will I think be very plain from these following Considerations First That the Judicial or Ceremonial Laws of the Jews were to pass away and did so not long after but this Law which our Saviour speaks of was to be perpetual and immutable for he tells us that Heaven and Earth should pass away but one jot or one title of this Law should not pass Secondly The observation of the Law our Saviour speaks of consisted in such things as the Scribes and Pharisees neglected for he tells his Disciples upon this occasion that except their righteousness did exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But now the Scribes and Pharisees were the most accurate and punctual People in the World in observing the Precepts of the Judicial and Ceremonial Law they were so far from taking away any thing from these observances that they had added to them and enlarged them by innumerable Traditions of their own so exact were they that they would pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin as our Saviour observes but then they were extreamly defective in Moral Duties they were unnatural to their Parents and would pretend that their Estates were consecrated to God that under this pretence of positive Religion they might excuse themselves from a Natural Duty and let their Parents starve for God's sake they were Covetous and Unjust and devoured Widows houses in a word our Saviour tells us they neglected the weightier Matters of the Law Mercy Judgment and the love of God and keeping faith with Men so that it is in these things that our Saviour means that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees viz. in the practice of Moral Duties which were neglected by them and consequently 't is the Moral Law which our Saviour came to confirm and establish Thirdly If we consider the instances which our Saviour gives in his following discourse by which we may best judge what he means He instances in Murder and Adultery and Perjury which are undoubtedly forbidden by the natural Law and then he iâ—stances in several Permissions which were indulged to them for the Hardness of their Hearts but yet did intrench upon the Dictates of right Reason and the first and original Constitution of things as the permission of Divorce upon every slight occasion and of Revenge and Retaliation of Injuries Fourthly If we consider that by the Law and the Prophets our Saviour means that which was principally designed and ultimately intended by them which was the Observation of moral Duties which as they were written in the two Tables by the immediate Finger of God himself so are chiefly inculcated by the Propheâ—s And so we find this Phrase of the Law and the Prophets elsewhere used by our Saviour when he mentions that great Rule of Equity that we should do to others as we would have them do to us Matth. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets But how was this the Law and the Prophets when this Rule was never so much as mentioned in either Our Saviour means that this is the Foundation of all those Duties of Justice and Mercy which are so much inculcated in the Law and the Prophets So that our Saviour makes the Observation of moral Duties to be the principal Design of the Jewish Law and as it were the Foundation of it and therefore he calls moral Duties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier matters of the Law Matth. 23. 23. But ye says he to the Scribes and Pharisees have neglected the weightier things of the Law judgment and mercy and fidelity The Scribes and Pharisees busied themselves chiefly about ritual Observances but our Saviour tells them that those other were the most considerable and important Duties of the Law and lay at the bottom of the Jewish Religion And much the same enumeration the Prophet makes where he compares Sacrifices and these moral Duties together Mic. 6. 6 7 8. Wherewith â—hall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God He had required Sacrifices but had no regard to them in comparison with these II. No Instituted Service of God no positive part of Religion whatsoever was ever acceptable to God when moral Duties were neglected nay so far from being acceptable to him that he rejects them with Disdain and Abhorrence To this purpose there are almost innumerable Passages in the Prophets Isa 1. 11. c. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations incense is an Abomination to me the new moons and sabbaths the calling of assemblies I cannot away with it is Iniquity even the solemn meeting and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you when ye make many prayers I will not hear What is the reason of all this Because they were defective in the moral Duties of Religion so it follows your hands are full of Blood wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the Widow come now and let us reason together saith the Lord implying that till they had respect to moral Duties all their external Worship and Sacrifices signified nothing And so likewise Isa 66. 3. He tells them that nothing could be more abomible than their Sacrifices so long as they allowed themselves in wicked Practises He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a Man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dog's neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swine's Blood and he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol yea they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations And to mention but one Text more out of the Old Testament Jer. 7. 4 5. Trust ye not in lying words saying the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord are these Throughly amend your ways and your doings throughly execute Judgment between a man and his neighbour oppress â—ot the stranger the fatherless and the widow and shed not innocent blood If they did not practise these Duties and forbear those Sins all the reverence for the temple and the
