tongue and pen and that much after the same manner also as Augustine did Et u August lib. 1. cont Adversarium legis cap. 1. quoniam quoquo modo Christianum se videri cupit unde ex Euangelio ex Apostolo ponit aliqua testimonia etiam Scripturis ad Novum testamentum pertinentibus refellendus est That seeing he would seeme to be a kinde of Christian and so sets downe diuers testimonies of the new Testament and of the learned expositors of the same hee shall in like manner be encountred and confuted by them both yet I say not to the same end ut x August ibid. ostendatur in reprehensione veterum inconfideratias quam versutius insanire but that being contrarie minded he may be instructed in the spirit 20 2 Tim. 2.25 26. of meeknesse to see if God peraduenture will giue him repentance to the forsaking of his error and acknowledging of that truth which I hope he shall see is not abolished but established in and by our Sauiour 1 Mat. ◠17 Christ Iesus And so I come to looke this Aduersarie of the morall law of God in the face and to trie both the worth of his treasure whereof he 2 Reuel 3.17 boasteth not a little and the force of his armour wherein he 3 1 Sam. 17.45 trusteth too much Yet not in any confidence of my owne either power or policie but in the name of the Lord and in the power of his might whose counsell and strength I craue for this warre and who doth not only furnish his souldiers with spirituall weapons 4 2 Cor. 10.4 5. mightie through GOD to cast downe strong holds but teacheth also their 5 Psal 144.1 hands to fight and their fingers to warre and their armes to breake euen a bow of steele Thus came 6 1 Sam. 17.45 50. Dauid furnished and encouraged against Goliah thus came the poore simple 7 Ruffin Eccles Histo lib. 1. cap. 3. Confessor against the proud and wittie Philosopher and both of them preuailed against their aduersaries Dauid against his for his confusion the Confessor against his for his conuersion Aduersary of the Morall Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SIr you may well thinke me slacke in performance of my promise and not vnlike but you in respect thereof thinke that I faint in the cause but it is farre otherwise with me for the more that I consider of it the more I am confirmed in the truth of it and the more I discerne the many errors that rise out of the ignorance of the true difference betweene the Law and the Gospell Answer Sir how slacke you haue beene in performance of your promise I know not but it seemes you haue made some recompence of your slacknesse by your surenesse as you thinke that you might iustifie and make good the common prouerbe Though I be slow yet am I sure And I wish you had beene as prouident to bestow your studies well as you are confident that your cause is good or that your confidence be not greater then either your cause or your handling of it can wel afford for what is there in this your cause viz. In the Church of Christ since his death the whole law of Moses is wholly abolished and abrogated that can assure you of any warrant for the truth of it and what is there in your manner of dealing in it that can bring you any comfort or breed so great confidence in the so resolute defence of the same Had you drawne your pen and sharpened your stile either against the a August Quaest Veter Nov. Testam quaest 69. Ceremoniall Law that it is wholly vanished as a shadow because the Body is exhibited and abolished as a type because the truth is come Christ Iesus or against the b Et cont Adamant cap. 16. Iudiciall that it is abrogated also so farre as it was peculiar to the Mosaicall and Iewish policy you might peraduenture haue found some sorry c See Dana in August de Haeresib Centur. 2◠Aduersarie else-where both of former and of latter times but the most iudicious Diuines both ancient and moderne you should haue found your surest friends Nay further had you beene of opinion that euen the Morall law as it was giuen by God to Moses and by Moses to the Church of the Iewes is now in some circumstances of time place persons tables Testament manner measure terror rigor and the like * Vide Cal. Harmo in 4. Lib. Mosis p. 442 443 444. See these Fathers Iren. aduers Haeres Lib. 4. cap. 21. c. Numquid haec decologi praecepta cessasse dicenda sunt Absit inquit Augustin Quaest Vet. Nov. Test cap. 69. in Gal. cap. 3. altered and changed in the Church of Christ since his death you would not I thinke haue found many if any at all much differing and dissenting from you But seeing you haue drawne