VEATIN MEMOPJAL LIERA.RY, Property of tW1NNIPEG FIZZ. I4V1717,,---.4 it 44:i,31,4 ,n14) 44. .341/ niti.;44.4 IYa AkiGilii3T 104
Hord' SOlLtGïYZee O R; E S S A Y S UPON SOME REMARKABLE NAMES AND TITLES O F JESUS CHRIST, OCCURRING IN The OLD TESTAMENT, and declarative of his efitehtial Dtv1NIT+ and gracious OrFICES in the Redemptionof Man: 'FO WHICH IS PRIEFIXED AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION Concerning the Doctrine of the TRINITY, as it appeared in the World, principally, before the Chriftian JEta. They that YNote thy NAME will poet their Trull in THiE. Pfalm ix. lo. My People SHALL know my NAME. Ifaiâh lii. 6. as Nec Veteris Tefiamenti circa Perfonam CHR IsTt vaciliet Auetoritas, dum Novi Tetiamcnti Manifettatione fulcitur: nec Novi Teltamenti intercepta fit Paellas, dom Radicibus Veteris TéRamenti ejufdem nit¢ur Ventas. Ex quo qui CHRISTI/NI, DEI Filium et Hominis, tantummode pra:fumunt Hominem, non et, DEUM, contra Teltamentum et Vetos et Novum faciunt, dum et Veteris et Novi Teihamenti Aodtoritatem Veritatemgi, prrumpunt." NOVAI. de Tin, C. sou:. L O N D O N: Printed by J. W. PASHAM, Black-Friars ; And Sold by EDWARD and CHARLES DILLY, in the Poultry; and by JAMES. MAI HEWS, in the Strar:d. 1176.
C O N T E N T S. I ntroduction Lord, or Jehovah, &c. God, or Alehim, &c. — Sabaoth —- — _ Shaddai.. — __ Jehovah our Righteousness Adonaij or Lord — Immanuel —- - Most High *** _ Wonderful Counsellor — Mighty God *— Everlasting Father Prince of Peace __, Messiah, or Christ — Jesus, or Saviour _ Redeemer _ _ Shiloh —. |Jj Page i 87 99 1*5 123 *3 * 140 *47 155 160 167 *75 182 190 *9? 207 218 229
C O N Tt; N T S. GLORY of the LORD NAME of the LORD WORD of the LORD ARM, &c. of the LORI] ANGEL -- ELECT - WISDOM PROPHET -- PRIEST KING - BRANCH STAR STRENGTH OF ISRAEL HUSBAND - LIGHT KEEPER CONCLUSION 237 247 257 267 28! 288 296 3oz 31ó 320 330 341 347 355 363 373 383 TABLE, (hewing the Harmony of the Old and New Teftaments, refpefting the DIVINITY of CHRIST 397 INTRODUCTION.
IÑTR.ODi; CTIONa the Apoftle Paul, like his bleffed Mather, went iok8 about doing Good, and preaching the Gofpel of the Kingdom of GOD; among other Places, he travelled to flthens, the then molt celebrated City for Wifdom, Arts and Science, in the 'World. Here he found an Altar with this remarkable Infription, To THE UNKNOWN Gon. The divine Providence feems to have intended, by this open Profeffion of .the moll in- telligent Men upon Earth, to evince the Truth of what the divine Spirit hath revealed, That the World by Wif- dom knew not GOD. The higheft Sagacity of Mortals could not afcend to the Knowledge of ,GOD : The tat- molt it could attain to, was to confefs him unknown. If, therefore, Man, by his own Faculties and Power, could not know GOD; the Knowledge of him to Man mutt have been communicated and derived. And it may be placed for a Poftulatum, that, upon the Fall of Man, a Revelation of his Reftoration to Favor, and a general Idea of the Means by which that Reftoration was to be accomplifhed, were immediately granted him ; and in fuch a Manner, as to comprehend and include every effential Article of Faith, and neceJffary Dottrine B of
C 2 of Salvation. Not that this Revelation was fo defiriteiy* given, as to need no farther Illustration; becaufe the whole patriarchal and legal (Economy, being only typi- cal, was to be underftood of better Things to come : But that thegrand ObjeEt of Worfhip, and the great Out- line of Redemption, were communicated to the dark- ened Understanding of fallen Man; that he might both know, to whom he flood indebted for his Recovery, and how that Recovery was to be esfectted. If this be not admitted; it must then be allowed, that the antedi- luvian and patriarchal Church, called in Scripture the Sons of God, were left in a melancholy State refpe&- ing their eternal Hopes; and that, as they knew nothing, and could know nothing, of GOD, by the Exercife of Faculties impaired and ruined by Sin, they confequently could not worship him, or conceive the Ufe of fome religious Inftitutions, which we are affured they corn- plied with as delivered from Heaven itfelf. But, as we find that they attended to feveral Ordinances, which were (as they believed) rendered facred by the immedi- ate Command of their Maker, and attended to them in Faith *; it follows, that, they knew the End and De- fign of thofe Ordinances, from fome Explanation given, of which the Sum or Epitome was contained in the alle- gorical Declarationof bruiting the Serpent's Head by Him who would become the Seed of the Woman. It will next follow, that, as GOD gave them a Revelation of him- felf, he was the Objeél of their Adoration, and the Ground on which their Faith mull rest for the Fulfil- ment of his Promifes. The Revelation, which GOD gave concerning himfelf, mutt have been by Names, Afcriptions, or Titles, expreffìve either of his own Na- ture, or of thofe Engagements which he had determined and covenanted to perform. Accordingly, we find fe- veral_ Diftin&ions and Epithets, applied to GOD from the Beginning of the World, in the Holy Scriptures. A Revelation likewife of their Import muit have been Hebr. xii, 4. By Faith Abel, &c. given
r 3 givenwith them, or they could not have been underftood. The Savages of Otaheité, or of NewZealand, who are en- tirely ignorant of every Language but their own, might as well comprehend the Names of GOD in Hebrew, as our firnt Parents or their Offspring, without force divine Induftion upon their Minds. And it feeds ab- ,furd, that the Deity fhould either have given himfelf Names without a Meaning; or, having given himfelf thofe Names with a precife Senfe annexed to them, fhould not likewife have afforded that Senfe and Mean- ing with them. This is certain, that as Man could ne- ver, from his own Wifdom, have known the Author of his Being ; fo it was far lefs poffible for him to defcribe Him by Epithets, truly charaSteriftic of his divine Ef- fence and Nature, and of certain Engagements which he could not even have imagined, unlefs they had been exprefslÿ declared. If Man could not conceive rightly concerning GOD; it is infinitely lefs probable, that he fhould fpeak rightly of him. Now, as the Knowledge of GOD is abfolutely ne- ceffary to the juft Adoration and Worfhip of him (for the Worfhip of fomething unknown is as much Idol- atry, as the Worfhip of fomethingfalfe); GOD appears to have given, in the Communications of Names and Titles, fuch a fufficient Knowledge refpeéting himfelf, as might afford to his People, in the earlieft as well as in the fubfequent Ages, a proper Notion of his Na- ture and Exiftence. Upon fuch Knowledge and Evi- dence, their Worfhip and Adoration would be a reafon- able Service ; and their Faith would rent upon a Foun- dation of Certainty and Truth. And as this Truth, refpe&ing its own Author and Effence, must be the SAMEyejlerday, to day, andfor ever ; fo the Idea, which true Believers then entertained of the Godhead, can- not be intrinfecally different from the Idea, which true Believers now entertain of him. For, otherwife, there mutt have been two contradb Cory Revelations inducing two oppofite Faiths , or, in other Words, GODmutt have feemed that Being at one Time which he is not at B z another;
