in itfelf; and, as we fhall now fee, fo fully recorded in holy Scripture.

THE time was now come for the deliverance of the chofen People from their Egyptian bondage: For now VICE and IDOLATRY were arrived at their height; the former (as St. Paul tells us) by means of the latter; for as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do thofe things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, &c. The two most populous regions at that time in the world were CANAAN and EGYPT: The first diftinguished from all other by its violence and unnatural crimes; the latter by its fuperftitions and idolatries. It concerned God's moral government that a speedy check fhould be put to both; the inhabitants of thefe two places being now ripe for divine vengeance. And as the Inftruments he employed to punish their prefent enormities were defigned for a barrier against future, the Ifraelites went out of Egypt with a high hand, which defolated their haughty tyrants; and were led into the poffeffion of the land of Canaan, whofe inhabitants they were utterly to exterminate. The difpenfation of this Providence appears admirable, both in the time and in the modes of the punishment. VICE and IDOLATRY had now (as I faid) filled up their measure. EGYPT, the capital of falfe Religion, being likewife the nursery of arts and sciences, was preferved from total deftruction for the fake of civil life and polifhed manners, which were to derive their fource from thence: But the CANAANITES were to be utterly exterminated, to vindicate the honour of humanity, and to put a stop

a Rom. i. 28.

to

to a spreading contagion which changed the reasonable Nature into brutal.

Now it was that GOD, remembering his Covenant with Abraham, was pleased to appoint his People, then groaning under their bondage, a Leader and Deliverer. But fo great was their degeneracy, and fo fenfible was MOSES of its effects, in their ignorance of, or alienation from the true GOD, that he would willingly have declined the office: And when abfolutely commanded to undertake it, he defired however that GOD would let him know by what NAME he would be called, when the people should ask the name of the God of their fathers. And Mofes faid unto GOD, Behold when I come unto the children of Ifrael, and fay unto them, The GOD of your fathers bath fent me unto you; and they fhall fay unto me, WHAT IS HIS NAME? what fhall Ifay unto them? Here we fee a people not only loft to all knowledge of the UNITY, (for the afking for a name neceffarily implied their opinion of a plurality) but likewife poffeffed with the very spirit of Egyptian idolatry. The religion of NAMES, as we have fhewn, was a matter of great confequence in Egypt. It was one of their effential fuperftitions: it was one of their native inventions: and the first of them which they communicated to the Greeks. Thus when Hagar, the handmaid of Sarai, who was an Egyptian woman, faw the angel of God in the wilderness, the text tells us, She called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, ELROI, the God of vifion, or the vifible God: that is, according to the established cuftom of Egypt, fhe gave him a name of honour: not merely a name of diftinc

tion; for fuch, all nations had (who worshiped local tutelary deities) before their communication with Egypt. But, after that, (as appears from the place of Herodotus quoted above, concerning the Pelafgi) they decorated their Gods with diftinguifhed Titles, indicative of their specific office and attributes. A NAME was fo peculiar an adjunct to a local tutelary Deity, that we fee by a paffage quoted by Lactantius from the fpurious books of Trifmegift, (which however abounded with Egyptian notions and fuperftitions) that the one fupreme God had no name or title of distinction'. Żachariah evidently alluding to thefe notions, when he prophefies of the worship of the fupreme God,

In the hiftory of the acts of Hezekiah, king of Judah, it is faid, that, "He removed the high places, and brake the "images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the "brafen ferpent that Mofes had made: for unto those days the "children of Ifrael did burn incenfe to it: and he called it "NEHUSHTAN." [2 KINGS Xviii. 4.] The hiftorian's care to record the name which the king gave to the brafen ferpent, when he paffed fentence upon it, will appear odd to those who do not reflect upon what hath been faid, about the fuperftition of NAMES. But that will fhew us the propriety of the observation. This idol, like the reft, had doubtlefs, its name of honour, alluding to its fanative attributes. Good Hezekiah, therefore, in contempt of its title of deification, called it NEHUSHTAN, which fignifies A THING OF BRASS. And it was not out of feafon either to nickname it then, or to convey the mockery to pofterity: For the NAME of a demolished God, like the shade of a deceafed Hero, ftill walked about, and was ready to prompt men to mifchief.

