and particular concerns And the Opposites to these do give the Soul great Enlargement and Liberty viz. That Confidence that is opposite both to Fear and to Shame Delight and joy which are opposite to Trouble and Dejection of Mind and Generosity and Nobleness of Spirit whereby a man is carried forth to the loving of God the Chief Good in the first place and a hearty concern for the general welfare of his Fellow-Creatures which is opposite to immoderate Self-love First The Observance of the Rules of Righteousness casteth out Fear This is a most servile Passion the Apostle speaketh of some who through fear of â—â—ath were all their life-time subject to bondage By Fear I mean that which is expressed by the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cowardly and dispiriting Fear None can imagine I mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Awful and Reverential Fear such as is called Heb. 12. 28. a Godly fear Nor yet do I mean such a Fear as awakens and excites the Soul to the use of means for the shunning and keeping off evils Such a Fear as this doth not at all inslave or put a man out of his own power but is highly serviceable to the maintenance and preservation of Liberty And therefore it is commended to us by the Apostle Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it But as was said the Fear which is enslaving is a Cowardly Dispiriting Fear and this the Righteous and Good man is freed from He hath not received the spirit of bondage again to fear in this sence but the spirit of Adoption whereby he crieth Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. He is not afraid of God as a poor Slave is of his fierce Master or as a wicked Servant of his justly provoked and incensed Lord but not being under the guilt of wilful sins his Conscience being privy to no other guilt than that which upon good grounds he believes is expiated by the Bloud of Iesus he can go to God as a child to his loving and tender Father And as he hath no tumultuary confounding or disheartening fear of God so neither hath he of the Devil or Men or any worldly evil as knowing that all these are subject to the restraint of that good Providence which ever chargeth it self with the care of good Souls and all their concerns God hath not given him the Spirit of fear or timidity and fearfulness but of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1. 7. This man is an affectionate Lover of God and therefore cannot question God's love to him and is assured that all things shall work together for his good for his good both in this life and in the life to come Herein is our love made perfect saith S. Iohn in his 1 Epistle 4. 17. because as he is so are we in this world because we follow the example of our Blessed Saviour in the conscientious observance of the Rules of Righteousness there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love That is he that is affected with such a fear as hath now been described He who is not under the power of Cowardizing dismaying Fear his Spirit is at great Liberty but a care to keep an inoffensive Conscience both towards God and men to adhere to the Rules of Righteousness and Goodness and never to swerve from them will banish this Fear The wicked saith the Wise man fleeth when no man pursueth but the righteous is bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely or confidently and securely Prov. 9. 10. To which great truth the Poet gives his Testimony in those known Verses Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu c. He that 's in life upright and pure in heart Is too secure to need the Bow or Dart. hic murus aheneus esto Nil conscire sibi nullâ pallescere culpâ The strongest Bulwark's not so sure a Fence As is an inoffensive Conscience Secondly True Goodness begets that confidence which is opposed as to Fear so to Shame too There is a highly commendable shame which is proper to a Good man namely that which is expressed by the Latine Verecundia Which is a quick sense of whatsoever is indecorous and misbecoming No man can have too much of this for the more any one hath of it the better man must he necessarily be But there is another sort of Shame expressed by Pudor which is a troublesome passion arising from a sense of disgrace upon consciousness of Guilt Of this Shame the most learned Doctor Henry More observeth in his incomparable Ethicks that it neither falleth upon the worst nor the best of men For he who is conscious to himself that he constantly exerciseth his liberty in doing the best things knows that he ought not to be contemned and thereupon being above all contempt contempt it self is contemned by him which is a great instance in good men of Generosity but in bad men is the very height of improbity This Shame is a good effect of a bad cause for though it be an evil yet 't is a necessary evil and tends to the deterring men from unworthy actions for the time to come and doth actually produce this good effect where the great uneasiness and perturbation of mind which was caused thereby upon past commissions of sin is seriously and consideratively reflected upon For where this Shame is there is great Bondage where there is consciousness of guilt the mind of a man is miserably pent up confined and straitned so that he dares many times neither to look abroad into the world nor to look up to Heaven nor reflect upon himself And therefore Liberty and Confidence are expressed by the same word viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek language But while a man is careful in the observance of the Laws of Righteousness to be Righteous before God and to walk as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless he is not affected with this kind of Shame and consequently enjoys a mighty Freedom by this means Upright Iob had the happy experience of this effect of uprightness as we find Chap. 31. 