375 / 808
V
E
R.
5.
Ephefians,
Chap.3,
359
and the
houre
of
darkneße, even wherein
that
fogge
of
the
battemle
[re
pit
fhouldprevaile,
there could
not
then be
the light which now there
is
when the little
book
is
opened.
For God
is a
Soveraigne
Lord holding of
no
other,
hee
may doe
with
his
owne
as
pleafeth
him,
and he
doth
ufe
his
liberty
to
drew
his
freedome,
to
move
us
to
thankfulneffe, feeing he leaveth
fome alto-
getherwithout
his
ordinances,
as
the Gentiles, whom
hee
a
long time
regarded not
fo
farre,
and
to
his
owne people he revealeth fometime
more fparingly,fomenme more plentifully,as pleafeth him.
Heb.
s.
a.
At
fundry
times
and
in
diverfe
manners
God
fpake
unto
the
Fathers in
eld
time.
God
did notat
the
firft at once reveale his
whole will,
but
at
fundry times, by
parts, by many feverall,and particularparts, now one
part,
and
then another. For marke
how Chrift
was
revealed: firft
to
God
by
dc-
vldam:
The
Seed
of
the
woman
(hall
break
the
Serpents head;
there
was
a
Brs
rerealed
Saviour promifed
to deftroy our enemies that
fhould
come out
of
our
the
a
Merah
to
nature,
the
Seed
of
the woman:
After more particularly to v16raham
s
people.
God
Paid,
In
thy Seed /hall
all
nations
be
bleßed;
there he makes
a
pro-
Geaix.f
mite
that the
Mefsiah
fhould come from his loynes
:
further God did
more particularly declare him when he
faid, hee fhould
come
of
the
tribe
of
Iudah, Gen.49.
Then
after more
diftinttly
of
a
particular fa-
mily, namely
of
David,Efay
It
.
r
.
That
there fhould
come
foi¢tba
rod
out
ofthefemme
ofJeffe,
and
a
branch fhallgrow
out
of
his
rettco.
And
in fuc-
ceffion
of time
more diftinttly
layd
downe, how
this
c
tefsiah mould
beborne
of
a
virgin, the
place at
Bethlehem,
and
fet doweie
what hee
fhould
doe,
and
how
he fhould fuffer. So
that by
thefe degrees was
,
God
diverts
theRedeemer, the
Saviour
of the world
revealed
more
and
more
as
ordered
h;s
his
time
did more neerely
approach,
that the
faith
and
hope
of
Gods
Church
before
people
might be more
and
more
raifcd up ,
as
he was more evidently
chr;ll,
and clearely revealed unto
them.
So
in
regard
of
the
generals
govern
-
ment
of
the
Church,
and
declaration
of
the
will
ofGod;
before God
had
gathered the
Ifraelites
together to bee
a
peculiar people
to
him
-
felfe,
and
committed
his natures
to
them
,
his
will
was
declared
by
particular
revelation,
onely of fuch things
as
were
needful)
for thofé
times and
perfons.
Again
when God had
eftablifhed
his
Church
which
was
to
continue divers generations, then the
Lord
gave them
ordinances and
rites,by which he
did declare hiswill;thus did
the Lord
fet
forth himfelfe by
degrees unto
that
people
then
living
,
before
the exhibition
of
Chrift,
in
the
infancy
of
the
Church.
But
doth
hee
fo
nowNo,
but now under theGofpell God hath
revealed
his
whole
will and
counfell fo,farre
as
is
needfuli for
the Church to know;
for
Chrift comming downe from the bofome
of
his
Father
,
hath made
Now all
is
fut-
knowne the
whole will
of
God to
us
; and therefore hee giveth this
ly revealed.
charge
to
his
Difciples ;
Whatf
ever
I
have
commanded
you
teach
;
and
thereupon
Paul
is
bold to
fay
in his
excellent farewell
to the Church
of
é
:
:a
Ephefus,
that
he
had
delivered
unto
them the wholeceunfell
of
God.
This
confideration
doth
rebuke
both
learned and unlearned
:
thefe
thinke
all new
doctrine that their Fathers,
meaning this
or
that
gene-
I
i
z
ration