thing else but looking to and trusting in the name of God for the salvation of their souls. And this same superstition also has crept into Christendom: where many continually boast of, rub with their fingers, fix to their bodies, and carry about with them, these four letters; not at all regarding whether they themselves be godly or ungodly. Like the Magi, who pretend and presume that they can do great wonders with certain letters and characters.

But we, as becometh Christians, ought to know this, that without the godliness which accompanies faith, all things are superstitious and damnable: so that neither Christ, nor God, will be of any saving benefit to any one, unless they be held by faith. But every name of God, yea, every word of God, is of almighty power unto the salvation both of soul and body, if it be possessed in the reverence of faith. It is not the name of God, therefore, but faith in the name of God, that does all things nor is one name more efficacious than another. For if the four-lettered name of God only has all this virtue and efficacy, the church acts foolishly, baptizing, and performing all her sacraments in that name, instead of performing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It might well excite a wonder that the church of Christ, which has the Spirit of God, did not find out such a thing before, when she knows all the things of God.

If you reply, 'But the Tetragrammaton contains all these things in it, and the perfections of all the other names: so that when you name the holy Trinity, or God, or the Lord, the Tetragrammaton is named at the same time.'-Why then is it separated from the rest? Why has it not the same effect when joined with the rest, as when it is venerated apart from them? Is it so very holy, that when mixed with the others it is polluted by their profanity? Or is it so invidious, that it envies the others the honour of being placed with it? Let, then, all such things be considered as mere figments of the Jews. Let all Christians be wiser, and know, that all the names of God have the same power and virtue. Have thou

godly faith, without which, not even the name of the holy Trinity can be of any profit to thee.

But as all those things were intended to be a figure; and as we are to believe that not one jot or tittle was written in vain; I will not deny that in the four-lettered name there was a figure contained, peculiar and different from the rest, which was to be revealed in the New Testament; and therefore, it is even now held ineffable and incommunicable, and is still held as it was before by the Jews, because they most obstinately hate and recoil at the mystery of it which is now revealed. Wherefore let us consider, (whether we may be thought to trifle, or merely to cavil with the Jews,) that the four-lettered name is a symbol or sign of the name of the holy Trinity, and the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now revealed, but then shadowed forth under Four Letters. And that we may bring this to some kind of proof, let us argue from the Letters themselves, from their number, and from their signification.

The signification is thus. Jod signifies beginning (principium,) He this (ista,) Vaf, and He this (ista:) which, if grammatically put together, according to the Latin language, will form this sentence, Principium istius et istius: which in all things agrees with the name of the Holy Trinity: for, in the Godhead, the Father is the beginning of this, that is, the Son; and of this, that is the Holy Ghost. To these pronouns this (istius) and this (istius) represent, in an obscure manner, the Son and the Holy Spirit; even as it was meet so to be in the Old Testament, wherein the mystery of the Trinity was not to be revealed, but only to be shadowed forth. Nor indeed is even the name of the Father clearly revealed, though, by the name beginning, he was more distinctly pointed out than the Son or the Holy Ghost. In the whole of which it is signified, that, as Christ saith, Matt. xi. 27, neither the Father nor the Son is known by any one but by him to whom they are revealed: even as at this day also the mystery of the Holy Trinity, how much soever the name may be professed, is known to none but by the teaching of the Spirit of faith.

It appears, therefore, that the number and nature of the Persons of the Godhead were not less shadowed forth to the Jews under the TETRAGRAMMATÔN, than they are to us under the name TRINITY. For as, when this latter word Trinity is unfolded, its meaning gives us the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; so, when the Tetragrammaton is unfolded, it will give us, Principium istius et istius, 'The Beginning of Him and of Him;' which, though somewhat obscurely so, is the same for in each there are alike Three Persons and Two proceedings set forth to us, and in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Again the number is Four.-Here we have a quadrate or square plane: the first of which itself, consists of two simple proportions equal to the first: of which, one is equal to one, and two equal to two. From this two-fold proportion or proceeding, therefore, there proceeds a square figure, consisting of one equal to one, and two equal to two; beginning from unity, and ending in quaternity. These proportions are unequal, according to arithmetic, but, according to geometry, they are equal.

