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V

e R.

3.

Ephefians,

Chap.3.

at

!earl

throw

in

a

letter

of

our mind, which notwithftanding will bee

never

the

nearc unleffe

we conveylight

to

read

the

fame:

fo

I fay;

ei-

ther God mutt

call unto

us in

an

audible

voyce,

or

fend his

Angels,

or

raife

up

afrefh fome

extraordinary

meanes

of

revealing

his

will

,

or

elfefend his

letters

of

his

mind to

us

his loving friends ,

redeemed by

the blood

of

Chrift,

yea and reach

us

light

alto for

the perufing

of

the

fame,

or

furely we

(hall

never

as

long

as

we live attaine

to the

know-

ledge

ofhis

will,

it is

impoffible.

Now

I

grant

that

there bookes

of

Scripture doe containe the divine

will

of

God,

but

fuch

is

the

darkneffe

of

our underftanding,

that

we

cannot

conceive

thereof

unleffe

the out-

ward meanes

ofrhe

preaching

of

the

Word

be

joyned with theinward

working

ofthe

Spirit,

as

fire

to

enlighten the whole houfe.

Not

that

the

Word

in

it

(rife

is

obfcure and darke,

but that

it

lighteth

into

thofe

hands

of

loch

blind expofitors,

in

whom

is

nothing but darkneffe,

as

the

bright

filver lying in

a

darke

cheft.

As

I

wrote

abeveinfew words.]

Now

followeth the proof- from the

effed, the Apoftle

his

writing, which

his

writing

is

amplified

from

the ule

or

fruit

of

itin

the

verfe

following.

In

his

writing

might

bee

confidered

two

things.

a.

The

writing it felfe.

a. The

manner.

But

the latter

onely

I

will obferve:

it bath

two

parts.

a.

The

conformity with

his

revelation.

a.

The

brevity

of

it.

On that

I infift.

That

the Apoftle did

write in few

words:

Obi.

hence;

That

the

Apofiles

writings

are butfummes

and

briefer

as

it

were

of

that Dad;

they

uttered:

thus

Mores

he did

write

hat

fum

marily

the things which

The

Apotiles

he had

often

dclivc

red, and

that

largely: fo

the Prophets,

we

fee

the

burra

brier

®f

Sermons

of

them

as

they are written

,

may

bee read

in

few

homes

which

their

preach

-

were

in

preaching forty yeares:

This we

have

is

but an

abftral

i"

gs

and

abridgement

of

that they largely uttered.Revèl.

so.

io.

this booke

is

called a

little

book.

For thus

God

would have

his

Scriptures

not

Reafor

r:

great

in

bulke, but

of

great virtue

:

as

gold amongít

metalls,fo

is

Gods

Scripture amongft writing:

Thefe

are

little, but

have more virtue then

all

the volumes

of

men; the wifdome

of

it

fuch

as

cannot

bee

founded

with the fathome

of

humane underftanding.

God

knew

that

reading much was

but

a

wearifomeneffe

to the

'Rs*,

.

flefh,

Ecclef.

la.

That

theworld could not have

received all particularities

:

lohn

a/.

?eafon

.

Many

other

things

refits

did,

the which

if

they fhould

bee

written

e

very

one,

I

fuppof

the world could

not

contain

the

booker

that

/liould

bee Ioh°

"

ss

written.

God

would have

them

briefe, becaufe he would have the

gift

of

in-

,eeafx 4.

terpretation take place

in

the

Church,

and therefore did proportion the

Scripture

fo

as

might

ferve

with this purpofe.

This

being fo, it muff

move

us

to

acknowledge

the

gnodneffe

of

pp,

God,

who when

he

might

have charged

us

with great volumes

,

bath

onely