THE LAW AND the Gospell reconciled OR The Euangelicall Fayth and the Morall Law how they stand together in the state of grace A treatise shewing the perpetuall vse of the Morall Law vnder the Gospell to beleeuers in answere to a letter written by an Antinomiâ—◠〈◊〉 a faithfull Christian Also how the moraâ—â—â—â— of the 4th Commandement is continued in the Lords day proued the Christian Sabbath by diuine institution â—â—fe Catalogue of the Antinomian doctrinoc By HENRY BVRTON 1 TIM 1.5 The end of the Commandement is charity out of a pure heart of a good conscience and of fayth vnfained Vt Rota intra rotam currit sic lex intra Gratiam et obseruantia legis intra diuinâ— curriculum misericordiae est Ambros. de Iacob c li. 2. cap 11. LONDON Printed by J. N. for Thomas Slatter and are to bee sould at his shoppe in Blackfryars 1631. TO THE HIGH and Mighty Prince Charles by the grace of God King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Fayth c. GRatious Soueraine this small treatise humbly pleades your Royall Patronage by a double title the one from the Author of it your old seruant who oweth all he is to your Maiesty the other from the worke it selfe being a defence of the Morall Law of God against the Antinomian Libertines in these daies who deny to beleeuers any more vse thereof And what one subiect can more iustly clame your Maiesties protection then this of the Morall Law sith you are not only by a proper title Defender of the fayth but by a common trust committed to Kings keeper of both Tables The discharge of which trust as it tends much to the honour of the great Lawgiuer who hath made you his Vicegerent to see his Lawes well executed So it is the maine propp and pillar to support and secure your royall Throne The consideration whereof when I saw these sonnes of Belial thus vndermining the Kings Throne hath prouoked my zeale both to God and to your Maiesty to write this simple Treatise For to deny the Morall Law to be of any more vse to belieuers or to be so much as a rule of conuersation or that they owe obedience vnto it in poynt of duety and conscience this strikes at the very root and cutts in sunder the kâ—â—ot not onely of christian charity but euen of all ciuill society and happy vnion and communion betweene King and Subiects Head and Members For first the rule of Gods true and vnmixed worship commanded in the first Table is taken away Secondly the rule of all christian and ciuill duties betweene man and man in whatsoeuer relation they stand of equality or inequality Commanded in the second Table and all this with one stroke of cutting off the Morall Law from belieuers And particularly these Antinomians cut off all dutifull and conscionable obedience to Princes grounded on the fift Commandement wherein they being principall Parents namely of our Country all due honour and obedience in the Lord is commaunded to bee giuen them in the first place as of children to their Father Againe on the other side they breake downe the bankes that God himselfe hath pitched to confine the course of Kings whose hearts in the Lords hand like the riuers of waters keeping within their bankes refresh the Land on euery side with their sweete streames but being without the bankes of Gods sacred lawes how soone might they ouerflow and drowne all Therefore it was the care of the wise and good God to the end he might prouide for the hapy welfare both of the King and People to leaue it in charge to the King of Israell that he should haue a coppy of the Law alwaies by him to reade therein day and night Deut 17.18 19 20. to learne thereby to feare the Lord his God to walke humbly among his brethren to doe iustice and iudgement to the end hee may prolong his dayes in his Kingdome hee and his Children in the middest thereof But these Lawlesse Antinomians enemyes to God to Kings and States would robb Christian Kings of this blessed Booke of Gods Law that soe if they could strippe them of the grace and feare of God in their hearts letting loosse the reynes of all honestie and conscience they might vsurpe a gouernment after the lust of man not after the law of God and so precipitate ineuitable ruine to Princes and Common-weales For take away Gods Law and what law of man can bynde the conscience eyther in poynt of obeying or of commanding For though it hath euer beene a Maxime among the very heathen that humaine Lawes and such as were ratified by solemne oathes and couenants betweene Prince and people they held sacred and inuiolable as that Law of the Medes and Persians the Kings writing and seale c. Dan. 6.16 Yet the maine ground that bore vp all the rest was the conscience they had by naturall instinct of Gods eternall Law written in their hearts accusing or excusing knowing that God was an auenger of the breach of lawes oathes couenants such as were agreeable to his Law This then being the strongest ligature to combine the Head and Body politicke in a firme society whereby it becomes inuincible