John Trapp on Hosea 2:16

Verſe. 16. And it ſhall be in that day] A ſweet promiſe of a thorow reformation, much like that Zach. 13.2. God will turne to his people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to ſerve him with one ſhoulder, Zeph. 3.9. For which end he formes their ſpeech for them, & tutours them here how to terme him. Iſhi they muſt call him, but not Baali, my husband,So Tyrannus; fur, ſophiſta. but not my Lord: Not that there was any hurt in the word my Baal or Lord: but becauſe it had been abuſed and given to Idols, God would have none of it: or becauſe it was grown among the better ſort a name of contempt: like as for the ſame reaſon the word Burden is rejected, Jer. 23.36. Or laſtly, leſt the people whileſt they ſpoke of one thing ſhould think of another: and naming Baal ſhould be put in minde of an Idol. This is Hieromes reaſon. Some diſtinguiſh thus betwixt the 2 words,Lyra. Oecelamp. that Iſh is a name of love, Baal of feare, Others obſerve that Iſh ſignifieth an excellent man, and is therefore made choyce of as every way better then Baal, or Lord. Auguſtus forbad men to call him Lord: and deſired rather that more amiable name of Father of his countrey. It is wiſdome when we call upon God to make choyce of fit titles, not onely ſuch as he in his word hath warranted, but alſo ſuch as may be ſuitable to our requeſts, and helpfull to our faith in prayer; ſuch as wherein we may ſee the thing prayed for comming towards us, as it were. This will notably excite devotion. Inſtances of it ſee Pſal. 80.1. Act. 1.24. and 4.24.25. &c. Note there and in the next verſe, that there is no ſmall danger in words and names. What a deale of miſchief hath the word Huguenot done in France, and Puritan here. Anno 1572. Cardinall Allen at Rhemes inſtructed his emiſſary-ſeducers, ſent over hither, to divide the people under the names of Proteſtant and puritan: provoking them thereby to reall and mutuall both hate and contempt. His Rhemiſts in their anotations on 1 Tim. 20. warn their readers of uſing the words of Hereticks (ſo they call us) though they have no great hurt in them: and hold to their old termes of maſſe, pennance, Prieſt &c. they call us Novatores, but we may call them ſo better. The truth is, we may not teach nova, nor yet novè? Caſtalion cannot be excuſed in his Jana Genius Reſpublica for Eccleſia and other affected novelties. Melanchthons wiſh was, that men would not onely teach the ſame things, but in iiſdem verbis, in iiſdem ſyllabis in the ſame words, yea in the ſame ſyllables: for he that faineth new words brings in new doctrines (it may be thought) as did Arminius. And yet it is not many yeares ſince here amongſt us, that he that would not be an Arminian was held no better then a practicall Puritan. But let us keep our old words (ſaid thoſe Veteratores) and we ſhall eaſily keep our old faith: The devill doth ſometimes ſpeake the trueth for his own ends. But was Wincheſter well adviſed when he made The Lord, and not to ſay our Lord, Act. & Mon. 1116. Ib. 1803. to be ſymbolum baereticorum, a note of an heretick. Or Dr. Stery, whoſe rule to know an heretick was this, they will ſay The Lord, and we Praiſe God; and The living God. This was not Novum nomen, but Novum crimen, C. Caeſar. Much like that of Pope Paul 2.Cade of the church. Alſted. who pronounced them hereticks that did but name the name Academy either in earneſt or in jeſt: And another Pope made it hereſie to hold that there were any Antipodes.