--

f Hic fcripfit libros in quibus majeftatem fummi ac fingu. laris dei afferit, iifdemque nominibus appellat, quibus nos, DEUM & PATREM. Ac ne quis NOMEN ejus requireret, ANONYMON effe dixit; eo quod nominis proprietate non egeat, ob ipfam fcilicet unitatem. Ipfius hæc verba funt, debòs dîs; ô dè els ὀνόματα. 8 προσδέεται ; ἔςι γὰρ ὁ ὢν ανώνυμος. Deo igitur nomen non eft, quia folus eft: nec opus eft proprio vocabulo, nifi cum difcrimen exigit multitudo, ut unamquamque perfonam fua nota et appellatione defignes. Div. Infi. Ì, i. c. 6.

unmixed

unmixed with idolatry, fays, In that day shall there be one Lord, and HIS NAME ONE ; that is, only bearing the fimple title of LORD: and, as in the words of Lactantius below, ac ne quis NOMEN ejus requireret, ANONYMON esse dixit; eo quod nominis PROPRIETATE non egeat, ob ipfam fcilicet UNITATEM. Out of indulgence therefore to this weaknefs, GOD was pleased to give himself a NAME. And God faid unto MOSES, I AM THAT I AM: And he faid, Thus fhalt thou say unto the children of Ifrael, I AM bath fent me unto you". Where we may obferve (according to the conftant method of divine Wisdom, when it condescends to the prejudices of men) how, in the very inftance of indulgence to their fuperftition, he gives a corrective of it. The Religion of names arofe from an idolatrous polytheism; and the NAME here given, implying eternity and felf-existence, directly oppofeth that fuperftition.

This compliance with the Religion of names was a new indulgence to the prejudices of this people, as is evident from the following words: And GoD fpake unto Mofes, and faid unto him, I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Ifaac, and unto Jacob, by the NAME OF GOD ALMIGHTY, but by my NAME JEHOVAH was I not known to them. That is, as the God of Abraham, I before condefcended to have a Name of diftinction: but now, in compliance to another prejudice, I condefcend to have a Name of honour. This feems to be the true interpretation of this very difficult text, about which the commentators are fo much embarrassed. For the word Jehovah, whose name is here faid to be unknown to the Patriarchs, frequently occurrh EXOD. iii. 14. i EXOD. vi. 3. B 3

Ch. xiv. ver. 9.

ing

ing in the book of Genefis, had furnished Unbelievers with a pretext that the fame perfon could not be author of the two books of Genefis and Exodus. But Ignorance and Scepticism, which fet Infidelity on work, generally bring it to shame. They mistook the true fenfe of the text. The.. affertion is not, that the wORD Jehovah was not used in the patriarchal language; but that the NAME Jehovah, as a title of honour, (whereby a new idea was affixed to an old word) was unknown to them. Thus, in a parallel inftance, we fay rightly, that the King's SUPREMACY was unknown to the English Conftitution till the time of Henry VIII. tho' the word was in ufe, and even applied to the chief Magiftrate, (indeed in a different and more fimple fenfe) long before.

The common folution of this difficulty is as ridiculous as it is falfe. You fhall have it in the words of a very ingenious Writer." The word "JEHOVAH fignifies the being unchangeable in his "refolutions, and confequently the being infinitely "faithful in performing his promifes. In this

fenfe, the word is employed in the paffage of Exodus now under examination. So that "when God fays, by my name Jehovah was I not "known to them, this fignifies,-" as one faithful "to fullfil my promises, was I not known to them.” "i. e. I had not then fullfilled the promise which "I had made to them, of bringing their pofterity out of Egypt, and giving them the land of Canaan By which interpretation, the Almighty

66

kil fignifie l'etre immuable dans fes refolutions, et par confequent l'etre infiniment fidelle dans fes promeses, et c'eft dans cette acception que ce nom eft emploié dans le paffage de l'Exode, que nous examinons. Qu' ainfi quand Dieu dit, Je