Besides the more general provisions made by the Father of lights for the instruction of his church and people in divine things, under the public dispensations of the law and the gospel, he has also been graciously pleased at sundry times and in divers manners, as occasions and the needs of the church might require it, to make extraordinary discoveries and revelations to particular persons, either for more private or public use, or to answer various ends of his wisdom and goodness.

Indeed, were it true that all things proceeded according to one invariable rule of government in his administrations, grace, providence, and in the natural world, without his interposing any particular acts of his divine authority and power, God's government of the world would be less attended to and believed in.