or efficiency but men only who live by it are the seat and subject of that life which it imparts which is wrought by the preaching of it But when the Apostle saith in the Word was life this implies hee was that seat and fountaine of life from whom both the efficacy of the Gospell and that life which is subjectively in men or Angells is derived or participated And the life was the light of men and the light shineth in darknesse and the darknes comprehended it not All these are Attributs or expressions of a nature truly divine characters of a living essence or of life it selfe before men or the world were made and this is confirmed to us ver 8. The Word was the true light which lightneth every man that commeth into the world And if every man that commeth into the world then the first man Adam was enlightned by this word For he was both the light and life of the world ever since the first beginning of either albeit the world and worldly men did not apprehend him to be such as it is expressed ver 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him but the world knew him not So them he was in the world ever since it was made and the world was in him as in its eminent or ideall efficient cause before it was made He came unto his owne and his owne received him not Who were these his owne If all generations of men or all succession of time or things temporall were made by him all these were his owne Yet before the comming into the world of which the Apostle here speakes all these were not his owne by the same peculiar right He alwayes was Lord of lords and King of kings and supreame ruler of such as ruled the nations yet were not all nations his peculiar inheritance this was the prerogative of Abrahams seed or Iacobs posterity And albeit he had beene in them and with them after a more speciall kinde of presence for many generations yet at this time whereto the Apostles words referre he first came by a peculiar maner both into the world and unto them by becomming an inhabitant or sojourner in the territories bequeathed to Abraham and to his seed But these who were thus his owne by peculiar redemption from the land of Aegypt for the most part received him not Yet his comming though after this peculiar manner to his owne was not lost nor was Gods promise to Abraham any way impeached by their refusing or not receiving of him For to as many as received him whether they were of Abrahams seed after the flesh or of the Gentiles to all of both sorts he gave a right or priviledge to become the sonnes of God ver 12. All were made the true and lively sonnes of Abraham by receiving him who was before Abraham but was now made man of the seed of Abraham Now in that he made all the sonnes of God which received him this presupposeth he was the sonne of God not by making not by taking the seed of Abraham but the sonne of God by nature or eternall generation the true God of Israel For so the Evangelist concludes that heavenly discourse ver 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth 7. Why S. Iohn in the proaeme to his Gospell doth iustyle Christ Jesus the word of God rather then the sonne of God why it is rather said the Word became flesh then the sonne became flesh in what prophecy the words becomming flesh was foretold or foreshadowed with the manner how it was made flesh or the meaning of this phrase must be the subject of some Chapters following This for the present is evident out of places before alleaged that S. Iohn did meane no other party or person by the word then him whom afterwards throughout his whole Gospell he stiles the sonne of God and out of the same places it is as evident that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was that very God of Israel who had promised to erect a Tabernacle and dwell in his people or amongst them and to manifest his glory to them after a more peculiar manner then he had done either during the time of the first tabernacle or of both the Temples For that text of S. Iohn Iohn 1. 14. He dwelt amongst us and wee saw his glory the glory as of the only begotten sonne of God imports the exact fulfilling of all those prophecies wherein the manifestation of Gods glory in succeeding ages is promised That the glory of God was to be revealed in the flesh S. Iohn did learne from Scriptures which were extant before our Saviours incarnation though this he learned not by study or art but from Divine revelation But that the man Christ Iesus with whom he conversed here on earth was the word which the Scripture foretold should be made flesh or that the glory which shined in him was the very brightnesse of Gods glory this S. Iohn knew by experiment as having seene his transfiguration upon Mount Tabor and conversed with him after his resurrection This both he and S. Paul beleeved from sensible evidence of experiments exactly answerable to the predictions of Moses and other Prophets concerning the glory of God which was in later times morefully to be revealed then in former 8 To omit those two places before cited Exod. 29. 44 45. and Leviticus 26. 11 12. unto both which places that of S. Iohn chap. 1. 14. doth in speciall referre wee will insist a while upon that text Exodus 33. 14. to the 23. The Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh with his friend The summe of this dialogue is expressed ver 14 15. My presence saith God shall go with thee and I will give thee rest And Moses said if thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence for wherein shall it be knowne here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight But Moses not satisfied with the promise of Gods presence and separation of them from other people requests a sight of his glory and this in part is granted ver 21 22 23. And the Lord said Behold there is a place by me and thou shall stand upon a Rock And it shall come to passe while my glory passeth by that I will put thee in a clift of the Rock will cover thee with my hand while I passe by And I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seene For so God had said ver 20. Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see my face and live Yet this sight of Gods glory or so much of it as Moses saw left such an impression in his face or Countenance as you may read chap. 34. ver 33. that he was constrayned to put a vaile upon his
