righteousness of faith that is by believing in Jesus Christ cannot please God Now the righteousness of the Law as a Covenant of works is not the righteousness of faith Therefore the righteousness of the Law as acted by us being under that Covenant cannot please God The first is proved in Heb. 1â— 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him mark it is impossible The second thus The Law is not of faith Gal. 3. 12. Rom. 10. 5 6. compared with Gal. 3. 11. But that no man is justified in the sight of the Lord by the Law it is evident for the just shall live by faith and the Law is not of faith But for the better understanding of those that are weak of apprehension I shall prove it thus First That soul that hath eternal life he must have it by right of purchase or redemption Heb. 9. 22. Eph. 1. 7. Secondly this purchase or redemption must be through the Blood of Christ. You have redemption through his Blood Without shedding of blood there is no remission Now the Law is not in a capacity to die and so to redeem sinners by the purchase of Blood which satisfaction justice calls for read the same Scriptures Heb. 9. 22. justice calls for satisfaction because thou hast transgressed and sinned against it and that must have satisfaction therefore all that ever thou canst do cannot bring in redemption though thou follow the Law up to the nail-head as I may say because all this is not shedding of blood for believe it and know it for certain that though thou hadst sinned but one sin before thou didst turn to the Law that one sin will murther thy soul if it be not washed away by blood even by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ that was shed when he did hang upon the Cross on Mount Calvary Object But you will say methinks that giving up you selves to live a righteous life should make God like better on us and so let us be saved by Christ because we are so willing to obey his Law Answ. The motive that moveth God to have mercy upon sinners is not because they are willing to follow the Law but because he is willing to save them Not for thy righteousness or for thy uprightness of heart doest thou possess the Land Deut. 9. 4 5 6. Now understand this if thy will to do righteousness was the first moving cause why God had mercy on thee through Christ then it must not be freely by grace I say freely but the Lord loves thee and saves thee upon free terms having nothing before-hand to make him accept of thy soul but only the Blood of Christ therefore to allow of such a principle it is to allow that grace is to be obtained by the works of the Law which is so gross darkness as lies in the darkest dungeon in Popery and is also directly opposite to Scripture For we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ not through the good that is in our selves or done by us Rom. 3. 24 〈◊〉 No But by faith without mark that without the deeds of the Law verse 28. Again not of vvorks lest any man should boast Eph. 2. 9. No no saith he Not according to our vvorks or righteousness but according to his ovvn purpose mark according to his ovvn purpose and grace which was a free gift given us in Christ Jesus not lately but before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9. Object But you will say then why did God give the Law if we cannot have salvation by following of it Answ. I told you before that the Law was given for these following reasons First That thou mightest be convinced by it of thy sins and that thy sins might indeed appear very sinful unto thee which is done by the Law these ways First By shewing of thee what a holy God he is that did give the Law and secondly By shewing thee thy vileness and wickedness in that thou contrary to this holy God hast transgressed against and broken this his holy Law therefore saith Paul The Law was added that the offence might abound Rom. 5. 20. that is by shewing the creature the holiness of God and also it s own vileness Secondly That thou mayest know that God will not damn thee for nothing in the Judgment day Thirdly Because he would have no quarrelling at his just condemning of them at that day Fourthly Because he will make thee to know that he is a holy God and pure Quest. But seeing you have spoken thus far I wish you would do so much as to shew in some particulars both what men have done and how far they have gone and what they have received being yet under this Covenant which you call the ministration of condemnation Ansvv. This is something a difficult question and had need be not only warily but also home and soundly answered The question consists of three particulars First What men have done Secondly How far men have gone Thirdly What they have received and yet to beunder the Law or Covenant of Works and so in a state of condemnation As for the first I have spoken something in general to that already but for thy better understanding I shall speak yet more particularly First a man hath and may be convinced and troubled for his sins and yet be under this Covenant and that in a very heavy and dreadful manner in so much that he may find the weight of them to be intollerable and too heavy for him to bear as it was with Cain Gen. 4. 