God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all,

“Now all men, having the same judgment, some, following the Word speaking, frame for themselves proofs; while others, giving themselves up to pleasures, wrest Scripture, in accordance with their lusts. And the lover of truth, as I think, needs force of soul. For those who make the greatest attempts must fail in things of the highest importance; unless, receiving from the truth itself the rule of the truth, they cleave to the truth. But such people, in consequence of falling away from the right path, err in most individual points; as you might expect from not having the faculty for judging of what is true and false, strictly trained to select what is essential. For if they had, they would have obeyed the Scriptures.… For we have, as the source of teaching, the Lord, both by the prophets, the Gospel, and the blessed apostles, "in divers manners and at sundry times," leading from the beginning of knowledge to the end. But if one should suppose that another origin was required, then no longer truly could an origin be preserved.… For we may not give our adhesion to men on a bare statement by them, who might equally state the opposite. But if it is not enough merely to state the opinion, but if what is stated must be confirmed, we do not wait for the testimony of men, but we establish the matter that is in question by the voice of the Lord, which is the surest of all demonstrations, or rather is the only demonstration; in which knowledge those who have merely tasted the Scriptures are believers; while those who, having advanced further, and become correct expounders of the truth, are Gnostics. Since also, in what pertains to life, craftsmen are superior to ordinary people, and model what is beyond common notions; so, consequently, we also, giving a complete exhibition of the Scriptures from the Scriptures themselves, from faith persuade by demonstration. And if those also who follow heresies venture to avail themselves of the prophetic Scriptures; in the first place they will not make use of all the Scriptures, and then they will not quote them entire, nor as the body and texture of prophecy prescribe. But, selecting ambiguous expressions, they wrest them to their own opinions, gathering a few expressions here and there; not looking to the sense, but making use of the mere words. For in almost all the quotations they make, you will find that they attend to the names alone, while they alter the meanings; neither knowing, as they affirm, nor using the quotations they adduce, according to their true nature. But the truth is not found by changing the meanings (for so people subvert all true teaching), but in the consideration of what perfectly belongs to and becomes the Sovereign God, and in establishing each one of the points demonstrated in the Scriptures again from similar Scriptures.”

“Holy Scripture teaches that God was seen by Israel dimly, meaning the Word of God. In the book of Numbers Moses prays, saying, "Since you are the Lord of this people who is seen by them face to face." … And it is said in Exodus, "Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel." …From the text, "No one has ever seen God," perhaps it might be thought that the above quotations contradict the Savior's words, implying that the invisible is visible. But if they are understood … as the Word of God, who was seen by the fathers "in many ways and various ways," no contradiction is involved. The God of Israel here seen is shown to be the same being who was seen by Israel, when he wrestled with the one who first changed his name from Jacob to Israel, saying, "You have striven with God." And when also Jacob, appreciating God's divine power, called the place of the struggle the Sight of God, saying, "I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved" … this was no other than the Word of God.”