worship of God signified nothing You see in the Jewish Religion what it was that was acceptable to God for it self and its own sake viz. the practice of moral Duties and that all Instituted Religion that did not promote and further these or was destitute of them was abominable to God And under the Gospel our Saviour prefers a moral Duty before any gift we can offer to God and will have it to take place Mat. 5. 23 24. If thou bring thy gift unto the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift But it should seem by this and what haâ—h been said before that God prefers Goodness and Righteousness to Men before his own Worship and obedience to the Precepts of the Second Table before obedience to those of the First But this does but seem so all that can be collected from this passage of our Saviour or any thing that hath been already said are only these two Things 1. That God prefers the practice of the Moral Duties of the second Table before any instituted Worship such as Sacrifâ—ce was and before obedience to the Laws of Religion which are meerly positive tho' they do immediately concern the Worship of God 2. That if we neglect the Duties of the second Table of Goodness and Righteousness towards Men God will not accept of our obedience to the Precepts of the first nor of any act of Religious Worship that we can perform This our Saviour means when he says leave there thy gift before the Altar first be reconciled to thy Brother then come and offer thy gift intimating that so long as we bear a revengeful mind towards our Brethren God will not accept of any Gift or Sacrifice that we can offer to him or indeed of any act of Religious Worship that we can perform Thirdly The great Design of the Christian Religion is to restore and reinforce the practice of the natural Law or which is all one of Moral Duties and therefore our Saviour begins his first Sermon by promising Blessedness to the practice of these Duties of Purity and Meekness and Righteousness and Peaceableness and Mercifulness and Patience and Submission to the will of God under Persecutions and Sufferings for Righteousness sake and tells us as I shew'd before that he came not to release Men from the practice of these Duties but to oblige them thereto more effectually and that as these were the Law and the Prophets that is the main Duties and the Foundation of the Jewish Religion so were they much more to be so of the Christian This the Scriptures of the New Testament do every where declare to be the great design of the Gospel and the Christian Religion to instruct us in these Duties and to engage us effectually to the practice of them In that known and excellent Text Tit. 2. 11 12â— The grace of God which is in and by the Doctrine of the Gospel hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldy lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world And herein St. James tell us the true nature and the force and vertue of the Christian Religion doth consist Jam. 1. 27. pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widows in their â—ffliction and to keep our selves unspotted from the World And Chap. 3. 17. The wisdom which is from above that is that Heavenly and Divine Knowledge revealed to us by the Gospel hath these Properties and is apt to produce these effects it is first pure and then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and of good fruits And the planting of these dispositions in us is that which the Scripture calls the new Creature and the Image of God Eph. 4. 20 c. The Apostle speaking there of the Vices and Lusts wherein the Gentiles lived tells Christians that they were otherwise instructed by the Gospel but ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corâ—upt according to deceitful Lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness or as the words perhaps may better be rendred in the holiness of truth for it immediately follows wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his Neighbour And this is that which the Apostle elsewhere makes to be all in all in the Christian Religion In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature Gal. 6. 15. which the Apostle in the Chapter before expresseth thus in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which worketh or is inspired by Charity And yet more expresly 1 Cor. 7. 19. Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God By the comparing of which Texts it appears that the main thing in Christianity is the practice of Moral Duties and this is the new Creature and this the proper effect of the Christian Faith to produce these Virtues in us And indeed the great Design of the Christian Religion and every thing in it of the love of God in giving his Son to die for us of the pardon of our Sins and justification in his blood of all the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel and of the assistance therein promised is to engage and encourage and enable to the practice of Moraâ— Duties And thus I have done with the first thing I proposed to speak to namely that Natural Religion is the Foundation of Instituted and Revealed Religion and all Revealed Religion does suppose it and builds upon it I proceed to the Second Namely That no Revealed and Instituted Religion was ever designed to take away the obligation of Natural Duties but was intended to confirm and establish them And this also will be evident if we consider these three Things 1. That all Revealed Religion calls Men to the practice of Natural Duties Thus the Jewish Religion did The first Laws which God gave them and which hâ— distinguish'd from the rest by writing them in Tables of Stone with his own Finger were the Precepts of the Moral Law And the great business of the Prophets whom God raised up among them from time to time was to reprove not so much their defects in their Sacrifices and in the Duties of Instituted Worship as the breach of the natural Law by their Vices and Immoralities and to threaten them with the Judgments of God if they did not reform and amend these faults And now under the Gospel the preceptive part of it is almost wholly made up of Moral
