intent, that they might declare what the thing is, to which that name doth belong. Thus, when God had created Adam and made him lord of this visible world, he caused the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air to pass before him, as it were to do homage to their new sovereign, and to receive names from him; which, according to the plenitude and perfection of his knowledge, did then aptly serve to express their several natures, and were not only names but definitions too. So, when mention is made in Scripture of the Name of God, it signifies some expression of his Infinite Essence: in which he is pleased graciously to condescend to the weakness of our capacity, and to spell out himself to us, sometimes by one perfection, and sometimes by another; since it is utterly impossible for us finite creatures, to have a full and comprehensive knowledge of that being which is infinite: for so, God is only known to himself; being, as infinite to all others, so finite to his own knowledge and un derstanding. And, therefore, he hath displayed before us his Name, to give us some help and advantage to conceive somewhat of him; though his nature and essence are in themselves incomprehensible to us, and shall be so for ever, even in heaven

itself.

Now this Name of God may well be distinguished into two sorts: his Titles, and his Attributes.

(1) His Titles are his name.

And so he is in Scripture frequently called Jehovah, God, Lord, Creator, and the like. And most of these his titles are relative, respecting us: so his name of Creator denotes his infinite power, giving being to all things: Lord and King signify his dominion and authority, in disposing and governing all that he hath made: Father signifies his care and goodness, in providing for his creatures: Redeemer, his mercy and grace, in delivering them from temporal evils and calamities, or especially from eternal death and destruction.

Now these Relative Titles, though they properly belong unto God, yet are they not absolutely essential to him; but connote a respect unto the creatures. And, therefore, though, before the creation of the world, God was for ever the same Infinitely Blessed Being that he now is, and by the creation of it no accession was made to his infinitely perfect nature, (for in him there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning; but he is yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever): yet could he not be

called by the name of Creator, or Lord, or Redeemer, or Father (unless in respect of his Eternal Son); but all these titles result from the relations wherein we stand unto God, of creatures, subjects, and children.

These names, therefore, had their beginning, some in the beginning of time, and some since; and yet they do very properly signify unto us that God, who is without beginning or end. (2) As his titles, so his Attributes are his name.

And these are of two sorts, either Incommunicable or Communicable.

[1] The Incommunicable Attributes of God.

And these are those, which are so proper to the Divine Essence, that there is scarce the least foot-steps or resemblance of them to be found in any of the creatures.

And such are his Eternity: which denotes a duration, as well without beginning as without end: for, though there are some creatures, whose beings shall never have a period set to them, as angels and men; yet there is no creature, that never had no beginning of its existence.

And so God's Infiniteness and Immensity, filling all places and exceeding all: which was most excellently set forth in that most significant, yet unintelligible paradox of the Heathen Philosopher, That God was a circle, whose centre was every where, but its circumference no where.

His Simplicity also, excluding all composition and mixture; which no creature doth: for take the most simple of them, as angels and the separate souls of men, yet they are at least compounded in their essences, and powers, and acts; for the power of understanding is not the soul, nor the act of understanding the power: therefore, in these, there is one thing and another. But it is not so in God: but whatsoever is in God is God himself, being one most pure and simple act.

Hence follows his Immutability and Unchangeableness; there being nothing in God, which was not from all eternity.

And, in the same rank, are his Omnipotency and All-sufficiency, his Omniscience and Independency, and the like: which are incommunicable attributes; and cannot, without blasphemy, be ascribed unto any of the creatures.

[2] There are other Attributes of God, that are Communicable; and are so called, because they may, in some analogy and resemblance, be found in the creatures also.

So, to be Holy, Just, Merciful, True, Powerful, and the like, are the names of God; and yet may be ascribed to the creatures. So, in that most triumphant declaration of his name to Moses, Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6,7. we find that the most of the letters that compose it may be found, in some degrees, even among men. The Lord proclaimed his name, The Lord God; merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Now this name of God merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness, which he seems so much to delight and glory in, and which he adorns with such fair flourishes, he himself would have us to own and imitate: Luke vi. 36, Be ye merciful as your Father is merciful. To aspire to a resemblance with God in his incommunicable attributes and name, is a most horrid and blasphemous presumption; a pride, that cast the devils from heaven to hell: but to aspire to a resemblance unto God in his communicable name, is the tendency of grace, and the effect of the Spirit of God, conforming us in some measure to his purity, and making us partakers in this sense of the divine nature. And, therefore, it is pressed upon us, Levit. xix. 2. You shall be holy: for I, the Lord your God, am holy: and, Mat. v. 48. Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect.

