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Thirdly, The belief in Jesus ought to inflame our affection, to kindle our love towards him, engaging us to hate all things in respect of him, that is, so far as they are in opposition to him, or pretend to equal share of affection with him. "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me," (Matt. x. 37.) saith our Saviour; so forbidding all prelation of any natural affection, because our spiritual union is far beyond all such relations. Nor is a higher degree of love only debarred us, but any equal pretension is as much forbidden." If any man come to me (saith the same Christ), and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke xiv. 26.) Is it not this Jesus in whom the love of God is demonstrated to us, and that in so high a degree as is not expressible by the pen of man? "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son." (John iii. 16.) Is it not he who shewed his own love to us far beyond all possibility of parallel? For" greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends;" (John xv. 13.) but "while we were yet sinners (that is, enemies), Christ died for us," (Rom. v. 8.) and so became our Jesus. Shall thus the Father shew his love in his Son? Shall thus the Son shew his love in himself? And shall we no way study a requital? or is there any proper return of love but love? The voice of the Church, in the language of Solomon, is, "my love:" (Cant. ii. 7. iii. 5. viii. 4.) nor was that only the expression of a spouse, but of Ignatius,* a man, after the apostles, most remarkable. And whosoever considereth the infinite benefits to the sons of men flowing from the actions and sufferings of their Saviour, cannot choose but conclude with St. Paul," If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maran-atha." (1 Cor. xvi. 22.)

Lastly, The confession of faith in Jesus is necessary to breed in us a correspondent esteem of him, and an absolute obedience to him, that we may be raised to the true temper of St. Paul, who "counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, for whom he suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but dung, that he might win Christ." (Phil. iii. 8.) Nor can we pretend to any true love of Jesus, except we be sensible of the readiness of our obedience to him: as knowing what language he used to his disciples, "If ye love me, keep my commandments;" (John xiv. 15.) and what the apostle of his bosom spake, "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." (1 John v. 3.) His own disciples once marvelled, and said, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" (Matt. viii. 27.) How much more should we wonder at all dis* ̔Ο ἐμὸς ἔρως ἐσταύρωται. Epist. ad Roman. c. 7.

obedient Christians, saying, What manner of men are these, who refuse obedience unto him whom the senseless creatures, the winds and the sea, obeyed? Was the name of Jesus at first sufficient to cast out devils? (Mark ix. 38. Luke ix. 49.) and shall man be more refractory than they? Shall the exorcist say to the evil spirit, I adjure thee by the name of Jesus, (Acts xix. 13.) and the devil give place? Shall an apostle speak unto us in the same name, and we refuse? Shall they obey that name which signifieth nothing unto them; for " he took not on him the nature of angels," (Heb. ii. 16.) and so is not their Saviour? And can we deny obedience unto him, who“ took on him the seed of Abraham," (Ibid.) " and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross," (Phil. ii. 8.) for us, that he might be raised to full power and absolute dominion over us, and by that power be enabled at last to save us, and in the mean time to rule and govern us, and exact the highest veneration from us? For" God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." (Phil. ii. 9, 10.)

Having thus declared the original of the name Jesus, the means and ways by which he who bare it expressed fully the utmost signification of it; we may now clearly deliver, and every particular Christian easily understand, what it is he says, when he makes his confession in these words, I believe in Jesus: which may be not unfitly in this manner described. I believe not only that there is a God, who made the World; but I acknowledge and profess that I am fully persuaded of this, as of a certain and infallible truth, that there was and is a man, whose name by the ministry of an angel was called Jesus, of whom, particularly Joshua, the first of that name, and all the rest of the judges and saviours of Israel, were but types. I believe that Jesus, in the highest and utmost importance of that name, to be the Saviour of the world; inasmuch as he hath revealed to the sons of men the only way for the salvation of their souls, and wrought the same way out for them by the virtue of his blood, obtaining remission for sinners, making reconciliation for enemies, paying the price of redemption for captives; and shall at last himself actually confer the same salvation, which he hath promulged and procured, upon all those who unfeignedly and steadfastly believe in him. I acknowledge there is no other way to heaven besides that which he hath shewn us, there is no other means which can procure it for us but his blood, there is no other person which shall confer it on us but himself. And with this full acknowledgment, I BELIEVE IN JESUS.

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AND IN JESUS Christ.

HAVING thus explained the proper name of our Saviour, Jesus, we come unto that title of his office usually joined with his name, which is therefore the more diligently to be examined, because the Jews* who always acknowledge him to be Jesus, ever denied him to be Christ, and "agreed" together, “that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue." (John ix. 22.)