out your sword such as it is against the whole Law of Moses not against the Ceremoniall and Iudiciall only but euen against the Morall also and that not to alter or change it in some circumstance but to abrogate and abolish the very substance of it and that not in part but wholly too I know not the man that will stand with you strike one stroake for you or bid you so much as God speed in this cause or course 1 Numb 12. When Aaron and Miriam rose against Moses in great bitternesse both of spirit and speech the Lord tooke them vp sharply with this rebuke My seruant Moses is faithfull in all my house how then were yee not afraid to speake against my seruant Moses I make no doubt but euen at this day the Lord doth reckon of the Morall Law as of his seruant yea and doth esteeme it in his vse a faithfull seruant in his Church also how then were not you afraid to speake to write to fight with all the wit and power you haue against the whole body of the Morall Law and that not onely to weaken the credit and power of it but vtterly to abolish the very substance and being of it therewithall Seemeth it a small matter in your eies absolutely to abolish both Ceremoniall and Iudiciall Law d Lex Christianis est thesaurus abscōditus c. vide Irenae advers Haer. lib. 4. cap. 43. which yet retaine a e Bulling advers Anabap. lib. 2. cap. 15. lib. 4. cap. 4. spirituall and morall equity and as they are part of Gods Word shall endure for euer but you must needs deale in like sort with the Morall Law also You are farre I hope from 2 Ester 3.5 6. Hamans minde though in this your courses be not much vnlike he thought scorne to lay hands on Mordecai alone therefore he sought to destroy the whole people of the Iewes in one day and you thinke scorne to abolish the Ceremoniall and Iudiciall law alone and therefore
not whether he be circumcised or vncircumcised in the flesh By which his demand it may euidently appeare that howsoeuer he thought the workes of the Ceremoniall Law were now ceased yet he thought also that the workes of the Morall Law were now to be practised and so the Morall Law it selfe not to be giuen to the Iewes only but still to be continued amongst Christians also See Aug. contr Advers leg proph lib. 2. cap. 7. Erasmus in his Paraph. in Gal. 3.14 speaketh of the Ceremoniall Law which he faith was giuen vnto the Iewes as a Schoolemaster to a rude people Vt paulatim proficientes ad Christum perducerentur à quo solo veram expectarent justitiam pristinis diffisi ceremonijs And how will this proue that the Morall Law was giuen vnto the Iewes only But doth he e Erasm on Rom. 2.14 15. not say in his Paraphrase on Romans 2. that the Gentiles were à lege Mosaica alienae Yes he doth and he tels you what he meaneth when he addeth Nullo Mosaicae legis praescripto monebantur but only had rem legis non tabulis sed mentibus inscriptam Antinomus They were not admonished what to doe and what to leaue vndone by any prescript of Moses but only had the substance or effect of the Law engrauen not in Tables but in their hearts And what of all this Answer Is this a good Argument The Gentiles that were strangers from the life of God were strangers from the written Law of God Ergo The Morall Law was giuen vnto the Iewes only and not vnto vs Christians of the Gentiles no more than vnto those that were without God and without Christ before vs f Ad Graecas Calendas When you proue this Argument to be good I will acknowledge your skill to be greater and your cause to be better than it doth yet proue to be The like answer and offer I make to the quotations out of Erasmus in Rom. 5.13 and 7.1 Antinomus That which you bring out of g Zanch. de fide cap. 13. sect 7. Zanch. de fide cap. 13. sect 7. is spoken of Moses Law opposed to the Gospell as may appeare by the differences which there he setteth downe betwixt them and so he saith it was giuen to the Iewes only Answer But you doe him wrong to cite him for a witnesse to your bill put vp against the Morall Law as belonging to the Iewes only whereas in the very h Zanch. de fide cap. 13. sect 8. next section which it seemes you tooke not paines to reade he testifieth to all the world That in as much as the Doctrine of the Gospell requireth repentance and holinesse of life and that we should liue soberly Vide Caluin Har. in 4. lib. Mosis p. 443. righteously and godly in this present world Eatenus etiam non tollit legem de moribus so farre forth it doth not take away the Morall Law and he giueth a good reason hereof Tota