13. My punishment saith he is greater than I can bear Secondly A man living thus under a sense of his sins may repent and be sorry for them and yet be under this Covenant and yet be in a damned state Mat. 27. 3. And when he Judas saw what was done he repeated Thirdly Men may not only be convinced and also repent for their sins but they may also desire the prayers of the Children of God for them too and yet be under this Covenant and Curse Exod. 10. 16 17. And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said I have sinned intreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me these plagues Fourthly A man may also humble himself for his offences and disobedience against his God and yet be under this Covenant see 1 Kings 21. 24 25 26 27 28 29. Fifthly A man may make restitution unto men for the offence he hath done unto them and yet be under this Covenant Sixthly A man may do much work for God in his generation and yet be under this first Covenant as Jehu who did do that which God bid him 2 King 9 25 26. and yet God threatneth even Jehu because though he did do the thing that the Lord commanded him yet he did it not from a right principle for had he the Lord would not have said Yet a little while and I will aâ—enge the blood of Jezreel
mark they that are under the Covenant of Grace are not under the Curse Now there are but two Covenants therefore it must needs be that they that are under the Curse are under the Law seeing those that are under the other Covenant are not under the Curse but under the Blessing So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham but the rest are under the Law Gal. 3. 9. Now I shall proceed to what I do intend to speak unto First I shall shew you what the Covenant of Works or the Law is and when it was first given together with the nature of it Secondly I shall shew you what it is to be under the Law or Covenant of Works and the miserable state of all those that are under it Thirdly I shall shew you who they are that are under this Covenant or Law Fourthly I shall shew you how far a man may go and yet be under this Covenant or Law For the first What this Covenant of Works is and when it was given The Covenant of Works or the Law here spoken of is the Law delivered on Mount Sinai to Moses in two Tables of stone in ten particular branches or heads for this see Gal. 4. The Apostle speaking there of the Law and of some also that through delusions of false Doctrine was brought again as it were under it or at least was leaning that way Verse 21. He saith As for you that desire to be under the Law I will shew you the mystery of Abrahams two Sons which he had by Agar and Sarah these two do signifie the two Covenants the one named Agar signifies Mount Sinai where the Law was delivered to Moses on two Tables of stone Exod. 24. 12. Chap. 34. 1. Deut. 10. 1. Which is that that whosoever is under he is destitute of and altogether without the Grace of Christ in his heart at the present Gal. 5. 3 4. For I testifie again to every man saith he speaking to the same People that Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law namely that given on Mount Sinai Ye are fallen from Grace That is not that any can be justified by the Law but his meaning is all those that seek justification by the Works of the Law they are not such as seek to be under the second Covenant the Covenant of Grace Also the 2 Cor. 3. 7 8. The Apostle speaking again of these two Covenants he saith For if the Ministration of Death or the Law for it is all one written and engraven in stones mark that was glorious how shall not the Ministration of the Spirit or the Covenant of Grace be rather glorious As if he had said 'T is true there was a glory in the Covenant of Works and a very great excellency did appear in it namely in that given in the stones on Sinai yet there is another Covenant the Covenant of Grace that doth exceed it for comfort and glory But secondly Though this Law was delivered to Moses from the hands of Angels in two Tables of Stone on Mount Sinai yet this was not the first appearing of this Law to Man but even this in substance tho possibly not so openly was given to the first Man Adam in the garden of Eden in these words And the Lord God commanded the man saying Of every Tree in the Garden thou mayest freely eat But of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2. 16 17. Which Commandment then given to Adam did contain in it a forbidding to do any one of those things that was and is accounted evil although at that time it did not appear so plainly in so many particular heads as it did when it was delivered on Mount Sinai but yet the very same and that I shall prove thus God commanded Adam in Paradise to abstain from all evil against the first Covenant and not from some sins only but if God had not commanded Adam to abstain from the sins spoken against the Ten Commandments he had not commanded to abstain from all but from some therefore it must needs be that he then commanded to abstain from all sins forbidden in the Law given on Mount Sinai Now that God commanded to abstain from all evil or sin against any of the Ten Commandments when he gave Adam the Command in the Garden it is evident in that he did punish the sins that was committed against those Commands that was then delivered on Mount Sinai before they were delivered on Mount Sinai which will appear as followeth The first second and third Commandments were broken by Pharaoh and his men for they had false Gods which the Lord Executed Judgment against as in Exodus 12. 