“Truly, "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." This at least the blessed Paul intimates here also, in the very beginning of his Epistle to the Hebrews. For since as it was likely that afflicted, worn out by evils, and judging of things thereby, they would think themselves worse off than all other men, he shows that herein they had rather been made partakers of greater, even very exceeding, grace; arousing the hearer at the very opening of his discourse. Wherefore he says, "God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the Prophets, hath at the end of the days spoken unto us by His Son." Why did he [Paul] not oppose "himself" to "the prophets"? Certainly, he was much greater than they, inasmuch as a greater trust was committed to him. Yet he doth not so. Why? First, to avoid speaking great things concerning himself. Secondly, because his hearers were not yet perfect. And thirdly, because he rather wished to exalt them, and to show that their superiority was great. As if he had said, What so great matter is it that He sent prophets to our fathers? For to us [He has sent] His own only-begotten Son Himself. And well did he begin thus, "At sundry times and in divers manners," for he points out that not even the prophets themselves saw God; nevertheless, the Son saw Him. For the expressions, "at sundry times and in divers manners" are the same as "in different ways." "For I" (saith He) "have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the ministry of the Prophets." Wherefore the excellency consists not in this alone, that to them indeed prophets were sent, but to us the Son; but that none of them saw God, but the Only-begotten Son saw Him. He doth not indeed at once assert this, but by what he says afterwards he establishes it, when he speaks concerning His human nature; "For to which of the Angels said He, Thou art My Son," and, "Sit thou on My right hand"? And look on his great wisdom. First he shows the superiority from the prophets. Then having established this as acknowledged, he declares that to them indeed He spake by the prophets, but to us by the Only-begotten. Then [He spake] to them by Angels, and this again he establishes, with good reason (for angels also held converse with the Jews): yet even herein we have the superiority, inasmuch as the Master [spake] to us, but to them servants, and prophets, fellow-servants. Well also said he, "at the end of the days," for by this he both stirs them up and encourages them desponding of the future. For as he says also in another place, "The Lord is at hand, be careful for nothing," and again, "For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed": so also here. What then is it which he says? That whoever is spent in the conflict, when he hears of the end thereof, recovers his breath a little, knowing that it is the end indeed of his labors, but the beginning of his rest. "Hath in the end of the days spoken unto us in [His] Son." Behold again he uses the saying, "in [His] Son," for "through the Son," against those who assert that this phrase is proper to the Spirit. Dost thou see that the [word] "in" is "through"? And the expression, "In times past," and this, "In the end of the days," shadows forth some other meaning: that when a long time had intervened, when we were on the edge of punishment, when the Gifts had failed, when there was no expectation of deliverance, when we were expecting to have less than all, then we have had more. And see how considerately he hath spoken it. For he said not, "Christ spake" (albeit it was He who did speak), but inasmuch as their souls were weak, and they were not yet able to hear the things concerning Christ, he says, "God hath spoken by Him." What meanest thou? did God speak through the Son? Yes. What then? Is it thus thou showest the superiority? for here thou hast but pointed out that both the New and the Old [Covenants] are of One and the same: and that this superiority is not great. Wherefore he henceforth follows on upon this argument, saying, "He spake unto us by [His] Son." (Note, how Paul makes common cause, and puts himself on a level with the disciples, saying, He spake "to us": and yet He did not speak to him, but to the Apostles, and through them to the many. But he lifts them [the Hebrews] up, and declares that He spake also to them. And as yet he doth not at all reflect on the Jews. For almost all to whom the prophets spake, were a kind of evil and polluted persons. But as yet the discourse is not of these: but, hitherto of the gifts derived from God.)”

“You see, those old sacrifices of the people of God also represented in a variety of ways this single one that was to come. Christ himself, I mean, was both a sheep, because of his innocence and simplicity of soul, and a goat because of "the likeness of sinful flesh." And whatever else was foretold "in many and various ways" in the sacrifices of the old covenant refers to this single one which has been revealed in the new covenant.”

“God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son, thus distributing the word into portions and manners, into the prophets and His Son. By portions, he means the difference of the places in which God appeared and spake to the men of old through the prophets, and by manners, the diversity of the visions themselves, which He, when seen at one time and another in cases of immediate necessity, exhibited either in person or through the Prophets, having a desire to signify this, that God in every way, both by real things and by visions, did not neglect to instruct rational beings in the knowledge of Himself, placing it before them at one time through the prophets, and now through His own Son.”

“The God proclaimed by the Old Testament and the New is the one who is celebrated and glorified in Trinity, for the Lord said, "I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill." For he worked our salvation, for the sake of which all Scripture and every mystery has been revealed. Again, "Search the Scriptures, for it is they that bear witness to me." And the apostle too says, "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son." Through the Holy Spirit, then, both the law and the prophets, evangelists, apostles, pastors and teachers spoke. Therefore, "all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable," so that to search the sacred Scripture is very good and most profitable for the soul.”

