of their true Sense and Meaning I will not multiply Citations one or two are enough and indeed Luther and Calvin are an Army alone Luther tells us That all Justiciaries esteem Christ to be a new Legislator and judg the Gospel to be no other than a Book which contains new Laws concerning Works as the Turks dream about their Alcoran But there are Laws enough in Moses The Gospel therefore is a preaching concerning Christ that he forgives Sins gives Grace justifies and saves Sinners But now that Precepts are found in the Gospel those are not the Gospel but Expositions of the Law and Appendixes of the Gospel Now any one would think that this Luther would never call the Gospel a Law and yet so he doth expounding a little after the 19th Verse and is before cited by me And in what Sense he means the Gospel to have that Name he informs us plainly in his Comment on Isa 2. 3. Out of Zion shall go forth the Law This is the Cause says he of the Multiplication of the Church and of the Amplification of Christ's Kingdom viz. the Preaching of the Gospel For he here promiseth a new Word For unless he signified a new Doctrine what need was there at length to promise a Law which had been made so many Years before And he manifestly signifies the difference in that he adds out of Zion As if he should say I first gave a Law in Sinai I will now give another in Mount Zion which shall not be a Doctrine of Works but of Faith not of Laws but of Grace not accusing but bestowing pardon of Sins c. Calvin also agrees with Luther in this And indeed those two Holy Men tho they differed in some things yet they very well accorded in the main Substance of the Gospel They believed on the same Jesus and lov'd the Truth of his Grace Calvin likewise says that when the Gospel is called Law a Doctrine of Salvation is only meant by it For says he explaining Isa 2. 3. since the Rule of Holiness is to be fetch'd from the Law by a Synecdoche they were accustomed to comprehend the whole Doctrine of God under that Name as also the Worship of God under the Name of an Altar Now as it would be absurd to infer that the Ministers of Christ are Levitical Priests because the Apostle says that they ought to be partakers with the Altar and live by the Gospel or to endeavour to prove that the old Jewish Worship is yet standing and that Sacrifices should be offer'd under the New Testament because the Apostle speaks of an Altar too to which Believers came and of which they have right to eat Heb. 13. 10. So the way of arguing would be equally impertinent to conclude from the Gospel's being nam'd a Law that it is a Doctrine of Works Musculus also tells us how we must apprehend the word Law when made use of to signify the Gospel The Prophet says he understands no other by the Law than the Word of the Lord nor by Zion than Jerusalem Nor can it be understood of any other Doctrine than what is Evangelical And Rodolphus Gualther explaining what the Apostle means when he calls the Gospel a Law After the manner of the Jews says he he speaking of a Doctrine useth the word Law and he calls the Law of Works that Doctrine which asserts that we are justified by Works but the Law of Faith that Doctrine which shews Righteousness in the Merit of Christ who is apprehended by Faith alone When the Holy Ghost himself who inspir'd the Minds and guided the Pens both of the Prophets and Apostles and not only suggested things to their Thoughts but the fittest Words too by which to express them If this holy infallible Spirit calling the Gospel a Law means no other than a Doctrine of Grace any one would think that we could not be at a loss how to understand the Word I need not therefore multiply Instances a few more may suffice Zacharias Vrsinus when he calleth the Gospel a new Form of Law takes care to direct us to his right Sense and punctually tells us that he means no more by it than a new Doctrine of Grace The Prophet says he expounding Isa 2. 3. signifies that a new Manifestation of God and a new Form of Law and Worship is to be expected out of Zion that is to say Christ being reveal'd and the Ceremonies abolish'd But when he says that the Law shall go forth out of Zion it is queried Whether by this and the like Places the Opinion of the Papists is established who will have it that Christ came that he might be a new Law-giver who should publish a better and more perfect Law than had been before delivered by Moses that Men for the future living according to that Law might by this their Obedience please God and obtain Eternal Life The Answer is easy from this most usual Phrase in Scripture by which under the Name Law the whole Doctrine is understood c. Therefore that Monkish Opinion is to be avoided as the Plague and Subversion of all Christianity and an obscuring of the Offices and Benefits of Christ and as not differing from the Opinions of Heathens Jews Turks and other Sects concerning our Justification before God Chemnitius also gives direction how to understand the word Law when employ'd to denote the Gospel That also says he is a general signification of the Word when under the name of a Law the universal Doctrine divinely revealed is understood as Psal 19. 