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
done then the right Sense of those Texts which seem to infer to be a Condition of our Justification by this Evangelical Law will be fully clear'd the meaning of the alledg'd Scriptures will be so plain as it will appear that they do not so much as look towards the favouring that Opinion of the Gospel being a new Law for which they are produc'd That the Precepts which the Gospel employs are not any Parts of it self but borrowed from the Law will be undoubted if we consider what is their Nature and Use They are design'd as the Rule of our Actions they instruct us what to do they draw the Lines of our Duty and set the Limits of our Obedience and all this is the proper Office of the Moral Law which it compleatly discharges without calling in any Assistance It is the eternal and unalterable Rule of Manners and a Doctrine directing the whole Conduct of Humane Life There is no Defect in it which it was needful to supply by another new Law to assert that would be to impeach the Wisdom of God as deficient as not knowing at first all that was Good and Righteous and necessary to be commanded to his Creatures and to be done by them or as so short in its Foresight as not able to discern at the first all the Duties which Men were bound to perform in the Circumstances of their State but was oblig'd afterward taught by Experience to supply the Failures by a new Law or by an Addition of new Precepts suted to Man's present state of Sin Weakness and Misery If then the Moral Law did not comprehend in it all Precepts of Duties it would not be God's Law for his is perfect he is not like short-sighted Men who cannot foresee what the Consequences of a Law made by them may be within the Compass of one Age nor whether Circumstances of Affairs altering it may not prove hurtful or unnecessary and therefore all Governments find themselves oblig'd to repeal old Laws or to add some Clauses to sute them to a present Posture of Affairs or to make new Ones to repair the Defects to which all Humane Wisdom in her best Provisions is obnoxious for want of a certain Foreknowledg of the Future But who can have such a Thought of God that these Infirmities of a Man should ever befal him in making his Laws that he should be forc'd tho not to repeal what he had made so many Ages before yet to promulgate a new one with additional Precepts accommodated to the present Case of his miserable Creature Man And as it is repugnant to God's Perfections to make new Laws so it would infer that his antiquated Law was imperfect and so no Rule and this would unavoidably follow if any Duties are to be perform'd which it neither regulates nor gives any direction about them But Christ tho as Mediator he is no Law-giver yet perfectly knows the Nature of the Law given at Mount Sinai that the Law contains all Duties for he makes the Sum of it to consist in Love to God and in a due degree of Love to our selves and in loving our Neighbour Matth. 22. 35 36 37 38 39 40. Then one of them which was a Lawyer asked him a question tempting him and saying Master which is the great Commandment in the Law Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind This is the first and great Commandment And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Now it will be very difficult to give an Instance of any Duty which we owe to him our Great Creator or to our selves or to Men our Fellow-Creatures which are not included in one of those two Tables or to name a Precept which may not be reduced to them The Scripture alledg'd is the more demonstrative for this Reason that our Lord Christ's Answer is to a Man enquiring concerning his Duty and then if at any time there was occasion to mention this new Law and to have told him the additional Precepts had there been any such things But Christ sends him to the Moral Law as comprehending all that Man was to do and as a perfect Rule of Duty sufficient compleatly to instruct him And indeed what more can be requir'd of Man than to love God with all the Powers and Faculties of his Soul and to love himself as he ought to do and his Neighbour in like measure When Christ also comes into the World and was made under the Law which never had before nor will ever have again so glorious a Subject it is this Law he not only explains in its spiritual and comprehensive Meaning but obeys it and therein fulfils all Righteousness Mat. 5. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil Mat. 3. 15. And Jesus answering said unto him Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness Then he suffered him And what is that Law imperfect which was the Rule of the most perfect Obedience that ever was and which excell'd that of Angels Are any Precepts wanting in it how then did Christ compleat all Righteousness in the most exact observance of it Well then if the Law be perfect there is no Duty but what comes within the Verge of its Authority and what it enjoins under the severest Penalties and no Precepts were given even by Christ himself but what particularly appertain to it and not to the Gospel as a new Law It is not only our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ but it commands to believe on him for Faith in God and Christ is so is contain'd in its first Precept it not only shews us our Sin and convinceth us of our Misery and lost State but when we have believ'd tho it be no longer a condemning vexing tormenting Law yet 't is a commanding One still It is a Rule of Gratitude it prescribes that we ought to be thankful to Christ in all Returns of Love and Duty it is the Rule of all that Holy Life of a Christian which is the Fruit of Faith and which is call'd Evangelical Obedience not because it is so to the Gospel but in respect of those Principles of Faith and Love from which it flows in respect of the Evangelical Motives which animate and encourage it It is not hurried on by legal Terrors nor prick'd forward by sharp-pointed Threatnings but is sweetly drawn and enliven'd by the Promises It is not the Fruits of Fear but the genuine Effects of the heartiest Affection to Christ and of the most earnest Desires and solicitous Cares to please him I know that it will be said That tho those Precepts in the Gospel which command and direct Moral Duties appertain to the Moral Law yet Faith in Christ the
