Now this being the great means of transferring Justification from the Law to Faith I shall a little insist upon the Explication of it That which I have to say upon it will be contained in these two assertions 1. That Christ in his own person here upon earth undertook the Law and answered it in all that it had to say against us And whereas it was a killing letter he took out this condemning power of it for all believers 2. That this was done by Christ for all ages of the Church and so it was and is the great foundation of that Justification by faith which the Apostle Paul contends to have been in all ages before the Law under the Law and in the dayes of the Gospel to the end of the world so that the way of Justification by faith comes in kindly and in a comely manner without any neglect or violation of the Law I begin with the first assertion That Christ in his own person here upon earth undertook and answered the Law The first assertion That Christ undertook answered the law for us c. Now to prove and illustrate this assertion it will be usefull to us 1. To consider in what condition the Lord Christ found us when he came into the world as a Saviour We were therefore all of us Jewes and Gentiles We were all under the law when Christ came to save us prisoners to the Law I shall give the account of this in the Apostle's expressions which are somewhat mystical to which I hope I shall adde some light by laying them together and comparing them one with another Before Christ came and before faith came and so at the time when Christ came when faith came in the doctrinal discovery or at any time doth come to us in the hearty closing with it We were kept under the Law Gal. 3.23 the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law had set a guard upon us and as it follows we were shut up unto the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we were all shut up as so many prisoners unto the Law and under its guard and custody and in Rom. 7.6 speaking of the Law the Apostle saith We were held by it that being dead that is the Law wherein we were HELD or by which we were detained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For though these places in the Galatians and Romanes may referr to the different dispensations of the Old Testament and New that before the dayes of the Gospel when faith came to be preached men were under a legal dispensation they were kept under the Law and shut up to the faith that was to be revealed yet I dare affirm that there is a deeper meaning then that at least a deeper truth then that if not in those places which is this That till Christ and the way of Justification by faith be made known to the soul the soul must needs be under a legal frame â—f heart towards God under fear and bondage â—ay and a further sense then this yet and that â—s this That till the virtue of the blood of Christ â—e applyed to the soul till actual Justification â—y or upon faith every man lies under the curse â—nd threatning and wrath of the Law the Law â—ath taken hold of us all an evident signe of â—hich is this That death hath passed upon all and â—hat is the reason why for that all have sinned â—om 5.12 And if any could plead exemption from this abnoxiousness to the Law it must be either the â—â—ntiles that had not the Law as the expression is â—â—m 2.14 that is had not the Law given to â—â—em or those that lived before the Law was â—ven by Moses now neither of these can plead â—is exemption therefore all mankinde were â—ptives to the Law when Christ undertook the â—ork of Redemption or rather until the desigâ—ation of Christ by the Father to this work For the first viz. the Gentiles the Apostle tells us that he had proved them under sin which is the transgression of the Law therefore under the Law and their thoughts within them did accuse for their breach of the Law which was written in their hearts Rom. 2.14 Neither were they free from this arrest of the Law who lived before the delivery of the Law by Moses for the Apostle tells us plainly Rom. 5.13 That untill the Law sin was in the world that is from Adam till the time that the Law was solemnly given by Moses sin was in the world now sin is the transgression of the Law and accordingly as sin was in the world all that space of time from Adam to Moses so Death reigned from Adam to Moses Now we know that death 〈◊〉 the wages of sin and the strength of sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15.56 Sin could never have brought in death but by the Law which bindes sin upon the sinner and with sin the punishment due to it therefore all that space of time from Adaâ— to Moses sin and death being in the world 〈◊〉 they were to be sure there was the Law in its power energy it was there in effect as sure 〈◊〉 it was in the hearts consciences of Heathens and the Grave was the Law 's Prison Death it's Arrest Sin it 's great Charge and Accusation by and upon which Death entred Sin entred in the world and death by sin upon the threatningâ— the Law Rom. 5.12 This was the state and condition therefore that Christ found us in wâ— were all under the Law as Prisoners and Captives therefore when the Father sent fort Christ upon the work of Redemption it is saâ— Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a woman mâ—â— under the Law to redeem them that were under 〈◊〉 Law This was written to the Galatians who were Gentiles That we putting himself and the Galatians together might receive the adoption of Sons therefore the Gentiles were under the Law when Christ was sent forth for their redemption And our Saviour tells us what he was commissionated to by his Father Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES and recovering of sight to the blinde to set at liberty them that are bruised or bound as it is in Isai 61.1 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord that is the Year of Jubilee when all servants were set free thus Christ's coming was to proclaim a Year of Jubilee to the whole world that the Law 's Captives should be delivered and those that served God under the tyranny of the Law might receive a spirit of Adoption So now thus farr we are gone in our proof of the first assertion that when Christ came as a Saviour and Redeemer of his people he found them all under the Law as the lawfull Captives and Prisoners unto it by reason of their sins which were
