Mather - Houston-Packer Collection BS478 .M3 1705

Telament, atfundrÿ times. 47 kinds of them ; and every thing is belt in its place, and kind, and propor- tion to the ,whole, though not fiimply and in it Pelf. It is : beft that in a body,there Ihould be a Foot, as well as an Head, though limply, ; and in it Pelf the Head be more excellent. The Wifdom ofGod appears not only in the individual natures of things ; but in their references and proportions to other things, and to the whole, whereof they are parts fo it is better, and the Wifdom of God appears more, in that there was both a Legal anda Gofpel Difpenfation of Chrift and hisBenefits, though the Gofpel Difpenfation be in it felffar the more excellent. Therefore this is a third Beam of his Glory that Chines forth herein, viz. his manifold Wifdom. As there is infinite Wifdom in every thing God doth, fo he would have us fee it. 4. This variety ofDifpenfation manifefts the Lords abfolute Freedom, and Liberty, and Soveraigntyin the ufe of Means and Inflruments, that he is not tyed to any of them : He can work by little or by great means, by few or many. He can difpenfe the fame Grace to his Church either in a Family-way, or in a Nation, or in all Nations. For the Church of God was fiat a Family, then in populo Ifraelitico, and now in populo Catholico. He can reveal himfelf either by ordinary or extraordinary perfons; either in a more immediate way, or in a mediate way. He hath not limited himfelf to one way, or time, or manner of fpeaking, left we fhould afcribetthe Glory to the Means, to the Tools, rather than the bleffed Woikrnan andAuthor. Therefore he is pleafed ever and anon to change the Means, to break his Tools, as it were, and throw them away, and make new ones. Hence, if men begin to think that a Temple at gerufalem bath any Salvation in it, he will burn it up, and be worfhip- ped in fpiritiand truth in every Cottage ; as doh. 4. pure incenfe every where, . Malt.: s. The fifthBeam of Divine Glory that chines forth in this variety of Adminiítration is the Glory of peculiar Goodnefs,which the Lord will receive by this means from every Saint ofhis, according to his peculiar dealing withhim. .Some will,blefs him for Multitude and Excellency of MeairsT, others will admire his Power and Grate :in working by final] and weak means i Sortie will `5raife`him . for one kind of Difpenfation; others fir another kind: Assfor inftance. A New-Teltament Saint will praife God, that he caufed him Co live in the Noon-day; and under the highefi Meridian of Gofpel-Light ;twhen'the Earthwas'fuli ofthe KñOWfidge of the Lord. Oh, what fhduld I:.have been if`ú1y lot had fallen under former timesof;Ignorance{acrd Bit another in thofe for`iriér dark tidies, (as for inftaneé, 4Abrabeinri) he will ddmire' and-wóndéi4 at God's Mercy, that when Darknefs was round about him i yet the Lord opened

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