For the full explication of this title, it will be necessary, First, To deliver the signification of the word; Secondly, To shew upon what grounds the Jews always expected a Christ or Messias; Thirdly, To prove that the Messias promised to the Jews is already come; Fourthly, To demonstrate that our Jesus is that Messias; and Fifthly, To declare in what that unction, by which Jesus is Christ, doth consist, and what are the proper effects thereof. Which five particulars being clearly discussed, I cannot see what should be wanting for a perfect understanding that Jesus is Christ.

For the first, We find in the Scriptures two several names, Messias and Christ, but both of the same signification; as appeareth by the speech of the woman of Samaria, "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ;" (John iv. 25.) and more plainly by what Andrew spake unto his brother Simon, 'We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ." (John i. 41.) Messias in the Hebrew tongue, Christ in the Greek. Messias, the language of Andrew and the

44

Ἰουδαῖοι γὰς καταδέχονται τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν Ἰησοῦν· τὸ δὲ καὶ Χριστὸν εἶναι, τοῦτον οὐκέτι. S. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. 10.

Σύγγανε, Μεσσίαν σοφὸν εὕρομεν, ὃς Θεὸς ἀνὴρ Χριστὸς Ἰουδαίοισιν ἀκούεται Ἑλλάδι φωνῇ. Nonnus, c. i. v. 157. From unit; in the Hebrew me and my unctus; in the Syriac x in the Greek, by changing w into , by omitting a guttural not fit for their pronunciation, and by adding, as their ordinary termination, is turned

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into Messias. That this was the Greek
Xarris, and the Latin Christus, is evident;
and
yet the Latins living at a distance,
strangers to the customs of the Jews, and
the doctrine of the Christians, mistook
this name, and called him Chrestus, from
the Greek Xenorós. So Suetonius in the
life of Claudius, c. 25. Judæos impul-
sore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma
expulit.' Which was not only his mis-
take, but generally the Romans at first, as
they named him Chrestus, so they called
as Chrestiani. Sed et cum perperam
Chrestianus pronunciatur a vobis (nam
nec nominis certa est notitia penes vos)
de suavitate vel benignitate compositum

est. Tertull. adv. Gentes, c. 3. 'Sed exponenda hujus nominis ratio est propter ignorantium errorem, qui eum immutata litera Chrestum solent dicere.' Lactan. de vera Sup. 1. iv. c. 7. Upon which mistake Justin Martyr justifies the Christians of his time : Ἐπεὶ ὅσον γε ἐκ τοῦ κατηγορημένου ἡμῶν ὀνόματος, χρηστότατοι ὑπάρχομεν. μ. 54. And again: Xiriavol (or rather Χρηστιανοί) γὰρ εἶναι κατηγορούμεθα· τὸ δὲ χρηστὸν μισεῖσθαι οὐ δίκαιον. Apol. 2. p. 55. It was then the ignorance of the Jewish affairs which caused the Romans to name our Saviour Chrestus, and the true title is certainly Christus. Χριστὸς μὲν, κατὰ τὸ Expia, saith Justin. Apol. i. p. 44. Τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὄνομα πρῶτον Μωσέα τοῖς χρισμένοις ἐπιθεῖναι, says Euseb. Dem. Evang. 1. iv. c. 15. Quoniam Græci veteres xgia dicebant ungi, quod nunc aneipera, ob hanc rationem nos eum Christum nuncupamus, id est, unctum, qui Hebraice Messias dicitur.' Lactan. de ver. Sap. I. iv. c. 7. So the Latins generally Christus a Chrismate: and without question Χριστὸς is from κέχρισται. Yet Iconceive the first signification of this word among the Greeks hath not been hitherto

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woman of Samaria, who spake in Syriae; Christ, the interpretation of St. John, who wrote this Gospel in the Greek, as the most general language in those days; and the signification

sufficiently discovered. The first of the ancients in whom I meet with the word Χριστὸς is Æschylus the tragedian, and in him I find it had another sense than now we take it in; for in his language that is not χριστὸν which is anointed, but that with which it is anointed; so that it signifieth not the subject of unction, but the ointment as diffused in the subject. The place is this in his Prometheus Vinctus, ver. 478.