face whilest he talked with the people who were not able to behold the glory But this vaile as our Apostle tels us 2 Cor. 3. 14. is put away in Christ It is true Yet this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the word was not the Christ to doe away this vaile till he put on the vaile of flesh The flesh then was a vaile to him but as a glasse or mirrour to us Wee may in Christ with open face behold that glory of God whose reflexe on Moses face the Israelites could not behold but through a vaile Christ then is that glasse or mirrour wherin the brightnesse of Gods glory which the Israelites could not then behold may now be seene But did the Iews or Israelites in the time of the old Testament or in that time wherein the Author of the booke of Wisdome wrote conceive any such matter as our Apostle here inferres that the glory of God should be more fully revealed or that men should be more capable of the participation of his presence in later ages then they had beene in former Some of them did others did not all of them ought even by their owne prenotions or interpretations of Scriptures so to have conceived and beleeved For thus some moderne Iews conceive of Moses his request What was that saith a great Rabbin amongst them which Moses our Master sought to attaine unto when he said I pray thee shew me thy glory 9 He requeged to know the truth of the being or essence of the holy blessed God untill that he were knowne in his heart like as a man is knowne whose face is seen and whose forme is ingravē in ones heart so that man is distinguished or separated in his knowledge from other men So Moses requested that the Essence of God might be distinctly knowne in his heart from the essence of other things so that he might know the truth of his Essence as it is But God answered him that the knowledge of living man who is compounded of body and soule hath no ability to apprehend the truth of this thing concerning his Creator That knowledge of God or sight of his glory whereof Moses was uncapable was truely ingraven in the heart of the man Christ Iesus and in his light wee see light He that saw him with the eyes of faith did see the father he did see the glory of the Godhead The brightnesse of the divine glory is alike inaccessible alike incommunicable in the Sonne as in the Father if we consider them in their divine nature alone but in the man Christ Iesus and in him alone wee may behold the brightnesse of the Divine glory which neither eye nor heart of man could behold in it selfe or in any divine person alone but only in the divine person which was incarnate 10 And it is not here to be omitted that the forecited 29. of Exodus ver 45 I will dwell among the Children of Israel is thus translated by Onkelus in his paraphrase ponam praesentiam divinitatis meae in medio filiorum Israel So Fagius with some others render it and why he so renders it gives the reason And the later Rabbines as one well conversant in their writings saith generally observe that whensoever it is said in the person of God that I will dwell amongst them this may not be understood but of the Majestie of the holy and blessed God To this purpose they alleage the 9. verse of the 8 Psalme His salvation is neere them that feare him that glory may dwell in our Land And Simeon in his dying song doth testifie that Jesus the sonne of Mary whom he imbraced when he was presented in the Temple was the salvation of God Lord now lattest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word For mine eyes have seene thy Salvation And although our Saviour whilest hee lived here on earth had no constant dwelling no place of inheritance yet at this time the Godhead or that glory of the Godhead of which the Psalmist speaketh was incorporated in him These and the like Scriptures S. Iohn did see fulfilled in Christ when he said the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and wee saw his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father that is such glory as could not bee communicated to any but to him who was by nature the sonne of God such glory as no flesh could behold otherwise then as it was in Christ or in the word made flesh such a declaration of the divine Majestie as none besides the sonne of God could declare So the Apostle saith ver 18. No man hath seene God at any time but the only begotten sonne who is in the bosome of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath declared or expounded him But wherein doth this declaration consist or how was it made by the sonne Not by word only or by declaration of his will but by matter of fact or reall representation But of this point more fully in the exposition of the name Iesus Seeing Moses had said that no flesh could see God and live it may seeme strange to men which have not their senses exercised in the search of Scriptures that the Prophet Isaiah should avouch the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together Isay 40. 5. Moses speech and that conceipt which the ancient had that man could not see God and live was universally true untill the word or brightnesse of Gods glory was made flesh But this was the very mysterie which Isaiah in that chapter foretold as elsewhere hath beene declared in part and shall be as it comes in order to be handled more fully a little after this Chapter 11 That the moderne Iews can expect the God of their Fathers should dwell with them should walk with them should manifest his glory unto them after such a manner as their owne Doctors interpret his promise made to Moses to al these purposes after any other way or manner then the Evangelist witnessed he did walk with and manifest his glory unto his Disciples This to us Christians is an evident demonstration that the vale which their Forefathers put before their faces when they could not behold the brightnesse of Gods glory which shone on Moses face after he had seene God and talked with him is to this day put before their hearts when they read Moses and the Prophets For this glorious Majestie of God the very expresse or graven Image of his substāce which they say Moses desired to see but could not did so personally dwell in the man Christ Jesus that whilest he walked with his people God did walke with thē whilest he remayned within the territories of Iudah or Galilee salvation glory did dwell in their Land And to this day in whomsoever he dwelleth by faith in him God dwelleth by faith As he is the expresse image of the person of his Father so every one in whom he thus
