s The Second E R M 0 N On HEB. I. 1, 2. God who at fondry times , and in divers manners jpa~ in time paft unto the Fatbers by the Prophets. Hatb in theft !aft days fpo~n unto m by his Son, whom be bath appoi11ted Heir of all things, by whom alfo he madethe Worlds. T O come now to the other part of the words, !ll the !aft days he bath re. ·vtaled himfelf unto ut 67 hu Son, e§c. The Firfr thing we may obferve ..B. hence is, Why they fhould be called the laf/ days? Thefe times of the Gofpel are called the lajl days: _ Firfr, That which is lafr implies, more then one period to have gone before ; for where there is Vltimut,there muft bePrimut ~Meditu atleaft; and there· fore there were more Periods than one that went before the Revealing of the Gofpel, there were Two eminent ones. The Firft was from the Creation to Mo. fu, when the Law was given on MoUitt·Sinah, and the word committed to wri– ting. TheSecond was lromMofestoChrij/; thefe are days that are firft and middle,and in comparifon of thofe he calls thefe days tht lajl days. Secondly, T hefe are called tht lajl days, Btcaufe upoll ut tht mds of the world artcome,as I[or.Io,u . All thefe things happened unto them for enfamplcs, and they are witten for our Admonition, upon whom the cnc!s or the perfection ofthe world is come;all the days that went before were but Types, aad all the palfages were but Types, and thofe things that have been done in the times of the Gofpel, have been the perfection of thofe things that went before; W:~.S there wickednefs before in the World?Thefe !aft times fliall be the perfection of theWorld in regard of wickednefs; all the Sins that were committed in the Old World,are but Prt£/u. diums to that villany·,rhat lhall be hereafter;was there grace ftirring in the World before ? It is but a T ype of that Grace which fhall be in the New World; in thefe !aft times : T his is the !aft time becaufe it is the perfection of the other. So d;d · God fend Judgment upon fin and finners, they were Types of what more emi– nent Judgments he would bring upon men in thefe days.· It is the Harve!l of the World, all that went before was but the fow.ing, this the ripennig both of wick– ednefs and grace ; As the !aft Act that is in a Tragedy, bath more in it than all rhe Acts thu went before ; then c0mes in all the k illing and butchering, and the plot cloth then unfold it fclf; fo all the other Scenes that were upon the llage of the World make all way, to unfold this !all:, then comes in the bloody perfccuti· ons and hercfics, and then comes fin and likewife grace to be at their full ripe· nefs; and therefore the Apo£\le faith,! thif1k that God h,Jtb [et forth m tht Apo– jlles lafl, (!le. he doth allude to the !all: of the play, when they ufed at Rome their fence-playing, they that came up Iaft died for it, they went not offtill one had kil'd the other; N ow faith he, I thi11k that God,~c. for the !aft time is the rime wherein Heretics and Pcrfecutions abound; then come in all tJ•o butchering, and all that went before was but a Trt£1ttdmm of what was to come. T herefore
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=