The Glory of the Go.JPel. Here was one way whereby God made known whnt g!orious Riches were · him, which might have made him glorious in their eyes, and themfelves ha pp~~ and this the Angels, and Adam at the firft had: But all this contented him not' God would mal!e known a further Myftery, another larger, deeper way, an aQ found out m the depth of h1~ W1fdom, Namely, tlus ·Do6hine of the Gofpel wh1ch he kept lud ~nd clofe m!m~wn breaft; not a Crea.ture knew it,no not the Angels who were his neareft Couruers, and deareft favouracs; it lay hid in God Ephrf. 3· 9· hid e~en from them, vcrfe 10. ' A Myftery which when it lhould be revealed lhould am~ze the World, put the Angels to School agam, as 1f they had kno~n nothmg 10. comparifon of thi•, wherein they know over agam all thofe glonous nches wh1ch are in God and that more perfectly and fully than ever yet. And fo after they had a litde frudied. the Catechifm, and Compendium there lhould then come out a large Volum 11 new Syftem of the riches of the glory of God, the Myfiery ofChrilt in the T;xt which is the !aft Edition alfo, that tver lhall co'?e for~h, now fet out, enlarged perfected, wherein the large Inventory of Gods glonous perfections is more tul– ly fet down, and with additions. The Reafons why God did thus intend \Omanifefi himfelf are, Fidi, Becaufe he would lhew his manifold Wifdom,whicb is the Reafon given of revealing the Gofpel, Ephej. :i• 10. That to the A11gels might appear the mamfoldWifdom of God. , · That his Wifdom is fo vaft and large that he could vary and take more ways than one; and as he had two forts of reafonable Creatures to lhew himtelf unto, fo a double way , a double famplar, a double method, a Syflema Majur W Minur. ·~ And Secondly, Becaufe indeed 'twas of it felf too obfcure and too imper~ fed. Firfi, Too obfcure, for in the Gofpel, and works of Redemption, they came to fee all that they faw before; and this more clearly and largely, wherein they fee more power in Chrifi, the Powrr of God, 1 (or. r. 24. In raifing himfelf up from death to life, declared with power, thereby to be the Son of God, Rom. r. 4· and alfo the exceeding greatnefs of his power in railing us up alfo, Epbef. 1. rg. as might ealily be lhewed greater than in the Creation, Wherein they likewife fee a greater and clearer inftance and manifefiation of his Juftice in putting to death his own Son, takeing on him to be a furety for fin, than if a World of Worlds had been damn'd for ever; And in that his Son alfo, they came too fee agreater and more tranfcendent righteoufnefs than ever ap– peored either in the L1w or is inherent in the Angels, for if all their righteoufnefs . were put into one it could but juftifie themfelves, it could not fatisfie tor the leall: breach of the Law in another. But in the Gofpel, and work of Redemption ! we fee a R.ighteoufnefs of that breadth that it is able to cover the fins of Millions of Worlds; of that length thatitreacheth to Eternity, andnofinin God's People can wear it out or nullify the venue of it. To infiaoce in !JO more. Secondly, That other was but an imperfed: way in comparifon of this , for. Firft, Thofe Attributes -,vhich God accompts his greatell: riches and greatell glory, Rom. g. 2 ~. even his Mercy and free Grace which he intends moll to ex– alt, never faw light till now; the Doctrine of fal~ation by Chrifi being the fiage, wherein it is only reprefented, and elfewhere 1t IS not to be feen, ond up– Oil it it aCts the greateft pan, for all pa!Tages in it tend to this, to 1hew as Epb. 2. I'. TIMt ~y Grace wn zre j;Jved; and therefore 1 Ptt, 2 , 1o. the whole work of falvation is called Mrrcy, all God'• ways to his people are Mercy, P[al. 2) • the whole plot and frame of it is made of Mercy, and therefore the Dodrme of the Gofpel is called Grace I Tit 2. ro, I '· Mercy manageth the plot, gives all other A~tnbutes, as it w~re their parts to aCt, Mercy enters in at the b·eginning, · ad:s
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