G•d wrought many lesser salvations and deliverances for his church and people before Christ c•me. These salvations were all but so many images and forerunners of the great salvation Christ was to work out when he should come. God revealed himself of old, from time to time, from the fall of man to the coming of Christ. The church during that space of time enjoyed the light of divine revelation, or God's word. They had in a degree the light of the gospel. But all these revelations were only so many forerunners and earnests of the great light that he should bring who came to be the light of the world That whole space of time was as it were the time of night, wherein the church of God was not indeed wholly without light: but it was like the light of the moon and stars that we have in the •ight; a dim light in comparison of the light of the sun, and mixed with a great deal of darkness. It had no glory, by reason of the glory that excelleth, 2 Cor. iii.10. The church had indeed the light of the sun▪ but it was only as reflected from the moon and stars. The church all that while was a minor. This the apostle evidently teaches in Gal. iv.1.2.3. "Now I say, that the heir as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we ⟨p. 19⟩were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world."
G•d wrought many lesser s•lvations and deliverances for his church and people before Christ c•me. These salvations were all but so many images and forerunners of the great salvation Christ was to work out when he should come. God revealed himself of old, from time to time, from the fall of man to the coming of Christ. The church during that space of time enjoyed the light of divine revelation, or God's word. They had in a degree the light of the gospel. But all these revelations were only so many forerunners and earnests of the great light that he should bring who came to be the light of the world That whole space of time was as it were the time of night, wherein the church of God was not indeed wholly without light: but it was like the light of the moon and stars that we have in the •ight; a dim light in comparison of the light of the sun, and mixed with a great deal of darkness. It had no glory, by reason of the glory that excelleth, 2 Cor. iii.10. The church had indeed the light of the sun▪ but it was only as reflected from the moon and stars. The church all that while was a minor. This the apostle evidently teaches in Gal. iv.1.2.3. "Now I say, that the heir as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we ⟨p. 19⟩were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world."