enim consentanea est cum doctrina Euangelij de vitijs vitandis virtutibus persequendis For the Morall Law is wholly agreeable to the Doctrine of the Gospell concerning the eschewing of vices and ensuing of vertues Antinomus i Bucan loc 22. quaest 18. Bucanus 22. loc 18. q. saith That the old Couenant did properly belong vnto Abraham and his posterity the Israelites but the New vnto all Nations And what will you inferre hereupon That the Morall Law was giuen only to the Iewes and doth not now at all belong vnto vs If this be your Argument I say Answer as you haue not changed your Bowe so you haue chosen an arrow of the same flight and feather with those which you haue shot before as much able to hurt the sides of the Morall Law as a rush is able to pierce a rocke A strange man you are and as strange a course you hold there are few Diuines that doe so fully and distinctly set downe the differences betwixt the Law and the Gospell and the seuerall vses of the Morall Law euen now amongst Christians as k Bucan loc 22. loc 19. 20. 21. Bucanus doth and yet dare you be so bold as to piddle and picke out something out of his writings and those the very same which testifie against you as though he had giuen you his hand or lent you his sword to strike one stroake at least in your behalfe Reade ouer Bucan loc 22. againe and loc 19. and 20. and 21. and tell me at your leasure whether then you thinke him to be a man of your minde for the vtter abolishing of the whole Morall Law In the meane time take I pray you one note out of the same l Bucan loc 19. quaest 28. Bucan loc 19. for your admonition It is the error of the * Let Antinomus view his face in this glasse Antinomians and Libertines saith he to thinke that Christians haue now no vse of the Morall Law of God nor that the Decalogue is to be preached in the Christian Church because the faithfull are regenerate by the spirit I know not whether you be of this number but I feare me you are much of their temper * Hiero. August Tom. 2. pag. 341. Manichaeus Marcion destruebant Legem quam sanctam spiritualem juxta Apostolum novimus saith Hierome Paraeus in Rom. 3.19 you haue mistaken there is nothing in that place to serue your turne and Perkins in Gal. 3.23 hath beene cleared before I only adde that if you will be pleased to reade and receiue that which Mr. Perkins hath written vpon that Chapter nay vpon that verse touching the nature and vse of the Morall Law I am of opinion you will neuer looke hereafter that Mr. Perkins will euer be brought to open his mouth in this businesse any more But Moses Law you say in your sixt Argument was giuen to continue till Christs death at the most Antinomus Argument 6 Luk. 16.16 Rom. 7.1 Ergo the whole Morall Law is now wholly abrogated and abolished Answer And I say for answer That if by Moses Law you meane the Morall Law as in the former Argument I haue shewen that you must and ought then is your Antecedent false if by Moses Law August contr duas Epist Pelag. ad Bonif. lib. 3. cap. 4. you vnderstand the whole body of the Ceremoniall Iudiciall and Morall Law as it was giuen to the Iewes in that their estate of minority and legall seruility then I grant your Antecedent and deny your Consequent The Scripture which you alledge out of Luk. 16.16 The m Luc. 16.16 Law and the Prophets were vntill Iohn may as well proue that the Prophets are now of no force ☞ as that the Morall Law is now of no vse The meaning thereof is this That whereas the n Ioh. 5.16 Law and the o Act. 3.24 Prophets did testifie promise signifie and prophecie
you seeke to destroy the whole Morall Law of God also If 3 Ierem. 11.19 Ieremie held them to bee of a cruell disposition that deuised deuices against him saying Let vs destroy the tree with the fruit thereof and let vs cut him off from the land of the liuing that his name be no more remembred of what disposition then shall wee take you to be that would cut downe this tree of Gods Law together with the fruit thereof first f Manu formatoris nostri in ipsis cordibus nostris veritas scripsit Quod tibi non vis fieri ne feceris alteri Vide August in Psal 57. vers 1. planted in Paradise in the heart of Adam some roots whereof doe yet remaine in the naturall man which being g Lex Dei in cordibus scribitur non quia per naturam praeventa sit gratia sed quia per gratiam reparata est natura Vide August de vera Innocent cap. 258. transplanted by grace into the heart of the regenerate and spirituall and there rooted by faith watered by the word and warmed