CHAP.;.9. 694 ife ofGenea- logies in tix Scriptures. I Gen.;S. II ACa,m,eirtarie. upon the manbe deuoted to them, he thall be euer learning, and yet nevercome to the knowledgeof the truth; nay, it may be fearedof fome who were cowardly let in the truth, that comming into this fchoole too timely,arc now growne crookedandout ofloue with the truth,and are iudeed tur- ned into the things they read. The fecond thing whichTitus mu(l refill, aregenee4logies, which alto mull be rightly taken, bccaufe there alwaies was, and yet isan excellent vfe of them in S:ripture. BeforeChrill they were foneceffarie, as the 'ewer were commanded to keepe publiée and privare records of their tribes and families, yea and if there were any that could not tell or ende his genealogic, he was nor to beadmitted;or if inconfiderately he were, was to be depored from publike oAìce,Numb., 8. Nehem.7.6z. and to this perpofe,lotre holy writers ofScripture haue fet down for the vfe of theChurch to theendewhole booker of genealogies; but efpecially that the Lewes might be able tobring their. defcent from the Patriarks, as we read of Paul, whono doubt couldbringhis line downe fromBen- iamin,Philip.;.ç. The vfe of thcfegenealogies wasmanifold, Iwili note two. Fir(l, to manifefl the truthof God in the Scriptures. t. In the accomplifhment ofusany fprciall prophelies to particular perlons : For example; God promifed to Abraham that he fhouldbe a migiitieman : that this truth might be fully knowne,mu(1 be let downe the wholedefcent and pofle- titfe, andPrinces that cameof him although neuer fo wicked from If- marl himfelfc.Rebeccaalfo had a promife-oftwomightiepeoples inher wor be, and that the elder fhould fer iethe younger: how fhouldthis be knowne to be accomplifócd but by the geucalcgie of themboth ; for which purpole, euen the dsk_e, that cameof Ef4as were all recorded. The likeof lscobs ptophefie concerning EphraimandManaffeh ;for other- wife the wicked fhould haue no name nor regiller in the booke of God: not for their owre fakes wholememories fhould rot,but for the honour of God and his feruants they are there roiled; to fhewe that the godly were not only.inwardly but cue:, outwardly bleffed according topro - mile with fuch a fruitfuli race andpoflcritie. a. It is a great light to the truth of Scripture, when it fetreth downe the perlons by whom,and the times inwhicheuery worthy thingwas done ; what alloand by whome theChurch foffered: how all nationswere euer enemies to religion, but one little point or comer of the wotid: ow God had euer a Church in the world, euen in the corruptedfl times a dctleremnant of Tlrael that worfnipped him in fpirit and truth, whichthings are cleared bygenea- logic. The fecond andprincipali rfe ofgenealogic, is tomanifefi the true Meiii-
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