8 9. and Psal 119. where the Law is said to comfort and edify Hearts So Esa speaks of the Gospel Chap. 2. v. 3. The Law shall go forth out of Zion Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 3. 27. The Law of Faith Gal. 2. 19. I by the Law am dead to the Law But it is a Hebrew Phrase in which Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah hath its name from Instructing and Teaching To these Antient Worthies I might add the concurrent Testimonies of Modern Divines who are Orthodox in the Faith But whereas I might produce many I will content my self to alledg one which is that of Whittichius the present Learned Professor of Divinity if not lately dead in the University of Leyden and who tho he espous'd the New Philosophy yet it had no Malignant Influences to infect him with any new-contrived Schemes to solve the Phenomena's in Divinity He in his short but full and clear Exposition on the Romans explaining Chap. 3. ver 27. tells us what the Apostle intends by that Phrase a Law of Faith The exclusion of Boasting says he is made by the Law of Faith which here denotes by way of Eminency the Doctrine of Faith as it is taught in the New Testament without Obligation to any Works as the Cause of Justification as the Works of the Moral Law perfectly and constantly perform'd by Adam would
Learned Brother did not appeal to other Authorities than that of the Holy Scriptures which is the greatest But since he leads me into the numerous Volumes of the Fathers I will follow him too there And if I shew that those Antient Writers of the Church who wrote in the Greek Language as for the Latin Fathers I shall afterward consider them us'd the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos Law to signify a Doctrine by it then the uncertainty of Citations from those Authors for his Purpose will be abundantly demonstrated Clemens Alexandrinus calls the Law the Light of our Way and the Gospel as a pure Doctrine of Grace is such beyond all dispute He also defines a Law to be a true and good Opinion of a Thing whereby any Doctrine of Truth and Goodness may be signified Eusebius who lived above an hundred Years after him having occasion to mention those Texts of the Old Testament which speak of Christ as the Great Author of the Gospel and particularly explaining that Text in Isa 2. 3. speaks in these words What Law is that going out of Zion and differing from that coming from the Desart promulgated by Moses in Mount Sinai but the Evangelical Word going forth out of Zion by the Ministry of our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles and passing through all Nations For it is manifest that from Jerusalem and Mount Sion adjacent to that City where our Lord and Saviour delivered most of his Discourses and Doctrines the Law of the new Covenant beginning its Progress and going from thence to all Men shin'd with the greatest brightness Which very well agrees to the Doctrine of the Gospel that so swiftly spread and with such diffusive Beams that in a few Years after Christ's Death it illuminated the whole Earth Chrysostom also who calls the Gospel a Law very often and particularly in his Sermon on Gal. 2. 19. which I have before cited if we may think as we ought to do of the greatest Preacher in the Primitive Church that he speaks consistently with himself means no more by this Phrase than a Doctrine of Grace For when in his Sermon on Psal 49. he draws the dividing Lines between the Law of Works and the Gospel he in these Words gives his Judgment That the Law of Works was the Rudiments of Children and an Introduction and also the Ministry of Condemnation and Death But this says he speaking of the Gospel is Grace and Peace There is nothing can be more plain than his meaning that the Law requiring Works denounc'd nothing but Death to a Sinner unable to perform them but the Gospel as a Doctrine of Grace reliev'd him by proclaiming Peace To evince that among the Fathers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos Law did not always signify a System of Precepts and Commands I may also introduce Origen who as a competent Judg in the Case declares that he very well knew the Psalms to be called a Law as also the Prophecy of Esa And to prove it he brings in those Texts of Scripture John 15. 25. Psal 35. 19. 1 Cor. 14. 