question by Scripture and Reason since also I do not think that People are oblig'd to mispend their Time to read long Discourses to entertain themselves unprofitably with those personal Reflections with which such are usually stuff'd more than with Arguments since it doth not concern them to know whether such or such a Man be so wise and so rational as he is apprehended to be or silly and ridiculous but only what is Truth and the Danger of 〈◊〉 in the Faith which may be clear'd to them in very few words I 〈◊〉 accordingly study brevity and plainness as much as ever I can and shall reduce my following Discourse to as narrow a Compass as possible and so consider in that of the Learned Mr. Lorimer no more than what seems most to the Purpose I will not at all affect Niceties or subtile Evasions and indeed any Opinion which needs them and I know not how many perplexing Distinctions to maintain it may very well be suspected for Truth never seeks Corners to hide in nor can endure to be set in a false Light but loves to appear in its pure native Brightness And it is our Duty who by Office and Commission as Ministers of Christ are to teach the Gospel to the People that we do not scatter Mists about them as if throwing Dust in their Eyes was the way to clear their Sight that we do not amuse them with new Terms fetch'd from the Civil Law and make it necessary for them to study Justinian Bartolus and Cujacius to read the Pandects and the Codes that they may know how they are justified This instead of instructing would be to confound those whom we are to lead into the Truth by the clearest Expressions of God's Holy Word and to inform them in the plainest manner that we can What I have proposed to my self to debate in the present Discourse is Whether the Gospel be a new Law Without multiplying words which doth but obscure the clearness of Things the Question in dispute is not Whether the Gospel be a new Law if by that Word is meant a Doctrine of Grace newly reveal'd after the Covenant of Works was broken wherein God hath declared in what Order and Manner he will save guilty condemned Sinners If by a new Law no more is meant than this it is presently granted and the Controversy is at an end What is denied is this That the Gospel is a Law commanding new Precepts as Conditions of obtaining its Blessings and established with a Sanction promising Life and Happiness to the observance of them and threatning the Neglect Tho according to the Laws of a Discourse I should first urge Arguments to prove that the Gospel is not such a Law yet my first Design being to answer the Reverend Mr. Lorimer's Apology I shall first shew how little to his Purpose he eagerly catches at the word Law where-ever he can meet with it in the Scriptures or in the Writings of Men. And first I shall demonstrate that where-ever the Gospel is nam'd a Law either in the Old or New Testament only a Doctrine of Grace is to be understood by it CHAP. II. That the word Law is of a various and doubtful meaning From the original Signification of the Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is proved that then the Gospel is called a Law in the Old Testament no more is intended than a Doctrine This is evinc'd and confirm'd from the Interpretation of several Scriptures Psal 1. 2. Psal 19. 7. Psal 119. 97 98 c. Jer. 31. 33. Isa 2. 3. Micha 4. 2. THE word Law is of such various Signification that it is not at all strange if we find the Gospel called by that Name both in the Scriptures and among the Antient Fathers and later Protestant Writers when yet neither the Holy Ghost nor any of those Authors meant to describe the Gospel as a new Rule of Works enacted with a milder Sanction When that stated Order of Things whereby the Actions even of inanimate Creatures are regulated according to the Appointment of the great Creator's Will when he first framed them and push'd them into Motion is called the Law of Nature we cannot apprehend it as a Precept or Rule of Duty establish'd with a Sanction to those things which being without Sense or Life know nothing of the Matter This Law is not a Precept given to such Creatures but the Power of God working in them and acting them to move according to that Order which he hath set for the Administration of all things in the Universe Who will say that the Sun doth its Duty in performing its constant laborious Course or that a Reward is due when it hath done its Work And yet it is by a Law tho not any Precept that it moves so orderly and a Law it is without any promise of Recompence for observing and keeping duly the mark'd-out Course or threatning a Penalty for deviating from it It is by the same Law of Nature that the Fire always burns the Planets perpetually move the Earth never totters from its Centre and yet they are not to be recompenc'd for such their exact Observance And if on the contrary the Fire should freeze us the Planets stop their orderly Dance or march so irregularly as to break all their Ranks and the Earth shake and fall from it s plac'd Foundation they would not be liable to undergo any Punishment And now Fire