against any Law yet by the Law of Nations is made a quasi-transgressour being wholly depersonated and degraded from the common condition of an humane person and depressed into the state as it were of a beast to live as an odious and detestable creature subject to all maner of injuries and excluded from all kind of benefit having no humane right at all No right of inheritance to enjoy any estate no right of authority to beare any office no right of suffrage to make any election no right of assembly to consult of businesse no right of testimony to beare witnesse nor right of Testament to make a Will And by the Law of God the Gibeonites were cursed into an hereditary bondage to be slaves and drudges for ever about the Temple of the Lord Jos 9.23 Now therefore ye are cursed and there shall none of you bee freed from being bondmen and hewers of wood and dramers of water for the house of my God 3. The Distressed who justly according to the secret will of God are afflicted with some permanent misery Of these our Saviour gives us two or three severall short lists one Mat. 11.5 as the Blind the Lame the Leapers the Dease and the Dead Another Luke 4.18 as the Poore the broken-hearted the captive the blinde and the bruised A third Mat. 25.35 as the Hungry the thirsty the stranger the naked the sick and the prisoner All which and the like are by the Lawyers tearmed Personae miserabiles i. e. miserable persons because being in misery they are the proper objects of mercy and pity and because they are the proper subjects of for a Testament ad pias causas i. e. a Will made for charitable and godly uses for the reliefe of miserable and pitious creatures to whom mercy and pity doth properly belong Yet in the eye and judgement of the world these kind of persons are generally censured for trangressours and are indeed quasi-transgressours because they are afflicted with such miseries as are many times made the Judgement of God upon transgressors In this ranke Job was a sinner for hee was miserably afflicted in his goods in his children and in his body as if he had beene a foule transgressour yet really hee was not a transgressour for Job 1.8 the Lord gave him this testimony that There was 〈◊〉 like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evill It was therefore the errour of Jobs friends to argue his transgression from his affliction because although transgression be a cause of affliction yet is neyther the perpetuall nor totall nor sole cause therof but there are other good causes besides transgression why God layes affliction upon this or that person though from men those causes be concealed For they flow from the secret will of God and sometimes from his good will Thus was Lazarus a sinner for he was sorely distressed and afflicted being a beggar layd at the rich mans gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crammes that fell from the rich mans table moreover the dogs came and licked his sores Luke 16.20 Yet it seemes he was not a transgressour for when he dyed hee was carryed by the Angels into Abrahams bosome And thus was the blinde man a sinner John 9.1 for he was afflicted and distressed being blinde from his birth and withall so poore that hee sate and begged Yet neither he nor his Parents were transgressors for in that point Christ expresly cleeres them all but hee was made a quasi-transgressor or a quasi-sinner that the workes of God should be made manifest in him 4. The Tainted who justly according to the declared Will of God are made Heires to their Fathers misery Who derive from their Father not onely that nature wherein hee was created but also that distresse and misery wherewith hee was afflicted who are necessitated or at least not exempted from that state and condition of misery which by reason of some sinne their Father incurred But either by the curse of God or by the course of nature those forfeits damages and losses which fell upon the Father are made hereditary to descend upon the Children This kinde of Calamity by Attainder is by the Sages of the Common Law called Corruption of blood when a mans Crime is so corrupt and foule that the Attainder or Judgement against it doth corrupt and spoyle not onely the offenders person but his blood i. e. his children and kindred for upon them that Attainder hath three notable effects 1. It debars them from being Heires to his estate for hee forfeits all his Lands and Goods and that forfeit is entailed on his Children 2. It depriveth them from partaking of any dignity which hee had as if hee before hee were noble hee and all his children are thereby made ignoble and base 3. It staineth them so deepely that regularly it cannot bee salved or removed by the ordinary course of grace or mercy but requires some extraordinary remedy as heere in England by authority of Parliament For this Corruption of blood must bee understood in a sense onely Jurall or Judiciall and not in a physicall naturall or carnall sense because the humour of blood which runneth in the veines of an offender and of his children is physically and naturally as incorrupt and as sound after the Attainder as before for upon the humors and spirits the Attainder of it selfe workes no alteration unlesse accidentally in this or that person at the hearing of the Sentence or apprehension of Death In this ranke the children of Ninevy should have beene sinners whereof sixe score thousand that could not discerne betweene their right hand and their left should have beene destroyed in the destruction of the City had not their Parents repented at the preaching of Jonah But the Children of Achan were de facto made such sinners Jos 7.24 For by reason of Achans Sacriledge His Sonnes and his Daughters and his Oxen and his Asses and his Sheepe and his Tent and all that hee had were stoned with stones and afterward burnt with fire So heere the Children of the Gibeonites Jos 9.27 Who for the deceit of their Parents were made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Congregation and for the Alter of the Lord even unto this day So were the seven sonnes of Saul 2. Sam. 21.9 Who for their Fathers cruelty against the Gibeonites where at the suite of the Gibeonites hanged in the hill before the Lord. And so were also the sonnes of Gehazi if hee had any 2. King 5.27 Who for their Fathers impudency in bribing and lying were made the Heires of his Leprosie for the leprosie of Naaman shall cleave unto Gehazi and unto his seed for ever And in this ranke are all the sonnes of Adam who for his disobedience are made the Heires of his mortality for by his sinne death entred upon him and by him upon all his children for they in him were all tainted Rom.
