2. For the Object, you must look on Jesus.] It is the blessedest Object that the eye of the mind can possibly fix upon; of all Objects under Heaven, Jesus hath the preeminence in perfection, and he should have the preeminence in our Meditation. It is he that will make us most happy when we possess him, and we cannot but be joyful to look upon him, especially when looking is a degree of possessing. — Jesus, for the name signifies Saviour; it is an Hebrew name; the Greeks borrowed it from the Hebrews, the Latins from the Greeks, and all other Languages from the Latins: It is used five hundred times in Pauls Epistles, saith Genebrard: it comes from the Hebrew word Jehoshua, or Joshua, which in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah 1(written after the Babylonian captivity) is Jeshua, and so is our Saviours Name always written in the Syriac translation of the new Testament. This name Jesus was given to Christ the Son of God, by his Father, and brought from Heaven by an Angel, first to Mary, and then to Joseph; and on the day when he was circumcised (as the manner was) this Name was given him by his Parents, as it was commanded from the Lord, by the Angel Gabriel.2 Not to stand on the Name, for the matter it includes both his office, and his natures; he is the alone Saviour of man,3 for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, and he is a perfect and an absolute Saviour;4 he is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. I will not deny, but that the work of salvation is common to all the three persons of the Trinity; it is a known rule,5 all outward actions are equally common to the three persons; for as they are all one in Nature and Will, so must they be also one in Operation; the Father saveth, the Son saveth, and the holy Ghost saveth; yet we must distinguish them in the manner of saving; the Father saveth by the Son, the Son saveth by paying the ransom and price of our salvation, the holy Ghost saveth by a particular applying of that ransom unto men: Now whereas the Son pays the price of our redemption, and not the Father, nor the holy Ghost, therefore in this special respect he is called our Saviour, our Jesus, and none but he.
2. For the Object, you must look on Jesus.] It is the blessed'st Object that the eye of the mind can possibly fix upon; of all Objects under Heaven, Jesus hath the preheminence in perfection, and he should have the preheminence in our Meditation. It is he that will make us most happy when we possess him, and we cannot but be joyfull to look upon him, especially when looking is a degree of possessing. — Jesus, for the name signifies Saviour; it is an Hebrew name; the Greeks borrowed it from the Hebrews, the Latines fom the Greeks, and all other Languages from the Latines: It is used five hundred times in Pauls Epistles, saith Genebrard: it comes from the Hebrew word Jehoshua, or Joshua, which in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah 1(written after the Babylonian captivity) is Jeshua, and so is our Saviours Name always written in the Syriack translation of the new Testament. This name Jesus was given to Christ the Son of God, by his Father, and brought from Heaven by an Angel, first to Mary, and then to Joseph; and on the day when he was circumcised (as the manner was) this Name was given him by his Parents, as it was commanded from the Lord, by the Angel Gabriel.2 Not to stand on the Name, for the matter it includes both his office, and his natures; he is the alone Saviour of man,3 for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, and he is a perfect and an absolute Saviour;4 he is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. I will not deny, but that the work of salvation is common to all the three persons of the Trinity; it is a known rule,5 all outward actions are equally common to the three persons; for as they are all one in Nature and Will, so must they be also one in Operation; the Father saveth, the Son saveth, and the holy Ghost saveth; yet we must distinguish them in the manner of saving; the Father saveth by the Son, the Son saveth by paying the ransom and price of our salvation, the holy Ghost saveth by a particular applying of that ransom unto men: Now whereas the Son pays the price of our redemption, and not the Father, nor the holy Ghost, therefore in this special respect he is called our Saviour, our Jesus, and none but he.
- 1Ezra 5.2. Nehem. 8.17
- 2Luke 1.26.31
- 3Act. 4.12.
- 4Heb. 7.25.
- 5Opera trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa.