Air Earth and Water and the Heavenly Bodies are well enough said to act by a Law tho they have no Rule of Duty given them nor are obnoxious either to Rewards or Punishments Well then as the settled Order of the Universe is called a Law the Gospel may obtain the same Name in that Sense It is without doubt a most certain establish'd Order of our Salvation by Christ alone and this more unchangeable and irreversible than all the Laws of the Creation since it is more impossible to be pardon'd and justify'd in any other Method than that set by God of applying Christ's Blood and having his Righteousness imputed than for all the Heavenly Bodies to move contrary to their stated Courses In this sense the Gospel is a Law without being a Rule of Duty since it only tells us the Order God hath set of our being saved purely by his Grace And a Law it is too like that of the Medes and Persians unalterable and which will not admit of the least Change not so much as to compose the Differences of contending Parties with prejudice to any of its Truths If we take the word Law in a farther meaning as it signifies any Doctrine publish'd and made known to the People it will be easily granted that the Gospel is such a Law since there is nothing more sure than that it is a Doctrine of Grace Now every one knows that the word Law is us'd in this comprehensive Sense First For the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah Law it denotes any
Consent they have so foolishly chosen Thus Christ will be all Justice without any mixture of Mercy to the Despisers of his Grace and to those who refuse him as a Saviour and as the Lord their Righteousness But this is no measure belongs to the Administration of his Gospel as any part of it nor appertains to the Office of a Redeemer but is the proper Royalty and Authority of a Creator of him who is the Soveraign the supream Lord and God the Judg of all If we consider the Scope and Design of the Text it will seem very much to look toward such a Meaning that Christ will not judg those to whom he hath made such a promulgation of his Law or Doctrine of his Grace which he had spoke of ver 2. if by Faith they had received it and answerably embraced the Redeemer But for their sakes he would execute Justice on the Nations who are their Enemies and who know him not or hate him That he will break their Force and Power or turn the Points of those Swords upon their own Breasts which were before employed against his People so that now these shall not need Armies or Fleets to defend them but may change their Weapons of War into Instruments of Husbandary or the Utensils of a Family and other Implements of Peace Thus Christ for his Church's Safety governs in the midst of his Enemies Psal 110. 1 2 5 6. The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right Hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool The Lord shall send the Rod of thy Strength out of Zion Rule thou in the midst of thine Enemies The Lord at thy right Hand shall strike through Kings in the Day of his Wrath. He shall judg among the Heathen he shall fill the Places with the dead Bodies he shall wound the Heads over many Countries And he so rules that when they have an hearty Will and design'd Malice yet it shall not be in their Power to destroy in all his Holy Mountain Isa 65. 25. Or what if we understand it that Christ will so judg among the Nations as in his Providence to manage Affairs and order in that manner the Spirits of the Troublers of his Churches as to dispose them unto peaceful Counsel which may move them universally to lay down their Arms that his People may enjoy an undisturbed Repose in the publick Tranquillity of the World At Christ's first appearance among Men thus calm and smooth was the Face of Things throughout the whole Earth and the Prince of Peace was born in such a Time as there were not the least Tumults to disquiet the Beginnings of his Reign A little before Christ's Birth all the World was up in Arms and nothing was heard but the shrill sound of Trumpets and the Alarms of War But the Prince of Peace no sooner makes his Entrance than the Scene is quite altered and an universal Calm succeeded the foregoing Disorders and Confusion Thus Christ began to judg among the Nations at his first appearance on Earth by settling their Affairs in a quiet and peaceful Posture and the Time will surely come when the Effects of this his judging will be more openly illustrious Thus in whatever Sense we understand Christ to judg among the Nations his being a new Legislator and his governing them by new Laws is entirely excluded CHAP. III. That by the word Law when applied to the Gospel may be understood a Doctrine prov'd from the signification of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos a Law as us'd by Grecian Authors and by the Sacred Writers of the New Testament Gal. 2. 