Thus, in the square of this divine name, is signified the unity of the paternal substance: from which proceeds the Son, equal to him by the first simple proportion and from both proceeds the Holy Spirit, by a second simple proportion, equal to the Father and the Son as the proportion of two to two, and one to one, are equal, in geometry. And as this simple proportion is of all the most perfect, and as the first is the fountain or head of all the proportions, and the whole is a figure wherein neither part exceeds the other, nor is exceeded by the other, because one is equal to one, and two are equal to two in all things; it is clear, that, by these two proportions or proceedings in this most beautiful square, or quadrate plane, where the substance is all one and the same, or, by the symbol of this Tetragrammaton, the equality of the Persons in the Godhead was set forth to the primitive fathers in a hidden way. For the Son is equal to the Father by the first proceeding; and

the Spirit, by the second proceeding, is equal to the Father and the Son.

And now, to this we may easily refer those four relations which are so commonly used by theologians, active generation, (generatio) and passive generation; active breathing (spiratio) and passive breathing. For these four constitute (so to speak) the Triune-God, even as the four letters in the Tetragrammaton conconstitute his name.

Thirdly. The letters themselves.-The first syllable terminates the first proportion in the letter He, which is a soft breathing; indicating, that the proceeding in the divine Persons is not carnal but spiritual, and allsweet and all-gentle. For if the aspirate letter be extended in sound it is nothing more than a certain soft proceeding of wind, or gentle blast; so that it most appropriately figures forth the proceeding of the Son. And in like manner, the whole name is terminated by the second proportion in the same letter of a soft breathing; so that, we are to understand, that the second proceeding is also spiritual, and not at all differing from the former, except its being the second, and proceeding from the first. So, neither does the Spirit differ from the Father and the Son, except in his proceeding only, which is from both. Since, therefore, these proceedings are spiritual, and of a most spiritual nature, it of necessity follows, that the whole beginning flows into the two proceedings, because the substance is indivisible. And thus, the inestimable plurality subsists in an all-simple unity.

These things, I say, and others that may be adduced of the same kind, seem to have been figured forth to them of old time in the Tetragrammaton or four-lettered name: but which are now indeed made known in all languages; so that now, there is no more particular need of the Tetragrammaton to understand God, than there is of the whole Hebrew language, and, to support what I say, stand the words of Burgensis, where he says, "The Tetragrammatôn, was therefore called ineffable or incommunicable, because it was not reducible to the etymology

of any Hebrew word, and its signification could not be known by any analogy.' Whence it appears, that these letters were joined together by the divine wisdom and purpose; and so, that they might form a name without a communicable signification, extraneous, and not reducible to the nature of the Hebrew language: in the same way as any word may be made up of Roman letters, unknown to grammarians, and used merely for the sake of a certain signification or commemoration: which the Valentians seem to have imitated in their Greek word abraxas.

That name of God, therefore, was rightly called ineffable or incommunicable, because the sacred mystery of the Trinity was not then revealed, though it was secretly figured forth. And this name was also rightly said to be applicable to God alone, because it figured forth God according to his substance and internal nature. For the true God is none other in himself, than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; or the Trinity, and all that is said of the unity and the proceedings: which things can be found in no creature whatever: and therefore, the Tetragrammaton can be applied to no creature. For in other respects, the names King, Lord, God, High, and the like, might be applicable and ascribable to any one that stands in the stead of God: because, angels and men may be likened unto God as to his external works, but they cannot be likened to him in the Trinity in Unity. And therefore, they may bear the names of God, but the Tetragrammatôn, or four-lettered name, and the name Trinity, they cannot make use of.

And now, as I think, that difficulty, Exod. vi. 23, may easily be solved, where many make a great noise about what the Spirit means when he saith, "I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, by my name Jehovah was I not known to them: whereas, the fourlettered name is found, long before Gen. iv. and afterwards. Now I do not here understand it to be signified that those letters of the Tetragrammaton were not then made known, (excepting it be signified that they were