Οὐκ ἦν ἀλέξημ ̓ οὐδὲν, οὐδὲ βρώσιμον,

Οὐ χριστὸν, οὐδὲ πιστὸν, ἀλλὰ φαρμάκων
Χρεία κατεσκέλλοντο

Prometheus shews himself to be the inventor of the art of physic, that before him therefore there was no medicine, neither to be taken internally by eating or by drinking, nor externally by way of inunction, as the Scholiast very well expounds it: Οὐκ ἦν οὐδὲν βοήθημα θεραπείας οὐδὲ διὰ βρώσεως προσφερόμενον (which is οὐδὲ βρώσιμον in Æschylus) οὔτε δὲ δι ̓ ἐπιχρίσεως ἔξωθεν, (which is οὐ χριστὸν) οὐδὲ διὰ πόσεως (τοῦτο δὲ δηλοῖ τὸ πιστόν). 5ο Eustathius : Τρεῖς φαρμάκων ἰδέαι παρ ̓ Ὁμήρᾳ, ἐπίπαστα, ὡς νῦν ἐπὶ Μενελάου, πες ἤπια φάρμακα εἰδὼς πάσσεν ὁ Μαχάων· καὶ χριστὰ οἷον ἰοὺς χρίεσθαι· καὶ πιστὰ κατὰ τὸν Αἰσχύλον, τουτεστι, ποτὰ ἢ πότιμα. Ad Ι. Δ. As therefore from πίω πίσω, πιστὸν, so from χρίω χρίσω, Χριστὸν.

And as

πιστὸν is not that which receiveth drink, but that drink which is received, not quod potat, but quod potabile est ; so χριστὸν is not that which receiveth oil, but that which is received by inunction. So the Scholiast upon Aristophanes, Plut. v. 717. Τῶν φαρμάκων τὰ μέν ἐστι καταπλαστὰ, τὰ δὲ χριστὰ, τὰ δὲ ποτά. And the Scholiast of Theocritus : Ιστέον, ὅτι τῶν φαρμάκων τὰ μέν εἰσι χριστὰ, ἤγουν, ἅπερ χριόμεθα εἰς θεραπείαν· τὰ δὲ ποτὰ, ἤγουν, ἅπερ πίνομεν· τὰ δὲ ἐπίπαστα, ἤγουν, ἅπερ ἐπιπάτε τομεν. Idyl. xi. 1. So that χριστὸν in his judgment is the same with ἔγχριστον in Theocritus. 1. s. 1.

Οὐδὲν ποττὸν ἔρωτα πεφύκει φάρμακον ἄλλο, Νικία, οὔτ ̓ ἔγχριστον, ἐμὶν δοκεῖ, οὔτ ̓ ἐπί

παστον,

Η ταὶ Πιερίδες

In the same sense with Eschylus did Euripides use χριστὸν φάρμακον in Hippolyto, v. 516.

Πότερα δὲ χριστὸν ἢ ποτὸν τὸ φάρμακον ; and not only those ancient poets, but even the later orators; as Dion Chrysostomus: Πολὺ γὰς χεῖρον καὶ διεφθαρμένου σώματος καὶ νοσοῦντος ψυχὴ διεφθαρμένη, μα Δί', οὐχ

ὑπὸ φαρμάκων χριστῶν ἡ ποτῶν. Οταΐ. 78. And the LXX. have used it in this sense, as when the Hebrew speaks of πηνη του oleum unctionis, they translate it τοῦ ἐπι κεχυμένου ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ ἐλαίου τοῦ χριστοῦ, Lev. xxi. 10. and again ver. 12. πινης ν ὅτι τὸ ἅγιον ἔλαιον τὸ χριστὸν ἐπ' αὐτῷ. Oleum unctionis then is ἔλαιον χει στον, which in Exodus xxix. 7. χχχν. 15. xl. 9. the same translators, correspondent to the Hebrew phrase, call ἔλαιον χρίσμα τος, and more frequently ἔλαιον χρίσεως. The place of Sophocles is something doubtful, Trachin. 662.

Οθεν μόλοι παναμερος

Τᾶς πειθοῦς παγχρίστω

Συγκραθεὶς, ἐπὶ προφάσει θηρός

for though the Scholiast takes it in the ordinary sense, παγχρίστῳ] λείπει το πέ πλῳ, ἤγουν τῷ χρισθέντι πέπλω, συγκεκρι μένος καὶ ἁρμοσθεὶς τῇ πειθοῖ τοῦ θηρός· yet both τᾶς πειθοῦς before it, and συγκραθείς after, seem to incline to the former sense, and in the next page ἀρτίχριστον is clearly attributed to the ointment, v. 687.