4 another; to grant which, would deftroy all ReIigiort; and Hope, and the Bible, together. It follows then;, that, if the Doêtrine of the Trinity be a true DoEirine under the Chriftian Difpenfation, it was alfo a true Doc- trine under the Patriarchal and Legal Cconomy ; and that, if it be neceltary to Faith and Salvation at this Time, it bath been equally necefïáry to Faith and Sal- vation at all Times. That the Doctrine of the Trinity is neceffarÿ to Sal- vation, can not be refelred by any who believe the Bible ,to, be of divine Authority; and therefore (as it is unneceflary to prove here what bath been fo often and fo unanfwerabl.y proved by others) t this Pofition is taken for granted. If then this Knowledge of the divine Nature be ne- cefl'ary to Salvation, it muft have been revealed by that * Wifur juftly reafons, from the Wifdom given to the firft Man, in his State of Innocence, that the Myftery of the Trinity could not be unknown to him. " For, (lays that admirable Author) it io above all Things neceffary, for the Perfeltion ofthe human Nature, to be well acquainted with what it ought to know and believe con- cerning its GOD. And it may be juflly doubted, whether he does not worthip a GOD entirely unknown, nay whether he at all wor. (hips the true GOD, who does not know and worthip him, as fub- fitting in Three Perfons. He, who reprefents GOD tohimfelf in any other Light, reprefents not GOD to himfelf, but a Phantom and Idol ofhis own Brain. Epipbanius feems to have had this Argument in View, when he thus wrote of Adam: " He was no Idolater; for " he knew GOD, the FATHER, SoN, and HOLY SPIRIT. And 60 he was a Prophet, and knew that the FATHER Paid to the Sow, " Let us make Man." --It is abfurd, continues Witfsus,. to Cup- pole .Adam ignorant, concerning his Creator, of what GOD cities not Puffer his Pollerity to be ignorant of at this Time; and the ra- ther, linee GOD created Min to be the Herald of his being and Perfections in the new World. --Excellently to this Purpofe (peaks Bali? ofSeleucia: " Notice this Exprefon: Let us make Man. The " plural Wordhints at the'Perfons of the Godhead, and prefents'us " with the Knowledge of the Trinity. The KNOWLEDGE OF IT I therefore iS CO-KVAL WITH THE CREAT, ION« Nor fhould it " feem ftrange, that it wasafterwards inculcated; lince it is one of i0 thole Things, of which Mentionwas made at the very fir/1 Crea- sa /ion." Orson. Fred. I. t. c. z. § g, &c. t_ Vide, fpeciatim, WlrsiUM in Symb. Hoof. Difftet. VI. Nature
[ 5 Nature; for the Mode of GOD's Exi(lence is not an Obje& of Man's. Reafon, nor could poflïbly be known by him without Information. A Çlod of Earth might as foon emit Light from itfelf and become a Sun. The abfurd Opinions of the wifeft Heathens prove the Truth of this Affertion; for even the molt intelligent Plato (as Labiantius obferves) fomniaverat Deum, non cognove- rat,' " dreamed about GOD, but did not know him." And if this Doftrine of the Trinity mutt necefl'arily have been revealed, it mutt have been principally re- vealed in the divine Names; becaufe we find in the Old Teftament a peculiar Strefs laid upon them, and moth of the other Evidences of this great Truth arifing from or ultimately referring to them. But if this Truth, (viz. that there is a Perfonal Plurality in the divine Effence) be indeed revealed in thofe Names, which it is one great Defign of this Treatife to thew; then the Names were fitted and defigned to convey the Knowledge of it, and the Knowledge of it is contained in them. Not only the Nature and the Name of GOD were above the Inveítigation or Exprefüon of Man, which the wifeft Heathens have confeffed ; but the Rite alfo of Sacrifice, which was ufed by 14bel (if not by Adam himfelf) and approved by GOD, could not, for thofe very Reafons, have been an Invention merely human.t Lib. v, c. is. $ The excellent Witut, with great Probability, obferves, that the Skins of Beafts, put by GOD on our firft Parents, were thofe of facrífcedBeafts. He further obferves, that Sacrifice was a divine Inftitution, for the following Reafons: " tlt. Abel ojèred by Faith, s. e. he knew, that himfelf and his Sacrifice were acceptable to GOD, and in his Offering he looked by Faith to the future Offering of the Meab. But fach a Faith plainly frafuppofes the divine In- flitution ofSacrifices, and a REVELATION about their Signification. 2. Becaufe GOD gave Teftimony to the Sacrifices of the antient Pa- triarchs, whereby he declared they were acceptable to him. But, in the Matters of Religion, nothing pleafes him, but what himfelf has commanded. All Will-worfhip is condemned. Col. U. 23. 3. Be- caufe there was a Diftinftion between clean and unclean Animals before the Deluge, whichwas not fromNature, but from the mere good Pleafure of GOD, and has a particular Refpeft to Sacrifices." Qertm. Fad 1. iv. c. 7. 4, s, 6. SPANH. Hit. Eccles. V. c!'. p. 275. B 3 . Reafon,