this Pattern hath been since not only closely followed but out-done by the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome as we have too much Reason to remember upon this day But to proceed in the farther explication of the Text the meaning whereof in short is this that the ritual and instrumental parts of Religion and all Laws and Duties concerning them are of less Value and Esteem with God than those which are of a moral Nature especially the great Duties and Offices of Piety and Humanity of the love of God and of our Neighbour And if we consider the matter well we shall see the Reason of it to be very plain because natural and moral Duties are approved of God for themselves and for their own sake upon account of their own natural and intrinsical Goodness but the ritual and instrumental parts of Religion are only pleasing to God in order to these and so far as they tend to beget and promote them in us they are not naturally good in themselves but are instituted and appointed by God for the sake of the other and therefore great Reason there is that they should be subordinate and give way to them when they come in competition with one another For this is a known Rule which takes place in all Laws that Laws of less importance should give way to those that are of greater quoties Leges ex circumstantiâ— colliduntur ita ut utraque servari non potest servanda est lex potior When ever two Laws happen to be in such circumstances as to clash with one another so that both of them cannot be observed that Law which is better and of greater consequence is to be kept And Tully gives much the same Rule in this matter In comparing of Laws says he we are to consider which Law is most useful and just and reasonable to be observed From whence it will follow that when two Laws or more or how many soever they be cannot be observed because they clash with one another ea maxime conservanda putetur quae ad maximas res pertinere videatur It is reasonable that that Law should be observed which is of greatest Moment and Concernment By what hath been said we may learn what is the meaning of this Saying which our Saviour more than once cites out of the Prophet I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice From the words thus explained I shall take occasion to prosecute the two Propositions which I mentioned before namely First That Natural Religion is the Foundation of Instituted and Revealed Religion Secondly That no Instituted Religion was ever designed to take away the obligation of Natural Duties but is intended to establish and confirm them And both these are sufficiently grounded in the Reason of our Saviour's Discourse from this Rule I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice I. That Natural Religion is the Foundation of Instituted and Revealed Religion and all Revealed Religion does suppose and take for granted the clear and undoubted Principles and Precepts of Natural Religion and builds upon them By Natural Religion I mean obedience to the Natural Law and the performance of such duties as Natural Light without any express and supernatural Revelation doth dictate to Men. These lye at the bottom of all Religion and are the Great and Fundamental Duties which God requires of all Mankind as that we should love God and behave our selves reverently towards him that we should believe his Revelations and testifie our dependance upon him by imploring his aid and direction in all our necessities and distresses and acknowledge our obligations to him for all the Blessings and Benefits which we receive that we should moderate our Appetites in reference to the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this World and use them temperately and chastly that we should be just and upright in all our Dealings with one another true to our word and faithful to our trust and in all our words and actions observe that Equity towards others which we desire they should use towards us that we should be kind and charitable merciful and compassionate one towards another ready to do good to all and apt not only to pity but to relieve them in their misery and necessity These and such like are those which we call Moral Duties and they are of eternal and perpetual obligation because they do naturally oblige without any particular and express Revelation from God And these are the Foundation of Revealed and Instituted Religion and all Revealed Religion does suppose them and build upon them for all Revelation from God supposeth us to be Men and alters nothing of those Duties to which we were naturally obliged before And this will clearly appear if we consider these three things First That the Scripture every where speaks of these as the main and Fundamental Duties of the Jewisâ— Religion Secondly That no Instituted Service of God no positive part of Religion was ever acceptable to him when these were neglected Thirdly That the great Design of the Christian Religion was to restore and reinforce the practice of the natural Law 1. That the Scripture every where speaks of these as the main and Fundamental Duties of the Jewish Religion When our Saviour was ask'd which was the first and great Commandment of the Law he answered Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self One would have expected he would have given quite another Answer and have pitched upon some of those things which were so much magnified among the Jews and which they laid so much weight upon that he should have instanced in Sacrifice or Circumcision or the Law of the Sabbath but he overlooks all these as inconsiderable in comparision and instances only in those two great heads of Moral Duty the love of God and our Neighbour which are of natural and perpetual obligation and comprehend under them all other Moral Duties And these are those which our Saviour calls the Law and the Prophets and which he says he came not to destroy but to fulfill Mat. 5. 