by the spirit doe yeeld sweet fruits of righteousnesse and holinesse to the praise and glory of God by Christ Iesus But seeing we cannot stay your hand let vs see if we can take away the dint of your stroake and abate the edge of your axe wherewith you strike to destroy the whole Morall Law Wherein howsoeuer we may faile yet are we well assured that rather shall the head fly from the helue and both fall into the bottomlesse pit and you cry out and confesse as once one of the sonnes of the 4 2 Kings 6.5 Prophets did in such a case Alas master it was but borrowed than euer this tree of the Morall law of God shall be hewen downe by your hands And first I cannot but admire againe your high conceit of your selfe great confidence in your cause and setled resolution to h Elati sibi placentes Hypocritae quaestus gratiâ inanis gloriae operantes Omnes hi decidunt à veritate alienum ignem afferentes ad altare Dei i. alienas doctrinas Vide Iren. aduersus Haeres lib. 4. cap. 43. stand stoutly to the defence of it for whereas your friend to whom you write might thinke that by reason of your slacknesse you did faint in the cause as you obiect for him you answer for your selfe in these words But it is farre otherwise with me for the more that I consider of it the more I am confirmed in the truth of it and the more I discerne of the many errors that arise out of the ignorance of the true difference betweene the Law and the Gospell Bigge words messengers of a braue heart Your cause concerning the whole abolishing of the whole Morall Law is now no longer a bare assertion but a setled perswasion for you are confirmed in the truth of it neither came you vnto this by any light opinion but by mature deliberation for you haue more and more considered of it and this consideration hath brought you with it a greater measure of illumination for by the light of this truth you are able to discerne many errors which by reason of their blinde ignorance none else can see but such as you thinke good to lend your spectacles vnto to discouer them And from all these ariseth your courage and resolution that it is so farre from you to faint in the cause that being more and more confirmed in the truth of it you are now fully resolued to set your best wits and your friends aworke stoutly to maintaine and defend it But what said the 5 1 King 20.11 King of Israel to the King of Syria Let not him that girdeth on his harnesse boast himselfe as he that putteth it off Be not so confident that your building will stand vnlesse the foundation be sure and the frame sound and good If the 6 Luc. 6.48 49. foundation be â—and and the frame 7 1 Cor. 3.11 12 13 14 15. hay and stubble it will neuer abide the touch much lesse the force either of water or of fire Many there are that build Castles in the aire and thinke them to be turrets of truth and forts of defence But when the Lord shall awaken them out of their dreame and anoint their eies with the 8 Reu. 3.18 eie-salues of grace and 9 1 Ioh. 2.27 truth they shall then see that what they built was but vpon the sand of fancie not vpon the rocke of Faith and their whole frame more like the 10 Gen. 11.4 9. Tower of Babel then the fort of 11 Cant. 4.4 Sion For as 12 Prou. 18.11 the Rich mans riches are his strong tower but only in his owne imagination so are the poore mans fancies his fortresses of faith and truth but alas only in his owne 13 Rom. 1.21 2 Cor. 10.5 vaine conceit and opinion But to make way vnto your matter you seeme to giue some reason of this your great confidence and resolution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because say you the ignorance of the true difference betweene the Law and the Gospell doth breed many errors which you haue discerned and the true knowledge of this difference keepeth all Christian doctrine in its proper vse And for this you cite Luther on Galat. 