1. To Adam. His bible was his heart ; the law was written there, and God preached to him immediately, and by oracle gave him all extraordinary commands, and the book of the creatures for his con- templation ; not so much to better his knowledge, as to increase his reverence.
2. To the world. To heathens God gave the book of nature, which was more than they made use of, and therefore he stopped there : Ps. xix. 1-3, ' The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language
VeR. 17.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVIT. 431
Avhere their voice is not heard,' &c. This revelation God hath made of himself, even to all nations ; they have sun and moon to look upon, and the structure of the heavens to behold, which are so many pledges of the excellency and infiniteness of God : Rom. i. 19, 20, ' Because that which may be known of God is manifest to them, for God hath showed it unto them ; for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead ; so that they are without excuse ;' Acts xiv. 17, ' Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruit- ful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' In the book of nature there is the rough draught of God's will. Trismegistus said it was liber tmus divinitate plenus — creation was nothing else but one book, that was full of the glory of God and his excellency. God spake to them by things, not by words. This, with some instincts of con- science, the relics of the fall, was all the heathens had. Conscience was God's deputy, to put them in mind of a judge ; and the heavens put them in mind of a God. Look, as Job's messengers said, ' I alone am escaped to tell thee,' so there are some few relics and principles alone escaped out of the ruins of the fall, to tell us somewhat of God, and somewhat of a judge. That light proclaims everywhere, and speaks to every nation, and proclaims it aloud to all people, kindred, and tongues of the earth : Take notice there is one infinite eternal God, that made us, and you, and all things else. God's refreshing the parched earth with showers of rain shows how willing he is to be gracious to poor hungry creatures. Fruitful seasons show us the abundance of his mercy. The decking the heavens with stars, and the earth with plants, show us what glory he can put upon the creatures. This language may be gathered out of the creation, and thus did God speak to all creatures by the voice of his creatures.
3. To the church. And the dispensations of God to the church have been various and diverse : Heb. i. 1, ' God who at sundry times, and in divers manners, 7roXuyu.epco9 koI iroXvrpoTra)'?, spake in times past unto our fathers by the prophets,' &c. He spake his mind by pieces, that is signified by the word ; now he gave a piece of his mind, and then a piece ; and he hath spoken also in ' sundry manners,' by several ways of revelation. The church never wanted sufficient revela- tion nor means of knowledge to guide them to the enjoyment of God and true happiness. God's dispensations to the church may be reduced to three heads. There was — (1.) His word without writing ; (2.) Then word and writing ; (3.) Then writing only.
[1.] There was the word without writing, by visions, oracles, and dreams, by which he manifested himself to persons of the greatest sanctity and holiness, that they might instruct others, and impart the mind of God to others. Now mark, this dispensation was sure enough to guide them to communion with God. Why ? Because the people of the world were then but few families, and the persons intrusted with God's message were of great authority and credit, therefore sufficient enough to inform that present age of God's counsel ; and (which was another advantage) they lived long, to continue the tradi- tion with certainty to others for hundreds of years. Vision and tradi-
432 SERMONS urox john xvir. [Ser. XXVII.
tion was sure enough ; for, as it is observed by some, three men might continue the tradition of the counsel of G-od from Adam till Israel went down into Egypt. There was Adam first ; God taught him by oracle, and he taught others, he lived a long time. Methuselah lived with Adam two liundred forty-three years, and continued until the flood ; then Sliem lived with Methuselah ninety-eight years, and flourished about five hundred years after the flood ; and Isaac lived fifty years with Shem, and died about ten years before Israel's descent into Egypt. So that IMethuselah, Shem, and Isaac might continue the knowledge of God, and preserve the purity of religion from x\dam's death, till Israel's going down into Egypt, lor so many hundred years. This was God's dispensation to that church.