the matter of it setting aside the Ceremonial and Judicial Law it remains still obliging us in the dayes of the Gospel and the Apostle professeth to establish the Law even by the preaching of Faith 'T is true it was first of all given to the Jews that was their priviledge but now that it is given it is ours as well as theirs that therefore which seems to be peculiar to them in it was the manner of its delivery both being without promises and in that terrible manner given upon the Mount but yet still it was thus given because of transgressions to hinder transgressions they needed this terror at that time Children though they know their duty must have some terror to make them do it The Heir whilest he is a Child differeth nothing from a servant though he be Lord of all he is used like a servant harshly severely he is under Tutors and Governors till the time appointed by the Father Gal. 4.2 there is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Apostle hath in his answer to the objection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But because this particular hath some affinity with the second general end mentioned why the Law was given with respect to transgressions I shall now enter upon that and it was this 2. The Law was added because of transgressions for the heightning and aggravating of transgressions Rom. 5.20 The Law entered that the offence might abound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subingressa est irrepsit the Holy Ghost is pleased frequently to use such words as should shew that the Law came in by the by for some considerable ends indeed that the Lord had in delivering it but not as the great establisht way for Justification for certainly that could not come in by the by but the Law came in thus it stole in subingressa est it crept in by stealth irrepsit so the Original signifies But what was the end of the Law when it thus entred why it entred because of transgressions that the offences of men might abound In the 12. ver of Râ—â— 5. 〈◊〉 read that sin entered into the World and 〈◊〉 that the Law entered the Law hunted it followed it stole in afterwards to discover sin for as ver 13. hath it Before or until the Law sin was in the world that is not before the Law did oblige but before the Law was delivered in such a solemn manner as it was upon Mount Sinai before the Law sin was in the world but sin was not imputed when there was no Law yet death reigned all this while till Moses his time which was the curse of the Law Now that men might know wherefore they suffered death and the curse it was sit the Law should come into the world in a solemn manner delivered that so sin might be imputed by men to themselves as it was by God to men witness death the curse of the Law which reigned from Adam to Moses from Adam that sinned to Moses that gave the Law sin did not appear to be sin till the Law entred therefore it is said Sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good viz. the Law that sin by the Commandment might become out of measure sinfull So Rom. 3.20 the Apostle proves that the Law cannot justifie for by the Law is the knowledge of sin The Law is so far from justifying saith the Apostle that it only brings sin to light brings the knowledg of sin with it makes the offence to abound and if that be the way to justifie sinners to aggravate their sins bind on their guilts more then ever upon their consciences let any man judg therefore indeed the Law in the immediate great intent of it was a killing Letter an Administration of Death a Ministration of Condemnation a Ministration of Desperation and not of righteousness unto justification and accordingly it was delivered with thundering lightning upon Mount Sinai to shew the horrible fire darkness tempest that there was in the Law it self to all that should come near it to think to make use of it for a way of Justification as Moses put a Vail upon his face to shew the vailedness of his Dispensation so the Law was delivered with fire to shew the fieriness of the Law unto the conscience for the Law was not only terrible to the beholders of it when it was given upon Mount Sinai but this terribleness is in the Law it self to all that ever had to do with it feelingly ever since to all that ever came near it for justification Indeed for those that stand aloof off from it only play about it at a distance hope to be saved in a loose way by their works by their good doings and by their good meanings they may perhaps never feel the stinging fiery lashes of the Law but let any of these self-Justiciaries drive their Principle to an Head let them come up near to the Law let them advance toward Mount Sinai and approach it and challenge their Justification from God by the Law and they shall quickly find themselvs scorched and scalded sent away with sad hearts and affrightned consciences they'â— find the Law to be a ministration of Death and not of Righteousness I might here shew in several particulars how the Lâ—w doth discover sin it discovers habitual sin St Paul or the man personated in Rom. 7. had never found there had been such a bottomless depth such a lively body of death within him but for the Law when that came sin revived and he dyed Rom. 7.9 2. It discovers actual sin I had not known sin that is lustings to be sin except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet ver 7. But I shall not insist longer upon this particular The third end of the Law 's being â—â—ded I hasten to the third great end of the Law 's being added with respect to transgressions and that was for the finishing of transgressions and making an end of sin as the expressions are though somewhat otherwise used Dan. 9.24 What shall we think that when God had given promises to Abraham and confirmed a Covenant in Christ to him and his Seed that he now gave a law to drive all his people into despair this amounts all to one as if he had broken his promise and his covenant as I have before argued out of the Apostle Paul did the Lord only send his law that they might know their duty and be affrightned into their duty as the first particular carries it if they did not do their duty should the law aggravate their sin bind on their guilts upon their Conscience and so leave them under desparation and be a ministration of death to them Was this all the Law came for If this were all they might better have been without the law at a venture then have had it they might have done better with the promises alone This therefore was not all the end