“1 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, and there is none according to your works. Ps. 85:8. In these words the excellence of Christ is expressed as to two things. And first as to a comparison to the other gods, when he says there is none like you among the gods, O Lord; second by a comparison as to his effects, when he says and there is none according to your works. Concerning the first it should be known that although there is only one God by nature, as is said in Deut. 6:4: the Lord your God is one God, nevertheless by participation there are many gods, both in heaven and on earth. 1 Cor. 8:5: for there are indeed many gods and many lords. For sometimes the angels themselves are called gods, as is clear in Job 1:6 and 2:1: when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord. And sometimes the prophets, as is said of Moses, Exod. 7:1: I have made you a god to Pharaoh. Likewise it is said of the priests, Exod. 22:28: the gods, that is, the priests, you shall not speak ill of. Likewise there: if the thief lies hidden, the master of the house shall be brought to the gods. But the angels are called gods on account of the most abundant refulgence of the divine brightness. Job 25:3: upon whom his light does not shine. But the angels are not like Christ among the gods, who is the splendor of the Father's glory, as is said below, 1:3. Eph. 1:20: setting him at the right hand in the heavenly places, above every principality, etc. But the prophets are called gods because the word of God came to them. Jn. 10:35: he called them gods, to whom the word of God came. Therefore Christ is God much more excellently, who is substantially the very Word of God. But priests are called gods because they are ministers of God. Is. 61:6: you, priests of the Lord, shall be called ministers of God. But Christ much more so, who is not a minister, but the lord of all, Esth. 13:11; likewise Apoc. 19:16: lord of lords; and below: as lord in his whole house. Christ therefore is God, great above all gods, because he is splendor, because he is the Word, because he is Lord. Second, this excellence is shown through the effects, when it is said and there is none according to your works, where it should be known that the excellent work of Christ is threefold. One that extends to the whole creature, namely the work of creation. Jn. 1:3: all things were made through him. Another indeed only to the rational creature, which is illuminated through Christ, which is the work of illumination. Jn. 1:9: he was the true light, etc. The third is of justification, which pertains only to the saints, who through him are quickened and justified by quickening grace. Jn. 1:4: and the life was the light of men. For in these three ways the aforesaid gods cannot work. For the angels are not creators, but creatures. Ps. 103:4: who make your angels spirits, etc. The prophets, too, are illumined, not illuminating. Jn. 1:8: he was not that light, etc. The priests, too, did not justify. Below, 10:4: for it is impossible that sins be taken away by the blood of goats and bulls. Therefore the excellence of Christ is clearly shown in these words, and this is the subject matter of this epistle to the Hebrews, by which it is distinguished from the others. For in certain epistles the grace of the New Testament is treated as to the whole mystical body of the Church, and this in all the epistles which he sends to Churches, namely that which is to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, and up to the first to Timothy. But in certain others as to the principal members, as in those which he sends to individual persons, namely to Timothy, to Titus, and to Philemon. But in this one he commends grace itself as to the head, namely Christ; for in the body of the Church these three things are found just as in a natural body, namely the mystical body itself, the principal members, namely the prelates and the greater ones, and the head, from which life flows into the whole body, namely Christ. But before we come to the division, it should be known that before the Council of Nicaea, some doubted whether this epistle was Paul's. And that it was not, they prove by two arguments. One is that it does not keep this manner which he keeps in the other epistles. For here he does not put a greeting first, nor his own name. The other is that it does not savor of the style of the others, rather it has a more elegant one, nor is there any Scripture that proceeds so in order, in the order of words, and in sentences, as this one. Hence they said that it was either Luke the Evangelist's, or Barnabas's, or Pope Clement's. For he himself wrote to the Athenians almost entirely according to this style. But the ancient doctors, especially Dionysius and certain others, take the words of this epistle as testimonies of Paul. And Jerome receives it among the epistles of Paul. To the first, therefore, it should be said that there was a threefold reason why he did not put his name. One is that he was not the apostle of the Jews, but of the Gentiles. Gal. 2:8: he who worked in Peter for the apostolate of the circumcision, worked also in me among the Gentiles, etc. And therefore he made no mention of his apostolate at the beginning of this epistle, because he did not want to make known the office of his apostolate, except to the Gentiles themselves. Second, because his name was hateful to the Jews, since he said that the legal observances were not to be kept, as is clear in Acts 15:2 and following. And he kept this silent, lest the most salutary teaching of this epistle be rejected. Third, because he was a Jew. Are they Hebrews? So am I. 2 Cor. 11:22. And those of one's own household do not easily bear the excellence of their own. A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, and in his own house. Matt. 13:57. To the second argument, it should be said that he is more elegant in style for this reason: that although he knew every tongue — 1 Cor. 14:18: I speak with the tongue of all of you — yet he knew Hebrew better, as more connatural to himself, in which he wrote this epistle. And therefore he was able to speak more ornately in his own idiom than in any other. Hence he says, 2 Cor. 11:6: even if unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge. But Luke, who was an excellent speaker, translated this ornateness from Hebrew into Greek.”

