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A67258
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Of the benefits of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, to mankind
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Walker, Obadiah, 1616-1699.; R. H., 1609-1678.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing W405; ESTC R18640
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157,560
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244
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Christian religion since he hath attained his just bounds their defences have been wonderfully successful not so their invasions And since the last divisions in the Church 1500. the many as unprosperous civil wars of Christians amongst themselves As on one side the famous invasion of the Swedes the attempts of the Reformed in the low-Countries in France On the other side the invasion of 88 The powderconspiracy the late insurrection of the Romanists in Ireland c. without any considerable advantage to that side which ever it be that is orthodox Neither did Moses and the giving of the law annul or weaken the covenant of grace being seniour to this promulgation of the law as it was renewed to Abraham yet being before him also 430 years Gal. 3. 17. neither yet did the Gospel i. e. the covenant of grace manifested and accomplisht in the times of the Gospel annul or weaken the law See Gal. 4. 21. Rom. 3. 31. -3. 21. And therefore the Gospel is said as to be preached to Abraham so also to them in the wilderness tho many of them it profited not as also now it doth not being not mixed with faith in many of the hearers Heb. 4. 2. And first for the law Ceremonial it was nothing but the Gospel in symbole and type and therefore is not abolished by the Gospel when fully manifested but only by being compleated and improved as the Gospel in shadow by the Gospel in substance or a child is by becoming a man Gal. 4. 3. -3. 24. Secondly for the law moral it now well consists with the Covenant of the Gospel not one title of it being expunged but rather as some think much enlarged and a stricter observance thereof then by Moses required by our Saviour See Maâ—…t 5. 17 18. comp 19 20. Rom. 8. 4. 1 Cor. 7. 19. And it was included and presupposed in the Covenant of grace transacted with Abraham Gen. 18. 19. Why then should we think that the law given at Sinai did not well accord with the Gospel that was then also preached Heb. 4. 2. Nay that more perfect knowledg of Gods will the giving of the law to Jacob c. whilst other nations walking in darkness were not so dealt with Ps. 147. 19. is quoted as a great priviledg and favour to that people by the Apostle Rom. 3. 2. -2. 18. -9. 4. where the Apostle reckons among benefits not only the promises and one Covenant but the Covenants and the giving of the law and rejoyced in as such every where by the Psalmist Ps. 119. -147. 20. which rendred them I mean the sons of faith not of works much more holy and less sinners then generally the Gentiles were see Gal. 2. 15. being a lantern to the feet of the children of the spirit as a letter of condemnation to those of the flesh and in that it is said to bring nothing to perfection Heb. 7. 19. being intimated to have the power to advance men some steps toward it For tho the law was not the Gospel nor the ministration of the letter the same with that of the spirit nor that of Moses with that of Christ yet one was subservient and a precognitum unto the other And it was first in order to receive the precept to tell us what is to be performed and then the spirit to enable us to perform it tho without the spirit also we never perfectly know it Therefore the first law-giving was to Adam as soon as created and to it answered especially the divulging of the Gospel to Abraham again the law was set forth again and as it were reprinted by Moses at Sinai and to it answered the manifestation and last edition of the Gospel by Christ coming in the flesh Yet tho thus the law is before the Gospel in order of nature yet not in time for even Adam himself as he had an external command to observe which was the letter of the law so had he the spirit to enable him for it and that the same spirit which is to us restored by the Gospel The ministration therefore of the law by Moses taken single and abstractively by it self from the ministration of the spirit which was also administred at the same time tho not in its great solemnity to the children of the promise and of faith tho not by Moses was of nothing but the letter and that letter a killing one impressed in stone but not upon the heart the the ministration of death 2 Cor. 3. 7. a Covenant faulty i. e. defective and no salvation by it but the promise annexed was only He that doth shall live in them a sentence of condemnation and so it accidentally happened to be then as now also to those who were of works and not of faith Gal. 3. 9 10. to those who had the administration of the letter only and not of the spirit In which sense taken all things are said in its disparagement the law ceremonial making nothing perfect the moral all fuller of sin and all those oppositions of the law to the Gospel and of Moses to Christ. See Heb. 8. 9. Therefore where the Apostle makes any such opposition 't is either of the more obscure manifestation of the Gospel and promises in the times under the law in respect of those after the incarnation of Christ Or of the law Ceremonial sometimes also called the old Covenant in respect of its accomplishment in Christ as this occurs often in the Epistle to the Hebrews Or not of the book of the old Testament i. e. of Moses and the Prophets to the new Testament i. e. of the Gospel of our Saviour for thus the new Testament is also contained in and proved out of the old but of the law moral considered by it self in the old Testament and abstracted there from all the promises of Gods mercy and of grace that are frequent in it only as it rigidly commands all righteousness forbids all sin promiseth rewards to those that keep denounceth punishments to those that transgress it and meanwhile changeth not helpeth not at all mans natural pravity and inability to observe it Yet thus also as the letter only it served well by shewing men their sins and inability to perform them to drive them forward with the rod of this Schoolmaster into the Covenant of grace see Rom. 3. 19 21. -9. 32. Gal. 3. 22 24. and to make them look after a Redeemer by seeing how guilty they stood before God and after the spirit promised and procured by him by seeing their former self-weakness which spirit and redeemer then also offered themselves to the children of faith Tho many of the Israelites abused this intention of the law by seeking justification by it rather then by faith Rom. 9. 32. whilst mean-while the ministration of the spirit see 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8. Rom. 8. 2. Heb. 8. 10 11. writ it upon the hearts of the faithful by which spirit as the just lived and had