12. and blasphemed their true God Exod. 7. 17. to the end for their Gods could neither deliver themselves nor their people from the hand of God but in the things wherein they dealt proudly he was above them Exod. 18. 11. Again Some judge that the Lord punished the sin against the second Commandment which Jacob was in some measure guilty of in not purging his house from false gods with the defiling of his daughter Dinah Gen. 34. 2. Again We find that Abimelech thought the sin against the third Commandment so great that he required no other security of Abraham against the fear of mischief that might be done to him by Abraham his son and his sons son but only Abraham's Oath Gen. 21. 23. the like we see between Abimelech and Isaac Gen. 31. 53. the like we find in Moses and the Israelites who durst not leave the bones of Joseph in Egypt because of the Oath of the Lord whose Name by so doing would have been abused Exod. 13. 19. And we find the Lord rebuking his People for the breach of the fourth Commandment Exod. 16. 27 28 29. And for the breach of the fifth the Curse came upon Ham Gen. 9. 25 26 27. And Ishmael dishonouring his Father in mocking Isaack was cast out as we read Gen. 21. 9 10. The sons in law of Lot for slighting their Father perish in the overthrow of Sodom Gen. 19. 14 c. The sixth Commandment was broken by Cain and so dreadful a Curse and Punishment came upon him that it made him cry out My Punishment is greater then I can bear Gen. 4. 13. Again when Esau threatned to slay his Brother Rebecca sent him away saying Why should I be deprived of you both in one day hinting unto us that she knew Murther was to be punished with death Gen. 27. 54. Which the Lord himself declared likewise to Noah Gen. 9. 6. Again a notable Example of the Lords Justice in punishing Murther we see in the Egyptians and Pharaoh who drowned the Israelites Children in the River Exod. 1. 22. And they themselves were drowned in the Sea Exod. 14. 27. The sin against the Seventh Commandment
to their eternal state but he heareth them as to several streights that they go through in this life I and gives them case and liberty from their trouble Here this poor wretch was almost perished for a little water and he cryed and God heard him yea he heard him out of Heaven Read also the 107 Psalm 23. 24 25 26 27 28 29. Psal. 106. 15. He gave them their desire and sent leanness to their souls But some may say methinks this is yet more strange that God should hear the Prayers the cries of those that are under the Law and answered them Answ. I told you before he doth not hear them as to their eternal state but as to their temporal state For God as their Creator hath a care of them and causeth the sun to shine upon them and the rain to distill upon their substance Mat. 5. 45. Nay he doth give the Beasts in the field their appointed food and doth hear the young Ravens when they cry Psal. 147. 9. which are far inferiour to man I say therefore that God doth hear the cries of his Creatures and doth answer them too though not as to their eternal state but may damn them nevertheless when they die for all that Secondly They may receive promises from the mouth of the Lord. There are many that have had promises made to them by the Lord in a most eminent manner and yet as I said before are such as are cast out and called the Children of the Bond-woman which is the Law see Gen. 21. 17 18. And the Angel of the Lord called out of Heaven to Hagar that was the Bond-woman saying fear not for God hath heard the voice of the Lad where he is Arise lift up the Lad and hold him in thine hand FOR I WILL MAKE OF HIM mark there is the promise For I will make of him of the son of the Bond-woman a great Nation Thirdly Nay they may go further for they may receive another heart than they had before and yet be under the Law There is no man I think but those that do not know what they say that will think or say that Saul was under the Covenant of Grace yet after he had talked with Samuel and had turned his back to go from him saith the Scripture God gave him another heart 1 Sam. 10. 9. another heart mark that and yet an out-cast a rejected person 1 Sam. 15. 