perpetuall and glorious these sonnes of Belial would dismember all Wherein they plainely shew who is their syre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lawlesse one whose Motto is Volumus et iubemus wee will and command which style Platina notes to be first taken vp by Boniface the third who first vsurped the Papall Headship ouer the Church So as casting off all lawes of God and man hee became that great Beast described in the Reuelation whom no law or reason can bound or limit accounting it a disparagement to his tyrannicall greatnesse to bee confined within the lists of any lawes oathes vowes couenants though neuer so iust and sacred Now the Lord Iesus so blesse your Maiesty that trampling this Antinomian Anomian heresie both syre and sonnes vnder your sacred feete you may long and happily raigne ouer your people as a tender father ouer his children while your chiefe care is first for the mayntenance of Gods pure worship without mixture and for the execution of iustice and iudgement these two being the summe of both the Tables and the supporters of the Kings Throne which the Lord euer defend from all Antinomian Anomian spirits In this Treatise also J haue occasionally proued the diuine institution of the Lords day our Christian Sabbath denyed by some And as your raigne hath beene honoured with a pious law for the due obseruation of this great Holy-day of Christ So I trust that this my vindicating of it to its owne right of diuine institution will not a little helpe to the better execution of that your Christian law Which that it may be more reuerently and religiously obserued both in Court City and Country to the purging out of profanesse and to the increase of all christian graces in your
would abound more and more For yee know what commandements wee gaue you by the Lord Iesus For this is the will of God euen your sanctification that yee should abstaine from fornication The exhortation is very forcible and full of waight Hee presseth it by the authority of the Lord Iesus he mindeth them of it as one of those lessons he had deliuered formerly by word of mouth and they had receiued hee calls it a duty How yee ought to walke yea a duty to God How yee ought to walke and please God hee calls it a speciall commandement which hee gaue them by the Lord Iesus as which the Lord Iesus gaue him in charge to deliuer to them hee calls it the will of God he calls it their sanctification Now what is all this which the Apostle here aymeth at What but this That yee abstaine from fornication Whence I argue thus Proposition Abstinence from fornication is a part of keeping of the Morall Law Assumption But this abstinence from fornication is a duty acceptable to God is a doctrine to be taught by the Ministers of Christ to be receaued by the people of God is a commandement of the Lord Iesus it is the will of God it is our sanctification or a fruite and effect of it Conclusion Therefore the keeping of the Morall Law is commanded of God of Christ as a duty to all true beleeuers To what part of this Argument will the aduersary answere To the Proposition That hee dare not for the Law sayth Thou shalt not commit adultery To the Assumption That he cannot for that is the Apostles in the fore alledged place Therefore I will conclude with this conclusion That the keeping of the Morall law is commanded of God and of Christ as a duty to all true beleeuers When I vrged this argument or the * as rhis What soeuer is Gods will we should doe is our duty to doe But the doing of Gods Law is Gods will wee Should doe therefore it is our duety to doe Gods law so farre as we are able Now all this is plainely concluded by the Apostle This is the will of God euen your sanctification that ye should abstaine from fornication To abstaine froÌ„ fornication is a part of keeping the Moral Law and what is true of a part is true of the whole as Iam. 2.10 11. like in forme syelogisticall out of this very place of the Apostle to this our aduersarie occasionally face to face and had to satisfie his demande repeated it ouer twice or thrice hee could not giue a present answere but desired to haue it written downe But I expect not an answere because none can be giuen to this which is here written No can he not in all his budget finde an answere doth hee not as I heare hee was wont to doe at least carry his trunk-hose full farsed stuffed with Protestant Authors as Luther Zanchee Paraeus with sundry others of good note that with their graue authority and reuerend names he may the more easily impose vpon his credulous and ignorant Disciples who admire that most which they vnderstand least cannot he out of all these beate out an answere to these things For of these he braggs much in the conclusion of his letter But till hee can bring some I will content my selfe to bring his belweather Author euen Luther whose no lesse puissant then elegant and heauenly speech wherewith I will for this time conclude this short discourse