35 36 37. Oh that one would hear me saith he behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine Adversary had written a book Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a Crown unto me I would declare to him the number of my steps as a Prince would I go near unto him Which is as much as if he had said Oh that mine Adversary instead of secretly whispering evil things of me had drawn up a charge in writing against me I would be so far from endeavouring to have it concealed
violent hands upon himself rather than that Usurper should be his Master The Jewish Nation being besieged in Ierusalem thought it more Eligible to suffer the most direful Calamities such as are not to be parallel'd in any other History than yield themselves Captives to Titus and put their Necks under the Roman Yoke Both single persons and Communities esteem all their other Enjoyments but little worth whilest Liberty is wanting nor hath any one thing occasioned so much Bloudshed in the world as the Defence or Recovery of Liberty Though Tacitus tells us that 't was greatly deliberated among the Gallican Cities whether Liberty or Peace was to be preferred yet ordinarily without the least consultation when these two stand in competition the former is chosen and Peace is forced to give way to and sold for Liberty There is no Suffering so impatiently born as the loss or but Infringment of Liberty nor are any looked upon as such Enemies to Mankind or have so hateful a character as the Invaders of it But yet as inamoured with Liberty as we all are the generality are lamentably ignorant of its true nature and wherein it mainly and principally consisteth A Spartan being asked Quid sciret replied Scio quid est liberum esse I know what Liberty and Freedom meaneth But I fear there are very few Comparatively that can truly return this answer nay that most are so strangely mistaken in this matter as to account the worst of Slaveries the most desirable Liberty and the chiefest of Liberties the most intolerable Slavery But if we will believe our Blessed Saviour who being the Wisdom of the Father can best inform us we shall be satisfied that there is no Liberty like that which is of his bestowing He hath said Iohn 8. 36. If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall be really free and not only in shew in outward appearance and opinion you shall be in the truest and most excellent sence free Which words do plainly tell us that all other Liberties are unworthy of that name in comparison of that which is conferred by himself And what I now said of Liberty in the general may as truly be affirmed of Christian Liberty viz. First That there is nothing hath raised more dust or occasioned more sad feuds in the Christian World than this hath done The great Ball of Contention hath been Christian Liberty among the professed Disciples of Christ. Such an opinion is conceived of it that 't is never thought too dearly bought This is the Good Old Cause for which multitudes have been very liberal of both their Fortunes and Lives and no one thing hath been esteemed better if so well deserving the price of bloud The pretence of Christian Liberty is of all other the most Plausible and Popular and nothing hath been more unhappily successful in raising Tumults and exciting the People to take the Field Nay this hath been held so Sacred a thing if it be lawful to judge of mens opinions by their practices as to be able to hallow the unholiest actions and to sanctifie the most apparently wicked when designed for the preserving or regaining thereof And therefore Secondly Too many that are called Christians as I should not need to add must needs very grosly mistake the nature of that they are so fond of And as great zeal as they shew for Christian Liberty do as little desire that which really is so and is the chiefest instance of it Upon which account I presume 't will be thought no needless labour to endeavour to rectifie mens apprehensions about the nature of this Liberty And in order hereunto I design with Gods assistance to shew in the following Discourse First That the most excellent and most highly to be valued Liberty doth consist in an intire compliance with the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness or in freedom from the dominion of corrupt and sinful Affections Secondly That herein that Liberty principally or rather wholly consisteth which our Blessed Saviour hath purchased for us and in his Gospel proclaimed to us Which two Propositions being demonstrated we shall Thirdly Draw distinctly from each several useful inferences where particularly the false notions which too many have conceived of Christian Liberty shall be effectually confuted SECT I. That the most excellent and most highly to be valued Liberty doth consist in an intire Compliance with the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness Or in Freedom from the dominion of corrupt and sinful Affections CHAP. I. This shewed in the General from Texts of Scripture and further confirmed by those who were strangers to Divine Revelation NOW in the General that this is so those forecited words of our Saviour Iohn 8. 