A00665:2037
A commentary or, exposition upon the divine second epistle general, writtenA commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written
A commentary or, exposition upon the divine second epistle general, written by the blessed apostle St. Peter. By Thomas AdamsA commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written by the blessed apostle St. Peter. By Thomas Adams
London: printed by Richard Badger and Felix Kyngston for Jacob Bloome, 1633London: printed by Richard Badger and Felix Kyngston for Iacob Bloome, 1633
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Eight.] This was one cause why God reserved so many, that they might fructify to the multiplication of mankind. But why were not Noah and his wife sufficient for that end? No, they were old, for Noah was six hundred years old when •he flood came: and though he lived three hundred years after, yet we read not of a•y more children he had. But the first world was begun and peopled by two •nd no more: why then were so many to begin the second world? I answer. […]. God did so at the first, to show thata All mankind came of one blood, and that there •as no original difference betwixt man and man. Neither is this unobserved in the second beginning: for though the world was multiplied by three men, yet were •hey all brethren, and the sons of one man. In effect, as at first by Adam and Eve, so •y Noah and his Wife, came all men in the world. 2. To begin the second world •here were requisite more lines than one: because now the blessed seed was promised, and his line and kindred must be kept distinct from all other till his Incarnation. […]. There was more cause why the world should be more speedily replenished, than •t first. For the earth had some beauty and glory left it after the former curse; so •hat (though far short of Paradise, yet) it was still to Adam a delightful and pleasant habitation. But this second curse in the flood washed off all the remaining beauty, and made it a rude and unpolished desert. Nor was only the surface of it thus •aimed, but the virtue almost quite perished, as land by long sugging under the waters, hath the heart of it eaten out. Therefore it is said,b that the earth was divided among the three sons of Noah: they lived not all together, but overspread •e earth: for it required many hands and much labour to the recovery of it. 4. Otherwise the beasts, which were then many, would have overgrown the world, […] it had not been speedily replenished by their Lords.