19. explain'd AS I have prov'd that when the Gospel is named a Law in the Old Testament according to the signification of the Hebrew word a Doctrine only may be understood so if we consider how the Greek word is us'd by Authors who have wrote in that Language it will appear that it is with no certainty concluded by my Reverend Brother from the Gospel's being call'd a Law in the New Testament that it is a Rule of Works establish'd with Promises to the Performers and with Threatnings against the Disobedient I know very well that it is inferr'd from the Etymology of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos a Law that a Rule of Duty enacted with a Sanction of Penalty or Recompence is signified by it But I know that as no great weight can be laid on Arguments drawn from an Etymology so if that derivation of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos Law from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nemo signifying the distribution of what is due which is pleaded be the most natural yet nothing can be argued from it For sutable Doctrine may be distributed among Men as well as Rewards and Punishments But this commonly receiv'd Derivation is not perhaps the truest for if we may give Credit to Plato in his own Language in which he was equally fam'd for Eloquence as for Philosophy and Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos a Law is more fitly deduced from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noos the Mind which as it seems very natural there wanting only the interposition of the Letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make it the same Word so it plainly denotes a Law in its original meaning to be a Doctrine or Instruction of which the Mind is the principal Subject and Seat There is no need of Criticisms to prove a Truth of the Gospel and therefore I wave them I shall neither insist on that Sense which is assign'd to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos as signifying the Measures of a Verse or Tune tho from thence it is probable the Word was transferr'd to signify the Statutes establish'd among Men to regulate the Actions of their Lives since the most antient Laws were written in Verse that they might be more readily committed unto and be more faithfully retain'd in Memory I need only hint these things as also that the Greek Tragedian useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos Law to express the Inclinations and Manners of a Person to shew that no valid Reason can be rais'd from the meer sound of the word Law to convince us that the Gospel when describ'd by that Name is a Rule of Works with a Sanction since the Word admits of so many other Sgnifications I may however urge it as very natural to my Purpose of proving the Gospel to be a pure Doctrine of Grace that the Septuagint when they translate those places of Scripture wherein I have prov'd that the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath this signification render that word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos as most fitting to express such a Sense We may then very well conclude that the Greek word when the Gospel is named by it hath the same Sense in the New Testament as the Hebrew had in the Old We answerably find that the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ as revealed in
those of the Bible if my Learned Brother did not bring me from Greek to Latin Authors whom he musters in greater multitudes To rescue them therefore from his Abuse in fastning on them a Meaning of which they never had a thought it will be needful to state the Sense of the word Law in the Roman Language as well as I have done it in the Hebrew and Greek That Lex or Law may signify any Doctrine as well as a Precept appears from the Derivation of it given by Isidore à Legendo from Reading which agrees very well to a Doctrine And among the Romans their Laws were inscrib'd on Brass Tables and publickly hung up that they might be read by the People and I wish the Doctrine of the Gospel was more commonly read and known The same Word is also sometimes imploy'd to signify the Rules of any Science or Art which are purely instructive but not obliging by the Force of any Sanction Thus Juvenal Sat. 6. v. 450 451 452. Odi Hanc ego quae repetit volvitque Palemonis Artem Servatâ semper Lege ratione loquendi And speaking of himself that he seem'd to transgress the Rules of Satyr by inserting such affrighting Instances of Vice which were fitter for a Tragedy he says Sat. 6. v. 634 335. Scilicet finem egressi Legemque priorum Grande Sophocleo carmen bacchamur hiatu Montibus ignotum Rutulis coeloque Latino And yet I am confident the Poet was not apprehensive of his having violated any enacted Law or of being obnoxious to a Penalty did not at all fear the Roman Axes or Fasces tho his Verses did a little deviate from the generally approv'd Doctrine of Satyr Another Roman Poet by the same Word expresseth the due disposition or orderly placing of things Vitta coercebat positos sine Lege Capillos Ovid. Metamorph. lib. 1. v. 477. Innumerable Examples might be given but a few may suffice to shew how little stress is to be laid upon the uncertain sound of a Word which in all these Languages is so variously us'd and to direct us that wherever we find the Gospel nam'd a Law in the Hebrew of the Old Testament or in the Greek of the New or in the Greek and Latin Fathers or Protestant Divines we must not unless we would suffer our selves to be easily impos'd on by an ambiguous Phrase presently imagine it to mean a new Rule of Duty enacted with a Sanction I shall only add that Cicero when he defines a Law in the general Notion of it as comprehending the Law of Nature as well as others makes no mention of a Sanction but describes it only to be the highest Reason implanted in Nature which commands what is to be done and forbids the contrary Thus also the Roman Lawyers of whose vast Volumes lost by the Injuries of Time we have a Breviate in the Pandects define a Law without mentioning a Sanction The Law says Papinian is a common Instruction the Decree of prudent Men. By which no more can be understood than a Doctrine which teacheth us what is best for us to do if we will be taught by the Counsel of those who are wiser than our selves And in this Sense I will easily grant the Gospel to be a Law for it is the Instruction of God whose Wisdom is beyond all denial infinitely superiour to ours to our perishing Souls and thrice blessed is that Person whom his enlightning Grace hath made so wise as to follow