E 6 1 Reafon, efpecially depraved and fallen Reafon, could never have fuggefled a Type or Allufion of this Kind to the grand Sacrifice, which a future Redeemer would make for Sin; if the divine Wifdom, in giving the Pro- rude, had not fettled this Inf}itution, partly to keep the Objets in View, and partly to exercife the Faith of the firlt Believers upon thofe Means, by which Redemption was to be accomplifhed. The Patriarchs, like our mo- dern Deifts, might have dreamed of forne unknown and therefore uncertain Mercy in the Almighty ; but they could never have imagined, without an exprefs and po- f tive Revelation, that the SON of GOD would expofe himfelf to every Evil, Pain, and Death, upon their Ac- count ; or that, by shedding the Blood of Beaffs, they 'hewed forth the LORD'S Death till he carne. Without this View, their Sacrifices (could they even have invent- ed them) would have been nugatory Ceremonies, and Services of filch unwarrantable Cruelty, as would have appeared to be open Violations of both Reafon and Na- ture. But GOD approved; and therefore, as nothing can be confonant to his divine Mind but what himfelf hath enjoined, thefe Immolations were in(tituted by him. . The very Heathens have univerfally entertained this Rite in all Ages, undoubtedly from an abufed Tradi- tion of their Fall, and from an Opinion that the Deity was only to be reconciled by the Effufion of Blood. They corrupted indeed the holy Emblem; but the Cor- ruption itfelf implies, that Sacrifice was an eftablifhed Principle of Religion among all Men, * and that without Jhedding of Blood there is no Remillion of Sins. Thefavage Inhabitants of Madagafcar ufe Sacrifices, when they would fupplicate the Deity in their Diftreffes. Upon which Mr. Ives, in his Travels through Perja,. obferves, that " He faw many Circumllances in the Madagafcarian Sacrifice, fo exactly refemb- " ling thofe which are mentioned in the Old Teftament as offeredup " by the Jews, that he could not turn his Thoughts back to the Ori- " gseal, without being fenfibly ftruck at the Exatinefsof the Copy." Ivas's V age. p. 16. This is a modern Teflimony. Celar furnifhes us with an ancient Example among the Gauls, concerning Sacrifice, when he conquered them, Coin. de Bell. Gall, 1. vi. c. 16. Without
E 7 } Without the Suppofition of a divine Authority for what was believed and done, what a poor Opinion mutt we entertain of the Faith and Pra&ice of the molt an- tient Patriarchs, fuch as Abel and Enoch for inftance ; ifwe fuppofe them ufing Inttítutions which they couldnot comprehend the Meaning of, or calling upon GOD by Names of various Forms and Sounds which they did not underftand, or which were not intended to give them a proper Intelligence of him ? If the feveral Words, which, in our Bible, are tranflated GOD and LORD (and there are feveral, different in Sound and Conftru&ion, which are fo tranflated) be merely fynoni- mous, and have no particular diftinét Senfe but what is common to each ; there would be many Texts in the Old Teftament full of unmeaning, if not ufelefs, Tau- tology. What are we to underftand,in that Cafe, by fuch Expreílions as thefe; Who is GODfave the LORD ? -1 he LORDheistheGOD And,backagain,GOD is theLORD= The LORDwholeName is the GODof JP' Would not this be playing upon Words, unbecomingeven a profane, much more the Diginity of a facred Penman, and utterly irreconcileable to every Idea ofadivine Revelation? Such quibbling upon Terms, or fuch a pompous Ufe of vague and arbitrary Names, might indeed be prac`tifed by the injudicious among the Heathen Sophists ; but, if we at- tentively, confider the whole Matter, we fhall find no fuch Condufi in the Deity, or in thofe who fpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghofl. But if thofe Words, rendered LORD and Gon, have, in the Original, a Signification and Import different from each other, however predicable both may beof eachdivine Perfon, fub diverfd 6x£Pn ; then the facred Penmen both underftood what they wrote refpefting each of thefe Names, and meant to convey intelligible Ideas of them to others. There was a peculiar diftincc Senfe to every Name; or one Name would have ferved the Purpofe of a thoufand. Nor can it be well explained, why JE- Amos v. 27. B 4 HOVAH
[ 8 I OVAH fhould not be called my or our JEHOVAH (and be joined with other Pronouns pofl'efive) as well as my or our ALEHIM ; but from a Reafon, that the Deity may bear fome particular Relation to us under the one Name, which he doth not bear to us under the other. If the Word JEHOVAH fignify limply, abfolutely, and abftraEt- edly, the DIVINE AND INCOMMUNICABLE ESSENCE, which cannot be appropriated by the Creatures, or divided into Parts, or exift but from itfelf; and if the WordALEHIM or ELoxIM (which is univerfally allowed to be plural) point out a Perfonality, or more Perfons than One, in that divine Effence, each of which may have particular En-` agements in our Behalf: It may then be conceived, that thefe Perfons in the ALEHIMmay have a Relation to us, refpettively and particularly, which they have not together, when confidered abfolutely as the ONE JEHO- VAH, or JExoVATI not in Covenant for that Behalf, Under the one Nantie, there is comprized a gracious Al . furance of Redemption and Mercy to fallen Man, which gives him a Title to claim an Intereft in the divine Per- fons : * Under the other Name, a Sinner can fee nothing but a fe f extent Effence of Holinefs and Juftice, from which he bath no Right to expe&t any thing but Ab- horrence and Ruin. Nor muff that wonderful Care be unnoticed, which hath been taken to prevent every Idea of Polytheifm, by afferting the Unity of the divine Eflence, in the Ufe of a Word which exprefsly implies a Plurality of Perlons; for the Name ALEHIM is not only joined 'to Verbs in the ungular Number; but it was exprefsly declared, when fubfequent Corruptions * With refpe4 to the Terms Perfn, Sub/anre, &c. applied to GOD, it may be obferved, that they are not to be underllood in a grofs or carnal Senfe. There is a radical Poverty in all Language, when it attempts to define any Thing concerning pure and intellec- tual Spirit, and efprciálly concerning GOD. 9nd thefe Words are nfed, to exprefs what is indeed very fuperior to the Defcription of all Wards, and is to be conceived in a higher Senfe (yet without So- phiftry or Subterfuge) above them. We ufe the Term Perin there- fore, not fo much to evince a Propriety of Expreifton, as to avoid Concealment of the Truth. So St. Auflin; Didum eß tres Perfanæ, ion rlt àlluddiceretur, lid ne taceretur. Ana. de Trin. 1. v. mad9