Τὸ φάρμακον τοῦτ ̓ ἄπυρον, ἀκτῖνός τ ̓ ἀεὶ Θέρμης ἄθικτον, ἐν μυχοῖς σώζειν ἐμὲ, Εως ἂν ἀρτίχριστον ἁρμόσαιμί που, from whence Deianira says presently, ν. 691. ἔχρισα μαλλῷ. But though it appears from hence that the first use of the word χριστὸς among the Greeks was to signify the act or matter used in inunction, not the subject or person anointed : yet in the vulgar acceptation of the LXX. it was most constantly received for the person anointed, of the same validity with χρισθείς or κεχρισμένος (Suidas χριστὸς, ὁ κεχρισμένος ἐν ἐλαίω), as also with ἠλειμμένος. For though Lactantius in the place fore-cited seems to think that word an improper version of the Hebrew

• Unde in quibusdam Græcis scripturis, quæ male de Hebraicis interpretatæ sunt, ἠλειμμένος, id est, unguento curatus, scriptum invenitur, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλείφεσθαι : yet the LXX. have so translated it, Numb. iii. 3. οἱ ἱερεῖς οἱ ἠλειμμένοι. And although Athenaeus hath observed, I. xν. c. 59. τῶν μύρων τὰ μέν ἐστι χρίσματα, τὰ δ ̓ ἀλείμματα· yet in the vulgar use of the words there is no difference, as he himself speaks a little after: Τὸ δὲ χρίσασθαι το τοιούτῳ ἀλείμματι μυρίσασθαι εἴρηκεν. And Plutarch. Sympos. l. iii. c. 4. Πύθου παρὰ τῶν ἔτι συναναπαυομένων γυναιξὶν ἡ μύρον ἀληλιμμέναις ἡ ἔλαιον· ἀναπίμπλανται γὰρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ χρίσματος ἐν τῷ συγκαθεύδειν. Το Hesych. ̓Αλεῖψαι, ἐλαίῳ χρίσαι· Κεχρισμένα,

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of them both is, the anointed. St. Paul and the rest of the apostles, writing in that language, used the Greek name, which the Latins did retain, calling him constantly Christus; and we in English have retained the same, as universally naming him Christ.

:

Nor is this yet the full interpretation of the word, which is to be understood not simply according to the action only, but as it involveth the design in the custom of anointing. For in the Law whatsoever was anointed was thereby set apart, as ordained to some special use or office and therefore under the notion of unction we must understand that promotion and ordination. "Jacob poured out oil on the top of a pillar," (Gen. xxviii. 18.) and that anointing was the consecration of it. Moses anointed the tabernacle and all the vessels, and this anointing was their dedication. Hence "the priest that is anointed" (Lev. iv. 3.) signifieth, in the phrase of Moses, the high-priest, because he was invested in that office at and by his unction. When therefore Jesus is called the Messias or Christ, and that long after the anointing oil had ceased, it signified no less than a person set apart by God, anointed with most sacred oil, advanced to the highest office, of which all those employments under the Law, in the obtaining of which oil was used, were but types and shadows. And this may suffice for the signification of the word.

That there was among the Jews an expectation of such a Christ to come, is most evident. The woman of Samaria could speak with confidence, "I know that Messias cometh." (John iv. 25.) And the unbelieving Jews, who will not acknowledge that he is already come, expect him still. Thus we find "all men musing in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not." (Luke iii. 15.) When Jesus taught in the Temple, those which doubted said, "When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is;" (John vii. 27.) those which believed said, "When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" (John vii. 31.) Whether therefore they doubted, or whether they believed in Jesus, they all expected a Christ to come; and the greater their opinion was of him, the more they believed he was that Messias. "Many of the people said, Of a truth this is the prophet: others said, This is the Christ." (John vii. 40, 41.) As soon as John began to baptize," the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou?" (John i. 19.) that is, whether he were the Christ or no, as appeareth out of his answer, "And he

ἐλειμμένα. ̓Αλοιφή, χρίσις. Schol. Hom. Χριστάμεναι, ἀλειψάμεναι. Οd. Ζ. And Suidas, Ἠληλίμμην, ἐχειόμην. Hence Eustathius : Ιστέον καὶ ὅτι ἰσοδυναμούντων κατὰ νοῦν τοῦ τε χρίω, καὶ τοῦ ἀλείφων τὸ μὲν χεία παρὰ τὸν χροῦν ἐῤῥήθη ὃς χρίεται, τὸ δὲ ἀλείφω παρὰ τὸ ἀλέω. Od. Z. So Eu

sebius : Τρίτη τάξει χριστὸν αὐτὸν γεγονέναι ἐλαίῳ, οὐ τῷ ἐξ ὕλης σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἐνθέῳ τῆς ἀγαλλιάσεως ἠλειμμένον παρίστησι. Hist. Eccl. 1. i. c. 3. Xperòs then in the vulgar use of the LXX. is a person anointed, and in that sense is our Saviour called Christ.

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