shall run full butt vppon and push downe all that he hath sayd for his pretended counterfet false hereticall scandalous Anabaptisticall libertine fayth Luthers words are Admittimus quidem Mosen legendum audiendum a nobis vt predictorem testem Christi Deinde vt petamus ab eo exempla optimarum logum morum Cetaerùm dominium in conscientiam nullo modo concedimus ei ibi mortuus et sepultus esto nemoque sciat vbi sepulchrum eius sit we indeede admit of Moses to bee read heard of vs as a Prophet witnesse of Christ Againe that wee may fetch from him examples of good lawes and manners But dominion ouer the conscience to a man in the state of grace as Rom. 6.10 wee by no meanes yealde him there let him bee dead and buried and let no man know where his sepulchre is So Luther And in his argument vpon the Galatians Sum quidem peccator c. I am indeed a sinner according to this present life and the righteousnesse of it as the son of Adam where the Law accuseth me death raigneth and will deuoure mee but aboue this life I haue another righteousnesse another life which is the Sonne of God who knoweth not sin and death but is righteousnesse and life eternall for which also this dead body of mine shall be raysed vp againe and freed from the bondage of the Law and of sin and together with the spirit it shall bee sanctified So both these remaine while we liue here the flesh is accused exercised made sad and contrite with the actiue righteousnesse of the Law but the spirit raigneth reioyceth and is saued by passiue righteousnesse because it knoweth it hath the Lord sitting in heauen at the fathers right hand who hath abolished the Law Sin Death and hath tâ—ampled vnder feete all euill things hath led them captiue and tryumphed ouer them all So he Now God forbid that I should glory but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified vnto me Gal. 6.14 and I vnto the world For in Christ neyther Circumcision auayleth any thing nor vncircumcision but a new creature 15 And as many as walke according to this rule peace bee on them and mercy and vpon the Israel of God I thought here should haue bin an end But as the Prouerbe is 16 One absurdity begets a thousand as one of Lerna his 7 heads being cut off 3 grew in the place thereof Parua mâ—tu primo mox sese attollit in auras Ingred túrque solo et caput inter nubila condit Monstrum horrendum ingens c. Virgil. Aenead Such is the nature of heresie which of a small seede growes to be an hiddeous monster if it bee not strangled in the first conception Like Fame which for feare at first is small but finding entertainment with Dame Credulity and loquacity growes bold and big vpon it Or like a small leprous spot in the beginnig which quickly runneth ouer the whole body Or like a drop of sweet poyson which at first goes pleasantly downe but in a short time insinuateth it selfe to the infecting of the vitall spirits and ceasseth not till it hath wrought its mortall effect Or like a Gangreene or like a Canker as the Apostle compares it This Antinomian leprosie doth spread and get strength and boldnesse euery day euen vnto impudency madnes And the reason it finds so many disciples to imbrace it because cutting off sanctification denying
themselues should keepe it but they should looke their whole family kept it Yet in case the Master should neglect his duty herein and instead of commanding his family to keepe the Sabbath should inioyne them seruile worke doth not the Commandement take hold of the seruant What Is the seruant an Asse or sott to yeald blinde obedience to his master commanding against God Or is he such a slaue as hee hath not a soule to answere for to God as well as his master Or being his Masters seruant is hee thereby exempted from being Gods seruant sayth not the Apostle Hee that is called in the Lord being a seruant is the Lords freeman Likewise also hee that it called being free is Christs seruant Indeede the Masters sin is double not onely in permitting and communing but compelling or commanding his seruant to worke when God commands to rest but yet the seruant obeying his master herein vniustly commanding committes a single sin at least against God if not also double while he preferreth his earthly masters Commandement before his heauenly masters But this say they is Petitio Principij if Gods Commandement reach not to seruants But we shew it doth if seruants be not vnreasonable beasts or blinde Asses Nor ought the Masters Commandement to bee of force yea it hath a meere nullity if it bee contrary to Gods expresse Commandement So that in such a case for a seruant to obey his Master is against and aboue God to set vp an Idoll which is nothing in the world and such seruants slauishly obseruing Sabbatum Asinorum the Sabbath of Asses do iustly deserue the whip for the Asses backe or that censure forementioned in the second synod of Matiscon If a seruant or rusticke doe breake the Sabbath let him be soundly dry basted with clubs But say they