26 29. Friends I beseech you let not these things offend you but let them rather beget in your hearts an enquiring into the truth of your condition and be willing to be searched to the bottom and also that every thing which hath not been planted by the Lords right hand may be rejected and that there may be a reaching after better things even the things that will not only make thy soul think thy state is good now but that thou mayest be able to look sin death hell the curse of the Law together with the Judge in the face with comfort having such a real sound effectual work of God Grace in thy soul that when thou hearest the Trumpet sound seest the graves flie open and the dead come creeping forth out of their holes when thou shalt see the Judgment set the books opened and all the world standing before the Judgment seat I say that then thou mayest stand and have that blessed sentence spoken to thy soul Come ye blessed of my Father wherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the Foundation of the World Mat. 25. 34. Object But you wil say for all this we cannot believe that we are under the Law for these reasons As first because we have found a change in our hearts Secondly Because we do deny that the Covenant of Works will save any Thirdly Because for our parts we judge our selves far from legal principles for we are got up into as perfect a Gospel order as to matter of practice and discipline in Church Affairs as any this day in England as we judge Answ. First That mans belief that is grounded upon any thing done in him or by him only that mans belief is not grounded upon the death burial resurrection ascension and intercession of Jesus Christ for that man that hath indeed good ground of his eternal salvation his faith is settled upon that object which God is well pleased or satisfied withal which is that man that was born of Mary even her first-born Son that is he doth apply by faith to his soul the vertues of his death blood righteousness c. and doth look for satisfaction of soul no where else then from that neither doth the soul seek to give God any satisfaction as to justification any other ways but doth willingly and chearfully accept of and embrace the vertues of Christs death together with the rest of his things done by himself on the Cross as a Sacrifice and since also as a Priest Advocate Mediator c. And doth so really and effectually receive the glories of the same That thereby mark that thereby he is changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. Thus in general but yet more particular First To think that your condition is good because there is some change in you from a loose prophane life to a more close honest and civil life and conversation I say to think this testimony sufficient for to ground the stress of thy salvation upon is very dangerous First Because such a soul doth not only lay the stress of its salvation besides the man Christ Jesus that died upon the Cross But Secondly Because that his confidence is not grounded upon the Saviour of sinners but upon his turning from gross sins to a more refined life and it may be to the performance of some good duties which is no Saviour I say this is very dangerous therefore read it and the Lord help you to understand it for unless you lay the whole stress of the salvation of your souls upon the merits of another man namely Jesus and that by what he did do and is a doing without you for certain as sure as God is in Heaven your souls will perish And this must not be notionally neither as with an assenting of the understanding only but it must be by the wonderful invisible invincible power of the Almighty God working in your souls by his Spirit such a real saving holy saith that can through the operation of the same Spirit by which it is wrought lay hold on and apply these most heavenly most excellent most meritorious benefits of the man Christ Jesus not only to your heads and fancles but to your very souls and consciences so effectually that you may be able by the same faith to challenge the power madness malice rage and destroying nature either of sin the Law death the Devil together with hell and all other evils throwing your souls upon the death burial resurrection and intercession of that man Jesus without Rom. 8 32
I could that God would accept of me and have mercy upon me as he had on others Ah friends this is the cause of the ruine of thousands for if they are blinded to this both the right use of the Law and also of the Gospel is hid from their eyes and so for certain they will be in danger of perishing most miserably poor souls that they are unless God of his meer mercy and love doth rend the vail from off their hearts the vail of ignorance for that is it which doth keep these poor souls in this besetted and blindfolded condition in which if they dye they may be lamented for but not helped they may be pittied but not preserved from the stroak of Gods everlasting vengeance In the next place if you would indeed be delivered from the first into the second Covenant I do admonish you to the observing of these following particulars First Have a care that you do not content your selves though you do good works that is which in themselves are good in and with a Legal Spirit which are done these ways as followeth First If you do any thing commanded in Scripture and in your doing of it do think that God is well pleased therewith because you as you are religious men do do the same upon this mistake was Paul himself in danger of being destroyed for he thought because he was zealous and one of the strictest sect for Religion therefore God would have been good unto him and have accepted his doings as it is clear for he counted them his gain Philipians 3. 