::!0 An Expo(ttion of the Epiple ~ no where hath fct forth more,than in this Paragraph of his bldling God !or them. · Strn:. !I. In fine as he elfewhere himfelf fpake, fo he had prtacbed, a11d jo tbey bad ~ betuv~d · fo as in effect Pmds bleiling of God by his enumerating thefe parti1 cor. 'l· cular blemngs of God bellowed upon them, proves to be indeed a preaching over to them the whole Gofpel of their Salvation anew, the whole Gofpel in a new mode in a new drefs of thanksgiving, vtz. for bleilings of Grace either fhewed to ihem, and wrought in them, by the matter of his preaching. In!\ead of· the Seeds, the Corn and Grailt he had fawn, which were fincc grown up in their hearts; he returns the frUits of them, frtttts of thezr ow11 growth~ And withal he doth in a covert manner mind them thereby, and brings frefi1 to their remembrance the principal materials, which God by his preaching, and which · while he was Preaching them, God had wrought in them, and finally he provokes them upon the remembrance hereof, atrefi1 to blefs God, by obferving himfelf thus affectionately and pailionately giving thanks, and praifes, and bleiling to God for them ; that how much more 010uld and ought they to do it anew for thcmfelves? Than which courfe of proceeding herein held by him, . there could not have been a greater Artifice invented, or ufed whereby to affect their own hearts. This for the Fit11ejs and Jt<flnefs of the occa!ion of bleiling God. Nor let any man wonder that I make this kind of ennumeration of Gofpel blef– fings to be as the preaching of the Gofpel it felf I am ready to Preac/; theGojpel to )'Ott atRomeatjo,fays Pm.tto theRoma11s,at the beginning ofChapter 1..And I am jitre ( fays he) that whm I come tmtoyou, ljha!t come m the futnefs of the bte;: jings of the Gofpet ofChrif/, fo fpeaks he at the end ofthat Epi!\le. The Gofpel is made up of bleilings, is nothing but bleilings, and the fulnefs of bleilings. Nor will it be out of our way or hwder us to fiand and obferve Cas touching the Formof his B!e{fi7ig God,)_ the val1 difference that at this very' entrance op– pears to be between the Old D•fpenfauon among the Jews, and the Difeenfation under the New Te!lament. The !arm they ufed is,B!ejfed be the Godof!Jrael.And ZacharJ•ufedtbisatatime, when it was fo ne~r the expiring of the Old Te– fiament, and the approach of the New, at a ume when the Meiliah himfelf was conceived, and come in the Womb, though not yet born, and .7ohn the Baptijl, that was to be his immediate fore-runner, was already born. They all fpeak in this fort, till Chri!\ were as the Sun at his height, as if they gene– rally knew no higher Title to honour God by, than the God of the Jews, the LordGodof ]{rae!. Blejfed be the Lord God of I[rae!, that was the wonted note of Old; they ufed in thebegitmillg, otherwhile in the m•ddte, orelfe cotJclt1{1o11oftheir.Songs and Worfhip. So 'Davidin the Pjatms often, Zachary in his Song, Lttke 1.68. The difference is that they fpake it accordingto the Level of the Old Te!\ament, B!ejfed be the God of Ifrae!; but the Holy Apo!\les Paul and Peter, accord– ing to the Elevation of the New: the God and F"ther of our Lord Jejtts Chrif/;and this Style the two great Apo!\les begin with;ourApo!\le here in the be– ginning of thiis Epi!lle, and l'eter in the beginning ofhis fir!\ Epi!lle, and he ufed it then when he did write unto Jews; for unto them are his Epij/!es written, which makes the alteration ofthe Style,the more obfervable, r. Pet.J. ~.Bie(ffd lie the God a11d Father of our Lord Je[us Chrij/. Yet the Mercies which he there blelfes God for, are but one or two; who according to his a6undattt mercy hath btgottmm agai11 to a lively hope, to attl11heritance, &c. It is a blei!in" God for thejirj/ 6Je[fi11g in Executio11, Regmeration, and the la!\ perform'd~ namely, the Inherita11ce i11 Heavm, as it followeth there. He begins his Doxology no higher then at that firj/ Jpiritua! mercy bellowed !n this life, which e!\ates us into that inheritance; but our Apo!\le here prefixeth Jt before his B!rjfed 6e God, and unto all61~(/ings univerfally, whereofin his fub– fequent difcourfe he enumerates the particulars,and he takes the rife of his flight h1gher, (accordittg as he hathcho[nt tiS a/ore the World,) even at Elef!io11; that fir!\, Original , and univerfally fundamental Grace,of all the other that follow; that vaft Womb of Eternity, in which all bleilings were conceived and fhaped before the World was, and fo from thence defcend1 to Rrdrmption Regenerat;otJ, Seal ofthe Spirit, Glory, And
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