36. do give us assurance For the Freedom which Christ there commends as the true Freedom by way of Eminence is this from the dominion of sin and corrupt affections This will appear by considering the Context Our Saviour having said verse 31 32. to those Iews that believed on him If you continue inmy words then are ye my disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free It follows ver 33. They answered him we be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou ye shall be made free They answered not the Believers but some of the Company that came with no good design We be Abrahams seed we are not descended from the Canaanites or other servile people but from Abraham and from him not by Hagar the Bond-woman but by Sarah the Free-woman We are of a Generous and Illustrious extract And were never in bondage to any man as we were not born slaves so neither have at any time been made slaves But how could they say this whenas they were formerly in bondage both to the Egyptians and Babylonians with divers others and even now subjected to the power of the Romans The truth is if they spake this concerning their Nation the saying was an impudent and loud Falshood as it is usual for men when they are vaunting and boasting to make bold with truth but if they understood it of their own particulars and they meant that they were not in Personal servitude had not lost their natural Liberty as Men though they were in a Political servitude as a Nation their saying that they were Abrahams seed came in impertinently It follows ver 34. Iesus answered them Verily verily I say unto you whosoever committeth sin is the Servant of sin He that is a worker of iniquity is inslaved and brought into a servile state thereby Ver. 35. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever but the Son abideth for ever Or those who are in this servile state under sin though they may for a time be members of Gods houshold they shall at length be for ever Cast out but the Son hath a right to continue there and to the enjoyment of his Fathers Inheritance Then
and grave Whatsoever things are just or exactly agreeable to the Rule of doing as we would be done unto Whatsoever things are pure or far from all shew and appearance of unchastity Whatsoever things are lovely or which tend to secure to us love among men such as all works of benignity mercy and Charity Whatsoever things are of good report or which are apt to procure a good name and therefore to prevent all the causes of shame and to give us the greatest freedom and confidence as before God so before Men too If there be any virtue if there be any thing that is by Good men reckoned in the number of Virtues And if there be any praise or any thing laudable and praise-worthy All these things as the Apostle in the general here enjoyneth us to think upon them so they are very particularly and as clearly and perspicuously recommended to us to be carefully observed by us in the New Testament There is nothing which it becometh us to Do or Forbear whether in reference to God our Great Creator Governour and Benefactor or to our Fellow-creatures or to our own Souls and Bodies but here we find it Again we may observe all these in our Saviour's Life also wherein He set us an Example that we should follow his steps And it is a most admirable Example of Piety towards God of Love to him Trust in him and Submission to his Will of Charity to all men even his greatest Enemies and of Humility Meekness Temperance Purity Contempt of the World and Heavenly-mindedness He that shall observe how our Blessed Saviour Lived cannot be ignorant of any of those Laws of Righteousness and Goodness which before his coming the World was so lamentably in not a few instances to seek in the knowledge of through that blindness which by the customary gratifying their vile Affections men had generally contracted I say he that is acquainted with the Life of our Saviour cannot easily be ignorant of any of those Laws although he never understood what particular Commands or Prohibitions his Precepts consist of So that this is the First thing Christ Iesus hath done for us in order to our being made Free He hath given us fully to understand what it is to be Free what are those several Rules of Righteousness and Goodness in compliance with which consists our Liberty Secondly Our Saviour hath also prescribed most Effectual Means by making use of which we shall most certainly obtain and maintain this Liberty that is obey those Laws of Liberty which he hath given us These Means are especially Believing