confirming it from Psal. 34. 13. and the practises of David 2 Sam. 16. 10. and of Moses Numb 16. 4. and the censure of Nabal for calling David a runaway 1 Sam. 25. 14. And indeed the general precept of the law loving our neighbour as our self and doing only to him what we would he should to us sufficiently involves the prohibition To our Saviours Matt. 5. 27. see Prov. 6. 25. Job 31. 1. Prov. 5. 8. where advised to turn another way Jer. 5. 8. Is our Saviours stricter then Prov. 23. 31 33. And lastly the 10th Commandement from which we may argue If now the eye look c. without coveting 't is innocent if with it then also this was a sin To those Matt. 5. 33. see the third Commandement and our Saviours reason for not swearing Matt. 5. 37. Which reason of its coming of evil argues that it was never lawful and consequently alwaies forbidden either by the positive or the natural divine law Now tho we find not in the positive law swear not at all which precept is in no times to be understood absolutely yet we find that we shall only swear by the Lords name Deut. 6. 13. -10. 20. for swearing by him was his honour Esai 65. 16. Jer. 2. 16. and again that we shall never take his name in vain Therefore they might not swear at all unless upon necessary and just causes But so also we may now swear And see this in St. Paul not unfrequent To that Matt. 5. 38. see Prov. 20. 22. -24. 29. Lev. 19. 18. Tooth for tooth for publique revenge is still lawful but private never was See Numb 35. 24. And see Lam. 3. 30. Esai 30. 6. answering to Matt. 5. 39. To Matt. 5. 43. c. See Exod. 23. 4 5. and if his Oxe then if a thing much dearer to him then also if Himself See Rom. 12. 20. quoting it out of the old Testament Pro. 25. 21 22. Psal. 7. 4. Job 31. 29 30. Lev. 19. 17. Prov. 24. 17 18. Tho some enemies there were devoted to destruction to whom they might shew no mercy Deut. 7. 16. As also now some enâ—…mies of God we may not pray for 1 Jo. 5. 16. and some acts of charity there were in which they were obliged only to their brethren Deut. 15. 3. -23. 20. But so also 't is now Gal. 6. 10. Now concerning these precepts above quoted we may not think that they were unknown or unpractised till the time wherein we find them registred For we find not only the morals of Moses but even many of the ceremonials observed before his times As paying tithes Gen. 14. 20. Purifying cleansings changing their garments Gen. 35. 2. Holocausts Gen. 8. 21. Peace-offerings Exod. 24. 5. Clean and unclean beasts Gen. 7. 2. The birds in sacrifice not divided Gen. 15. 10. comp Lev. 1. 17. Not eating the blood Gen. 9. 4. Not marrying with unbeleevers as may be gathered from Gen. 6. 2. comp 1. And so Polygamy seems then prohibited See Matt. 19. 4 8. comp Gen. 6. 2. and 4. 19. Raising seed to their brother Gen. 38. 8 10. But they happened rather to be registred and set down by parts what the Holy Ghost alwaies on the same manner dictated to the faithful as those sins also were by them strictly avoided Else the holiness of ancient Noah and Job would not have run parallel with that of Daniel Ezek. 14. 14. which in the 10 Commandements were only reductively prohibited This publication of the divine laws being still more and more perfect Moses more illustrating and commenting as it were upon the former patriarchal Traditions and the Prophets upon those of Moses and Christ again upon those of the Prophets he compleating and fulfilling all things 3. The same way of salvation anciently as now was by sufferings Self-denial taking up the Cross mortification affliction as they are the portion of the godly under the new so were they under the old Testament and the same promises of protection deliverance temporal happiness and prosperity that were to the righteous under the old are also to the Saints under the new And as the present state of the wicked is observed to be prosperous since our Saviours coming but endless destruct on after it so it was before And they are Gods constant waies from the beginning never changed first affliction then deliverance first evil then good to the godly first prosperity then ruin first good then evil to the impious But who so will universally discern these paths of God by his experience must first perfectly see the goodness and wickedness of the heart where their chief seat is to distinguish between the good and the bad and then must see the joyes and afflictions of the heart where their chief seat is to distinguish between the truly temporally happy and the miserable Besides these he must see to what place the soul goes when it leaves the body and to what place also the body goes when it leaves the grave for t e reasons Matt. 16. 26. Luk 12. 20. Rev. 18. 7. And then for the better considering of tempâ—…ral judgments and mercies he must live the time of 3 or 4 generations Till which let his ignorance say with the Wise man Eccl. 9. 1. Homo nescit utruâ—… a more an odio dignus sit Meanwhile to see the unity of the doctrine of the two Testaments concerning these 1. And first for self-denial mortifications c. Generally we learn from those ancienter Saints sackcloth dust and ashes fasting lying on the ground c. see Davids humiliations 2 Sam. 12. 16. so far as some that will hold only on the liberty of the new reject these as humiliations proper only to the old Testament The austerities of the Prophets were very great the self-denial of Abraham and Moses c. not to be parall'd 2. That temporal afflictions were the portion of piety under the old Testament and that this book taught men so see the witness that the new bears to it chusing rather to recite it as an old then teach it as a new credend See Heb. 12. 5. quoting Prov. 3. 11. Rom. 8. 36. quoting Psal. 44. 24. Jam. 5. 11. chusing an example of sufferings out of Job And now for the history of old times Consider how that old-Testament-Piety began in Abel and how it ended in those mentioned Heb. 11. 35. c. How the children of promise were at first the servants of their Brethren as at last their Masters So that as the Apostle Gal. 4. 29. â—…aith as then so it is now we may lawfully convert it in saying as now so it was then See Abrahams leaving his country Act. 7. 5. the complaint of Jacob Gen. 47. 9. Consider the afflictions of Moses yet those chosen by him of David and those not less after then before his coronation See Psal. 39. 12. see the sad complaint of Psal. 44. notwithstanding vers 17. lastly consider the design of holy Jobs