21. And his Authority is to be the more regarded as to the Decision of the Question in present Debate because as he complains in the beginning of this his 9th Chapter cited by me of the Confusion which the ambiguousness of the Word Law did breed in Mens Minds which is the Case now too so he employs this whole Chapter to clear its various Significations But I need give no other Instances than from what Theodoret writes in his short Exposition on Isa 2. It is says he therefore very well manifest that he intends the New Testament from thence that is Sion of which the Prophet speaks delivered by the first Apostles and by the same afterward exhibited to all Nations He doth not therefore only prophesy that the Law but that the Word should go out from thence giving this Name to the preaching of the Gospel For this also blessed Luke teacheth us Luke 1. 2. Even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word By the Word then in that place he doth not name God the Word but the Doctrine of God's Word For God the Word did not go out of Sion but he taught the Truth in Zion Photius who lived in the 9th Century was not more famous for his Learning than for that firm Resistance he made against the Usurpations of Antichrist who design'd and strongly endeavour'd to have spread his Wings as far over the Eastern as he had over the Western World By what this Patriarch of Constantinople writes it appears that however in the Course of so many Ages very great Corruptions had wrought for themselves an entrance into the Grecian Churches yet the Doctrine of Grace not as establishing a Law of Works but displacing it was preserv'd among them Or at least we may know what his own Belief was from his own Words which are these He first tells Sergius in an Epistle wrote to him that the Law was not contrary to Grace as he surmis'd it was and then shews its use in subserviency to Grace That it was a Preparation and made way for the discovery of Grace and leads us to it But when Grace comes the Law says he departs as the Stars when the Sun appears or as the Night the Day shining And having illustrated it with many other Similitudes Thus says he Grace having an Existence the Law is vacated tho not perfectly dissolv'd It ceaseth but is not disannulled Christ fulfilled it not violating the least Tittle of it and performing it entirely remov'd it It is against my Inclination that I thus summon Men tho of deserved Repute to bear Witness for the Truth of the Gospel The Testimony of the Holy Ghost in his own Word is infinitely greater than ten thousand such Evidences It was therefore to him that I first appeal'd but since my Reverend Brother brings the Cause into a lower Court I am very willing that it should there also be tried The Proofs which I gave out of God's Word have as I think sufficiently demonstrated that this new Law of Works is not the Everlasting Gospel and these Testimonies from Humane Writings may evince that it is not only far distant from Eternity but neither so venerable for Age as he fancies it for it was a Doctrine unknown in the first Years of Christ's Church and had its Original only with the Birth of Antichrist and I am very well assur'd will end with the Period of that Man of Sin CHAP. V. How uncertain an Argument is fram'd from the sound of the word Law to prove the Gospel to be such evinc'd from the various significations of that Word as us'd by Roman Authors That the Latin Fathers nam'd the Gospel a Law as it is the Doctrine of Christ I Now should heartily rejoice to be excus'd from searching any other Records but
have been or as the necessary Prerequisite of Justification Well then when we meet with the word Law if we would not be impos'd on by the meer Sound of a Word we must carefully view the Text on all sides and survey and consider all its Circumstances When what is proper to the Gospel is attributed to the Law the word Law is not to be apprehended in the strict Sense as signifying a Rule of Duty and threatning Penalties to the Disobedient or as importing a Doctrine of Works but a Doctrine of Grace Thus when the Law is said to turn the Soul and to rejoice the Heart Psal 19. 8 9. since these are not the Effects of the Law as a Doctrine of Works for that rather effects a Sense of Wrath than any hope in the Heart of a guilty condemned Sinner and its Efficacy is more suted to wound him with anxious Fears or tormenting Despair rather than to comfort him Rom. 4. 15. we must by no means conceive a proper Law consisting of Precepts and Menaces to be meant but the Doctrine of the Mercies of God in Christ which only can have those Virtues and Influences And so when the Apostle too calls the Gospel a Law of Faith since he makes the Righteousness of the Law opposite to the Righteousness which is of Faith Rom. 10. 4 5 6. and Rom. 3. 