of those Legacies and promises and by his acceptance of Jesus Christ for the son and heir of God and for the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament For by the workes The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. because by the workes No flesh i. e. No mortall man Be justified i. e. Be declared upright in respect of the Law Reason Heere the Apostle enters upon the principall doctrine of this Epistle and to the end that hee might the more distinctly and clearly assert the verity thereof from those errours wherewith the Judaizing false teachers among the Galatians had corrupted it he delivers it bibartitely in two assertions 1. A Negative that A man is not justified by the works of the Law 2. An Affirmative that A man is justified by the fayth of Jesus Christ And therefore for the fuller understanding of this excellent Doctrine which declares the introduction and initiation of a man into Christ and discovers withall wonderfull comforts to the soul of a Christian I shall somewhat inlarge my selfe and distinctly explicate what is meant by Justifying what by The workes of the Law and what by Fayth in Jesus Christ Wherein though in my expressions I shall somewhat vary from the current of Expositors yet farre shall I be from that unprofitable and beggarly worke of Confutation which spends it selfe in a destructive way by cavelling at opinions or disgracing the writings of worthy men But I shall travaile only in the way of edification to rayse confirme and illustrate those instructions whereto the holy Scripture shall be the foundation Comment Justified is a derivative from the word Just or Righteous which signifies three wayes 1. Legally for the upright whereof examples 2. Morally for the kind man whereof examples and accordingly the word righteousnes signifies kindnes in the Old Testament and in the New The Hebrew Zedakah The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The legally and morally Righteous compared in 4 points 1. In their Conjunctiō in their subordination in their Dignity 4. in their opposite 3 Jurally for an Owner or an Heire or a Promissary Such was Abraham who is therfore called the Righteous man Such were the Israelites and are so called and so were the Proselytes The Owner compared with the Kinde man Righteous signifies like Gratious A Recollection Justified signifies made Just or righteous in 3 significations and in two consignifications 1. Declaratively by pronouncing a man upright and by pronouncing a man kinde 2. Efficiently either Procreantly or Conservantly Neither excluding necessarily the declarative sense Paul and James easily reconciled Jurall justifying illustrated from words of foure sorts 1. Of Circumstance 2. Of Contrariety 3. Of Affinity 4. Of Attribute and Co-heires Citizens and Freemen Justifying put for Freeing Justifying is a Court-word and a Chancery word and a word Testamentary for the sense of it Man is a sinner jurally legally and morally God is righteous jurally and Morally his kindnesses to Man and their conveyance by Testament which is a will ad pias causas in most ample maner The Nature of Justifying exemplified in Abraham in Rahab in the Jews and Gentiles The Names of it as adopting infranchising reconciling ingrafting ingratiating infeoffing seating allying inabling translating forgiving redeeming The matter of it is a Right of state two spirituall states one of bondage another of freedome which is the state of grace The state whereto we are justified or rather exalted The state from which we are justified Justification makes in us a change only jurall The Priviledges incident to that state exemplified in the Patriarks The degree of our right to the Priviledges exemplified in the Israelites in David in a Legatary The Manner of Justifying is factive exemplified in Moses Uriah and Araunah And that fact is testamentary A recollection KNowing that a man is justified First therefore for the meaning of Justified whereof I intend not in the first place so much the definition though that shall follow as the signification for the right and true English of it according to the Language wherein I write because the word Justified is a Latinisme The Greek word in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies made righteous for the Apostle Rom. 5.19 expresseth that word by these two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. constituted or made righteous as our English Translation renders them whereto other Vulgar translations unanimously for the Italian hath it constituted just and the French rendred just Seeing then the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a derivative from the nown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regularly therefore the verbe ought to pertake of those senses which are to be found in the primitive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof the English is Just or righteous Which word carrieth in Scripture severall senses and these as it is the attribute of a person are principally three viz. a legal a moral and a jural sense For as the word Sinner in the verse before had severall senses so the word Just or righteous being contrary to Sinner must needs therfore have severall senses also and they severally contrary to those of Sinner yet where the word is taken chiefly in one of these senses the rest are not alwayes excluded but some one sense is principall and the other accessory 1. The word Just or righteous is taken legally quoad leges for one who is upright according to the Laws by doing right to all and giving every man his due by the Lawes in being sometime rendring that evill which by Law is due to a man but alwayes that good which is due unto him And all men ought to bee legally righteous especially Judges and Rulers whose uprightnes in other mens causes must be exactly legall for the Law is the Rule whereby they must give Sentence and execute Judgement declining neyther to the right hand nor to the left whether it concerne the good or the evill of the party whose cause is handled for that which no way declines to neyther hand is properly sayd to be upright To render evill for evill private men are not bound but now under the Gospel are wholly bound from it yet not so neither but that Masters of Families may reprove and correct their children and servants as the Law of reason shall require because Masters of Families in respect of their Families are petty-Judges and petty-Rulers to judge and Rule uprightly by the law of reason Thus the word Righteous is taken Exod. 23.7 the innocent Vezaddik and righteous slay thou not and righteous i. e. upright or legally righteous And 2 Sam. 23.3 Hee that ruleth over men must be Zaddik 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just i. e. legally righteous or upright And Esay 26.7 The way Lazaddik of the Just is uprightnesse i. e. of the upright is uprightnesse And it is sayd of John the Baptist Marc. 6.20 that Herod feared him knowing that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a just man i. e.
constitute and produce the being of it And therefore against the Infirmity of these Paul in his Epistles to the Romans Galatians and elsewhere stoutly maintaines this doctrine that A man is not justified by the workes of the Law but by faith only Wherin according to the quicknesse and shortnesse of his speech hee intends these two points 1. That no workes at all are the cause procreant to constitute and build mans Justification as was largely explicated verse 16.2 That no workes of the Law are a cause conservant to continue and maintaine mans Justification as shall bee discovered in the next verity For in these two points the Judaizers held the contrary as it plainly appeares partly by their practise and partly by his arguments against them But James in his assertion opposeth the Gentilizers who were a party quite contrary to the former and in opposition of them were Fiduciaries and Libertines standing onely for fayth and liberty neglecting despising and disgracing all maner of works as no cause at all of Justification neyther procreant to constitute or build the state of it nor conservant to continue and maintayne it as before was intimated after the 14. verse And therefore against the vanity of these James maintaynes this doctrine that A man is justified by workes and not by faith onely Wherein his meaning is as it was well enough understood of the Gentilizers that good workes â—ot of the Law but of Grace love and kindnesse were necessary