[ 9 made it neceffary, that JEHOVAH our ALEHIM is ONE JEHOVAH ;* which could not have become neceffary, if the Word ALEHIM conveyed one fingle and fimilar, Idea . with the Word JEHOVAH. We might here adduce other Proof of this Doctrine from various Paffages of the facred Writings, and thew, that it was the conftant Faith of the true Believers, as well under the Old Teftament, as under the New. But this hath been often and amply done already. It may fuffice to obferve, that the Dodrine of the Trinity is no novel Opinion, taken up with the Religion now called Chr/ian (as force have aífeéted to think); and that the principal Profeffors of it, fince Chrif, never confidered it in that Light. To fay nothing of Ignatius, uftin Martyr, and others, who from the Age of the Apoftles, and from the apoftolic aswell as prophetical Writings, proved and maintained this Tenet ; we may learn by Auguftine, Philaftrius, &c. that it was both efteemed as antient as the World, and that it was even reputed an YIerefy to think the contrary.-- Auguftine pofitively de- clares, that G6 the Subftance of what is now called the Chriftian Religion, was maintained by the antient Be- lievers, and exifted ab Initio Generis human, from the Beginning of human Nature, till Chrift himfelf appeared in the Flefh; when the true Religion, which was in Be- ing before, received the Name of Chriftianity." And foon after he adds, " Y faid, therefore, this, in our Time, is the Chriftian Religion ; not becaufe it did not exift in former Times, but becaufe in later it obtained the Name."$ GOD's People were Chriftians even in the Time of the Patriarchs, and were fo deno- minated by GOD himfelf ; Touch not my Chrißians, or Deut. vi. 4. Photius in his Bibliotheca mentions an anonymous Chriftian Wri- ter, who, a little before his Time, had written XV Books for the exprefs Purpofe of proving,- that the ancient Heathens of moll Na- tions had obtained a, corrupt Tradition of many great Principles of the true Religion, and in particular of the Doánne of the Tri- pity. Cod. CLXX. 4 Lib. i i. c. r3. Retfatlionumt (what
to 7 (what is the fame) mine anointed Ones, and do my Bro. phets no Harm.* In Auftin's 49th Epiftle, infcribed, to Deogratias, he fays, " Although formerly, by Names and Signs [or ceremonial Inftitutionsl different from, thofe in prefent Tile, at firft more obfcure, and after- wards more explicit, and by fewer in earlier Times than in the later ; yet it was but one and the fame true Religion, which was declared and obferved." And, in his great Work De Civitate Dei, he expreffes the fame Opinion, and believes that true Worfhippers of GOD and Idolaters were never out of Being, finte Men had any Exiftence in the World.-j- llponius, an antient Chrif- tian Writer, who lived about the Year 68o,1 in his 6th Book upon the Canticles, concurs with Anilin in Opinion, that what was revealed by Types and Shadows in the Old Teftament, was but the fame Thing which was more openly expreffed in the New; and that the Doetrine of the Trinity, which glimmered under the Law, blazed forth, like the meridian Sun, under the Gofpel. 6° For inftance, (fays he) GOD fays by Mofes in the Book of Genefis ; In the BEGINNING, Gon created the Heavens and the Earth; and then juft afterwards, The SPIRIT moved upon the Face of the Waters. Here are three Perfons in one Power; the BEGINNING, Goo, and the SPIRIT: He, who made; He, in or by whom all was made; He, who gave Life to what was made. "§ Some of the old Jewifh Expofitors tranflate Beginning by Wifdom, and underftand by it, as Aponius does, a Perfon in the Godhead.11 Philafirius (Bifhop of Brixia in Italy, andCotemporary with ilmbroftus Mediolanenfis), whom Auftin mentions in his Traci de H.erefibus, fays, " That the Trinity of Chriftianity was afferted ab Ori- gine Mundi, from the Foundation of the World, and the Truth of Religion taught, ubique, every where [by * Pfalm cv. s. t De Ci . Dei. c. x. CAVE S. E. Hi/i. Liter. § LA BIGNE Biblipth. Patr. (Min.) Tom. iv. CHRIST 2Úh0 it the BEGINNING, COI. I. 18. Rev. I. 8. XXI. 6, XXii. 13. the
rt J the Faithful] without Intermilon."* He farther adds, " To fay that Chriltians are of later and potterior Ex- iftence than yews and Pagans, is an Herefy ; for, Pays he, from Adam even to Mofes, for the Space of 37oo Years, (nearly fo according to the 7ewifh Chronology but, according to Dr. Blair, who follows Abp. Ufher, it was about 24.33 Years] all the Jun, worthipping GOD and GOD, LORD and LORD; (which,with'Tertullian,t he confiders as two diftinft Perfons) and alto the HOLY SPIRIT, truly declared the Trinity. "$ Nor have thefe Authors proceeded rathly in this Opinion, without Rea - fon or without Scripture (fufficient Arguments from both being every where urged in their Writings) : For, as there is but one Ifrael, confining of thofe only who are Ifraelites indeed; fo there is but one Faitb and one LORD, by whomMen can bejuftified. Thefirft of the Redeemed was faved in the fame Spirit of Faith, in which the lath of that happy Number !hall be an Inheritor of Glory. Ì'ertallian faid juttly, with regard to Religion, Id verius, quadprias ; id prius, quod ab Initio : " The more anti- " ent, the more true ; and what was from the Begin- " ning, muff be the more antient." The Plan of Re- demption is uniform, confiftent, and eternal; neither fubje& to the Folly, nor dependent upon the Caprice, ofhuman Nature; but ordered in all things by the Wif- dom of GOD, andfure in all Things by the Power of GOD, Thus even the Revelation of Chriflianity, is in- deed nearly, if not quite, as old as the Creation. * The Platonifis (lays the learned T'heoph. Gale) fpeak much of " a trinity. Whatever they meant by it, it Teems moll certain to " ° me, that this'I'radition was originally no other than force corrupt " broken Derivation from the Scripture-relation of GOD: Which " indeed Plato more than hints, in Paying, 'That they received itfrom the ANTIENTS, who were better and nearer the Gods than they " themfelves. Who thefe llntients were, who lived fo near the Gods, " if not the Patriarchs and flntient feove, 1 cannot conceive." Cóttrt of the Gent. Vol. t. 1. i. p. 10. -f Ts NT. de 'Trinitate. $ LABtcNE Bibl. Patr. Tom. iv. in tit. Philaltr. SeealtoEUSEE. de Dem. Evang. 1. s. c. 5. and Hitt. Eccles. 1. t. C. 4.. SANDFOND e defienf<Chrfti. 1. t. §17 apedGs 'E. V. `á. 1. á i, P. 153. Ut,
f 12 7 But, over and above the Evidences arifing from the plain Senfe and Etymology of the divine Names, it is well known that the antient Chaldee 'Jews, as well as the Cabalifts, afferted the DoEtrine of a Trinity in the di- vine Effence. They expreffed their Idea of it by this, particular Type; where the three Jods denote JAR, JAR, JAR, or that each of the three Perfons (according to our Athéna- fan Creed) is by himfelf JAR or LOAD ; the Point is Kametz, as common to each, implies the divine Na- ture in which the three Perlons equally exifted ; and the Circle, inclofing all, was intended to exhibit the pèrfea Unity, Eternity, and Conjunçîiost, of the whole Trinity in its Co-exiftence, Operations, and Attri- butes. The learned Kircher is of Opinion, for which he gives many Reafons, that the antient Jews and the later Cabalifts derived their Knowledge of the Tri- nity, and confequently the Senfe and Import of the divine Names which contain it, by a continued Tra- dition from the farft Patriarchs; and he cites the Jet - zirah (a Book which the Jews afcribe to Abraham him- felf; t but which, however that be, is confidered of extreme Antiquity) where the farft Perfon or Hypoftafis is defcribed as nro Kather, the Crown, or the admirable and profound Intelligence; the fecond Perfon, non Chochma, Wifdom, or the Intelligence illuminating the Creation, and the fecond Glory; and the third Perlon, rt]'z, Binab, or the fanaifying Intelligence, the Worker * GYRALD. ele Djs Gent. Synt. I. GALATIN. de fire. Cath. Per. 1. ii. c. Io. KIRCIiER. Otel. Panrph. I. iv. Hierogram. 3. & I. v. c. 3. f HYDE Rel. Yet. Perf. ç. z. f