it It is too the Decree of God's Eternal Counsel that we shall not be justified by any Righteousness but that of Christ alone Thus also the publish'd Will of the Soveraign may be call'd a Law tho the Sanction is wanting And the Decrees of the Roman Senate might be stil'd by that Name before the Consent of the People obtain'd which was necessary to enact them Nay a Statute is a Law tho no Duty be prescrib'd but only Benefits conferr'd and some Privileges ratified And when the Emperors had the absolute unlimited Power those Edicts which declared a Donative or which gave and confirm'd any Privileges to the People were as well call'd Laws as those which were all Commands and fill'd with Threats against Disobedience Now these are the properest Judges to decide the Signification of a Word in that Language wherein they not only wrote but it was their native Tongue which their Mothers taught them as soon as they were able to form a Voice There then nothing more remains needful to remove my Learned Brother 's multiplied Citations out of the Latin Fathers and Protestant Writers which he thinks to be very much to his Purpose but to shew that they frequently by the word Law mean no more than a Doctrine and when I shall have by some few Instances done this all his Authorities will be easily answer'd Cyprian whom he summons as a Witness for his Cause and the mistaken Evidence we shall afterward examine means no more by the Evangelical Law than the Doctrine which Christ hath given us For having before express'd how Christ had by his Example and Word taught us the manner of administring the Lord's Supper this our Instruction from our Saviour he calls the Evangelical Law And concerning this thing also says he we may send our Epistles to our Brethren that the Evangelical Law and the declar'd Doctrine of our Lord may be observed and that they may not depart from what Christ hath taught and practis'd Augustine the next Testimony who is call'd tells us That by the word Law we may apprehend not meerly a Statute but any other Doctrine since he stiles not only the five Books of Moses but the Prophets in whose Writings there are so many gracious Promises of the Gospel by that Name CHAP. VI. That the Divines of the Reformed Religion assert the Gospel to be a pure Doctrine of Grace When they call it a Law they intend the Word in that Sense I Will now prove that when the Reformed Divines call the Gospel a new Law they mean no more than a fresher and clearer Discovery of God's Mercy and Grace I shall produce Testimonies from their own Words of two forts first To manifest that when they professedly define or describe the Gospel they bring nothing into their Definition but that it is a Revelation of our Salvation and free Justification by Christ and then I shall bring plain Instances that when they sometimes call the Gospel a new Law they tell us also at the same time in express words they mean by it only a Doctrine of Grace First Then if nothing but Grace is express'd in their Definitions of the Gospel it is but reasonable to require that it should be granted me that they never thought the Gospel to be a Law in the strict Sense as including Works in it and being establish'd with Sanction For since it is one of the Rules of a Definition that it should contain the whole Nature of
Devil his greatest Enemy and sinned and died And I know not but that he deserved the Execution of the Sentence and Curse pronounced against him more by his Unbelief than by Eating the Apple And that even the Law of Works condemn'd him as much for that Sin as for the outward Act of his Disobedience Ay but it will be said All this doth not prove that Faith in Christ was commanded by the Law and required of him as his Duty No it is enough that Faith in God was so to prove that the Precept belongs to the Law For if it is sufficient to argue from the Law 's not directing this its own commanded Act to such an Object as Christ the Redeemer that therefore it gives no Precept and Command of Believing but that it is the peculiar Office of the Gospel to do so that because this particular Kind of Faith is not specified and this Way of Acting it on Christ particularly express'd that therefore the Duty of Believing comes not within the Limits of its Commands I might at this rate of Arguing prove that the Act of Eating the fatal Fruit was no Sin because not expresly forbidden by the Law for that regarded it as a thing indifferent as indeed it was before the Prohibition and yet this destroying Act of his was a Sin and forbidden by the Law tho not in a particular Precept yet as involv'd in that great One which commanded him to obey God in whatever he should require It doth not therefore by any consequence follow that the Gospel is a new Law because it commands Faith as a Duty and threatens Unbelief since the old Law had done the same before and the Gospel only imploys its Precepts and applies them to its own Design and Use To say that we are enjoin'd in the Gospel to believe on Christ as the Redeemer to deliver us from Sin and Death will not weaken the Force of the Argument urg'd for the Act even of this Faith is commanded by the Law and is its proper Precept That which belongs to the Gospel is to direct this Act to an Object suted and proportioned to help us in the Misery of our present sinful State Adam was by the Law commanded to believe and trust in God for the Preservation and Continuance of him in Happiness And we are commanded to trust in the same God for the Restoring this lost Happiness and our Recovery of it again The Act and Object of Faith is the same Christ being God and all the Difference is only made by that which is the Circumstance tho a deplorable one of our own