both to faith and Justification as causes conservant to continue and maintaine both untill Justification bee consummated determined and finished into salvation for without such workes faith is dead but with and by them is made perfect Allowing therfore unto the word Justified being a Verbe efficient or factive these two senses of efficiency procreant and conservant and thereupon affirming that Faith only without workes doth justifie procreantly to constitute the state of Justification But faith with workes and by workes doth justifie conservantly to continue that state Then it will plainly appeare concerning Paul and James that neyther of their doctrines is a paradoxe that neyther is to other repugnant but each with the other is consistent and both are conducent to the verity and sanctity of Christianity Nay more the doctrine of James is to that of Paul a necessary consequent borrowing from Paul those principles whereby it is both raysed and proved For because as Paul teacheth my faith only without works doth procreate or build my Justification and because evill workes destroy the state of it and build againe my state of sinne therefore it must needs follow as Saint James teacheth that good workes doe continue and maintaine the state of it For although they doe not procreate or build that state yet they preserve and uphold it from that destruction and ruine which evill works would bring upon it Againe because as Paul teacheth my continuance in sin is the cause corrumpent and destruent to decay destroy my Justification which is to unjustifie me therefore as James teacheth my continuance in good workes is the cause conservant and restituent to preserve the state and to restore the decayes of it For in case I should fall my faith alone cannot restore mee but if I recover my faith working by workes of Repentance must be the meanes of my Recovery Besides because as Paul teacheth 1. Cor. 13.2 Though I have all faith so that I could remove mountaines and have no charity I am nothing Therefore as James teacheth faith without workes is dead because the acts of charity are good workes and of all other the greatest Lastly because as Paul teacheth Gal. 5.6 In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love Therefore as James teacheth Faith working with workes is by workes made perfect that it may finally availe in Jesus Christ Thus James in his doctrine and in his reasons thereof secondeth Paul not differing from him in sense and truth but onely in words and tearmes and for that verball difference there was a just occasion For Paul being an Apostle to the Gentiles tempereth his doctrine with such words and tearmes that hee might give no offence either to the unbelieving Gentiles who thereupon would continue in their unbeliefe or to the believing Gentiles who thereupon might recede from their beliefe For hee made it his rule not to offend any party but to please all seeking to save as many as hee could labouring to plant the Gospel and to increase the Church of God as much as might bee And James being an Apostle to the Jewes and writing to the twelve dispersed Tribes doth correspondently carry himselfe with the like temper that hee likewise might give no offence either to the unbelieving Jew or to the believing Judaizer Yet let no Christian presume to censure this temperate carriage with temporizing seeing heerein these two great Apostles practized the great rule of Charity which is To walke without scandall or giving of offence especially to parties opposite but rather to please both A rule by Paul both taught and practised as appeares 1 Cor 10.32 Give no offence neither to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine owne profit but the profit of many that they may be saved And seeing under the tearmes of Justifying by workes taken in different senses opposite Errours did trouble the Church who can say to the contrary but that these two Apostles might bee moved to use these very termes either by the spirit of God or by their owne agreement that each should confute those severall errours within his severall line namely James within the line of Circumcision and Paul elsewhere Concerning this seeming opposition between Paul and James whereof I spake somewhat before but not enough there are extant divers other Reconciliations whereof I oppose none but leave every man to that sense whereby hee may bee most edified 4. The fourth verity is this The workes which continue my Justification are acts of Love The tenure whereby the Israelites continued their Justification to the kingdome of Canaan to hold and enjoy it were the workes of the Law in the literall sense For thus speakes Moses to the people Deut. 5.33 You shall walke in all the wayes which the Lord your God hath commanded you and that you may prolong your dayes in the Land which ye shall possesse i. e. Your walking in Gods Lawes shall continue and prolong your possession in the Land whereto yee are justified or have a right And in after-ages when their children should aske them the meaning of these Lawes they must answer their children thus Deut. 6.24 The Lord commanded us to doe all these statutes to feare the Lord our God for our good alwayes that hee might preserve us alive as it is this day and it shall be our righteousnesse if wee observe to doe all these commandements before
that cause must needs be a desire to please men and to winne their favour by preaching the Doctrines of men suitable to mens desires for what other motive could the Apostle have to perswade the Doctrines of men but only a desire to please men whose favour he professeth here not to seeke q. d. I teach not the Doctrines of men because I hunt nor after their favour and good will by preaching their inventions and traditions for Gospell For if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ. A super-reason or confirmation of the former reason by an argument from the inconvenience which must necessarily follow if he did seeke to please men for that must needs argue him to be the servant of men and if so then hee could or rather would not be the servant of Christ The particle yet doth tacitly argue that formerly while hee was a Pharisee and a servant to the law and before he was the servant of Christ hee endeavoured to please men as when hee had authority from the high Priests to make inquisition and to attach the professors of Christian Religion which although it were done in zeale to the Jewish Religion and to the Law of God yet can hardly bee free and cleare from all ambition of pleasing men The word please may bee taken either for the act and deed of pleasing or for the will and desire to please yet the later sense is the more likely because he mentioned before his will and desire in seeking to please men The pleasing of men must not here be taken as the will and pleasure of men is conformable and agreeable to the will and pleasure of God for when men apply their knowledge to the truth of God and their pleasure to the will of God and their practice to the Law of God to submit in all things their pleasure to the good pleasure of God or at least endeavour nothing contrary to his Lawes then in cases wherein mens salvation may be furthered we may and must please men for he that in due manner pleaseth and serveth such men doth therein please and serve both God and Christ for thus Paul elsewhere professeth to please men that it was his exercise to have alwayes a good conscience voyd of offence not onely toward God but also toward men he admonisheth us that no man should please himselfe but every one his neighbour alleadging for our imitation the example of Christ whose way was not to please himselfe and the example of himselfe that his manner was to give no offence neither to Jew nor Gentile but pleased all men in all things See Act. 24.16 and Rom. 15.1 2 3. and 1 Cor. 10.32 33. But here wee must understand pleasing of men as their will and pleasure is opposed to the will and pleasure of God and in that case our will and endeavour must bee to please God though thereupon all men living should be displeased for when men have their will crosse to the will of God and walke in wayes contrary to his Lawes then by pleasing them wee must needs displease him and therefore saith Paul if I should endeavour to please men as they dissent and disagree from Christ I should not be the servant of Christ or rather I would not have beene the servant of Christ for in that way his service is a condition very unfit for me q. d. If