A Praflical Expojitidn communic~ble Name, is the Tendency of Grace, and the Etrea of the Spirit of God · . conforming us in fame Meafure to his Purity, and making us Partakers in this Senf~ of tbe Divine ]V"ature. And therefore it is prefs"d upon us, Lev. 29. 2. You /hall be Holy, for I the Lord your God am Holy. And, lflot. )· 48. Be ye therefore Perfeil as your Father wbich i.r in lieaven is Perfetl. · 1 Now thefe Communicable Attributes of God, though they may in fame Rcfpe£\s be found in 1he Creatures, yet then are they properly the Names ofGod, when they are appliec! to him free from all thofe Imp~rfe8:ions "!ith which they are nece!farily attended i~ the Creatures. Ab!lraE\ them from alt Imper feE\ions, and we may apply them to God as his Name. Now thefe Imperfetlions are of Two Sorts, either Priva.. tive, or Negatire. A Creatore is then faid to be Privatively imperfe8: when he falls lbort of what he·ought to be; and fo are the bell of Men imperfeE\ in this Lifo. Merciful they are, bur flill reraio a Mixture of Cruelty; P.1tient they are, but Uii( they ha\'e Impatience mlx'd w'th ir; Holy they are, but yet not Spotle.JJ; as the Law requires them to be: And therefore in afcribing Holinefs, Mercy, and Patieoce unro God, we mufl be fure to fepata re fiom them all fuch lmperfeilions as are fo~nd in us, through the Mixwre of the contrary Corruptions with thofe Graces; otherwife they will be fo far from being the Name of God, thao they will prove Blafphemous Derogarives from him; neither is this enough, bur we mu A: remove all Negative }m. perfeE\ions alfo. Now a Creature is faid to be Negatively impetfect, when thon~b it h·:uh all the PerfeEt:ions that is due unto it, or required from ir, yt:t it harh not all PetfeE\ion that is pollible or imaginable. Thus the Holy Angeh, and the Spirits of . "fufl !l1.~n, in Heaven, although they are made perfea fo as to exclude all Privative lmperfeElion, their Holinefs and their Graces there being as perfect as they !hould be and as God requires from them, yet have they a Negative lmperfeEHon; that i~ there is fome P~rfetlion of thofe Graces) and of that Holinefs, further pofiible, whidt they have nor, nor is it within the Sphere ol' their Natures to attain umo; in whicft Senfe it is fa id, Job 4· 8. He chargeth hi.r i1ngcl.r with Fo!IJ; that is, not as if they wanted any Wifdom or RighteoufhdS that was due Unto their Natures, but they had not all that Wifdom that was pollible, and fo were at Ieaft Negatively im· perfect. · . · · In all Per feE\ ions of the Creatures, whether Jlngels or Mm, be they never fo great pr excellent, there are Three ImperfeEl:ions that will neceffarily attend them. Firfl, That they have them not originally from themfelves, but derivatively from ·another, who is the Author and Embellifher of their Natures. Secondly, That they have them not r~nchang(ably, but may not only increafe but · decreafe, yea, or utterly lofe, them. Thirdly, That they have them not infinitely_, but in a Hinted and limited Meafure. Now in all the communicable Attributes of the Divine Nature, remove from them thefe Three Negative Imperfections, and then apply them ro God, "nd rhey become bis ptoper Name. God is Holy, Wife, Powerful, Jujl, Mercijid, True, &c. and fo are likewife fame of his moft Excellent Creatures, whom he hatb made like unto himfelf; but then the difference between God and them confifis in this, that his Wif. dam and the reR of his Attributes ate originally from him, theirs derivari \'tly fwm him; his infinite and boundlefs, theirs limited and fl:inted; his invariable and un· changeable, rheirs fuhjett to mutations, and decays, and total abolition. So that in thefe Three RefpeB::s even the Communicable Attributes of God are thcmfelves Incom· ·municable; and fo they are his Name, whereby he is known and differenced from all mher Beings whatfoever. But may it not be here faid to me as it was to Monoah, Judg. q. 18. Why ash'ft thou after my Name Jeeing it is Secret and TVonderful? Indeed we Can no more find out the Name of God to Perfc&ion, than we can his Nature and Effence, for borh are Infinite and Unfearchable. And there are Two Exprefiions in Scripturt that make this Knowledge impollible, the one of them quite contnFy to the other: One is, that God dwelletb in that Light to which no Man can approach, 1 Tim. 6. 16. Smt· tator lHajejfati£ opprimetur J GloriO: He tb3t will too bulily pry into Maje!ly fhail be opprdfed and dazled with Glory. And the other is, that b( that dwt!l£ in tb1ck Dark.11e[s, 2 Chron 6. 1. both implying the fame Impollibiliry of ftarcbing out 1be .illmighty to Perfeilion, as Job !peaks, Cbap. r r. 7· But though this comprehenfive Knowledge be impollible, yet God harh given us Hints and Traces of himfelf, by which ·we may difcover enough for ou r Adoration, · though
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