Persons But this will not alter the Nature of the Faith it-self for if so then according to the Variety of these sad Cases and Exigences wherein we trust on Christ our Faith would alter to a different Nature Since then the Faith of Adam which the Moral Law commanded him to act on God was a Trust in him that he would preserve his innocent Creature in all the Blessedness of his primitive Condition and the Faith of a Sinner coming to Christ for Life is a Trust in the same God he being the second Person of the Divinity that he will restore his wretched Creature to its lost Happiness the Faith is the same in both Instances as to the Nature of it tho the Circumstances of the Persons are different and therefore if our first Father was by the Moral Law commanded to believe on God the same Precept requires and obligeth Sinners to believe on the eternal Son of God I know that with a scornful Smile it will be said that it is an absurd Assertion to affirm the Precept of Faith to belong to the Law when the Command of believing on Christ is perpetually repeated in the Gospel which only discovers this Saviour of Sinners It is granted that we meet with this Precept in all the Books of the New Testament but then the Objectors must also grant that we find there too the Precepts of loving Christ of abandoning all things and denying our selves for his Sake of loving our Enemies of the Obedience due from Children to their Parents of the sincere Service which Servants owe to their Masters and now if the Gospel is not a New Law in requiring these Duties which were all commanded by the old one it will no more be a new Law for commanding us to believe since this hath been demonstrated to be a Precept of the old Law as well as any of the other All therefore which can be inferr'd is that the Gospel borrows these Precepts from the old Moral Law and then they are not properly its own Commands and employs them in its Service and for the Interests of our Salvation or to speak briefly and clearly in the Words of the Holy Ghost himself Gal. 3. 19. the Moral Law is in the hands of Christ our Mediator and made by him to subserve his gracious Designs The other pretended peculiar Precept of this new Law is Repentance and if I then prove that by virtue of the old Law which was a perfect Rule of Duty this also was enjoin'd and Sinners oblig'd to it this will evince that neither this is the proper Command of the Gospel It cannot be denied that all which is justly due from one Person to another is required in the Moral Law for it is a compleat Rule of Righteousness It can as little be disputed that an hearty Acknowledgment of the Wrong with Shame and Sorrow from a Man who hath injur'd another is due to the offended Party and common Reason and Justice doth engage Men to this tho no other Reparations can be made The owning then of our Offences with the most inward Mourning and deepest Detestation of them is much more due to God our Sovereign and Supream Lord tho we are incapable by all this of making him the least Satisfaction To confess a Fault and to express a real Trouble for having done it is indeed among Men a making some amends to the wronged Person for it is some Security that he shall not be hurt by a second Injury But all our Sorrow and Confession of Sins with Tears cannot in any degree satisfy nor repair the Dishonour and Indignity offer'd unto God It is yet our Duty to throw our selves at his Feet to express an Abhorrence of our hainous Rebellion against him and it is a Duty to which we are bound as Creatures to our Maker and Subjects to our Soveraign who is Lord over all God blessed for ever But what it will be said doth the Law require Repentance when it made no Proposals of Pardon for the Crime Doth it require a sorrowful Acknowledgment of the Fault and yet the whole Design of it is that all this shall do the Offender no good since it provides not the least Relief for the penitent Sinner To what purpose is such a Command when tho the Sinner sheds floods of Tears and mourns out a Life lasting to Eternity of
Ages there is yet no Remedy tendred by this Law to prevent his being eternally miserable Yes for all this such a Command of Repentance in the Moral Law is not only to great purpose but absolutely necessary for to own to God with Shame and Sorrow the Injury we have done him by our Sins is a Duty which we owe to him our offended Soveraign tho he had never promis'd to forgive us nay tho he had plainly declar'd that he would never be reconcil'd It is a Duty then to which Adam after his Fall was bound by the same Law which he obey'd in his Innocency to which he was bound when amaz'd with all the Horrors of a despairing Mind looking for nothing but Vengeance and Ruin from the Anger and arm'd Power of the Almighty It is a Duty to which he was tied before any new Covenant of Grace made and before God had reveal'd any Thoughts of Favour to him or any Purposes of Grace in that first Promise of the Seed of the Woman breaking the Serpent's Head If then it was Adam's Duty to repent before he had receiv'd any Promises of Mercy there must be some Precept obliging him to it since that and Duty mutually infer one another no Precept could it be of the Gospel for that was not yet proclaim'd and therefore it must be the proper Precept of the Moral Law which was the thing to be prov'd If any one will peremptorily deny Repentance to have been Adam's Duty before God had promis'd Mercy the same Person must consequently assert that it was no Fault in him to run from God that he did very well in excusing himself in throwing the great Part of the Guilt upon God in standing upon his own Justification and that if he had continued an obdurate harden'd Wretch if he