it were my desire or endeavour to please men who are displeasing unto Christ I would not have Christ for my Master but would soone quit my service unto Christ and have nothing to doe either with professing or teaching the Religion of Christ for it had been beter for me to have continued a Jew and lived in my former state of a Pharisee wherein I had a fitter condition and a way more expedient to please the people and gaine the good will of men neither would I have abandoned that grace and favour wherein among my owne nation especially the chiefest persons I flourished even unto envy to have exposed my selfe to the common hatred of all men whereof the many miseries and persecutions which I have since suffered for the cause of Christ are a testimony abundantly sufficient VERSE 11. Text. But I certifie you brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man Sense I certifie you The Greek is I make known unto you Is not after man i. e. Is not humane or is no humane invention Reason A further and fuller prosecution of his former argument concerning the authority of his Ministery and Gospel relating the matter from the foundation or beginning and alleadging that the doctrine which hee preached and planted among them was no humane invention or tradition and therefore was neyther to be opposed nor deserted nor suspected of falshood Comment Pauls Doctrine was not humane BVt I certifie you brethren The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. but I make knowne unto you or declare unto you for one of these wayes the word is constantly rendred in our last English translation See Luke 2.15 and John 15.15 and John 17.26 and Act. 2.28 and Rom. 9.22.23 and 1. Cor. 15.1 and Ephes 1.9 and elsewhere q. d. I declare now and make known unto you concerning the Gospel which I planted among you a matter which it seems is yet unknown unto you or if you have had some knowledge of it yet there are some amongst you which will not acknowledge it for a certaine truth but eyther conceale it or keepe it doubtfull now therefore I shall make it certaine and cleer unto you And he calls them Brethren because although in some points they were revolted and removed from the sincerity of the Gospel yet they were not removed from the compasse of his charity That the Gospel which was preached of mee is not after man The truth or matter concerning the Gospel which hee would make known unto them that the Gospel which hee planted among them was no humane doctrine q. d. As my Apostleship by the authority whereof I preached the Gospel unto you was not humane for I had my Apostleship neither of men nor by men so the Gospel which I preached by the authority of my Apostleship was no humane Gospel the doctrine of it is neither the invention nor tradition of any man and this I make knowne and certifie unto you that you may retaine no further scruple of the matter For heereof was the doubt among the Galatians though there was no just cause for any doubt heerof VERSE 12. Text. For I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ Sense Received it of man i. e. Neither received it neither was I taught it by man Of man i. e. Of any mortall man Taught it but by i. e. Taught it otherwise then by the revelation of Christ Reason A cleere reason of his former assertion that the Gospel which he preached and his knowledge therein was
somewhat obscure and farre remote from Jerusalem or because all commerce and passage of Letters was stopped by reason of the persecution then reigning about Jerusalem I went up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I returned which hee therefore sayth because Jerusalem was the place of his habitation or ordinary residence from whence he set forth with authority to persecute the Saints at Damascus and now after three yeares he returned from thence to Jerusalem q. d. When I had already executed my Apostleship for the space of three yeares in Preaching the Gospel for the most part of that time in Arabia and for some dayes at Damascus and had thereby given sufficient proofe both of my Apostleship and of my knowledge in the mystery of Christ then after those three years were expired because I was persecuout of Damascus I returned to Jerusalem Wherby he necessarily concludes that he returned not to Jerusalem for any instruction to preach the Gospel because for the space of three yeares he had already Preached it To see Peter The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to visit Peter the word is no where else used in all the New Testament and properly signifies that kind of seeing which by the Opticks is tearmed â—â—â—ustus i. e. insight which is a diligent and ferious observance of a thing eying the whole and every part and marking all that is to be seene thereby to get an exact and perfect knowledge thereof as if we meant to write a history of it The practise of this insight made upon Cities and Countries is called Surveying but done upon persons out of civill respect is tearmed visiting Yet the visit heere given by Paul unto Peter was not a visitation by way of authority but a Salutation by way of observance or brotherly kindnesse to know and bee knowne unto that Apostle who was of singular authority and eminency not only in Jerusalem but in all that part of the Church which lay within the Jewish pale and of extraordinary fame throughout the whole Church For what could bee more comfortable to all the Disciples of Christ and more sutable in it selfe then that two such great Apostles of Christ who were the two principall Doctors and as it were the two pillars of the Church should joyne their eyes and hands in the mutuall knowledge and acquaintance one of another The cause therefore of Pauls departure from Damascus was his persecution from thence by the Governour and the Jewes who insidiated his life and the cause of his accesse unto Jerusalem at that time was only to give Peter a visit and to bee known unto so great an Apostle q. d. The end of my then going to Jerusalem and personally to Peter was not for Instruction to learne any thing of him but for acquaintance to visit him and to be known unto him And abode with him fifteene dayes The space of time how long for that time he abode at Jerusalem was only a for might which saying heere although in the letter it be History yet in the purpose of the Apostle it is a Reason to prove the truth of his former words that his comming to Jerusalem to see Peter was only to see and visit him because hee abode with him but fifteene dayes and further he thereby also concludes his principall point that the Gospel which he preached was not humane but divine q. d. The space of a forâ—ight was a time too narrow for mâ—… learne divine mysteries by the meanes of humane instruction and therefore my knowledge in the Gospel whereby I became a Teacher of the Gentiles could not be acquisitive to bee gayned by study or by the help of man no not of Peter himselfe the most eminent person in the Church of Christ but must needs be infusive to be operated in me only by the pleasure of God and to be wrought in my soul by revelation What the Apostle did besides at Jerusalem during those fifteen dayes namely how hee exercised his Ministery privatly yet boldly in disputing against the Grecians or Proselites of Jerusalem till they went about to kill him is related by Luke Act. 9.28.29 But why the Apostle abode at Jerusalem no longer then fifteen dayes and why he preached not there publikely to the Jewes during that time himselfe gives the reason elsewhere namely because the Jewes of Jerusalem would not receive his testimony concerning Christ as Christ in a vision had revealed it unto him in the Temple at Jerusalem where during his abode of fifteene dayes hee was praying and in a trance for because of this malignity in the Jewes of Jerusalem he neyther preached nor stayed there but was commanded to make haste and get him quickly out of Jerusalem Act. 22.17.18 VERSE 19. Text. But other of the Apostles saw I none save James the Lords brother Sense The Lords brother i. e. Cosin-germane Reason An answer to a tacite objection that might bee made against his former words concerning Peter q. d. If any man shall heereupon object against me that although at that time I received no instruction from Peter yet I might have it from some other of the Apostles To this I must further professe for a truth that during my abode at Jerusalem those fifteene dayes I saw no other of the Apostles save James the lesse our Lords kinseman and