the sonne of God hath commanded all christians to heare the Church not to despise hir Canons or Princes Edicts True But is Christs command absolute and without limitation namely to obey Superiours actiuely whatsoeuer they command right or wrong for or against God what if the Canons of the Church doe by mans Traditions disanull the Commandement of God as of old the Iewish Synagogue and of latter times the Romish Are such Canons to be obeyed against Gods expresse Commandement If the Pharisees and chiefe Priests make a Canon to punish with Excommunication or Suspention those that shall confesse Christ or professe or preach his truth and fayth frely faithfully is it not disobedience to God herein to obey them and through slauish feare rather to renounce Christ then not submit to such wicked Canons The Iewes Corban freed Children fom honouring their Parents and doe not they as well make voyd Gods Commandement who in binding seruants to obey their masters commanding against Gods Commandement doe thereby free them from Gods Commandement And for Princes Edicts we all reuerence and willingly imbrace and obey them But without limitation what if they command against God what if they shall forbid by publicke Edict the free preaching of the word of God in any part of it as such and such points of fayth and saluation not to bee handled such and such heresies not to bee medled with by way of confutation Are we not to answere in such a case as the Apostle did Whether it be meete in the sight of God to obey you rather than God iudge you for we cannot but speake the thinges wbich we haue seene and heard And Peter tels the Rulers boldly and plainely Wee ought rather to obey God then men What because Nebuchadnezzer erected his Image and commanded all to worship it and forbad to pray to any God but to the King onely for thirty dayes must this Edict therefore bee obeyed Noe surely And why Because it was against God and therefore it ought to haue beene of no force to exact obedience of any But what will you say Must we be rebels in disobeying our superiours No it is one thing not obey another to bee rebellious superiours ought not to bee obeyed if they command against God Yet this is no rebellion where men are ready to yeald passiue obedience to their vniust cruelty by not resisting it though they derect and deny actiue obedience to their vniust commands Thus Daniel thus the three Children did the one desires rather to bee cast into the Lyons denne the other into the hott fiery fornace then to dishonour God by bowing to the Kings Image Thus all Gods true bred children haue and will doe they neyther dare obey vniust command contrary to Gods word and a good conscience nor yet rebelliously resist vniust punnishments in both which they obey God But enough of this poynt at least in this place where we haue as it were by the way occasionally met with it not purposely minded throughly to handle it but onely as a branch of that morality of the Law of God the whole bulke and body whereof is hewed at by the Antinomians to cut it downe by the very rootes Onely let vs adde here a few reasons and motiues Reasons why the Lords day is to bee sanctfied the more to strengthen and prouoke vs to the more diligent obseruation of this great holy day of the Lord. One reason may bee taken from the comparison betweene christians vnder the new Testament and the Iewes vnder the Old How exactly were the Iewes bound to keepe the Sabbath as a memoriall of their deliuerance from Egypt in token of their perpetuall thankefulnesse How much more then are we thus bound to sanctifie the Lords day in a perpetuall thankefull remembrance of our spirituall deliuerance from the bondage of sin sathan and hell ouer which Christ triumphed manifestly in the day of his Resurrection Secondly Exod 31.16.17 as the Sabbath day was giuen to the Iewes as a signe and meanes of their sanctification So the Lords day in the due sanctifying of it in the vse of the meanes is a pregnant occasion of our sanctification and that not only in regard of the same Ordinances attending vpon it but as it is a perpetuall memoriall of Christs Resurrection and in the faith and fact whereof is begun here not onely our sanctification but also our glorification and eternall Sabbath Ob. But if the Eternall Sabbath began in Christs Resurrection then what further vse is there of a seauenth day weekely to keepe Sabbath in Euery day now yea our whole life time is a Sabbath vnto vs therefore to keepe a seauenth day still is against the nature of the eternall Sabbath hath begun in Christs Resurrection And thus to keepe a seauenth still is to goe backe to the Iewish ceremony againe which is abolished in Christs Resurrection Answ Though the Eternall Sabbath began in Christs Resurrection and is now eternally kept of Christ and of the Church triumphant yet during the time of this life which is measured by times and dayes and in regard of the many corporall necessitys of it must bee