Prop. 4. Men should especially give themselves to the study, and labour after the knowledge of the present truths, 2 Pet. 1.12. I mean those truths which are the special truths of the Times and Ages and Places in which Men live. We shall find, if we observe it, that God, who delivers his Mind and Will to Men [Greek or Hebrew], by several parts and degrees, doth in some Ages make more clear discoveries of some truths, in others of other truths; and though the whole will of God, and all those truths, which we are any way concerned to know in order to our Salvation, be sufficiently laid down in the Scripture, yet there is sometimes more knowledge of one truth stirring in the World, sometimes of some other. Sometimes God calls his Servants more especially to Preach up, and bear Witness to such or such a particular Truth, which either ⟨p. 116⟩was less known and understood before, or is more opposed at present. Immediately after Christ's resurrection, the great truth of that time, the then present truth was, that Jesus was the Christ, that very Messiah, whom God had promised to the Fathers, and the Jews themselves did expect. This the Apostles did first of all Preach, confirming it especially by his Resurrection from the dead. Thus Act. 2.36. God hath made the same Jesus both Lord and Christ, Act. 5.31. Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. So Philip to the Eunuch, Act. 8.35. And Paul, so soon as he was converted, and sent to Preach, presently declares that Jesus was the Christ, Acts 9.22. And Peter to Cornelius, Acts 10.42.43. And Apollos in Achaia, ch. 18.28. And afterwards we find that the Jews, and Judaizing Christians pertinaciously adhering to the Law of Moses, gave occasion to the more full Preaching of the Doctrine of free Grace and Justification by Christ alone, and the abolishing of the legal Ceremonies, as we may see in the Epistle to the Romans, Galatians, Colossians and Hebrews. And after towards the end of the Apostles times, the Heresy of Cerinthus gave occasion to the more full vindicating the Doctrines of Christ's Godhead, 1as we see in the Gospel of John. And some hundreds of years after that, the Pelagian Heresy gave occasion for the renewed publication of the Doctrine of free Grace by Austin, Prosper and others.
Prop. 4. Men should especially give themselves to the study, and labour after the knowledge of the present truths, 2 Pet. 1.12. I mean those truths which are the special truths of the Times and Ages and Places in which Men live. We shall find, if we observe it, that God, who delivers hls Mind and Will to Men 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, by several parts and degrees, doth in some Ages make more clear discoveries of some truths, in others of other truths; and though the whole will of God, and all those truths, which we are any way concerned to know in order to our Salvation, be sufficiently laid down in the Scripture, yet there is sometimes more knowledge of one truth stirring in the World, sometimes of some other. Sometimes God calls his Servants more especially to Preach up, and bear Witness to such or such a particular Truth, which either ⟨p. 116⟩was less known and understood before, or is more opposed at present. Immediately after Christ's resurrection, the great truth of that time, the then present truth was, that Jesus was the Christ, that very Messiah, whom God had promised to the Fathers, and the Jews themselves did expect. This the Apostles did first of all Preach, confirming it especially by his Resurrection from the dead. Thus Act. 2.36. God hath made the same Jesus both Lord and Christ, Act. 5.31. Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. So Philip to the Eunuch, Act. 8.35. And Paul, so soon as he was converted, and sent to Preach, presently declares that Jesus was the Christ, Acts 9.22. And Peter to Cornelius, Acts 10.42.43. And Apollos in Achaia, ch. 18.28. And afterwards we find that the Jews, and Judaizing Christians pertinaciously adhering to the Law of Moses, gave occasion to the more full Preaching of the Doctrine of free Grace and Justification by Christ alone, and the abolishing of the legal Ceremonies, as we may see in the Epistle to the Romans, Galatians, Colossians and Hebrews. And after towards the end of the Apostles times, the Heresie of Cerinthus gave occasion to the more full vindicating the Doctrines of Christ's Godhead, 1as we see in the Gospel of John. And some hundreds of years after that, the Pelagian Heresie gave occasion for the renewed publication of the Doctrine of free Grace by Austin, Prosper and others.
- 1Hieronym. in Catal. Script. Ecclesiast.