cosin-germane and him I saw no otherwayes then by way of visit as I did Peter James the Brother of Christ This James is called the Lords brother by an Hebruisme because he was his cosin-germane being the son of Alpheus alias Cleopas by his wife Mary who was sister to Mary our Lords mother See and compare Mat. 10.3 and Mat. 13.55 and Marc. 3.18 and Marc. 15.40 and Luke 6.15 and John 19.25 and Act. 1.13 And this title of being our Lords brother was given him for distinction to notifie him from James the son of Zebedee and brother of John At that time of Pauls being at Jerusalem he saw no other of the Apostles but Peter and James but at another time many yeares afterward being at Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus he mentions John also as it will appeare in the next Chapter verse 9. VERSE 20. Text. Now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lye not Sense Which I write unto you Supply the sense thus are true or certaine Reason A Confirmation of all his former Narrative by testifying his words upon his Oath or rather by his Oath calling God to testifie them Comment A solemne Oath ascertory NOw the things which I write unto you These words must have the supply of some predicate or attribute to compleate or perfect the sense of them which may be thus the things which I write unto you are not faigned but most true and certaine and the words for their proper antecedent must be referred to the words at the beginning of the 15. verse before But when it pleased God c. for the things wherto he
in Christ yet they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospell but lived as did the Jewes These labouring a compliance betweene Moses and Christ did teach and professe that the Law and the Gospel the Old and New Testament were all one and the same or at the most that the latter was but an addition or supplement to the former and that there was no coming unto Christ and to the Gospell but by passing first through Moses and the Law These were Operaries and Rituaries i. e. so much for the Workes and Ceremonies of the Law that they made Workes the cause conservant to continue justification and therefore after their faith and justification in Christ to the end that they might continue and abide in that state they continued in the Workes of the Law as in practising the use of Circumcision in abstaining from divers meates both of Flesh Fish and Fowle and especially from all meates that had beene offered unto Idolls in observing divers seasons of dayes moneths times and yeares And proceeding yet further at last they came to this that they made Workes also the cause procreant of justification to constitute create and begin the state of it for therefore they urged their Workes especially Circumcision upon the Gentiles as necessary unto salvation Of this Sect were they who are mentioned Acts. 15.1 And certain men which came down frō Judea taught the brethren and sayd Except ye bee circumcised after the maner of Moses ye cannot be saved Certain men i. e. certain Judaizers And they who are mentioned here in this cap. v. 12. For before that certain came from James i. e. certain Judaizers Also they in the Church of Rome and of Colossa whom Paul notes in his Epistles to the Romans and Colossians and they Phil. 3.2 whom Paul there cals Dogs evill workers and the Concision and they in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus who were given to Jewish Fables to endles Genealogies and strivings about the Law The Cause of this their Judaisme was at first partly their zeal to the Law of Moses whereof they acknowledged God himself the Author partly their envy and hatred against the Gentiles that they should be made partakers of Gods grace in Christ from which by this meanes they endeavoured to discourage the Gentiles But afterward this Judaisme was advanced partly out of vain-glory to insult over the Gentiles in forcing them to the Laws and Customs of the Jews and partly out of policy that living as did the Jews they might enjoy the Priviledges of the Jews and thereby not become liable to that persecution which lay upon the sincere Christian The Effect of this Judaisme was that the walking therein was not onely an errour against the truth of the Gospel but also a scandall against the growth of it a damage and mischiefe to the planting and spreading of it for heereby it came to passe that the unbelieving Gentiles were unwilling to receive it and the believing Gentiles were ready to desert it 3. The third party of Christians were the Gentilizers for so they may bee called seeing here in this verse Paul denotes them by this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to Gentilize or as our English Translation renders it to live after the maner of the Gentiles These also in respect of their faith were Christians for they believed in Christ but in respect of their life they were Heathenish because they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel but lived after the maner of the Gentiles For these labouring a compliance betweene Philosophy and Christianity interserted mingled and blended the Gospel of Christ with Pythagorisme and Platonisme with Epicurisme and Stoicisme The severall Sectaries or followers heereof either turning the grace of God into wantonnesse or pretending to exercise their Christian liberty were somewhat divided amongst themselves not onely in their Doctrines and Opinions but also in their practice and conversation For some as the Pythagorists abstained from Wine drinking onely water they abstained from all kinde of flesh eating onely herbes and they abstained from mariage disallowing that state holding it good for a man especially a Philosopher not to touch a woman Others as the Epicures were heerto so contrary that they would abstain from nothing not from bloud nor things strangled nor any kinde of flesh eating meats offered unto Idolls not from fornication nor incest nor other uncleannesse not from drunkennesse at the Communion 1. Cor. 11.21 For in eating every one took before other his supper and one the Pythagorist was hungry and another the Epicure was drunken Yet these different sects agreeing all in the fayth of Christ tolerated one another in other matters as anciently they had done before their conversion that in the maine they might all side against the Judaizer Wherefore taking advantage of Pauls doctrine against works and boasting that Paul was their Apostle as indeed he was they became Fiduciaries and Libertines i. e. They were only for faith and liberty neglecting despising and disgracing works as no way necessary to salvation as no cause at all of Justification neither procreant to constitute or build the state of it nor conservant to continue and maintaine it Of this sect were they Rom. 14. who did eat only hearbs and they who did eat all things They 1. Cor. 1. who made divisions and contentions saying I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ They 1. Cor. 5. who were puffed up in the behalfe of the incestuous Corinth They 1. Cor. 6. who held fornication lawfull They 1. Cor. 7. who held mariage unlawfull or unexpedient They 1. Cor. 8. who would eat meat offered unto Idols and would eat it in the Idols temple They 1. Cor. 15. who denyed the Resurrection to come and they at Ephesus who affirmed that it was already past They Coloss 2. who spoyled men through Philosophy beguiling them in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels In a word they in generall who are censured and taxed in the Generall Epistles of James Peter John and Jude The Cause of this their Gentilisme was partly their vaine-glory in being gifted men and puffed up with the gifts of the Holy Ghost as the gift of fayth of knowledge of tongues and of prophesie partly their Sensuality in abusing their Christian liberty unto licentiousnesse and loosenesse following their carnall appetite and walking after the flesh partly their Animosity in opposing and crossing the Judaizer whose doctrines and practises especially that of Circumcision they detested and abhorred The Effect of this Gentilisme was the very same with that of Judaisme for this walking or living thus after the maner of the Gentiles was not only an error against the truth of the Gospel but also a scandall against the growth of it a damage and mischiefe to the planting and spreading of it especially amongst the Jewes for heerupon the event was that the unbeleeving Jewes were unwilling to