r 13 of Faith, and the Father of it, becaufe from his effica- pious Agency it wholly proceeds.* The moll learned Divines and Expofitors among the Jews, who preceded the Advent of yefus Chrift, plain- ly indicated their Knowledge of this myfterious Truth, and exprefï'ed it nearly in the fame Terms with us. They believed, taught and adored three primordial Ex- ifiences in, the Godhead, which they called fometimes rnrrr Middoth, or Properties, and fometimes Yn '» Se- phiroth, or Numeration.- The later Jews, who are only Deifts, with to refift this Evidence, by faying, that thefe Sephiroth were only meant for Attributes; but their Attempts have been very lame, and they are par- ticularlypuzzled to explain away the above Cabaliftical Scheme, which was invented for the very Purpofe of Obelifc. Pamph. 1. v. c. 3.Exaftly agreeable to which is that antient lewifh Prayer, or Anthem, called Hofannah rahba, or Thegreat Hofannab, publicly Tung on the lait Day of the Feaft of Tabernacles: " For thy Sake, O our CREATOR, Hofannab. For thy Sake, O our " REDEEMER, Hofannah. For thy Sake, O our SEEKER, Hofannah." As if they befeeched the Bleffed Trinity (lays Bp.'Patrick, on Levit. xxiii. 40.) to fave them, and fend them Help.-See JENNINGS's 7ewifh 4ntiquities, Vol. ii. p. 23i. It is alto very remarkable, that the great Benediaion, which was pronounced, under the Law, by llaron and his Sons, was prefcribed in this particular Form. JEHO- VAH biefs thee, and keep thee: JEHOVAH make his FaceThine upon thee, and 6egracious unto thee: JEHOVA H lift up his Countenance upon thee, andgive thee Peace. Upon which it has been obferved, that " Pa. " rallel to this [treble RepetitionofJEHOVAH] is the Form ofChrif- " tian Baptifm; wherein the three perfonal Terms of FATHER, " SON, and HOLY GHOST, are not reprefented as fo many differ- " ent Names, but as one Name : The one divine Nature of GOD " being no more divided by thefe three, than by the fingle Name " JEHOVAH thrice repeated. If the three Articles ofthis Benedic- " tion be attentively confidered, their Contents will be foundto " agree refpeaively to the three Perlons taken in the ufual Order of " the FATHER, the Sox, and the HOLY GHOST. The FATHER IS " the Author of Biding and Prefer.vation. Grace and Illumination " are from the SON, by whom we have the Light of the Knowledge " of the Glory of GOD, in the Face of yefus Chrift. Peace is the " Gift of the SPIRIT, whore Name is the Comforter, and whole firft " and beh Fruit is the Work of Peace." See that excellent Traa, entitled, The Catholic Dottrine of a 2'rinity, by the Rev. Mr. lanes, of Pluckiey, in Kent. p. 61. 3d. Edit. ibid. 1. y. c. 3. SUIDAS in áywt. expretling
[ 14 ) expreffing the three Hypoftafes in one Lf fence. Nor have they better Succefs in averting the Force of fome of their moft efteemed Comments upon the facred Writings, which declare the farne,Doétrine. Thus R. Simeon, and the famous 7onaihan, treating upon the Trifagion, or thrice Holy, in the 6th Chapter of Ifaiah, fay, That the firft Holy implied the FATHER, the fe- cund Holy the SON, and the third Holy the HOLY GHOST.* And it was almoft an Adage amongft them, That H Aleph by S Beth (or zH the Father by n1 the Son) created the World;t which exactly correfponds with what the Apoftle fays, that GOD createdall Things by JESUS CHRIST. It is alfo remarkable, that the Jews before Chrift had a Title for the Godhead confifting of twelve Letters, which Maimonides, the moft learned of all their Writers, owns to have been a compounded Name, or Name (as was common among the Rabbins) compofed of the ini- tial Letters of other Names. Galatinus, from R. Hak- kadofh (who lived about A. D. 150, or rather from Por- chetus Salvaticus, or Raymundus Martini), believes that thefe twelve Letters were vii s nr1 lz art, i. e. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Name, however, of twelve Letters was ufed by the antient yews inftead of the Name JEHOVAH, which they termed Shemhamphorafh, the expounded Name, or Name which muff be expounded by other Names to be underftood, and which they imagined unlawful to be uttered. The Rabbins fence Chrijb have adopted the Ufe of the Word Adonai for the fame Pur- pofe ; which countenances the Sufpicion, that there was fomething in the former Title contraditttory to their pre- fent Opinions.§ * GALAT. de drean. &c. 1. II. c. I. See alfo the Extra& of a Catechifm amongft the antient Jews by vac. flltingius, cited by Wit//us, ((Econ. Feed. 1. iv. c. q. § 5.ÿ which exprefsly teaches ref- , peeling the Godhead, that " THREE SPIRITS are united to ONE." f KiacH. Oedip. Synt. 11. C. 7. Obel Pampb. 1. iii. c. 9. Eph. iii. 9. § GALAT. I. II. C. II. SPANH. Blench. ContrezJ. cum 7udieis. c. v. PococK. Not. Mifc, in Maim. Port. Mos, p. 319. An
f 15 An antient Rabbi, in defcanting uponDeut. vi. . Hear,' Ò Ifrael, the LORD our GOD is one LORD [`1ít2á r-n o1]'rt5N rnn 5At111" ÿí tU] urges that C6 The firft JEHOVAx is GOD the Father ; the fecond Name 1,17152í (our ALEKIMI is GOD the Son; for fo he is called by the Prophet, IMMANUEL, GODwith us; the third Word JEHOVAH IS GOD the Holy GhoJt: And the fourth Word'irná is e. ONE, is to thew the Unity of Effence in this Plurality of Perfons*. Many of the Cabalifts ufed the fame Names of Father, Son, and Spirit, for the three Hypoftafes, declaring at the fame Time, that the Doc- trine of the Fn-no, or Perfons in Trinity, by no Means oppofed thatof the-Efience in Unity. t Now, if this Doctrine of the Trinity was anArticle of Faith with the antient Believers (as perhaps may be fairly concluded from thefe Premifes); it mutt have been through a direct Revelation at firft, and afterwards (before the Ufe ofWriting) through a continuedTradi- tion to their Defcendants, by the Channel of the primitive and once univerfal Language. $ And if that Language alone expreffed, not by Words of human Invention but of divine Intuition, the Nature and Exiftence of the Deity it may naturally follow, that, when Men for their Profanenefs were judicially deprived of it, they could not pronounce their right Apprehenfions of the Godhead (even fuppofing, they poffefï'ed any) but by wrong Terms of theirown Invention, and fo led their-Succeffors into wide Miftakes concerning it. But, however, the very Corruption of this Doctrine, among the molt antient Heathens, proves, as forcibly as the Corruption of a Truth can prove the prior Exift- ence of it, that it is fo far from being a Novelty, or the Illufion of fome fuperftitious Brains in recent Ages, that it prevailed even in the antediluvian World.For, if the Doctrine was unknown before the Flood, it could s Ross's IlavvEßE,a. p. 168. Edit. 3. Gaor. de ver. Rel. Chr. 1. v. C. 21. t SELDEN. Prolegom. de Diis Syrir. C. 2.. not