“Here the apostle begins with a general declaration of the excellency of the gospel dispensation above that of the law, which he demonstrates from the different way and manner of God's communicating himself and his mind and will to men in the one and in the other: both these dispensations were of God, and both of them very good, but there is a great difference in the way of their coming from God. Observe, I. The way wherein God communicated himself and his will to men under the Old Testament. We have here an account, 1. Of the persons by whom God delivered his mind under the Old Testament; they were the prophets, that is, persons chosen of God, and qualified by him, for that office of revealing the will of God to men. No man takes this honour to himself, unless called; and whoever are called of God are qualified by him. 2. The persons to whom God spoke by the prophets: To the fathers, to all the Old Testament saints who were under that dispensation. God favoured and honoured them with much clearer light than that of nature, under which the rest of the world were left. 3. The order in which God spoke to men in those times that went before the gospel, those past times: he spoke to his ancient people at sundry times and in divers manners. (1.) At sundry times, or by several parts, as the word signifies, which may refer either to the several ages of the Old Testament dispensation - the patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the prophetic; or to the several gradual openings of his mind concerning the Redeemer: to Adam, that the Messiah should come of the seed of the woman, - to Abraham, that he should spring from his loins, - to Jacob, that he should be of the tribe of Judah, - to David, that he should be of his house, - to Micah, that he should be born at Bethlehem, - to Isaiah, that he should be born of a virgin. (2.) In divers manners, according to the different ways in which God though fit to communicate his mind to his prophets; sometimes by the illapses of his Spirit, sometimes by dreams, sometimes by visions, sometimes by an audible voice, sometimes by legible characters under his own hand, as when he wrote the ten commandments on tables of stone. Of some of these different ways God himself gave an account in Num 12:6-8, If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses: with him I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. II. God's method of communicating his mind and will under the New Testament dispensation, these last days as they are called, that is, either towards the end of the world, or the end of the Jewish state. The times of the gospel are the last times, the gospel revelation is the last we are to expect from God. There was first the natural revelation; then the patriarchal, by dreams, visions, and voices; then the Mosaic, in the law given forth and written down; then the prophetic, in explaining the law, and giving clearer discoveries of Christ: but now we must expect no new revelation, but only more of the Spirit of Christ to help us better to understand what is already revealed. Now the excellency of the gospel revelation above the former consists in two things: - 1. It is the final, the finishing revelation, given forth in the last days of divine revelation, to which nothing is to be added, but the canon of scripture is to be settled and sealed: so that now the minds of men are no longer kept in suspense by the expectation of new discoveries, but they rejoice in a complete revelation of the will of God, both preceptive and providential, so far as is necessary for them to know in order to their direction and comfort. For the gospel includes a discovery of the great events that shall befall the church of God to the end of the world. 2. It is a revelation which God has made by his Son, the most excellent messenger that was ever sent into the world, far superior to all the ancient patriarchs and prophets, by whom God communicated his will to his people in former times. And here we have an excellent account of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1.) The glory of his office, and that in three respects: - [1.] God hath appointed him to be heir of all things. As God, he was equal to the Father; but, as God - man and Mediator, he was appointed by the Father to be the heir of all things, the sovereign Lord of all, the absolute disposer, director, and governor of all persons and of all things, Psa 2:6, Psa 2:7. All power in heaven and earth is given to him; all judgment is committed to him, Mat 28:18; Joh 5:22. [2.] By him God made the worlds, both visible and invisible, the heavens and the earth; not as an instrumental cause, but as his essential word and wisdom. By him he made the old creation, by him he makes the new creature, and by him he rules and governs both. [3.] He upholds all things by the word of his power: he keeps the world from dissolving. By him all things consist. The weight of the whole creation is laid upon Christ: he supports the whole and all the parts. When, upon the apostasy, the world was breaking to pieces under the wrath and curse of God, the Son of God, undertaking the work of redemption, bound it up again, and established it by his almighty power and goodness. None of the ancient prophets sustained such an office as this, none was sufficient for it. (2.) Hence the apostle passes to the glory of the person of Christ, who was able to execute such an office: He was the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, Heb 1:3. This is a high and lofty description of the glorious Redeemer, this is an account of his personal excellency. [1.] He is, in person, the Son of God, the only-begotten Son of God, and as such he must have the same nature. This personal distinction always supposes one and the same nature. Every son of man is man; were not the nature the same, the generation would be monstrous. [2.] The person of the Son is the glory of the Father, shining forth with a truly divine splendour. As the beams are effulgent emanations of the sun, the father and fountain of light, Jesus Christ in his person is God manifest in the flesh, he is light of light, the true Shechinah. [3.] The person of the Son is the true image and character of the person of the Father; being of the same nature, he must bear the same image and likeness. In beholding the power, wisdom, and goodness, of the Lord Jesus Christ, we behold the power, wisdom, and goodness, of the Father; for he hath the nature and perfections of God in him. He that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father; that is, he hath seen the same Being. He that hath known the Son hath known the Father, Joh 14:7-9. For the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son; the personal distinction is no other than will consist with essential union. This is the glory of the person of Christ; the fulness of the Godhead dwells, not typically, but really, in him. (3.) From the glory of the person of Christ he proceeds to mention the glory of his grace; his condescension itself was truly glorious. The sufferings of Christ had this great honour in them, to be a full satisfaction for the sins of his people: By himself he purged away our sins, that is, by the proper innate merit of his death and bloodshed, by their infinite intrinsic value; as they were the sufferings of himself, he has made atonement for sin. Himself, the glory of his person and nature, gave to his sufferings such merit as was a sufficient reparation of honour to God, who had suffered an infinite injury and affront by the sins of men. (4.) From the glory of his sufferings we are at length led to consider the glory of his exaltation: When by himself he had purged away our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, at his Father's right hand. As Mediator and Redeemer, he is invested with the highest honour, authority, and activity, for the good of his people; the Father now does all things by him, and receives all the services of his people from him. Having assumed our nature, and suffered in it on earth, he has taken it up with him to heaven, and there it has the high honour to be next to God, and this was the reward of his humiliation. Now it was by no less a person than this that God in these last days spoke to men; and, since the dignity of the messenger gives authority and excellency to the message, the dispensations of the gospel must therefore exceed, very far exceed, the dispensation of the law.”