3 21. Answer Your ignorance of this difference hath bred this your error touching the vtter abolishing of the Morall Law as i Irena advers Haeres lib. 3. cap. 12. Et ea quae est sec Mosen Lex Gratia Noui Test utraque apta temporibus ad utilitatem humani generis ab uno eodem praestita Deo Irenaeus advers Here 's lib. 3. cap. 12. Ierenaeus obserued of the Marcionists Omnes qui sunt malae sententiae Mosis legem diffimilem contrariam Euangelij doctrina arbitrantes jam non sunt conversi ut differentiae utrinsque Testamenti inquirerent causas You shall anon haue a particular answer to your owne reason But first of all seeing you haue appealed vnto Luther vnto Luther shall you goe That which you alledge out of him on Gal. 3.21 we doe willingly acknowledge as good and wholsome doctrine which how little it will stand you in stead nay how much rather it stands against your opinion you shall heare by and by if first wee may heare Luther plainly deliuer his iudgement touching the abolishing or continuing of the morall Law Writing vpon the same Epistle and chapter which you cite and vers 24. he hath as you may reade these words The k Luth. in Gal. 3. vers 24. true vse of the Law is to teach me that I am brought to the knowledge of my sinne and humbled that so I may come vnto Christ and be iustified by faith But faith is neither Law nor worke but an assured confidence which apprehendeth Christ who is the end of the Law Rom. 10. And how not that he hath abolished
faith or rule of life And how then doe you imagine can the Geneua Note make for your purpose to proue by this place the abrogation and vtter abolition of the Morall Law To giue some weight vnto your light opinion and sleight exposition of this place you haue burdened your margent with a multitude of witnesses as if they had now iointly setled and established you in the same Not much vnlike me thinkes herein vnto Philotus Cous mentioned by b Athen. Dipnosophist lib. 9. cap. 23. lib. 12. cap. 29. Athenaus who was of so light and slender a body that he had weights of lead tied to his heeles left by some blast or puft of winde he should haue beene whirled and blowen away But wherefore doe you beare vs in hand that so great a cloud of witnesses as you haue painted your margent withall doe all stand for you and with you in the vtter abolishing of the Morall Law And yet you haue not drawen one drop from them all to giue vs some taste of their vniforme consent with you in your opinion Are they clouds without water witnesses without testimonies Titles without euidences Like Apothecaries boxes that beare goodly and faire names without but haue not a drugge nor a dram of any thing that is good within The Authors which you name I acknowledge to be good men and full of good things as c 2 Cor. 4.7 Vessels of the Sanctuary trusted with the Lords treasure and imployed for their d 2 Tim. 2.27 Masters vse And I haue sought and searcht e Caluin Vatah. Tremel Musc Zanch. Hipp. c. their f Caluin Vatah. Tremel Musc Zanch. Hipp. c. storehouses with what diligence for the time I could yet can I finde none of your leauen in their lumpe nor any of their Gold to gild your drosse Shall I deale plainly and fairely with you I will make you a free and franke offer Set me downe the Testimonies of the Authors which you alledge for the vtter abolishing of the Morall Law set them downe I say totidem verbis and if of the two and twenty which you name in your margent I doe not proue that one and twenty are vtterly against you I will acknowledge you victor and yeeld you the whole cause without more adoe g Cicero de Orat. Tully saith That an Orator as well as a Warrior must doe something ad specimen non ad vulnus something for a flourish not all for fight and so it seemes you doe though not as a glozing Orator yet as a h Teren. in Eun. Act. 4. sc 7. bragging Souldier you braue vs as with a troupe of horse and foot and then they be but shadowes in stead of souldiers much like those images of men which as i Jul. Frontin lib. 3. stratag cap. 8. Iulius Frontius recordeth Cyrus the King of Persia besieging the City of Sardis did put vpon long Poles and armed them like Persian souldiers and set them vpon one side of the City as an Army of men to delude and terrifie Craesus and the Citizens therewithall Now surely if any should be so credulous as to beleeue or so timorous as to feare that all these Authors are armed souldiers which you haue set vp in the margent as vpon one side of your City to defend your cause I would haue him answered only with the words of k Iudg. 9.36 Zebul to Gaal Iudg. 9. Thou seest the shadowes of the Mountaines as if they were men But now to leaue your shadowes and to deale with the substance of that which you thinke yet remaineth in the Epistle to the Hebrews for the vtter abolishing of the Morall Law * Antinomus You vrge That because the Tables of Stone wherein the Morall Law was written were remoued with the Tabernacle and other like Adjuncts therfore the Morall Law is vtterly abolished Answer And who taught you this Logicke to reason à remotione Accidentis ad remotionem subjecti Must it needs follow that because the Tables of