hot have &en corrupted afterwards by Ham (of whorii ire (hall fpeak prefently), fince we find no new Revela- tion of it conceded to his Father, and there certainly couldTiot have been any made toHimfelf. Befides, if the Unity of the Godhead (or that the plural Word Alehíni or Elohim * meant but one fingle Perlon in the divine Effence) had comprized the whole Knowledge of Adam' and the firff Believers concerning this important Point ; the Notion of a Trinity would not have been an Abufé or Corruption of a Term exprefling Unity, but an abfo- lute Denial and Perverjion of it. The Senfe muff have been wholly changed, and altered from the original Ideas The Enemies of this DoEfrine would do fomething, if they could prove, that this Word, in its plural Form, was never intended to exprefs more thanfingle, undiffin guifhed, Effence. But, admitting the Point to have been revealed to the firff Believers, and to have been inculcated by them upon their Succefiors ; we may ea- lily guefs, how the depraved Underffanding of Man might pervert it to Polytheifm, and how Superffition could abufe a DoEtrine, which it was by no Means able to invent. An ill-conceived Opinion, refpeEfing a Plu- rality in the one divine Effence, might indeed Elide into the Notion of a Plurality of Gods. But if it had been underftood from the Beginning, that there was only one infinite Mind, or Mode of Exiftence, in the Deity, and that all the Titles and CharaEters given it imported no more the very Reafon and common Senfe of Man- kind muff have exploded the firft Principles of Idolatry, ,which are fo entirely repugnant-to that Reafon and com- mon Senfe, and laughed them out of the World. " The yews would perfuade us not to confider this Word as a " plural Noun, but on fome particular Occafions. Whoever will " be at the Pains to examine their Reafoning, will find it to be very " childifh and inconfittent, wholly owing to their Hatred againft " the Divinity of 7ejus Chrifi, and the Notion of a Trinity. But " when theyew is become a Cbri/lian, and the StumblingBlock of " the Crofs removed out of his Way, he can allow the Name Ele- " him to beplural as readily as other Men." See The Catholic Doc- trine of a ?Trinity, p. 51. 3d. Edit. It
17 1 It fray alfo be remarked, that Chrifi and his Apóftles conftantly urged the Authority of the Old Teftament iti Support of their Miflion and Doarines : And, that the Bereans are particularly extolled for their diligent In- veftigation of 'the Scriptures (Which then Were Mofes and the Prophets), as the proper Teft of the Gofpel preached to them. But if the Doétritte of a Trinity had been underftood not to have been revealed in thofe Scriptures ; the Maintenance of fuch a Notión muff have appeared to them as very extraordinary and very unaccountable. The direct Propagation of fo grand d Tenet relative to the Nature and Exiftence of GODi if that Tenet had been of new or of late Deduétioni would certainly have met with particular Notice and Oppofition from the Scribes, Priefts, Pharifees, or fome other JewifhLiterati. But we do not find the leaft Objec- - tion made to the Gofpel upon this Account in the Apof- tle's Days, nor for fome Time afterwards fromwhence there is the ftrongeft Reafon to conclude (were we even deftitute ofmore pofitive Evidence), that this Doe.; trine was of public Notoriety and generally entertained by the Jews, antecedent to th:. Marlifeftation of the Mef- flab. The fame Argument will alto hold againft the In troduaion of fo remarkable a Dogma in any particular Age of the World. For, if it had not been underftood by the Church of GOD from the Beginning, it rnuft have been a Novelty whenever it was revealed afterwards; and if a Novelty, then (to fay the leaft) a mere idle Spe- culation; becaufe if Men had been faved without the Knowledge of fo grand a Truth in any former Pe- riod, there can be no Reafon given, why they fhould not be equally faved without it in any fubfequent one. But as there can be noLife eternal without the properKnow- ledge of GOD and of JEsus CHRIST whom be bathPent: So this Knowledge is only attainable by divine Revelati- on, throughwhich we are led to the Beliefof theTrinity. As the DoE nine of the Trinity then is of the utmoft. Confequence to the whole of Chriftianity, and as the chief Scope of the fubfequent Drays is infeparably cot- C netted
[ Is j neFted with it; it feems no ufelefs Labour, nor idle Re- fearch, to inveiligate thefe Corruptions of the original Revelation, and to trace the impure Stream, through many a winding Channel, down from its Fountain Head. And though there undoubtedly are many palpable Ab- furdities in the Heathen Theology; yet (as the learned Bp. Stillingfieet has juítly remarked), " When we have a C6 greater Light in our Hands of divine Revelation [meaning the written Word], we may in this Dun- " geon find out many excellent Remainders of the antient « TRADITION, though miferably corrupted" and a- bufed.* Nor can it be an unpleafing Engagement, for a Mind athirtt for Truth, to purfue its narrow Tra& through Ages now remote, and to mark its antient Pro- grefs in Times almoít unknown. The Inducement is the more impelling, fince able Men, who have gone be- fore us, have not only cleared but enlightened our Path through the intricate Mazes of the Pagan Mythology, and even thortened the Way to this important Know- ledge. t MAN no fooner fell from GOD, than he became vain in his Imaginations, and hisfoolifh Heart was darkened. ' Orig. Sac-. 1. i. c. 2. § 7. f Though the Author differs in Sentiment from a learned and in- genious Writer, who afferts that the ancient Heathens had never any Conception ofan intelle8ual, but only ofa phyftcal, Trinity, and that to fuppof the contrary, would be only " exalting the prophane Ab- " furdities of Heathenifm;" yet he perfe&ly agrees with him in the following Extraft. " It is granted, that, upon the Rife and Pro- " grefs of Idolatry, themo) ancient Heathens carried off manyfutlime 0 Myfieries of the true Religion, and purloined more in after Ages " from the People of Gon ; yet, when they were in ,PoJon of them, " they mixed them up with their own Atheiftical Principles, then " ftrained away the purer Part of the Mixture, and let it run to wake: So that, if we now Peek it again from them, there is little " to be found but their own filthy Sediments inftead of it. And if fe in fcattered Fragments, borrowed from the Hebrews, there Ihould, " be found tome dark Notices of the TRUE Gon; yet, after all, we " are not to form our Sentiments from the Heathen Theology, but " ° to reform and correft that by the Chriftian." See yones's Anfwer to " EAày on Spirit." p. zgo. ad. Edit. . Confequently