imbellished with one letter But admit the name Iesus as wee take it in our Creed given to our Saviour by the Angel must draw its pedegree from the same Hebrew roote or primitive from which the name Iesus given to others is derived yet the branches of the same roote or primitive from any of which the name Iesus may be aptly alike immediatly deriued differ much First wee may derive the word Iesus from the future tense of the Hebrew Iashang Salvavit And thus the name in the Hebrew should be Iehoshuah whence he whom in our English we call Ioshua the sonne of Nun and Iesus the sonne of God should have one and the selfe same name in the Hebrew as they have in the Greeke and vulgar Latine According to this derivation all the prerogatives which Iesus Christ the sonne of God can challenge before Iesus the sonne of Nun or others which have beene called Iesus must be deduced only from the matter or manner of the salvation which he bestowes not from any peculiar property or soveraignty of name The same name in the Hebrew is sometimes read shorter not Iehoshua but Ieshua and from this later contracted name as well the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Latine Iesus is more immediatly and with lesse alteration derived This later kinde of writing or contraction was more familiar among the Jews in our Saviours time And for this reason the moderne Jews call him Iesu not in despight or mockery as some great Clarks have beene perswaded but out of an ordinary custome of omitting the Hebrew guttur all in this and like words for better facility of pronouncing And as Drusiâ—s notes the omission of this letter in proper names grew in use amongst later Hebricians such as lived since or about our Saviours time upon the same occasions that moved the ancient Latine Fathers to render the Hebrew Hoseang not as we do now Hoseas but Ose Whether we read Iehoshua or Ieshua or Ieshu in the Hebrew the name in the greeke or Latine is all one and the meaning or signification in the Hebrew the very same 2 But albeit the name of this our Jesus may rightly be derived from the same branch of the Hebrew Iashang from which the name of Iesus as it was given to Iesus the sonne of Nun and to Iesus the sonne of Iosedec tooke their originall yet I like best of their opinion which derive the name Iesus as given to the sonne of God not from the participle verbe or adjective but from the abstract or substantive Ieshugnah which is as much as salus ipsa or Salvation it selfe And this originall of the name Iesus Simeon seemes to intimate in his divine song Luke 1. ver 28. 29. Hee tooke the child Iesus saith the Evangelist in his arme and blessed God and said Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seene not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not salvatorem but salutem not the Saviour but the salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of the people Israel Now all these attributes of being a light to lighten the Gentiles to be the glory of Israel are properly ascribed unto the person of our Saviour unto God made man or unto the man Christ Jesus in whom the Godhead dwelleth bodily The Hebrew abstract or substantive which the Greekes expresse by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by salvation it selfe not by Saviour is most frequently used in those places of Scripture wherein Salvation by Christ is promised As Isay 52. 10. The Lord hath made bare his holy arme in the eyes of all the Nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the Salvation of our God And againe Isai 56. 1. Thus saith the Lord keep ye judgement and do justice for my salvation is neere to come and my righteousnesse to be revealed And Abakuk 3. 18. Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation so our English or in God my salvation or my Iesus And againe Isay 49. 6. It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Iacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou maist be my Salvation unto the end of the Earth Instantly after God had saved Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians and drowned the Egyptians in the Sea Moses and the Children of Israel sang this song unto the Lord. Exod 15. 1 2. Hee hath tryumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath he throwne into the Sea The Lord is my strength and song and he is become my salvation c. This deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian thraldome and their safe conduct through the red Sea was but a type or shadow of a greater deliverance to be wrought by the same God for his people for which they were to take up the same song which Moses and the children of Israel here did but with some additions or fuller expressions how the God of their strength should become the God of their Salvation or their Jesus And in that day thou shalt say O Lord I will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfortedst me Behold God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Iehovah is my strength and my song hee is also my Salvation Therefore with joy shall yee draw water out of the wels of Salvation Isai 12. 1 2 3. Though these and many other places of the like observation had their true historicall occasions yet were they not exactly fulfilled according to their propheticall importance untill hee fulfilled them who was Jehovah both Lord and God from eternitie not by a generall title but by a distinct and proper name given unto him by Gods appointment at his circumcision How the name and office of Christ Jesus a King and Priest was both foreprophecied and respectively foreshadowed by Iesus the sonne of Nun and by Iesus the sonne of Iehosedec must be referred unto his consecration to be the Priest after the order of Melchisedec 3 If followeth in the Creed That Iesus Christ who is the only sonne of God is our Lord. Now whether this title Lord be interserted into this article by way of anticipation as the other title Christ apparently is may be doubted He did beare the name Iesus from his Circumcision as wee do our Christen names from the Font. This was his proper name the other two were names of office Know yee saith the Apostle Acts 2. 36 that that Iesu whom yee have crucified him hath God made both Christ and Lord to wit after they had crucified him Hee was anointed to his Propheticall office at his Baptisme but thereby rather initiated to be