V E R. I, Z. Epflle to the H Ë.B a Ew s, I i InJiitutions as he had done, whom they were to bear and obey on the penalty of utter extermination, Dow. 18. 18. "And this dífovers the obáinacy of the Modern .7ews, who from thedayesofMai- s" monides, who died about the year ofoarLord t to+ have made it one ofthefun- " dament.rl Articles of their Religion, which they have inferted in their Prayer Books, " that the Lawof Mofc's is neverto be changed, and that Gód will never give them any eother Law, or Rule of Worfhip: andas they further ground that Article in Ezrim "Vearba, printed in the end ofBamberg, Bibles, they affirm, that nothing ,can beadded " unto it nothing takfn away from it, no alteration in its obligation be admitted; which «is diredly,eontrary both to theTruth,and to the Confeffonofall their Piedeceffors, " who looked for the Mffiah, as we [hall afterwards declare. In Opposition to this Gradual Revelation of the mind ofGod under the Old Tefta- ment, the Apostle intimates that-now by 3efus the Meffiab, the Lord bath at once be- gun,and finifbcd the whole Revelationof his Will according to their own hopesand expet`áation. Sonde 3. The Faithwas once deliveredunto the Saints : not in oneday, not in one Sermon, or by one Perfon, but at one feafan, or under one difpenfation, corn- prizing all the time from the entrance of theLord Chrift upon hisMiniftry, and the closing of theCantor ofScripture,. which period was now at hand. ThisSeafon being once pali and hnifhcd, no new Revelation is to be expelled to the endof the world. Nothing (hall be added unto , nor altered in the Worfhip of God any more. God will not do it, men that attempt it, do it on the price oftheir fouls. a. God fpake in the Prophets, .wue 6.as, after divers fires or manners. Nowthis Trot tilf6naa: refpecas either the various wagesof Gods revealing himfelfto the Prophets, by Dreams, Vifions, Infpirationr,Vreices,Angels, ev,ry way withan equal evidenceof their beingfrom God ; or the waysofhis dealingwith the Fathersby the Prophets, bypromifis, threats, gradual difoveries ofhis Wilt, fpecial Meg-1,es and Prophecies,publickSermonsand the like. The latter,or the various wayes of the Prophetsdelivering their MelTages to the People from .God is principally intended, though the former be not excluded, it being that, fromwhence this latter variety did principally arifeand flow. In oppofition hereunto the Apoille intimates, that the RevelationofGod and his will by Chrift was accomplifhed µoveidiur, in oneonly way and manner, by his preaching the Gofpel who was anointed with the Spirit without meafure. The laft difference, or inftanee in the Comparifon, snuffled on by theApostle is, ,fv 7 rpe- that ofold God fpake in the Prophets, butnow in the Son, év -role .eoenrats ; br for d'td ®ñ1aus fay moltExpafttors, inforby, dis oTe aeosn7e,; as Luke trio. ¿s2 á4u70 oÿl dotov oreosalw "r, by the mouth of theholy Prophets ; But cr here,anfwers the Hebrew 1 Numb.' 2. God fpake ttt001 inMoles. The certaintyof the Revelation and pretence ofGod with his word is.intimated in the Expreflion. So the wordofthe Lord was -03, in the hand of this or that Prophet. They were but instruments to giveout, what from God they had received. Now thefe Prophets inwhomGod fpake of Old, were all thofe who weredivinely infpiredand lent to reveal hisWill and Mind, as to the dutyofle Church,or any fpe- cial concernment of hisProvidence in the Rule and Government thereof, whether they declared the infpirations theyhad, or Revelations theyreceived,by word ofmouth,or by writing. a TheModern Jews make a ddtindionbetween theGift ofProphecy and `E the Infpíration of the Holy Ghafi, following Maimonides in his More Nebuchim part. 2. "cap. 32. Hisopinion,whtch he calls theopinion or fèntence ofthe Law, about Prophecy in general is the famewith that of theGentile Philofophers as he pprofelfeth.. inone "thing only he differs from them ; namely, that Prophecy doth not fo mcefCarily "follow after due preparation, as that a man cannot butprophefle who is rightlyprepared. "But the Gift ofProphecy, he afferts wholly to depend on the temperature of, the " brain,-natural and moral exercifes for thepreparing and railing of the imaginati- " on, upon which divinevision's will fucceed. A brain-lick imagination, confound- `` ingdivine Revelationwith Phanatical diftempers. But, in the eleven degrees ofPro- "phey which he afliiges, and attempts to prove by inftances outof Scripture,he place- " eth that of infpirationby theHoy Gholf in the Tait and lowed place. And therefore "by the late Mailers is the Book ofDaniel call intothis latter fort, though eminent- " ly prophetical, becaufe they arefo galled with his prediilions and calculations; other. "Reafonof that difpofition none readily' occurs. And this is the ground of, their " difpofition of the Books of theScripture, into t111í1, the Law, orfive,Books ofMotes, "given in the higheft way and degree Of Prophecy ; =MA of two forts, Mini, Xx and
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