Stone wherein the Law was written be abolished that therefore the Law it selfe is vtterly abolished together with them Were the Tables of Stone so essentiall to the Morall Law that it had neither birth before them nor being after them Nay was it not written in the Tables of the heart first in the state of l Primordialis lex data est Adae Euae in paradiso quasi matrix omnium praeceptorum Dei Tertul. advers Iudaeos cap. 2. ibi lege plura de lege Innocencie as in faire and golden Characters and continued after the fall as the Law of Nature but as it were in dimme and darke letters and yet more plainly m August quaest Vet. No. Test quaest 4. renewed to * Gen. 17.1 18.19 Abraham and the Patriarkes before it was euer written in Tables of Stone for the more manifest direction and conuiction of the n August quaest Vet. No. Test quaest 4. Iewes And hath not the Lord according to the Couenant of Grace changed the Tables of Stone into the fleshie o August de vera Innocentia ca. 258. Tables of our hearts the killing letter into the quickning spirit not putting out but putting in his p August de spir litera cap. 14. 21. lawes into our minde and writing them by his Spirit vpon our hearts and so causing vs to walke in his Statutes And hath he not done all this that as q Luc. 1.74 75. Zachary speaketh We might serue him according to his Law without feare in righteousnesse and holinesse the summe and substance of both r Matt. 22.37.39 Tables all the daies of our life How then doth the remouing of the Tables of Stone proue vnto vs the remouall of the Law written in them Nay if the remouing of the Tables of Stone would proue the abolishing of the Law written in them then the Morall Law was abolished not only as you say after Christs death but many hundred yeeres before Christs birth For in the Second Temple there was not the Arke of the Testimonie wherein the Tables were kept nor the Tables themselues neither As not onely ſ Joseph lib. 5. de Bello Iudai cap. 14. Iosephus and the t Petrus Galat. de Arcanis Catholicae verit lib. 4. cap. 9. Iewish Rabbins with others u Morn de veritate Chr. Relig. cap. 29. Phil. Morn De veritate Rel. x Ludov. Vives de veritate Chr. fidei lib. 3. cap. 11. Lud. Viv. de verit Christ fid lib. 3. doe record but the sacred y 2 King 24.13 Story also beareth witnesse seeing all the Vessels of the Temple and all the precious Instruments thereof that were of gold as the * Ex. 15.11 Arke it selfe was wherein the Tables of Stone were kept were all carried away to Babel either in the former Captiuities of Iehojachim and Ieconiah or the last which was the worst of z 2
Morall Law is now wholly abolished because you cannot finde that saluation was euer promised to the keeping of it But tell me in good earnest could you neuer finde that euer saluation was promised to the keeping of the Law Haue you not read q Leuit. 18.5 what is written in the Law You shall keepe my Statutes and my judgements which if a man doe he shall liue in them Or doe you thinke as some r Basilidiani Pepusiani Adamit Danaeus in Augu. Haeres Heretikes haue done that this and the like promises made vnto the Iewes concerne only the comforts of this temporall and not the blessing of eternall life Thinke you what you list it greatly skils not so long as we know that the most judicious and religious Å¿ Calu. Harmo in 4. lib. Mos pag. 445. 450. August contr Faust lib. 4. cap. 2. Diuines euen such as are pillars in the house of God doe thinke otherwise the Scripture bearing witnesse to their opinion herein when it tels vs That in the keeping of the Law there is a t Psal 19.11 Eccles 1.2 2.11 Psal 119.1 2. great reward a reward of greater weight and worth than any or all earthly things being but vanity and vexation of spirit can afford this being the best end of all and the whole man both for his duty and felicity to feare God and to keepe his Commandements For Blessed are they that are vndefiled in the way who walke in the Law of the Lord and blessed are they that keepe his Testimonies and seeke him with their whole heart Came this blessednesse then may you say vpon any or could euer any attaine vnto it by the workes of the Law I answer Neuer any either did or could attaine vnto this blessednesse of eternall life by their keeping u August lib. 4. cont duas Epist Pelagian ad Bonif. cap. 5. of the Law by reason of their wants and weaknesses defectiue and imperfect obedience vnto the same but all that euer were are or shall be so blessed must attaine thereunto only by the righteousnesse of x Phil. 3.9 faith in the absolute and perfect obedience of Christ Iesus And yet notwithstanding that which you say you could neuer finde we haue now not only found out for you but brought it to your hand viz. that saluation hath beene promised to him which should keepe the Law whosoeuer he were that could fulfill it in all things accordingly A further proofe whereof you may yet take if you please from the answere of our y Luk. 10.28 Matt. 19.16 c. Sauiour to the Scribe or Lawyer demanding of him what he should doe to inherit eternall life What is written in the z Leuit. 