had acted as a bold desperate Rebel and instead of confessing his Crimes and expressing his Sorrow had further dar'd and out-brav'd offended Justice he had been innocent in all this and had not in the least broken any Precept of the Law nor transgress'd the Bounds of his Duty For if Repentance was not commanded before the Gospel publish'd then the worst Impenitence in Adam would have been no Sin because forbidden by no Law I know very well that Arminius boldly affirms all this That the Covenant of Works being broken the Law was abrogated too and that God no longer required Obedience from his sinful Creature till he brought in a new Law which is the Gospel commanding Faith and Repentance and that God accepts this Obedience to the Precepts of this his new Law instead of perfect Obedience to the old violated Moral Law But I know too very well that most prodigious and amazing Absurdities will be the natural Products of this monstrous Opinion It will follow that the first Sin dethron'd God not only out of Man's Heart but out of his Seat of Majesty in Heaven too until to regain his Crown and Dominion and for the recovery of his lost Sovereign Power he was forced to condescend to treat with his Rebels upon lower Terms and to propose a new and milder Law accommodated to the weaker Circumstances of their State Thus God loseth his Soveraignty by the Disobedience of his Creature and his Laws signified so little that they were all repeal'd and disannull'd when Man would observe them no longer And who can once think that the Great God should lose his Power to command when his Creatures refus'd any more to obey him and that Man by becoming a Rebel should cease to be a Subject and that therefore a new Law giving new Precepts and proposing other more moderate Conditions was absolutely needful to adjust the desperate Affair and to set all things right again Adam also by his Fall having according to the Assertion of Arminius broken all Ties and Bonds of Obedience if before the Promulgation of the Gospel or new Law to him he had blasphem'd God had sworn and forsworn had dissembled kindness to his Wife with the deepest Oaths while he had nothing in his Heart but Thoughts of Malice and Designs of Revenge against her for betraying him to ruin had most barbarously murder'd her and afterward kill'd himself he yet had not sinned in all this because before the new Law given he was oblig'd to no Duty Believe this who will for my part I cannot And now what is the Ground of this desperate Assertion Why truly only this That because the Law once broken there were no longer any Promises made to the Obedience of a Sinner therefore the Covenant between God and Man was entirely vacated and so the Sinner was no longer bound to obey till a new Law came with other Precepts of Faith and making Promises to lower degrees of Duty and then upon this new Account the Creature stands bound again Now all this is founded upon one grand Mistake which is that our Obedience to God is establish'd upon his Covenant with us and that the only Tie upon us are Promises or Threatnings Whereas our Duty to God immediately results from the infinite Greatness of his Being which is therefore supream and hath an undoubted Right to command and from the unalterable Relation of a Creature to his Maker So that Adam as soon as he had Existence was presently bound to obey God in all that he would command him tho he had made no Promise to him of any Reward And if God had plac'd him in a dismal Desart instead of settling him in Paradise if he had sharpen'd his Life with Sorrows and Miseries in the room of those Blessings and Comforts which he enjoy'd yet he might have commanded him all that he pleas'd and it would have been his Duty to have paid a ready Obedience And this clears the Difficulty lying in our way that tho the Law made no Promises to Sinners as the Gospel doth yet that hinders it not from commanding and engaging them to repent for by what I have prov'd it appears that Promises do not lay the Foundation of a Duty but are only the Encouragements of it Well then tho Adam saw not any thing in the Law to renew Life to a Penitent Offender tho he could not read in it one Syllable of a Pardon yet the same Law which requir'd Obedience of him commanded after he had sinn'd to repent and return to his Duty tho he had no hopes of succeeding in it and had no assurance that a justly provoked and angry God would forgive and descry'd not the least Promise shining in Heaven to favour him And as it was Adam's Duty to repent so it is the Duty of all Men now living upon Earth A Duty to which Heathens who are not under the Dispensation of the Gospel to whom this new-stil'd Law never came who never heard a word of its pretended Precepts or real Promises are indispensably oblig'd Whence have they this binding Precept of Repentance From the Gospel How can that be when the least Sound of it never