4 5 6 7 8. Now this is done thus When a man doth think that because he thinks he is more sincere more liberal with more difficulty or to the weakning of his estate I say if a man because of this doth think that God accepteth his labour it is done from an Old Covenant Spirit Again Some men they think that they shall be heard because they have prayer in their families because they can pray long and speak expressions or express themselves excellently in prayer that because they have great enlargements in prayer I say that therefore to think that God doth delight in their doings and accept their works this is from a Legal Spirit Again Some men think that because their Parents have been religious before them and have been indeed the people of God they think if they also do as to the outward observing of that which they learned from their fore-runners that therefore God doth accept them but this also is from a wrong spirit and yet how many are there in England at this day that think the better of themselves meerly upon that account I and think the people of God ought to think so too not understanding that it is ordinary for an Eli to have an Hophni and a Phinâ—has both sons of Belial Also a good Samuel to have a perverse off-spring likewise David an Absalom I say their being ignorant of or else negligent in regarding this they do think that because they do spring from such and such as the Jews in their generations did that therefore they have a priviledge with God more than others when there is no such thing John 8 33 34 35. Mat. 3. 7 8 9. but for certain if the same faith be not in them which was in their fore-runners to lay hold of the Christ of God in the same spirit as they did they must utterly perish for all their high conceits that they have of themselves Secondly When People come into the presence of God without having their eye upon their Divine Majesty through the flesh and blood of the Son of Mary the Son of God then also do they come before God and do whatsoever they do from a Legal Spirit an old Covenant Spirit As for instance you have some people 't is true they will go to Prayer in appearance very fervently and will plead very hard with God that he would grant them their desires pleading their want and the abundance thereof they will also plead with God his great mercy and also his free promises but yet they neglecting the aforesaid Body or Person of Christ the righteous Lamb of God to appear before him in I say in thus doing they do not appear before the Lord no otherwayes then in an old Covenant Spirit for they go to God only as a merciful Creator and they themselves as his Creatures not as he is their Father in the Son and they his children by Regeneration through the Lord Jesus I and though they may call God their Father in the Notion not knowing what they say only having learned such things by tradition as the Pharisees did yet Christ will have his time to say to them even to their faces as he did once to the Jews Your father for all this your profession is the Devil to their own grief and everlasting misery John 8. 44. The third thing that is to be observed if we would not be under the Law or do things in a Legal Spirit is this to have a care that we do none of the works of the holy Law of God for life or acceptance with him no nor of the Gospel neither To do the works of the Law to the end we may be accepted of God or that we may please him and to have our desires of him is to do things from a Legal or old Covenant-Spirit and that is expresly laid down where it is said To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt that is he appears before God through the Law and his obedience to it Rom. 4. 4 5. And again though they be in themselves Gospel-Ordinances as baptism breaking of bread hearing praying meditating or the like yet I say if they be not done in a right Spirit they are thereby used as a hand by the Devil to pull thee under the Covenant of Works as in former times he used circumcision which was no part of the Covenant of Works the ten Commands but a Seal of the righteousness of Faith yet I say they being done in a Legal Spirit the Soul was thereby brought under the Covenant of Works and so most miserably destroyed unawares to it self and that because there was not a right understanding of the nature and terms of the said Covenants And so it is now Souls being ignorant of the nature of the old Covenant do even by their subjecting to several Gospel-ordinances run themselves under the old Covenant and fly off from Christ even when they think they are a coming closer to him O miserable If you would know when or how this is done whether in one particular or more I shall shew you as followeth 1. That man doth bring himself under the Covenant of Works by Gospel-Ordinances when he cannot be persuaded that God will have mercy upon him except he do yield obedience to such or such a particular thing commanded in the Word this is the very same spirit that was in