18.5 Ezek. 10.11 Law saith he how readest thou And when the Lawyer had answered out of the Law Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with all thy strength and with all thy minde and thy neighbour as thy selfe Christ replied vnto him Thou hast answered right this doe and thou shalt liue In which words our Sauiour Christ doth both expound the promise made in the Law to the keeping of the Law viz. doe this and liue not of this temporall but of a Luk. 10.25 28. Rom. 10.5 Gal. 3.12 eternall life and also maketh himselfe a promise of Saluation to him that would keepe the Law if so be he could doe it accordingly Certainly it is strange to me that you could neuer finde out thus much before seeing both Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles haue laid it downe so plainly before your face that had your eies beene in your head as a wise mans are nay had they beene but in your heeles you might haue runne and read seene and found the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rajn Censuâ—… Praelect 183. col 862. promise of saluation made vnto him that should keepe the Law both in the old and new Testament The b Mark 8.24 blinde man in the Gospell that had but a little glimmering light and sight saw men walking as trees and you that would be loth to be reckoned amongst the blinde or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.9 Gen. 21.15 19. purblinde cannot see wood for trees but like Agar cry out you can finde no water and yet the well lieth open before your eies But it may be though the well were open yet your eies were shut as hers also were that she could not see till the Lord had opened them which I pray the Lord may doe for you also and then shall you see more plainly both this and other points of Gods truth which though you haue sought yet haue you not seene and though you haue groped after them yet haue you not found them because the Lord hath hid them from your eies I come now vnto your last Argument Of such Arguments as these your dozen are Quintilian speaketh thus Si non possunt valere quia magna non sunt valebunt forsan quia multa sunt Orat. Instit lib. 5. cap. 12. which makes vp the full dozen Repentance you say is a part of the Gospell Rom. 2.4 2 Pet. 3.9 It is And what doe you collect or conclude hence Ergo the Morall Law is vtterly abolished Of what force this your Argument is you may see by the like The Prodigals returning to his Father was a part of his reconciliation with him Ergo his humiliation vpon the sense and sight of his sinne was of no vse at all for that purpose Remission of sinne from God is a part of justification Ergo confession of sinne to God is now of no vse at all The promises of grace are a part of the Gospell Ergo the precepts of the Law of God are no rules of obedience in the daies of the Gospell If these Arguments be firme and sound then such is this of yours also but if they be so feeble and weake that they haue no strength either to beare or bring forth a good conclusion then must I take yours in this cause for the like vntill you can shew me some difference or dislike betwixt them for what though repentance a See Lactan. li. 6. de vero cultu cap. 24. de vocab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 377. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being taken for our 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.2 effectuall renouation 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.5 regeneration 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 15.13 conuersion 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6.4 newnesse of life turning from our sinnes to embrace and obey the Gospell be indeed a part of the Gospell because none can come vnto this but they that haue the b Act. 2.18 spirit of grace powred vpon them and the word of grace c Iam. 1.18 21. ingraffed in them and the d Ephes 2.8 Phil. 1.29 gift of grace to beleeue