METAPHORS FRaM Goo. Book I. 'Vomen of the common and vulgar Sort, that you may undcrfland that the Princes who ought to be an hone(\ Example for others, took to themfdves at their Pkafure: any that they met and liked whatever they were, whether Kinfwomen, or fuch as were of Affinity to them, whether honejl or dijhonejl. Thefe Things were wickedly done, for here was a Neglect of Confanguinity, which the Law of Nature commands, Con– tempt of Parmts- and Superiors, and an Indulgence of Polygamy, or having many Wives, and ralh and caufclefs Divorces, &c. Exod. iv. r 6. !le jha/1/ie to tbee a Mouth, attd tbou Jhalt be to hiiil a Cod (we tranOate inflead of a Mouth, and infleacl of a Cod) the Chaldee renders it for a Prince or Caprain, that is, thou lhalt be his chirf Magitlrate, telling him what he /hall fay to the People. So God fpeaks to Mofes, Exod. vii. r. See I have made thee a God tmto Pha,-aoh, the Explication follows, Verfe 2. 'l'houjhalt [peak all tbat [ comma11d tbce, and Aaron, tby Brother, Jha!l [peak unto Pharaoh. Mofes is called a God becaufe of the Commiffion or Embaffy he had, to perform in thofe wonderful Works before Pharaoh. So Judges are, in the Hebrew, [called Gods,] Exod. xxi. 6. and xxii. 8, 9• 28. So r Sam. xxviii. I 3· that Spellrum or Apparition in the Likenefs of Samuel, is fo called. Pfal. Jxxxii. I. He j!idgeth among tbe Gods, that is, among the J uclges. See Verfe 6. I have faid )'C are Gods, from which Chrifl argues, Johll x. 34, 35, 36. that he was much more th~. Son of God. See Pfal. cxxxviii. 1, 4· and cxix. 46. I will[peak of thy 'I'ejlimony before .Kings and be not ajhamed: which Kings are elfewhere called Gods, &c. It is alfo attributed to IDOLS, Exod. xxiii. 24. Ifa. xxxvi. I 8. But it is by a jVfclo– npuy of the .ddjunll, by which the Opinioll of Men is put for the 'l'hiug itfelf, as Chap. iv. before-going. For Idols ate really Things of no Value, as Lev.-xix. 4· Pfal. xcvii. 7· Ifa. x. ro. and xix. 3· Yea, no Gods, 2 Chron. xiii. 9· (r Cor. viii. 4· an Idol is no– thing in the \¥ord) but they ate worlhipped by Idolaters as Gods, or at belt by them they pretend to worlhip God. Hence they are called Gods, with the Addition of an– other '¥orld, as E;·od. xx. 3· Strange Gods, Deut. v. 7· Jojh. xxiii. 16. Gods biftdes the Lord, Exod. xxii. 20. Molten Cods, Lev. xix. 14· Now Cods, Judg. v. 8. The Greek Name of God is E>to,, 'IHEOS, which JS metaphorically afcribed 10 the Devil, 2 Cor. iv. 4· 'Ihe God of tbis World bath blinded the Minds of them which belie~'C uot, &c. For as the true God adminiflers the Kingdom of Grace to fuch as believe in him, and is by them religiouOy worlhipped: So Satan infufes his Malignity into Unbelievers, Eph. ii. 2, 3· who obey his Will, Command, and Seduction. Upon which Erafmus in his Annotations fays thus, '!'be Devil is not really a God, but he is fo to them, who prefer him before Chrift, ju.ft as to covetous Men, their 111oney, or Mammon is a Cod, and to their Heirs their Luxury is a God, and (homo hornini Deus) a Man is a God to a Man, as the Proverb runs. And in his Paraphrafe-Whatfoever auy Pcrfon hearkens to, (obey or prefers) before or more than God, he makes that his God. This Name is alfo attributed to the Bel6•, Phi!. iii. I 9· Whofe Cod is their Belly, · that is, fuch as account their chief Good and Felicity to confift in the Satisfa<'lion of the Defires of the Flefh, and Profperity in this World, without fpffcring any Perfecu– tion for the Sake of Chrift. Whatfoever any Perfon puts the chiefeft Value upon, is tO him a God, if he flights the true God. In the New Teflament alfo the Name of Cod is attributed to Idols, Atls vii. 43· and xiv. 1 r. by a Metonymy, as was faid of the Name Elohim, by the Opinion of Men, as Gal. iv. 8. fL" ~"'" "'''~'"'(mephufei o1ttes theoi) qui Natura iiOil fiuzt Dii, who by Nature are not Gods, but by the depraved Imagination of Idolaters, 1Cor. viii. 5· AE-yop.!Voo ~"'• (legomenoi 'Iheoi) who are called Gods by idolatrous Men, but are not really Jo. And eo thefe that one and true God is oppofed, Verfe 6. So much for the Name of God. To which Metaphor fame refer when the Names of God, Cl'O'l~~ ( Elohm) 01101' (Jehovah) ~N (El) are added in the Room of an Epithet for Divine, chief, or moll: excellent. Vide Gram. Sacr. p. 58. feq. As to the Allions of God, the Word Creation Ni:l ( Bara) properly fignifies to make any Thing of nothing, which God alone can do. Bur metaphoriw/ly it is ttanflated to the other great Works of God, as Exod. xxxiv. 10. I will do Marvels, which were not created in the whole Earth, &c. that is, luch Wonders, and fo many, as never yet were done in the World, Numb. xvi. 30. lf the Lord will create a Creation, fo &he He· brew,
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