[ =9 1 Cdnfequently in the firft Ages of the World, as well as in the prefent, none could know GOD, but thofe to whom He made himfelf known, and to whomHe im- parted the Light of Life. It cannot therefore be fur- prifing, that, being left of GOD to the Blindnefs and Folly of his own Mind, he thould corrupt the original Ideas of Religion and Truth, and begin thofe.Superfti-, tions and Idolatries, which fucceffive Generations carried. on and eftablifhed throughout the World. Accord-, ingly, fo early as the Time of Enós, the great Defe Lion,. from the right Object of Worship revealed to the firft Patriarch, is thought by many to have commenced ; and that the Text in Gen. iv. 26. rendered, Then BEGAN Men TO CALL UPON the Name of the LORD, might more juftly be tranflated, Then Men PROFANED in calling upon the Name of JEHOVAH ; as the fame Word is conftrued in Lev. xix. s a. and in other Places. So that, accord- ing to Selden's Opinion, which he confirms by the Ara- bic and other Verfions of the Text, it is as if Mofes had faid, " Thenbegan Men to depart from the right Wor- " fhip of the true GOD, and to attribute his effential `° Perfeftions to the heavenly Bodies, . his Creatures."* And indeed, nobody can doubt that Believers, fuch as Abel and Seth, for inftance, called upon or worshipped JE- HOVAH long BEFORE. that Period (which was about 240 Years after theCreation) fence Invocation isoftheEfï'ence ofFaith, and, without which, Faith'itfelfcould not pof flbly exift. It has been obferved by many, that all the an- tient Jews, and fome of the molt learned Chriftians, con- cur in expounding this Paffage, as giving an Hint of the firft Rife and Profefíìon of the. Zabaiffic Idolatry, which conffted in perverting or profaning the peculiar Names of the Deity, and in;afcribing to the Powersof Nature, to the Hoff ofYHeaven, and tofecond Caufes, what only per- tained to the Authorof Nature and to the firft. -f- St. Jerom deduces the Originof Idolatry from a íäll higher Source, De Diis Syris Prol. C. 3.' KiaCH. Obel. Pamyh. 1. iii. C. 13. SPAN r6M. Hifl. Eccles. Yet. refl. p. 279. Ros. Thai in 55n. Ant. Univ. ,Hill. Vol. i. B. i, Note R. C 2 and
[ 20 ] and traces it up to Cain. He infifts, that the City, which is faid to have been built by that Apoftate, and to have been called after the Name of his Son, is to be under- flood in a mylticai Senfe; and that it means the fpiri- tual Sodom and Egypt of the unbelieving and idolatrous World. * And that as to Cain's dwelling in the Land of Nod, the Scripture, rightly tranflated, does not mean his Refidence in a Country ofthat Name; but that he was(ac- cording to theCurfe) a Fugitive and aVagabond upon the Earth. The WordNodfgnifiesfucîuating and unfettled;t and the whole Verfe might be thus rendered, Cain went out from the Faceof JEriov (i. e. as force underftand it, left off all Profeli'ion of the true Religion] and dwelt in an unfettled Land [an Hebraifm for no Settlement at all] on the Eaft of [or before] Eden. The next Thing faid of him is, that be built a City. The Father juft menti- oned well obferves, that Herefy, on Account of the Multitude of its deceiving Advocates, is frequently cal- led a City, and an exulting City too, through its Arro- gance and Pride. R. M. Nachman has made a like Remark, that Idolatry (which is the vileft Species of Herefy) has one of its Names from its Pride and Pre- fumption. And, again, yerom obferves, that there are two principal Cities in the World ; Babylon and 7erufa- lem : Babylon is compofed of thofe evil ones, who per- fecute the Faithful ; and Jerufalem is Anima elet7a, the cleft Soul. § The former are of the City which Cain built ; ¶ the latter belongs to aCity which bath Founda- tions, whofe Builder and Maker is GOD; even to that New yerufalem, which is from above, and is the Mother of all the Redeemed. The Sin of Cain is thought to have confifted in thefe three things : His Unbelief or Denial of the bkfled Seed and Saviour, his Idolatry, See Ezek. xvi. ¢6-5o. I- FL !RON. *4. in Genes. Tom. i. et Epi/f. xvii. adMareellam. j Ibid. Comment. in Ifaiah. xxii. z. W POCOCx. Not. Mj. in Maim. Port, Mal. p. 166. ; Com. in Pfalm: LV. ¡ Jude u. and
[ 2i l and his Corruption of the divine Inflitution of Sacri- fice.* And indeed it is not improbable, that Cain, if he was not the firft Pagan himfelf (though Bp. Cum- berland, t upon the Authority of the Phoenician Hif- tory, feems to think he was) laid the Foundation of the fubfequent Herefies, in offering the ProduEts of Na- ture, railed by his own Culture, inftead of a Sacrifice for Sin, or a Memorial of his Dependence upon the great Propitiation which íhould come into the World. We have remarked, that the Inftitution of this Rite feems not obfcurely hinted in the Covering ofSkins (fuppofed of facrificed Beafts) which GOD put upon and cloathed our firft Parents with. If GOD cloathed them, they were fheltered from the Vengeance due to their Sins, and from the Wrath to come. However, 7ofephus is of Opinion, that Cain's immediate Defcendants fwerved from all Goodnefs and Truthwith their Father : § And it is more than probable (becaufe it is ufually the Cafe) that this Corruption of Manners was but the natural Effeft and Confequence of a prior Corruption of Prin- ciples. Tertullian Rates, from the (apocryphal) Book of Enoch, that, in the Time of that Favourite of Hea- ven, the Apoftacy from the true Religion had defcend- ed fo low as to the Petting up of Idols ; and that he foretold all the Abominations which fucceeded, in ef- teeming the Elements and all the Subftances found in the Air, in the Sea, and upon Earth, as Objefts of Worfhip, inftead of the LORD H. Enoch, as Selden ob- ferves, was tranflated about feven hundred Years before the Flood ; If or about eight hundred and fixty Years after the Apoftacy ofCain and Murder of Abel. Abp. J/her feems to be of the fame Opinion, and fays, that ff in the Time of Enoch the Worfhip of GOD wás SPANH. FIi(I. Eccles. Y. P. 279. } COMB. Sant-h. p. 222, 236. Ì Gen. iii. 21. § Ant. 7ud. 1, i. c. z. TERTUL. C. iv. de Idol. init. &c. Q Proleg% de cult. extran. prionord. C. 3. C 3 wretchedly