the Cross and Christ nailed the Law to the Cross and all this without violence or affront offered to the Law it being but naturally consequent upon what the Law did first to Christ for if the Law set upon Christ as our Surety and do the utmost to him that it can it must needs follow that it hath no strength left against those for whom he undertook and so must die and expire by the same death that our Saviour dyed it being nailed to the Cross which is but a sigurative expression And yet I shall carry the Allegory a little further herein still following the Apostle Paul Is it any wonder now is it any unreasonable thing now that the Law is dead and taken out of the way that we should be married to another husband that we should reckon our selves to be no longer under the Law The woman which hath an husband saith the Apostle Rom. 7.23 is bound by the Law to her husband so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the Law of her husband So then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead she is free from that Law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man ver 4. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the Law or the Law is become dead to you BY THE BODY OF CHRIST that ye should be warried to another even to him that is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God The Law is every soul's first Husband since the fall so every one's actual sin the Law is an intolerable husband there is no living with it it so sets on guilt presseth the soul w th terrors nay instead of producing good works the natural fruit of this Marriage-relation of the Soul to the Law whilest in innocency it now produceth all manner of lusts according to the 5. ver of that 7. chap. When we were in the flesh the MOTIONS OF SINS WHICH WERE BY THE LAW did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Now God in much mercy to mankinde finding that if the Law and the conscience or soul of man keep together his creature will be lost and himself lose those fruits of good works which the soul was first created for he provides another husband for the soul which is Jesus Christ only Christ must redeem his Spouse from that tyrannical Husband which now it lives with else the Soul shall be but an Adulteress to pretend marriage to Christ that is the way of grace whilest the Law can make a just claim to her as a wife which it might have done as long as it lived The manner of the rescue I have before declared it was by suffering and yielding to the Law yet so as in it the Law destroyed it self and then is it lawfull for the Soul that was before wife to the Law to be married to another husband and who so fit as he that redeemed her Now the Soul shall have it's forbearance under failings which the Law would not endure and God shall have a kindly and ingenuous Service there will be fruits unto God and this is the passage from Works to Faith from the Law to Grace I though the Law saith the Apostle am dead to the Law that I might live to God Gal. 2.19 that is through what the Law hath done to Christ it hath nothing to do with me But 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 Rom. 7.6 One Scripture more to this purpose it is Rom. 8.1 23.4 There is therefore now no condemnation to ohem which are in Christ Jesus who are married to Christ and have accepted the terms of the Gospel who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit for the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death this chiefly relates to sanctification that the inward law or power of corruption which was occasionally and accidentally strenghtned by the Law of God was now broken by that inward power spirit and life which is conveyed by the Gospel of Christ and is called the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus ver 3. for what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh that is it could neither justifie nor sanctifie both these did God bring to pass by sending his Son in the likeness of sinfull flesh when for sin that is Christ's making himself a Sin-offering so answering the Law God condemned Christ in the flesh that is destroyed it both in the guilt and power of it out of us that were sinners so it follows that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit that is that the Law might no longer accuse us being answered by our Saviour and that we might attain to that which is the chief designe of the Law to wit righteousness and holiness which if we had continued under the Law we could never have attained unto What so common now with the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romanes as to tell them that now they are not under the Law but under grace by this means namely the BODY OF CHRIST offered and that therefore there shall be no condemnation and that therefore sin shall not have dominion over them which are the two great effects of the death of Christ though the first chiefly belongs to that subject which I am upon viz. Justification Having given now all these things in an allegorical and mystical dress yet herein only following the Apostle I shall deliver the same thing somewhat plainly and so conclude this first particular The summe of all this is Man was made holy had a Law to live by to which there was a threatning annexed In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death or shalt surely die * This threatning I take it is due by the Law to intended against all sins according to that of the Apostle The wages of sin is death Ro. 6.23 speaking of sin indefinitly besides wise Adam might have committed any other sin and not have dyed Man did eat and so was to die death accordingly entred by this sin into the world that is a natural death and for eternal death hereafter and the spiritual death of the soul here which consist's in alienations from God both which all men at age are obnoxious unto being sinners as for children I neither affirm nor deny any thing the Lord in mercy designing to deliver men from provided a Saviour who should first live a perfect life that so he might be the more acceptable Sacrifice and his terms of saving men must be these that he must freely offer himself up to
