in the latter days, toward the setting of the sun, when the John xviii. But to pass by more particulars, Josuah smote the Amalekites, and subdued the Canaanites; by the first making way to enter the land, by the second giving possession of it. And Jesus our Prince and Saviour, whose kingdom was not of this Acts v. 81. world, in a spiritual manner goeth in and out before us against 36. our spiritual enemies, subduing sin and Satan, and so opening and clearing our way to heaven; destroying the last enemy, death, so giving us possession of eternal life. Thus1 do we believe the man called Jesus to have fulfilled in the highest degree imaginable, all which was but typified in him who first bare the name, and in all the rest which succeeded in his office, and so to be the Saviour of the world; whom God hath Luke L 69, raised up, an horn of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David, that we should be saved from our enemies, and the hand of all that hate us. 71. 23, 24. The necessity of the belief of this part of the Article is not only certain, but evident: because there is no end of faith without a Saviour, and no other name but this by which we can be saved, and no way to be saved by him but by believing in him. For this is his commandment, that we should be- 1 John lieve on the name of his Son Jesus Christ: and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. From him then, and from him alone, must we expect salvation, acknowledging and confessing freely there is nothing in ourselves which can effect it or deserve it for us, nothing in any other creature which can promerit or procure it to us. For there is but one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man 1 Tim. fi. 5. Christ Jesus. It is only the beloved Son, in whom God is well Matt. ii. 17. Dominus efficiebat.' S. Hieron. in 1 Τί λέγει πάλιν Μωϋσῆς Ἰησοῦ υἱῷ Ναυή, ἐπιθεὶς αὐτῷ τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα ὄντι προφήτῃ, ἵνα μόνον ἀκούσῃ πᾶς ὁ λαός, ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ πάντα φανεροί περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ Ἰησοῦ; λέγει οὖν Μωϋσῆς Ἰησοῦ υἱῷ Ναυή, ἐπιθεὶς τοῦτοὄνομα, ὁπότε ἔπεμψεν αὐτὸν κατάσκοπον τῆς γῆς• Λάβε βιο Rev. xix. 13. Isai. liii. 6. 41 11. pleased; he is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; he hath trodden the wine-press alone. We like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. By him God hath reconciled all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. By him alone is our salvation wrought: for his sake then only can we ask it, from him alone expect it. Secondly, this belief is necessary, that we may delight and rejoice in the name of Jesus, as that in which all our happiness is involved. At his nativity an angel from heaven thus taught the shepherds, the first witnesses of the blessed Luke il 10, incarnation; Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And what the angel delivered at present, that the prophet Isaiah, Isai. ix. 2, 6, that old evangelist, foretold at distance. When the people which walked in darkness should see a great light; when unto us a child should be born, unto us a son should be given; then should they joy before God, according to the joy in harvest, Isai. xxxv. 4, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. When God 3. 10. So zone affection shall come with recompence, when he shall come and save us; 78 then the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Sion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads. Thirdly, the belief in Jesus ought to enflame our affection, to kindle our love toward him, engaging us to hate all things in respect of him, that is, so far as they are in opposition to Matt. x. 37. 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, 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 Luke xiv. 26. 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. 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 John l. 16. pen of man? God so loved the world, that he gave his onlybegotten Son. Is it not he who shewed his own love to us far John xv. 13. beyond all possibility of parallel? For greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends; but while we were yet sinners (that is, enemies), Christ died Rom. v. 8. for us, 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: nor was that only Cant. il. 7; the expression of a spouse, but of Ignatius1 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 1 Cor. xvi. 22. him be Anathema, Maran-atha. iii. 5; viii. 4. Lastly, the confession of faith in Jesus is necessary to Mediques 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 Phil. ill. 8. 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. 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 John xiv. 15. me, keep my commandments; and what the apostle of his bosom spake, This is the love of God, that we keep his com- 1 John v. 3. mandments. His own disciples once marvelled, and said, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea Matt. viii. 27. obey him? How much more should we wonder at all disobedient 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 Mark ix. 88. sufficient to cast out devils? and shall man be more refractory than they? Shall the exorcist say to the evil spirit, I adjure Acts xix. 13. thee by the name of Jesus, 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, and so is not Heb. ii. 16. their Saviour? And can we deny obedience unto him, who took on him the seed of Abraham, and became obedient to death, Ibid. even the death of the cross, for us, that he might be raised to Phil. il 8. 1 Ὁ ἐμὸς ἔρως ἐσταύρωται. Epist. ad Roman. c. 7. Luke ix. 49. 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? Phil. I. 9, 10. For God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. 3 2 Having thus declared the original of the name Jesus, the means and ways by which he which bare it expressed fully 79 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 Josuah, 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 which unfeignedly and steadfastly believe in him. I acknowledge there is no other way to heaven beside 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. 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 acknowledged 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 John ix. 22. put out of the synagogue. 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 John iv. 25. Messias cometh, which is called Christ; and more plainly by what Andrew spake unto his brother Simon, We have found John i 41 the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. Messias in the Hebrew tongue, Christ in the Greek'. Messias, the lan 1 Ἰουδαῖοι γὰρ καταδέχονται τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν Ἰησοῦν· τὸ δὲ καὶ Χριστὸν εἶναι TOÛTOV, OŮKÉTI. S. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. 10. [§ 14. p. 143.] • Σύγγονε, Μεσσίαν σοφὸν εὐρομεν, ὃς Χριστὸς Ἰουδαίοισιν ἀκούεται Ελλάδι Nonnus, Joh. c. i. v. 157. 3 From лwn unxit; in the Hebrew mwo and nwn unctus; in the Syriac x: in the Greek, by changing w into σo, by omitting ʼn a guttural not fit for their pronunciation, and by addings, as their ordinary termination, xwn is turned into Merolas. That this was the Greek Χρίστος, 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 Χρηστός. So Suetonius in the life of Claudius, c. 25. 'Judæos impulsore Chresto adsidue tumultuan tes Roma expulit.' Which was not only |