himself to be the Son of God and consequently the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine Hearing his Word and Receiving it into honest hearts or Pondering it in our minds and Meditating upon it with the Design of conforming our selves to it Prayer to God in his Name together with Faith in his Bloud for the Remission of our Sins and in his Power and Goodness for the Subduing our Lusts and the making us Obedient to his Precepts That is for the blessing our Endeavours to that End Setting his Example before our Eyes which is an Excellent Means to beget in us a likeness to him and to our partaking of his Spirit and Temper Watching over our own Hearts and against Temptations Denying our selves and not indulging our Sensitive Part. Advising in all Cases of doubt and difficulty with our Pastors and Spiritual Guides whom Christ hath given to his Church For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the Edifying of the Body of Christ Ephes. 4. 12. And obeying them which have the Rule over us in the Lord they watching for our Souls as those that must give an Account Heb. 13. 17. Which Duties were never more neglected than in this Age to the great scandal of our Reformed Religion Keeping in the Communion of the Church And not forsaking the Assembling our selves together or our publick Assemblies as the manner of some is Heb. 10. 25. And now is the manner of vast numbers of us though no Terms of Communion are required that contradict any one Text of Scripture which Separation we are too like ere long to pay dear for The Religious observation of the Lords Day both in Publick and Private is another singular Help and Advantage Though few Professors of Christianity seem now to have any great sense of it to the great prejudice of their own Souls and the Souls of those who are under their charge And to these add in the last place because 't is most convenient to place them here The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper By Baptism we are admitted into the Church of Christ and brought into a New State We are baptized into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost or devoted to their service And the Father in this Sacrament takes us into his special care and into the Relation of his Children whereas before we were only the Children of Adam The Son receives us as members of his Body the Church We are baptized into one Body as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 12. 13. that Body whereof Christ is the Head And the Holy Ghost who is the Author of Grace and Spiritual Life taketh us for his Temples We are said to Receive the Holy Ghost in Baptism to receive that power and strength from him which will enable us to Mortifie the deeds of the Body and to acquire the Divine Graces and Virtues which we shall certainly do if we refuse not to Exert and Improve it when we come to years of Discretion and our Faculties are ripe enough for that purpose In Baptism the Holy Spirit communicates to us the Beginnings of a new life which may afterwards be improved to large measures of Virtue and Goodness if we be not wilfully wanting to our selves in the other Means And in the Lords Supper as we renew the Covenant we made in Baptism to renounce the Devil and all his works c. So all worthy Receivers of that Sacrament receive great additions of Grace and Spiritual Strength are fed with the spiritual food of the most Precious Body and Bloud of Christ. And of all the Means prescribed for the Subduing our Lusts and Growing in Grace the Frequent Receiving the Lord's Supper is very deservedly accounted the Principal Certainly there is not any Ordinance wherein sincere Souls do so experiment the Communications of the Holy Spirit by which they are so Strengthened with strength in their Souls Nor are there any such Strong and Spriteful Christians any so confirmed and rooted in Goodness in the love of God and their Neighbour and all the Christian Virtues as those who take all occasions to attend upon it with a thankful sense of the infinite love of God and Christ to them and sincerely design in so doing a fuller participation of the Divine nature But this intimation that these two Sacraments are conveyances of Grace and Strength leads me to shew that
the next words as the reason or design hereof that we might receive the Adoption of Sons But doth not the Relation of a Son necessarily infer Obligation to Obedience It doth so no less than that of a Servant For where God saith If I am a Master where is my Fear he saith also If I am a Father where is mine Honour The Law therefore which is to be understood in these and the like places is the purely Iewish Law the mere External and Drudging Observances of the Mosaical Dispensation which the Iewish Believers thought themselves to be still under the Obligation of and Condemned the Gentile Converts for not submitting their Necks to the same Yoke And the Apostle takes a great deal of pains in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians to confute that mistake and to convince the Iews that that Law was made by Christ null and void that He had Cancelled it and taken away its Obliging power And in each of those places the Apostle as plainly affirms this to be the Law they were delivered from as that it is not the Moral Law We will therefore a third time go them over again Rom. 7. 