20 21 22. he must consequently mean not a Law in the strict Sense not a Doctrine of Works but of pure Grace And by this Rule we are to proceed when we find the Gospel call'd a Law we are not to understand it in the strict meaning as a Rule of Duty with a Sanction which is the proper and peculiar Nature of the Moral Law but as a revealed Instruction to us what the Mind of God is concerning our Recovery and Salvation by Christ And when we hear of the Precepts and Threatnings of the Gospel and read them in that part of the Bible which we call the New Testament whether in the Sermons of our Saviour or in the Writings of the Apostles we are not to surmise presently that these are any Parts of the Gospel properly so titled as it is a Word of Grace and the Doctrine of our Redemption by Jesus tho they are contain'd in that Book to which we commonly give that Name For this would be to perplex our Notions of Things which are entirely distinct in their Natures and Idea's and to jumble them so confusedly together that we should not be able upon sight to discern and know one from the other For by the same Method of proceeding I might frame an Imagination to my self and strive to impose it on other Men that the Moral Law is the Gospel because there are so many Declarations of God's Love to Sinners of his Mercies to pardon them and so many Promises of Grace interspers'd in the Psalms and Prophets and other Books of the Old Testament all which tho so much of the Gospel be contain'd in it is so frequently call'd the Law both by Christ and his Apostles the Primitive Fathers and Protestant Divines So that in a Word as the Promises of the Gospel spread through the Books of Moses and the Prophets is no Argument to prove the Law to be the Gospel So it is as false a Demonstration that the Gospel is a Law because there are so many Precepts and Threatnings repeated in the Evangelists and Epistles All that can be concluded is that as there are Promises in one Volume of the Bible so there are Commands and Menaces in the other But yet as it is the Gospel which promises Grace in the First so it is the Law which commands and threatens in the Second And to clear the Equation it is only needful to bring all the Precepts in both to one side and the Promises to another and then we have distinct Law and Gospel CHAP. VII The Arguments us'd by the Apologist to prove the Gospel to be a new Law examin'd That from the Precepts Commands urg'd and Threatnings denounc'd in the New Testament nothing can be concluded to this Purpose IT is now very easy to answer my Reverend Brother's Arguments and with one gentle Stroke to wipe off all his Citations since they all are establish'd meerly upon the Ambiguities of the word Law Such reasoning is very fallacious to endeavour to prove the Gospel to be a new Rule of Duty fortified with a Sanction because we find it to be nam'd a Law both in the Scriptures and Humane Writings for the Sum of the whole Demonstration amounts to no more than this a Law is a Law the Gospel is a Law therefore the Gospel is a Law which is a pretty way of arguing and without doubt unanswerable But the clearing the Sense of the Terms answers all without any more to do which I think I have done and the more largely because I would do all the Justice to a bad Cause as could reasonably be ask'd and allow to it the fullest Scope and Play possible I have therefore offer'd Arguments for it my self I have consider'd what might be alledg'd I have produced those Scriptures which with any colour may be urg'd to prove the Gospel to be a new Law omitted by my Learned Brother and yet as aware that they might be summon'd I have brought them in and endeavour'd to clear their Words from that false Meaning which might be fasten'd on them to so ill a Purpose I shall now particularly consider those which he brings and shew that they do not prove the Matter in Dispute His first set of Scriptures are such as express the Gospel to be either giving Precepts and issuing out Commands and prescribing what is our Duty or reproving the Negligent or threatning the stubborn Offenders or promising Blessings on the Condition of such Duties perform'd as are requir'd It would make this Discourse too large which is I know not how grown under my Hands to a greater Bulk than I first design'd if I should particularly examine every Text it will be enough to shew that however there are Precepts and Commands in the Books of the New Testament yet these are not properly the Gospel but parts of the Law only employ'd in its Service that the Threatnings denounc'd do not properly belong to the Covenant of Grace for what hath Love and Mercy and Favour to do with Wrath and Justice and Expressions of Vengeance but it useth the Ministry only of a violated Law whose proper Office it is to threaten the Disobedient to condemn the Unbelieving and Impenitent Sinner and to demand Justice against him If I also shew at last that those places of Scripture which look like Promises of Blessings to us on condition that we perform the commanded Duties viewed nearly prove to be no more than so many Declarations of the Connexion of the Blessings of Grace and that as Faith is the first bestow'd it goes not alone but is attended with a numerous Off-spring When all this is