spiritual Worship of God by pulling down all the Jewish Ceremonies making Jew and Gentile one and revealing all the mysteries that were concealed in Moses his dispensation nay his very Sacrifice is one of the greatest Mysteries of all by which we are informed of God's performing his threatnings that the threatnings of heaven are not as claps of thunder without a thunder-bolt in them we see God's hatred of sin punishing it so severely in his own Son we see God's love to the world that he would give his Son for the life of it though he gave him up to the death we have in his life a pattern of perfect holiness which is more than all precepts alone and we see in our Saviour an instance of the Resurrection heavenly glory all these things have been of mighty instruction to the Saints of all ages since the death of Christ If this phrase the end of the world should be understood of the end of the Iewish state this will not at all prejudice my ieference from it that Christs death had respect unto the ages before his coming but rather strengthen it will be to all Saints unto the end of the world and therefore I say these other great ends of his coming being considered there is no undecency at all in his coming so early in the end of the world and offering a Sacrifice that should serve for many ages that were then to come It was at the end of the world that he came and therefore might very well serve for those fewer succeeding ages though it had the first respect unto the ages going before In the sixth and last place I shall bring plain Scripture to prove that Christ dyed for the Saints of the ages that were past before his death There are two Scriptures that speak to this purpose the first that I shall name is in that 9th of the Hebrews the chapter out of which I have been arguing ver 15. And for this cause he speaking of Christ is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament they which are called c. Here it is said that Christ by the means of his death redeemed or expiated the transgressions that were under the First Testament therefore he dyed for the fins of those that lived under the Old Testament But I shall deal so faithfully with my Reader as to acquaint him with another interpretation which is not contemptible that others give of these words and that is this That our Saviour Christ the Mediator of the New Testament or Covenant by his most excellent Offering redeemed and expiated those sins which could not be expiated by any Sacrifices that were appointed under the First Covenant according to that in Acts 13.39 By him speaking of Christ all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses There being in Moses no Sacrifices for adulteries thefts murthers c. whereas in the Christian Religion there is pardon for all sorts of sinners by means of the death of Christ if they have but the Gospel-conditions of pardon So that this interpretation makes the place to speak of the kindes of sins and not of the individual or particular sins which were committed under the first Covenant that Christ by the means of his death hath made redemption of those kinde of fins which there was no redemption for under the first Covenant But I have something to ask of those that make this interpretation yet taking it for passable and it is this I would fain know if any of those sins were pardoned under the Old Testament which here are said to be redeemed by Christ for his followers if they say they were not then all that committed any such kinde of sins were damned for ever which was untrue witness David and Manasseh if they were pardoned as they were then either they were expiated by some Sacrifice or they were not if those that own this interpretation say they were not expiated by some Sacrifice and yet pardoned I oppose not to mention that great argument again That they could not be pardoned without expiation in any consistency with the veracity of God in his threatning this seems a strange rarity in the dealings of God with us that under the New Testament no sin is pardoned but what is expiated by the death of Christ and yet under the Old Testament which was certainly a dispensation more severe than ours there the greatest sins should be pardoned without the intervention of any Sacrifice nay what a strange thing was it in their very dispensation that legal uncleannesses such as Leprosie and Issues c. must be purged by sacrifice See Lev. 14 15. chapters yet the greatest sins of all should be pardoned without a sacrifice if therefore those great sins of Murther Adultery Witchcraft Idolatry c. were pardoned by expiation it must be by this death of Christ to ensue in the end of the world for there was no sacrifice so much as appointed for these sins those that were appointed could never reach to the purging and cleansing of the conscience they only purged the flesh from a fleshly uncleanness Heb 9.13 the blood of Christ alone hitherto hath had a virtue in it to cleanse the conscience therefore I conclude that the blood of Christ made expiation even for those individual sins for which there was no expiatory sacrifice appointed under the Old Testament But to let pass that Scripture what will be said to that in Rom. 3.25 26. where we have these words Whom speaking of Christ God hath set forth or fore-ordained as it is in the margin to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the REMISSION OF SINS THAT ARE PAST through the forbearance of God to declare I say AT THIS TIME his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Now I suppose there may be this sense contained in these words That God in the dayes of the Gospel hath set forth clearly what that is by which he was alwayes propitiated and atoned for sins even those sins that were fore-past and fore-committed in the dayes of his forbearance and long-suffering that is the darker times of the world which times we have otherwise expressed in Acts 17.30 to be the dayes of ignorance which God winked at they were the dayes of God's forbearance it was and is the blood of Christ by which God alone alwaies was and still is propitiated for sins only then it was not so well known but now God hath declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Acts it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the forepast sins the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as these that are committed under the Gospel were all redeemed and expiated by the blood of Christ As for any other sense that is given of