6. Now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in Newness of Spirit and not in the Oldness of the Letter That is We are delivered from that Law that considered literally required nothing but a company of Bodily Washings Outward Services and Carnal Performances which the Iews generally rested in and thought no more was to be done to render them Acceptable in the sight of God And the reason why we are delivered from this Law is that so we may be the more intent upon the Great Substantial Duties and the Purification of our Hearts Souls and Spirits Gal. 2. 19. I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God Or I by virtue of the Law of Christ am dead to the Law of Moses that I may have all impediments taken out of my way to the being intirely devoted as to the Inward as well as Outward man to the Service of God And it hath been shewed how injurious this Law did Accidentally become to the great Design of the Gospel viz. The making us Spiritually Obedient the enduing us with Inward Real Substantial Righteousness or the Divine Likeness Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace That is There is no necessity of your continuing under the power and dominion of Sin because you are not under the weak Dispensation of Moses which made nothing perfect and gave no strength to mortifie Lust but under the Gospel Dispensation which is accompanied with Promises of Plentiful Supplies of Grace and Strength Gal. 4. 5. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Or That we might no longer drudge like Servants of the inferior Sort in such Employments as are mean and low having no Internal Goodness in them and that from the hope only of some sleight Reward from the hope of some mere Earthly good things such as are Gratifications only of the Animal and Sensual life and from the Fear of mere Temporal Evils and the present Lash that Law containing no other express Promises or Threatnings but Temporal as was shewed but may be dealt with as Sons be Honourably employed viz. in such services as are of the most Excellent nature and do recommend themselves by their own Goodness and Agreeableness to our Rational and Intellectual Faculty And be acted also by a more Noble Principle viz. Love and encouraged by an Infinitely more Noble Reward which consisteth in a perfect Likeness to God and an Everlasting Enjoyment of him And thus we see these very Texts that are made use of by the Antinomians to prove this mad Notion of Christian Liberty from the Obligation of the Moral Law are so far from signifying any thing to this purpose that they give manifest and clear proof of the Contrary As they are far from asserting that any such Liberty as this belongs to Christians so they assure us that no such Liberty belongeth to them Tertullian hath a good saying to our present purpose The Yokes of Works meaning the Drudgeries of the Ceremonial Law are cast off not those of Rules to walk by Liberty in Christ is not injurious to innocence The intire Law of Piety Holiness Humanity Vâ—rity Chastity Righteousness Mercy Bâ—nâ—volence Purity is still of force And indeed should we find this Doctrine in those Texts that our Saviour hath procured for us Freedom from this Law then First The Blessed Apostle would have most expresly contradicted his Great Master and so have proved himself no Apostle For our Saviour plainly saith Matth. 5. 17. Think not let not such a wild fancy enter into your Heads that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fill it up or Preach it fully I am so far from such a Design as that of destroying or Abolishing the Moral Law that on the contrary I am come to Preach it more fully and perfectly than ever it was before my Coming And this he presently sets upon doing Vers. 21 22 27 28 c. Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not Kill and whosoever shall Kill shall be in danger of the judgment but I say unto you that whosoâ—vâ—r is Angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment c. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery but I say unto you that whosoevâ—r shall look upon a Woman to lust after hâ—r hath committed Adultery already with her in his heart And so He goes on to Perfect and Fill up Law in the following Verses Again our Saviour saith vers 18. Verily I say unto you that till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till all be done or till all things come to an End according to Doctor Hammond He hath not here respect to the Universal Conflagration saith Grotius upon the place but it is a Proverbial speech as if it were said in Latine Vsque dum Coelum ruat Till the Heavens fall Which is thus expressed Luke 16. 17. And it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail In which manner of speaking as saith the same Learned Expositor He hath respect to the Order of Nature and not to the Power of God But according to Nature it seems impossible that Heaven and Earth should pass away or perish So that the meaning of these Texts is plainly this viz. The Obligation of the Law