death then it must needes follow that hee had dyed for the Gentiles And 2. Tim. 2.10 That hee endured all things for the Elects sake that they may also obtaine the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternall glory And this was not the singular charity of Paul alone But it is also the duty of every Believer to lay downe his life for his brethren especially when the matter concernes their salvation for heereof the death of Christ is both the reason and the example 1. John 3.16 Heereby perceive wee the love of God because hee layd downe his life for us and wee ought to lay downe our lives for the brethren Likewise of every true Martyr by whose constancy I finde my selfe confirmed in the truth it may bee truely sayd that hee dyed for the good of my salvation Yet notwithstanding all other persons besides Christ are in this kinde onely subservient unto Christ and the benefit which I have by their death doth onely second my blessing by his Who loved mee The Motive that induced Christ to give himselfe for mee was his Love to mee For as the fruit of his death was my good So the roote of it was his love for because hee loved mee therefore hee dyed for mee Certainely a reall love not in word or in tongue but in deede and in truth testified and certified by his death for by the outward passion of his death hee declared the inward affection of his love And certainely a liberall love for seeing love delights to give what could hee give mee more then to give himselfe for mee For the greatnesse of his love unto mee is heere signified by two circumstances that inclose and stand about his Love One before it by the greatnesse of his person in that hee was the sonne of God for what greater person was there in the world who was mortall and able to dye for mee The other after it by the greatnesse of his passion in that hee gave himselfe to death for mee for what could hee possibly doe more for my sake then to lay downe his life for mee Seeing beyond this there can bee no greater love and hence hee himselfe commends the greatnesse of love John 15.13 Greater love hath no man then this that a man lay downe his life for his friends His love therefore was the Cause of his death and his death was the Effect of his love For hence in severall passages of Scripture his Love and his Death go hand in hand as the Cause with the effect As Ephes 5.2 Walke in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himselfe for us And Ephes 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it And 1. John 3.16 Heereby perceive wee the love of God because hee layd downe his life for us Yet the love of Christ unto mee was not the sole and onely cause of his death for mee so as to exclude the love of the Father from being concurrent with the love of Christ For God the Father also loved mee and loved mee so eminently and so principally that his love was the cause why Christ loved mee and therefore consequently Gods love unto mee must needes bee the cause why Christ dyed for mee and must needes bee also the supreame cause that hath no higher cause above it For Christ therefore dyed for mee because hee loved mee and hee therefore loved mee because God loved mee But why God loved mee I know no cause beside his love Yet that Gods love to mee is the cause why Christ dyed for mee is manifest from severall passages of Scripture as John 3.16 For God so loved the World that hee gave his onely begotten Sonne i. e. Gave him to dye for his love to the World was the cause why hee exposed his sonne to death And Rom. 3.25 God hath set forth Christ to bee a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse i. e. His kindnes which is the effect of his love And Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us And 1. John 4.10 Heerein is love not that wee loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins And the greatnesse of Gods love heerein is manifest also by two circumstances One of the Person dying a person of that Majesty and of so neare alliance unto God that hee was the sonne of God and his onely begotten sonne Which must needs argue in God an excesse and high degree of love For hee that is so free as to give up his owne sonne for mee doth thereby further give mee to understand that hee would willingly give mee all that ever hee hath And beyond this can there bee any greater love or can any love bee more free Yet such was Gods love to mee in the death of Christ Rom. 8.32 Hee that spared not his owne sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall hee not with him also freely give us all things The other Circumstance is of the persons for whom Christ dyed for they were sinners and ungodly wretches persons deserving death themselves and altogether unworthy that any one should dye for them and therefore much lesse the sonne of God Peradventure for good and godly men some man would dye but would any man dye for sinners and ungodly wretches But Christ dyed for us while wee were yet sinners and ungodly and therein God commended the greatnesse of his love to us Rom. 5.7 Peradventure for a good man some would even dare to dye but God commendeth his love towards us in that while wee were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Hence there will follow these three verities 1. Gods wrath was not the cause of Christs death For wee cannot finde any such Doctrine delivered in the Scriptures But from severall expresse Scriptures wee have clearely shewed that the cause of Christs death was Gods love unto us and that love was not ordinary and vulgar but singularly and intirely the greatest that ever was in the world Wee were indeede the children of wrath i. e. lyable to Gods wrath and worthy of it Yet it doth not thence follow that God was then actually wrath with us for God who is rich in grace and mercy may in a divers respect actually love them who actually deserve his wrath And when Christ dyed for us wee were then dead in sinnes i. e. guilty of death by reason of our sinnes Yet it thence followeth not that our sinnes were punished in the death of Christ for God may actually pardon their life who actually are guilty of death This God may doe de jure and hath already done it de facto and hee hath done it for this end that thereby hee might shew the exceeding riches of his love and grace in his mercy and kindnesse towards us through Christ Ephes 2.3 Wee all had our conversation in times past
in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath even as others but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith hee loved us even when wee were dead in sinnes hath quickned us together with Christ by grace yee are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the Ages to come hee might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus Certainely such love as heere is mentioned so exceeding rich in grace mercy and kindnesse must needes bee free from wrath and anger unlesse wee are content to say that at one and the same time in respect of the same action and of the same persons God was exceeding loving and yet exceeding angry which at last will come to this that at the same time the same God loved and loved not 2. God was not angry with Christ when he dyed For would God bee angry with his onely begotten Son of whom hee gave this publick testimony from Heaven Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased With his Son who was so obedient that hee tooke upon him the forme of a servant and God calls him his chosen servant in whom his soule was well pleased Mat. 12.18 Behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soule is well pleased With his Son who was so Innocent that in all his life hee knew no sin and therefore could bee no subject of Gods anger And could God bee angry with his Sonne then when hee was about Gods owne worke a worke to God so pleasing that God therefore loved him because he undertook it John 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it againe A worke to God so agreeable that Ephes 5.2 it was an Offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour A worke to God so acceptable that for his undergoing of it God hath highly exalted him and caused every knee to bow unto him Phil. 2.8 Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow c. 3. God was not angry with us when Christ dyed for us For could God bee angry with us then when wee were the objects of his admirable and infinite love when hee did a worke for our sakes whereby hee especially intended to free us wholly from his anger a work wherein he playnly declared the