AMP [ 22 l wretchedly corrupted by the Race of Gain"* Nor did this fad Corruption reft with the Defcendants of Cain; for we find, that the Declenfion fromTruth fpread wider and wider among all Men. At length, they, who (as it is juttly fuppofed) were called the Sons of GOD from their Profeffion of the true Religion, became infeEted with the prevalent Corruptions of the Age, by their In- termarriages with the Daughters of Men, or the Profef- fors of Idolatry. Such Kinds of Marriages (as an ex- cellent Author well obferves) were always followed by a Corruption of Religion and Manners. ± Thus, in a íhort Time from this unequal Intercoúrfe, it appears, that GOD faw the Wickednefs of Man was great in the Earth; that the Earth was corrupt before GOD, andfilled with Violence; and that all Flefh had corrupted his Way upon the Earth. § Yet there was, even then, a Remnant which fhould befaved. At that Time, and indeed at all Times, the true Religion feems to have been like a Spark of Fire in the Ocean; ever furrouiided by Cor- ruption and Infidelity, never totally extinguifhed or de- itroyed. The ancient faithful Line is carefully record- ed in Scripture; and it was decreed, that every Mem- ber of it fhould be taken from the Evil, and pafs out of the World in the ordinary Courfe of Nature, before the Flood íhould drown the Multitude of the Ungodly. .Methufelah and Lamech, Noah's next Progenitors, are thought by Chronologers to have yielded up their Spi- rits to GOD; the former only a few Months at the molt, and the latter about five Years, before the-Deluge. In this refpect, there feems a near Refemblance (as Chrift in- deed hath foretold there iball be) between this grand Event and the final Difïolution ofall Things. The cho- fen Seed, whofe Work was done, were fafely gathered in before the Storm ; and the chafen Seed, who were yet fo carry on the Defigns of Providence, were wonderful- USHER'S llnnalJ. W1T811 AexawAon. Ç. iii. 9 9. z Cor. vi. x¢. Neh. xiii. z6. JJ Gen, vi. 5, a 1, az. ly
23 ly fecured and' preferved. So, hereafter, the laff of GOD's Ele& fhall be -happiily received to Glory, either through Death, or a momentary Tranfmutation from Corruptibility and Sin ; before the Almighty will dif folve the prefent Harmony of the Elements, fuffer them to rufh into their primitive Confufion, or commit the polluted World to an all-devouring Flame. Noah was the only Exception to the general Depravity of Senti- ment and Praftice, which had covered the Earth with a worfe Deluge than that of Water ; and undoubtedly, as the great Preacher of Righteoufnefs, he handed down the true Religion to the fucceeding Generation. But GOD permitted, for fome wife Ends beft known to Himfelf, that the falle Religion fhould alfo find an Ad- vocate in one of Noah's immediate Offspring, who mutt have derived his Acquaintance with it from what he had feen before the Flood, in his common Intercourfe with Mankind. So true is it, as a good Man often obferved, that " Grace does not run in the Blood ;" or, as fr'er- tullian remarked in his Time, Fiunt, non nafcuntur Chrif- tiani, People are not born Chriftians, or Believers, but made fuch. This Initrumentof Evil was Ham or Cham. He was a fhamelefs, undutiful Son, and therefore a fit Subje t for Satan to work upon in his great Bùfinefs of pervert- ing the World. Every Body knows, that, for his Im- pudence and his Wickednefs, he received (and doubt- lefs by the Ordinance of GOD) the prophetic Male- dit`tion of his Father: And this, however lightly he thought of the Matter, feems to have entailed both tem- poral Dereli6tion and eternal Wretchednefs upon him. Ham is fuppofed to have planted hmfelf in Elyria or (as Latlantius * rather fuppofes) in llrabia; and it is be- * De orig. error. L. is. e. 13. It is óbfervable, that mofe of the Terms, or Titles, ufed in Idolatry, came from Chaldea and other oriental Parts into Egypt and Greece. From this Circumftance it is na- tural to conclude, that Idolatry, particularly that Species of it ítyled Zabarfm, originated at 1,Ir, or the Regions abounding with Bitumen and Fire, adjacent to Bahylon,andthat the trueReligion wascorrupted there. BRYANT'S Anal. Ant. Myth. Vol. r. p. 208. lieved
[ 24 ] lieved that, from him and his Pofterity, many of the neighbouring Nations received both Idolatry and Inha, bitants at once. It is the lefs improbable, becaùfe there feems a pretty near Agreement in the firft Principles of all the falfe Religions; and filch an Agreement, as proves them to huye been joint and mutual Corruptions of the true one. If he and his Offspring (as Spanheim * fup- poles) revived the Herefies and pernicious Errors of Cain ; it is no Wonder, that the farther Apoftacies, which thefe produced, (Mould retain fome Features analogous to the Parent - Stock. Ham had four Sons, who became the Fleads of fo many Nations, which feat- tered themfelves over a -vaft Extent of Country, laying the Foundations of feveral mighty Kingdoms. St. Auftin thinks, and with fome Probability confidering the plural Termination of their 1-lebrew Names, that we are not to look upon them (at leaf} upon the Sons of Miz- raim) as mere Individuals, but as bodies of Men and refpe&ive People.t There are many Doubts refpe&ing the Name or Per. fon of Ham, but none concerning his DefeEtion from the true Religion. He is fuppofed by Kircher to have been the FIRST Zoroafter .(for many of different Countries Clore this Title); which Name he derives from three Chaldee Words, fignifying, " The Idol-maker of the hidden Fire ;" though Tome think the Title or Surname (for it evidently appears to be no other) means, limply, " The Fire-Worfhipper." Others again have a yet dif- ferent Etymology, J and fuppofe he was, fo named from the Sun; which he taught to be the Qbje& of Worfhip, and which was named Zor- after. For Support of his Opinion, Kircher cites llbeneph the Jew, who wrote an Hiftory of .gyp, in Arabic, and who afferts, That Cham or Ham, the Son of Noah, firft inftituted the Worfhip of Idols [after the flood], and introduced the magical Arts !' Hi/1. Eccles. Y.2". p. 29!. -- De Civitate Dei. 1. xvi. C. 3. Mr. BRyANT's Anal. Ant. Myth. Vo1. 11. p. It ;. into
allisonlibrary.regent-college.eduRkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=