expressed in one word: as if Moses had said, is ufed, 1 Sam. This is the person by whom God will save his people from their Enemies.

tion Hiphil be

the regular

times it is

17.47.

לא בחרב ובחנית יהושיע יהוה

And all the affembly shall know that the Lord saveth (or will fave) not with sword and spear: and Pfal. 116. 6. רלותי ולי יהושיע I was brought low, and he helped me. And although there be another in the future than in the name, yet being it is also found sometimes with the lesser Chiric, and so without the latter, or without any Chirick at all, as frequently with the addition of ויושע ו, there is no reason but the name of the son of Nun, may be of the same force, as consisting of the same letters with the third person of the future in Hiphil. Again, being added to the future, as formative thereof, stands in the place of 1 (for the avoiding of confufion with a conjunctive) which is nothing else than the abbreviation of הוא, we may well assign at least this Emphasis to the mutation which Moses made; that whereas before there was nothing but Salvation barely in his name, now there is no less than he shall save, in which the הוא or is a peculiar designation of the person, and the shall or Tense a certainty of the futurition. Thus will the design of Moses appear to be nothing else but a prediction or confirmation of that which was not before, but by way of desire or omination; and this only by changing the Imperative into the Future, הושע serva the expectation of the people, into יהושע fervabit, the ratification of Moses. So did the ancients understand it: to the Greeks Jesus ές (ωτήριον Θες, to the Latines, Salvator Dei. So Eufeb. Demonftr. Ev. 1. 4. ad finem. Επεὶ ἢ σωτήριον Θεῦ εἰς τ' Ἑλ λάδα φωνίὼ τὸ τῷ Ιησᾶ μεζαληφθὲν ὄνομα σημαίνει. Ἰσκὰ μὲ γδ παρ' Εβραίοις σωτηρία, φὸς ἢ Νανὴ πυρὰ τοῖς αὐτοῖς Ἰωσγέ

I