exceeding riches of his grace and the abundance of his mercy and kindnesse towards us a worke wherein hee spared not his own most dearly beloved Son but delivered him up for us all and thereby manifested that hee would freely give us all things a worke whereby hee conveyed unto us a right interest and clayme to the eternall possession of Heavenly blessednes Or if God were then angry with us when to settle upon us eternall life hee exposed his owne Son to a bitter death what sufficient argument can wee draw from his death whereby to assure our soules that God remaines not angry with us still even unto this very day True it is that God was angry with the Jewes who put Christ to death for his bloud was upon them and upon their children and afterward God punished their wickednes with a sin all desolation Yet if wee consider that anger of God according to the right course of causality we shall easily perceive that Gods anger against the Jewes was not the cause of Christs death but contrarily Christs death was the cause of Gods anger against the Jewes For God whose anger caused not the worke was justly angry with the workemen who did it because they on their part made it a wicked worke for they did it not as Gods worke not as his Will not for his sake not for his end nor by his authority Gods anger therefore against the Jewes for the death of Christ maketh nothing against the verities by mee premised that his anger was not the cause why Christ dyed For the like may bee sayd of every Martyr whose death is a just cause of Gods anger against his Persecutors though Gods anger bee no cause at all of his death But some man may say that the truth of these words who loved me and gave himselfe for me being spoken by Paul of himselfe and in his person of every Christian might be certainely knowne unto Paul Because hee might bee assured of this truth by the meanes of some revelation made unto him thereof for either Christ whom hee had heard and seen or God who revealed Christ unto him might also reveale this truth unto him But you that were borne some hundred yeares since the death of Christ and have no revelation touching any such love of Christ toward you how can you for your part certainely know and bee assured concerning your selfe that Christ loved you and gave himselfe for you Hereto I answer That this saying is also true of mee I certainely know and am assured from hence because my name is written in Gods last Will and Testament that Christ loved mee and gave himselfe for mee Yet I find not my name written there by my proper Christian and sir-name but by an appellative or common name of mine which unto mee is farre better and more certaine then my proper name For I certainely know of my selfe that I am a Believer in Christ and am truely called by that name and under that name I finde it written of mee that Christ loved me and dyed for me John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave to death his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And againe Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousnes i. e. the kindnes of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousnesse or kindnes of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud Christ then dyed for all Believers whatsoever of what Nation and what age soever not onely for those who lived in that age wherein hee dyed but for all those also who should afterwards live in any age whatsoever Now because Christ for certaine dyed for all Believers and I for certaine am a Believer therefore for certaine Christ dyed for mee And if this Reasoning be not right there is no reason why man should bee accounted a reasonable creature or if this Reasoning breed not certainty man can have no certainty in any knowledge and consequently he cannot bee certaine that himselfe is a
man much lesse can hee bee certaine that any thing is doubtfull This nomination of mee by the common name of a Believer is fully sufficient to convey unto mee a proper right to everlasting blessednesse My Father by his last Will setled his estate upon my elder Brother and upon his heires but my Brother dying without issue I came to enjoy my fathers estate Because I was named to it in his Will yet not by my single or proper name but by my appellative or common name of Heire for collaterally by my birth I was heire to my Brother But because this is a parable therefore it is not necessary that the Argument of it should agree with the thing it should argue in every particular circumstance but it shall suffice that it hold in the maine purpose and scope of it My heavenly Father by his last Will setled the Kingdome of Heaven upon Christ my elder Brother and upon his Heires and heereby the inheritance of Heaven is assured unto mee Because in Gods Will I am named to it not by my single or proper name but by my appellative or common name of heire to Christ for having God my Father by faith I consequently become Brother to Christ and co-heire with him And an heire by faith when the Testator is pleased so to assigne it is jurally as sure as an heire by birth and in the case present much surer because the assignation is universall to all in generall Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life And the righteousnes of God unto all and upon all them that believe If therefore a common name written in mans will be of force to convey and assure an estate much more shall it doe the like in Gods Will. Oh my deare and blessed Lord who hast loved mee and given thy selfe for mee and therefore wilt give mee any thing else beside grant mee the spirit of thy love that thine to mee may beget mine to thee But let mine bee a soveraigne love to adhere to thee against all the world and let it bee a diligent love not in word but in deed to serve thee faithfully in all thy commands Grant mee also the virtue of thy death to worke in mee my death to sinne that as thou for my sake didst lay downe thy life so I for thy sake may lay downe my sinne Let the sprinkling of thy blood fall upon my heart to withdraw mee from the course of the world to cleanse mee from all vaine conversation to purifie mee from sinne and iniquity to consecrate and dedicate my soule to holynesse that as Adams sinne made mee guilty so thy death may make mee holy And when my naturall death approacheth seeing thou hast tasted death for mee bee pleased to succour mee at the houre of mine Let mee not feare or grieve or grudge to dye but answering the way of thy love let mee give my selfe for mee and then Lord Jesus receive my spirit for which thou didst vouchsafe to dye VERSE 21. Text. I doe not frustrate the grace of God For if righteousnesse come by the Law then Christ is dead in vaine Sense I do not frustrate the grace of God i. e. I make it not vaine or voyd by despising or rejecting it in attributing that blessing unto Gods Law which proceedeth from his grace For if righteousnesse come by the Law i. e. If the Right whereto Gods righteousnesse or kindnesse justifieth come by the Law or if Justification come by the Law as an effect of the Law Then Christ is dead in vaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. dyed without a cause then Christ who dyed on the Crosse to settle that Will and Testament of God whereby this Right was conveyed dyed without a cause or there was no sufficient reason why he should so dye Reason These words containe the third and last Argument in this Chapter whereby he proves the Negative of his principall Assertion concerning Justification that A man is not Justified by the works of the Law and consequent y that he himself was not so justified For the Apostle according to his former personation continueth his argument in his owne person concluding his Negative from an absurdity which must necessarily follow upon the contrary Affirmative of it For if I am justified by the workes of the Law then it must needs follow that thereby I doe frustrate or made voyd the grace of God because the Law of God and the Grace of God make such opposite titles that if I claime by his Law I must needs disclaime his Grace The Necessity of this consequence he further declares and confirmes by instancing in the gracious Meanes whereby this divine Right of Inheritance to Blessednes is conveyed and setled upon me namely by the bitter death of Christ upon the Crosse wherein God shewed the riches of his grace when by the death of his owne Son he testified and confirmed that Will and Testament wherein this Inheritance was devised unto mee For if my Right of Inheritance came by reason of the Law then Christ who died to settle this Right upon me dyed without any cause on Gods part and there was no sufficient reason why his Father who so dearly loved him should expose him unto death much lesse unto such a bitter death if therefore I frustrate the death of Christ I thereby also frustrate the grace of God And for this argument from Gods grace hee seemes to take occasion from the last words of the former verse wherein hee mentioned the love of Christ because all grace is love Comment Frustrate ampliated to 4 senses which really are the same Grace put for it selfe and for all the effects of it Of Justification the Matter the Title the Tenure the Author the Motive is meere Grace The Nature of grace in 2. things Testimonies for it No causes for it Yet reasons 5. 