Now these Communicable Attributes of God, though they may in some respects be found in the creatures, yet then are they properly the Names of God, when they are applied to him free from all those imperfections with which they are necessarily attended in the creatures. Abstract them from all imperfections, and we may apply them to God as his Name.

Now these imperfections are of two sorts, either privative or negative.

A creature is then said to be Privatively imperfect, when he falls short of what he ought to be. And so are the best of men imperfect in this life. Merciful they are; but still retain a mixture of cruelty: patient they are; but still they have impatience mixed with it: holy they are; but yet not spotless as the Law requires them to be. And, therefore, in ascribing holiness, mercy, and patience unto God, we must be sure to separate from them all such imperfections as are found in us, through the mixture of the contrary corruptions with those graces; otherwise they will be so far from being the name of God, that they will prove blasphemous derogatives from him.

Neither is this enough, but we must remove all negative imperfections also. Now a creature is said to be Negatively imperfect, when, though it hath all the perfections that are due unto it or required from it, yet it hath not all perfection that is possible or imaginable. Thus, the holy angels and the spirits of just men in heaven, although they are made perfect so as to exclude all privative imperfection, their holiness and their graces there being as perfect as they should be, and as God requires from them: yet have they a negative imperfection; that is, there is some perfection of those graces and of that holiness further possible, which they have not, nor is it within the sphere of their natures to attain unto. In which sense it is said, Job iv. 18. He charged his angels with folly: that is, not as if they wanted any wisdom or righteousness that was due unto their natures; but they had not all that wisdom that was possible, and so were at least negatively imperfect.

In all perfections of the creatures, whether angels or men, be they never so great or excellent, there are three imperfections that will necessarily attend them.

1st. That they have them not originally from themselves; but derivatively from another, who is the Author and Embellisher of their Natures.

2dly. That they have them not Unchangeably; but may not only increase but decrease, yea or utterly lose them.

3dly. That they have them not Infinitely; but in a stinted and limited measure.

Now in all the communicable attributes of the Divine Nature, remove from them these three negative imperfections, and then apply them to God, and they become his proper name. God is holy, wise, powerful, just, merciful, true, &c. and so are likewise some of his most excellent creatures, whom he hath made like unto himself. But then the difference between God and them consists in this, that his wisdom and the rest of his attributes are originally from him; theirs, derivatively from him: his, infinite and boundless; theirs, limited and stinted: his, invariable and unchangeable; theirs, subject to mutations, and decays, and total abolition. So that, in these three respects, even the communicable attributes of God are themselves incommunicable and so they are his Name, whereby he is known and differenced from all other beings whatsoever.

But

may it not be here said to me, as it was to Manoah,

Judges xiii. 18. Why askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret and wonderful?

Indeed, we can no more find out the name of God to per. fection, than we can his nature and essence; for both are infinite and unsearchable. And there are two expressions in Scripture, that make this knowledge impossible; the one of them quite contrary to the other. One is, that God dwelleth in that light, to which no man can approach: 1 Tim. vi. 16. Scrutator. majestatis opprimetur à gloriâ: "He, that will too busily pry into majesty, shall be oppressed and dazzled with glory." And the other is, that he dwells in thick darkness: 2 Chron. vi. 1. Both implying the same impossibility of searching out the Almighty to perfection; as Job speaks, ch. xi. 7.

But, though this comprehensive knowledge be impossible, yet God hath given us hints and traces of himself, by which we may discover enough for our adoration, though not perhaps for our satisfaction.

And there are two ways, whereby God hath made known himself and his name unto us: and they are by his works, and by his word.

(1st.) We may spell out God's name by his Works,

And to this end serve those two great capital letters of Heaven and Earth, the Air and Sea: yea, there is no one creature, how vile and contemptible soever it be, but it reads us lectures of the power, wisdom and goodness of the great Creator. In which sense the Apostle tells us, Rom. i. 20. The invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

(2dly.) More expressly and distinctly by his Word: for the Scriptures are Nomenclatura Dei.

1

By these we come to a more clear and evident knowledge of these attributes of God, which the works of nature held forth to us in a more obscure and confused manner. And by this, likewise, we attain to the knowledge of those perfections of God, which the works of Creation and Providence could never have instructed us in as of a Trinity in Unity, of the Eternal Generation and Temporal Incarnation of the Son of God, of the whole Mystery of Religion, and the tenor of the Covenant of Grace; which are things, that could never have been known but by Divine Revelation.

Indeed we may, from the works of God alone, gather know