arriv'd to their Ears It must therefore necessarily be a Precept and Command of the Moral Law to them which more or less is manifested to all even the most savage and barbarous Nations of the Earth The Design and Office of the Law doth also manifest that the Precept of Repentance doth properly belong to it For it was not only appointed as a Rule of Obedience to Adam but God certainly knowing that Man would fall into a State of Sin and Death intended the Law for the Conviction of Sinners to shew them their Sinfulness and Danger Rom. 3. 19 20. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every Mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God Therefore by the Deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be justified in his sight for by the Law is the Knowledg of Sin Rom. 7. 7. He design'd it to rouse and alarm the poor negligent Creatures And now if it convinceth them of Sin its malignant Nature and direful Effects it consequently tells them that it is their Duty to bewail their Miscarriages which bring all Miseries upon them and to reform their evil Courses and to turn from Sin to God This the Law preacheth to Men and these are the natural Dictates of it in their Consciences and it is impossible to perswade them till God comes with the Power of his Grace and works Faith against putting their Confidence in their Sorrow and repenting to obtain Pardon by it and against trusting to their Resolutions of living better for the future and against their fond Presumption of being justified for their endeavours of Amendment These legal Principles are natural in Men they arise not from the Gospel for that instructs us to put our whole and entire Confidence in Christ and his Righteousness alone they must then spring from the Law and consequently Repentance which this Law not only urgeth Men unto but moveth them to build their Hopes of Life upon it must be one of its Precepts The Law commands it the Gospel as a Proclamation of Grace and an Offer of Pardon only invites and encourageth it Thus it is sufficiently prov'd that Sinners were by the Moral Law oblig'd to own their Sins with the most bewailing Expressions of Grief tho that Law gave them no Encouragement and Hope and that Adam after his Fall was engag'd to this Sorrow and Contrition before any promise of Pardon and Acceptance tendred If we now consider the other and chiefest part of Repentance it will be evident that this was not only requir'd of the Father of Mankind fallen but that it was his Duty and what he practis'd in all the time of his Innocence and flourishing Condition For what is Repentance mainly but an hearty abhorrence of Sin join'd with a most careful Avoidance of it and a most firm Resolution against it Now this was as surely in Adam when continuing the same upright Creature which God had made him as it is certain that then he was holy Holiness and hatred of Sin being altogether inseparable and therefore unless we will suppose our first Father to have been unholy in his original Being we must not doubt of his daily acting of this principal and most considerable part of Repentance I call it so because it is that which to bring forth the other is appointed for we are not commanded to mourn and to bewail our Follies and Miscarriages meerly for the sake of vexing and tormenting our selves or as if by the inward Anguish of our Souls we were to do Penance to pacify a displeased God but all this trouble of Mind for Sin is intended and requir'd to imbitter it to us and to render us vile in our own Eyes and to throw us humbled before the Throne of Grace For tho we are Sinners and poor and miserable yet we are naturally proud and therefore a Sense of our Sin and Misery is requisite to bring down our haughty Spirits tho we also daily feel the dismal Mischiefs of Sin yet our deprav'd Natures render us too prone and readily inclin'd unto it and therefore a piercing Sorrow is necessary to bring us to that true Repentance of which I am speaking which consists in hating Sin and turning from it It is but needful that an aking Wound make us sensible of the malignant Mischief of Sin to render it the Object of our highest Aversion Well then it is hatred of Sin and an hearty resistance of it which is the last and chiefest Act of Repentance since our Sorrow is design'd only to produce this Effect and so after all to hate Sin and most carefully to avoid it is most truly to repent of it And this Repentance our first Father even in his Innocence acted to a higher degree than we do since his detestation of Sin was greater and till the sad Moments of his Fall he opposed it more firmly and successfully But it will be objected Repentance supposeth the Person to have sinn'd and therefore a Precept of it to Adam in his Uprightness was altogether needless No not at all for a Precept to oblige Man to what is due and just is necessary for him in every Condition and nothing can be more due than to acknowledg a Wrong done And what is Repentance but an hearty owning and lamenting the highest Injury offer'd to God by our Sins And besides God in making a Law gave such a perfect Rule as was sufficient to bind Man to his Duty in all Circumstances of his Case and therefore it was not only modell'd to oblige him to perfect Obedience but to ingage him to repent when he had fail'd of his Duty Well but some may argue against what I before said concerning Faith's being a Precept of the Original Law given to Adam that tho it is true that Faith in God is required in the first Commandment yet there is no Faith in a Redeemer express'd What then It is yet plainly implied since this our Redeemer is God and therefore a general Command to trust on God at all Times and according to the various Necessities of our State must include a Precept to believe on Christ the Redeemer when the sad State of our Case doth require it Ay but the Law will they object was given to Man in Innocence and therefore only tied him to such Acts of Obedience as were proper to that Condition and therefore such Duties which result from Man's being a Sinner such as Faith and Repentance were not inclos'd within the compass of this Law Yes but they were and that for the same Reason as such Duties which arise from the present Relations which Men bear to one another which are the Consequents of Adam's Fall are comprehended in the Precepts of the Moral Law By this a Slave is obliged to perform Service to his Master and yet if Man had not sinned there had been no such thing as Slavery By this also Judges are bound