1. From Gods gift 2. from his good pleasure 3. from his goodnes or kindnes 4. from his Mercy 5. From his Will and Testament Gods grace is rich Testimonies hereof and Reasons 3. 1 It is without cause Not from Merit nor Request nor Inquiry But from Gods proper motion According to his owne will which otherwise were not his but ours 2. Rich for the Effect of Alliance and Inheritance seated most gloriously 3. For the Meanes which was costly precious Why Grace is not caused by my Works nor by my Will but is onely Gratis for Thankes 〈◊〉 what 〈◊〉 are Yet they follow not necessarily why not Grace how frustrated Righteousnesse put sometime for Uprightnes Faithfulnes Kindnes Heere for a Right For so it is taken in the Old Testament So in the New And sometime is so Englished So also here and why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies without desert here without cause Christs death ampliated to his other actiōs Especially to his Resurrection Causes of Christs death fit to be knowne the ◠Causes humane the Divine which must be 1. Consequent to Gods
Cor. 5.15 And that hee dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose againe And 1. Thess 4.14 For if wee believe that Jesus dyed and rose againe even so them also which sleepe in Jesus will God bring with him Yet heere and sometimes elsewhere the Apostle doth mention onely the death of Christ Because above all his other actions his Death was the hardest worke and the greatest argument of his love and therefore his death should most strongly move us to the workes of love and waies of holinesse The Effects and Benefits of Christs death were specified before upon these words of the former verse Who gave himselfe for mee Heere therefore wee shall mention the Causes or Reasons of his death Partly because there is much difference betweene the causes and the effects of the same thing though sometime these to them may bee subordinate Partly because it much conduceth to our understanding and beliefe of a thing to know the causes and reasons of it especially a thing of such moment as is the death of Christ But chiefely because the force of the Apostles argument lyeth in these words that then Christ dyed without a cause Yet heere wee intend not to meddle with the Naturall cause of his death for manifest it is that naturally his Crucifying caused it Nor yet with the voluntary causes of it on the Jewes part For so the causes of it were partly the sentence of Pilate whose will it was to condemne him partly the Malice of the Jewes whose will it was to importune that sentence and partly the Treachery of Judas whose will it was to betray him But our meaning is to declare the voluntary causes of it on Gods part why God had a will to decree the death of Christ and actually to subject him thereunto And the Causes thereof on Gods part if they bee rightly alleadged according to the Scriptures must needes have in them these three qualities 1. They must bee repugnant unto Justifying by the Law for otherwise wee lose the force of the Apostles argument which runnes thus For if righteousnesse or the right whereto a man is justified come by the Law then Christ dyed without a cause i. e. If the Law have this effect to justifie then there is no just cause why Christ dyed and therefore there must bee such a repugnancy betweene that effect of the Law and the cause of Christs death that hee who supposeth the former doth thereby overthrow the latter and contrarily if there bee a cause of Christs death the Law must needes bee without that effect 2. They must bee Consequent to the love and grace of God for otherwise againe wee lose another force of the Apostles reasoning whereby hee inferreth that if Christ dyed without cause then I frustrate the grace of God But I doe not frustrate the grace of God who by the death of Christ conveyeth that grace unto mee For indeede the supreame inward impulsive cause or prime motive of Christs death was the love and grace of God towards us and not his hatred or wrath but of this remote cause wee spake before upon the former verse and therefore shall not insist upon it any further 3. They must bee Respective unto the New Testament Partly because the New Testament is both repugnant to Gods Law and also consequent to Gods grace Partly because the New Testament is that solemne Will and Act of God wherein his love and grace is conveyed and whereon all the actions of Christ reflected Repugnantly therefore to the effect of the Law and consequently to the love and grace of God and respectively to the New Testament the immediate proper finall causes or reasons of Christs death are chiefely three 1. To testifie or prove the truth of the New Testament Every Testament ought to bee sufficiently and solemnly testified for hence by way of eminency it is called a Testament Partly because actively it doth testifie the minde or will of the Testator as the Civill Law delivers it which thereupon saith Testamentum ex eo appellatur quod sit testatio mentis But chiefely under correction because passively it is solemnly testified by the Testimony of severall testable persons who are to attest the truth of it and in case it bee a written Testament actually doe attest it under their hands and seales For the ancient solemnity whereof there are extant severall rules in the Civill Law But unto the New Testament a solemne Testimony was especially requisite Because it was to encounter with strong opposition which Gods people would and did raise against it in defence of the Law which was Gods Testament also and had a solemne Testimony on Mount Sinai wherewith lightning and thunder and the shrill sound of a Trumpet it was testified by an Angel in the audience of all the Nation And besides this solemne testimony the Law had the prescription of being in force for the space of fifteene hundred yeares The New Testament therefore which was to infringe the Old wherein a whole Nation had beene so long interessed had neede of good testimony because men will struggle hard for their Lawes Customes and Religion wherein the graver sort will hardly endure any change And the New Testament though it were not written as was the Old but was nuncupative declared by God onely to Christ Yet it had very sufficient testimony as good and better then the Old For the certainty and truth therof was testified by the Son of God a greater person then any Angel and hee testified it by greater meanes not with lightning and thunder but with workes of wonder such as never were done in the World before such as had they been in Sodome it would have remained untill this day as the strangenesse of his Miracles the holinesse of his life and the solemnity of his death Which solemnity was performed upon Mount Calvary in the view of all the Nation then assembled to eate the passover in a greater Congregation then was at Mount Sinai And that solemnity was attended with greater wonders then were at Mount Sinai for there onely the Ayre was rent with lightnings thunders and the sound of a Trumpet But at the death of Christ there were farre greater and stranger rents for Mat. 27.51 The vaile of the Temple was rent in twaine from the toppe to the bottome and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose For because Christ could not gaine beliefe for Gods New Testament neither by the constancy of his Doctrine nor by the strangenesse of his Miracles nor by the holinesse of his life therefore hee testified it by the solemnity of his death and afterward further attested it by the glory of his Resurrection for thereby his Disciples who stood doubtfull before gave full faith to his testimony and have since co-attested it over all the World Hence Christ