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners,.... The apostle begins the epistle with an account of the revelation God has made of his mind and will in former times: the author of this revelation is God, not essentially, but personally considered, even God the Father, as distinguished from his Son in the next verse; for the revelation under the Old Testament is divine, as well as that under the New; in this they both agree, in whatsoever else they differ: and this revelation was made at several times, at different seasons, and to different persons; and consisted of a variety of things relating to doctrine and worship, and concerning the Messiah, his person and office; of whom, at different times, there were gradual discoveries made, both before and after the giving of the law, from the beginning of the world, or the giving forth of the first promise, and in the times of the patriarchs, of: Moses, David, Isaiah, and other prophets: and this was delivered in various manners; sometimes by angels; sometimes in a dream; at other times by a vision; and sometimes by Urim and Thummim: and this he spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets; by Moses, and other succeeding prophets, as David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Zechariah, Malachi, and others; who were sent to the Jewish fathers, the ancestors of the people of the Jews, to whom they prophesied and declared the will of God, as they were moved and inspired by the Holy Ghost: and the apostle suggests, by this way of speaking, that it was a long time since God spake to this people; for prophecy had ceased ever since the times of Malachi, for the space of three hundred years; and this time past includes the whole Old Testament dispensation, from the beginning to the end of it, or of prophecy in it.”

