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from me all my toil and all my father's house, c. xli. 51. And the name of the fecond called he EPHRAIM, "the ONE MADE TO BE FRUITFUL;" for GOD hath [ EPHRA-NI] caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction, ver. 52. PHARAOH's daughter, who took MOSES for her fon, called his name MOSES," the DELIVERED ONE, as well as "DELIVERER" and or for fhe faid, because [ MosITU] I drew or delivered him out of the water. Ex. ii. 10. When ZIPPORAH bare a fon, MOSES called his name GERSHOM, "the STRANGER," or SOJOURNING NAME;" for he faid, I have been [GER] a firanger in a Strange land, ver. 22. After him in the time of the judges, when GIDEON had caft down the altar of BAAL, and JOASH his father faid unto all that food against him, will you plead for BAAL, &c. therefore on that day he called him JERUBBAAL, "the IMPLEADER WITH [BAAL] THE RULING ONE;". faying, let BAAL [ JeRUB] plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. Judg. vi. 30, 31, 32. NAOMI faid unto the people of BETH-LEHEM, call me not NAOMI, call me [ MARA] the fame as MARY," the EMBITTERED ONE;" for the ALMIGHTY bath [ E-MaR] dealt very bitterly with me, &c. Ruth, c. i. 20. So PHINEHAS's wife named her child I-CHABOD, "the MADE TO BE DESIRED GLORY," saying, [ GELE CHаBOD] the GLORY is departed from

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from ISRAEL, I S. iv. 21. The WORD OF THE LORD faid prophetically of SOLOMON, Behold a SON fhall be born to thee, who fhall be a man of rest, and I will give him reft from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be [ SOLOME or Engl.] SOLOMON," THE ONE TO BE PEACE;" and I will give [ SOLOM} peace and quietness unto ISRAEL in his days. I C. xxii. 9. as alfo foretold in PJ. lxxii, 3, 7. In ISAIAH's time the LORD faid unto him concerning the son of the prophetess, call his name MAHAR-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ,

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SPEED TO THE SPOIL HE HASTNETH THE

PREY," Marg. for before the child ball have, knowledge to cry" my father and my mother," the riches of DAMASCUS and [ SHaLaL] the spoil of SAMARIA fhall be taken away before the king of ASSYRIA. I. c. viii. 3, 4. Of the city JERUSALEM, the type of the human nature of the MESSIAH, and of his myftic body, the church, it is faid, thou shalt be called HEPHZ-I-BAH, "MY DELIGHT (is) IN HER," and thy land BEULAH, "the MARRIED ONE:" for the LORD [ron HеPнez BeK] delighteth in thee, and thy land fhall be [by Te-BeOL] married. a. lxii. 4. Of GOMER's fon the LORD faid unto Hose A, call his name JEZREEL, the SEED or ARM OF GOD;" for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of JEZREEL upon the house of JEHU, "the EXISTING ONE" or "ESSENCE," &c.

Hof. i.

Hof. i. 4.; and of the daughter - call her name LORUHAMAH, for I will [SLO] no more [A-RUHаM] have mercy upon the house of ISRAEL, &c. ver. vi. of the other fon, call his name Lo-AMMI: for ye are [y Lo AMMI] not my people, and I will not be your GOD, ver. 9. Sufficient proofs these of the propriety with which the NAMES in SS were given, and that we may fay of them all, what ABIGAIL faid of NABAL, AS HIS NAME is So is HE, I S. xxv. 25. as was evidently true in his cafe, according to her comment upon it; NABAL," the FOOLISH or EMPTIED OUT ONE" (is) HIS NAME, and [ NaBаLE] FOLLY, or EMPTINESS, (is) WITH HIM, ver. 25.

From hence it is no wonder we fhould find the tradition of fuch defcriptive, nay, prophetic propriety in names among the revolting heathens, whofe fore-fathers were well acquainted with this truth. The Athenians thought of nothing but triumphs in the Sicilian war, because Nicias, the general employed in it, had his name from [rinn, Nike] victory, which good men were of opinion was a favourable prefage. Nay, we learn from Plato in his Cratylus, it was matter of question even with the antient philofophers, whether there was not fome fecret fate or providence in it, that men fhould have names given them, fo exactly tallying with their future circumftances

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life, whether adverse or profperous. Whence it is clear, whoever those antient philofophers were, that they, in order to make a question of it, muft have known it for a truth, that there had been men who were thus correfpondently named; or that fuch defcriptive names had really been given to men: which, as it is an evidence of there having been a providential impofition of them, proves also the existence of the perfons recorded under fuch names in SS; as they, and they alone ever bore or could bear fuch. The Greeks called. fuch perfons (eçavuμa Pheronyma) persons of their own name, what they were called. Hence (Espnvasos) Irenæus, "the peaceable one," was fo called by Eufebius, and Severus the emperor is faid by Lampridius to be a fevere or serious perfon and a man ( fui nominis) of, or answering to his own name; being what it fignified him.

The Albans and Sabines, and thence the Latins did doubtless from this original office or use of names firft derive what they called Pra-nomen, fet before their name, as Silvius Numitor, Titus Tatius, &c.; their Prænomina being in plain English Fore-names", names given beforehand at a certain age, (ominis gratia) “ for the fake of" or "by way of prediction" or "foretelling what should be their portion;" as Val. Max. Lib. 10, fays Tullus was, from tollo, as one (tollendus) to be taken off; the being turned into . The cognomen or Iur-name was

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alfo one added to that, which a man had of his father from fome remarkable event or action. And the agnomen was the name or title which was added to a man's name, (as if it were adnomen) a name to a name," say some; but I rather think (from agnofco) as denoting fomewhat he was acknowledged to have done, or be as M. Portius Cato Cenforinus was called fo from his office of cenfor, Scipio Africanus from his conqueft of Africa, or William the conqueror, Edward the confeffor, &c. And on the decline of the propriety in names, and of their correfpondency with their after characters, which, it is evident, must have ceased, when not imposed by one who had a prophetic view of what the perfon was to be, or do, or when not given by one, that was under the over-ruling direction of HIM who had fuch view; people afterwards had these epithets given them, called prænomen, cognomen, and agnomen by the Romans, which were defcriptive of what they had fhewn themselves to be, or were commemorative of fome paffage in their lives; a practice, which has not only defcended to our times, in the additional titles of the great, the good, right honourable, &c. given to princes fometimes, and eminent perfons; but is to be traced in the furnames of most people, which are in general defcriptive, as Bird, Fax, Hart, Lyons, &c. though not defignedly now of any character of the people; and alfo in CHRIS

TIAN

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