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners - We can scarcely conceive any thing more dignified than the opening of this epistle; the sentiments are exceedingly elevated, and the language, harmony itself! The infinite God is at once produced to view, not in any of those attributes which are essential to the Divine nature, but in the manifestations of his love to the world, by giving a revelation of his will relative to the salvation of mankind, and thus preparing the way, through a long train of years, for the introduction of that most glorious Being, his own Son. This Son, in the fullness of time, was manifested in the flesh that he might complete all vision and prophecy, supply all that was wanting to perfect the great scheme of revelation for the instruction of the world, and then die to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The description which he gives of this glorious personage is elevated beyond all comparison. Even in his humiliation, his suffering of death excepted, he is infinitely exalted above all the angelic host, is the object of their unceasing adoration, is permanent on his eternal throne at the right hand of the Father, and from him they all receive their commands to minister to those whom he has redeemed by his blood. in short, this first chapter, which may be considered the introduction to the whole epistle is, for importance of subject, dignity of expression, harmony and energy of language, compression and yet distinctness of ideas, equal, if not superior, to any other part of the New Testament. Sundry times - Πολυμερως, from πολυς, many, and μερος, a part; giving portions of revelation at different times. Divers manners - Πολυτροπως, from πολυς, many, and τροπος, a manner, turn, or form of speech; hence trope, a figure in rhetoric. Lambert Bos supposes these words to refer to that part of music which is denominated harmony, viz. that general consent or union of musical sounds which is made up of different parts; and, understood in this way, it may signify the agreement or harmony of all the Old Testament writers, who with one consent gave testimony to Jesus Christ, and the work of redemption by him. To him gave all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins; Act 10:43. But it is better to consider, with Kypke, that the words are rather intended to point out the imperfect state of Divine revelation under the Old Testament; it was not complete, nor can it without the New be considered a sufficiently ample discovery of the Divine will. Under the Old Testament, revelations were made πολυμερως και πολυτροπως, at various times, by various persons, in various laws and forms of teaching, with various degrees of clearness, under various shadows, types, and figures, and with various modes of revelation, such as by angels, visions, dreams, mental impressions, etc. See Num 12:6, Num 12:8. But under the New Testament all is done ἁπλως, simply, by one person, i.e. Jesus, who has fulfilled the prophets, and completed prophecy; who is the way, the truth, and the life; and the founder, mediator, and governor of his own kingdom. One great object of the apostle is, to put the simplicity of the Christian system in opposition to the complex nature of the Mosaic economy; and also to show that what the law could not do because it was weak through the flesh, Jesus has accomplished by the merit of his death, and the energy of his Spirit. Maximus Tyrius, Diss. 1, page 7, has a passage where the very words employed by the apostle are found, and evidently used nearly in the same sense: Τῃ του ανθρωπου ψυχῃ δυο οργανων οντων προς συνεσιν, του μεν ἁπλου, ὁν καλουμεν νουν, του δε ποικιλου και πολυμερους και πολυτροπου, ἁς αισθησεις καλουμεν. "The soul of man has two organs of intelligence: one simple, which we call mind; the other diversified, and acting in various modes and various ways, which we term sense." A similar form of expression the same writer employs in Diss. 15, page 171: "The city which is governed by the mob, πολυφωνον τε ειναι και πολυμερη και πολυπαθη, is full of noise, and is divided by various factions and various passions." The excellence of the Gospel above the law is here set down in three points: 1. God spake unto the faithful under the Old Testament by Moses and the prophets, worthy servants, yet servants; now the Son is much better than a servant, Heb 1:4. 2. Whereas the body of the Old Testament was long in compiling, being about a thousand years from Moses to Malachi; and God spake unto the fathers by piecemeal, one while raising up one prophet, another while another, now sending them one parcel of prophecy or history, then another; but when Christ came, all was brought to perfection in one age; the apostles and evangelists were alive, some of them, when every part of the New Testament was completely finished. 3. The Old Testament was delivered by God in divers manners, both in utterance and manifestation; but the delivery of the Gospel was in a more simple manner; for, although there are various penmen, yet the subject is the same, and treated with nearly the same phraseology throughout; James, Jude, and the Apocalypse excepted. See Leigh.”

“At different times, [1] and in many ways. The first word signifies that God revealed the incarnation of his Son, as it were, by parcels, and by degrees, at different times, and to different persons, to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, &c. The latter word expresseth the different ways and manners, as by angels, by immediate inspirations, and revelations, by types, figures, and ceremonies.[2] — Last of all, by his Son, this true, natural, eternal Son, of whom we must always take notice, that being both true God, and true man, by the union of the divine and human nature to one and the same divine person, St. Paul speaks of him sometimes as God, sometimes mentions what applies to him as man, sometimes as our Redeemer, both God and man. This must necessarily happen in speaking of Christ; but when we find things that cannot be understood of one that is a pure or mere man only, or that cannot be true but of him, who is truly God, these are undeniable proofs against the errors of the Arians and Socinians. (Witham)”