17 18 19 20. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill for verily I say unto you 'till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the Law 'till all be fulfilled Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be call'd the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven For I say unto you that except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That our Saviour doth not here speak of the Judicial or Ceremonial Law of the Jews but of the Duties of the Moral Law
Duties namely those which are comprehended under those two great Commandments of the love of God and our Neighbour In the Christian Religion there is very little that is meerly Positive and Instituted besides the two Sacraments and praying to God in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ 2. The most prefect Revelation that ever God made to Mankind I mean that of the Christian Religion doth furnish us with the best helps and advantages for the performance of Moral Duties it discovers our Duty more clearly to us it offers us the greatest assistance to enable us to the performance of it it presents us with the most powerful Motives and Arguments to engage us thereto so that this Revelation of the Gospel is so far from weakning the obligation of natural Duties that it confirms and strengthens it and urgeth us more forcibly to the practice of them 3. The positive Rites and Institutions of Revealed Religion are so far from entrenching upon the Laws of Nature that they were always designed to be subordinate and subservient to them and when ever they come in competition it is the declared will of God that positive Institutions should give way to natural Duties and this I have shewn to be plainly the meaning of this Saying in the Text I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice If Circumstances be such that one part of Religion must give place God will have the Ritual and Instituted part to give way to that which is Natural and Moral It is very frequent in Scripture when the Duties of Natural Religion and Rites of Divine Institution come in competition to slight and disparage these in comparison of Moral Duties and to speak of them as things which God hath no pleasure in and which in comparison of the other he will hardly own that he hath commanded When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands Isa 1. 12. Thou desirest not Sacrifice thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings Psal 51. 16. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl He hath shewn thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy But God no where makes any comparison to the disadvantage of Natural Duties he never derogated from them in any Case he never said he would have such a thing and not mercy or that he had rather such a Rite of Religion should be performed than that men should do the greatest good and shew the greatest Charity to one another It is no where made a question will the Lord be pleased that we deal justly every Man with his Neighbour and speak the truth one to another that we be kind and tender-hearted and ready to forgive that we be willing to distribute and give Alms to those that are in need there is no such question as this put in Scripture nay it is positive in these Matters that with such Sacrifices God is well pleased I instance in this Vertue more especially of Kindness and Compassion because it is one of the prime instances of Moral Duties as Sacrifice is put for all the Ritual and Instituted part of Religion and this disposition of Mind our Saviour makes the root of all Moral Duties Love is the fulfilling of the Law and the Apostle speaks of it as the great End and Scope of the Gospel The end of the Commandment is Charity And this temper and disposition of Mind he advanceth above Knowledge and Faith and Hope The greatest of these is Charity and without this he will not allow a Man to be any thing in Christianity this he makes our highest perfection and attainment and that which abides and remains in the future state Charity never fails This our Saviour most effectually recommends to us both in his Doctrine and by his Example this he presseth as the peculiar Law of his Religion and the proper Mark and Character of a Disciple This he requires us to exercise towards those who practice the contrary towards us to love our Enemies and to do good to them that hate us And of this he hath given us the greatest Example that ever was when we were Enemies to him he loved us so as hardly ever any Man did his Friend so as to lay down his Life for us and he Instituted the Sacrament for a Memorial of his love to Mankind and to put us in mind how we ought to love one another And now the Application of what hath been said upon this Argument to the occasion of this Day is very obvious and there are two very natural Inferences from it First From what hath been said upon this Argument it plainly appears what place Natural and Moral Duties ought to have in the Christian Religion and of all Natural Duties Mercy and Goodness This is so primary a Duty of Humane Nature so great and considerable a part of Religion that all positive Institutions must give way to it and nothing of that kind can cancel the obligation of it nor justifie the violation of this great and Natural Law Our Blessed Saviour in his Religion hath declared nothing to the prejudice of it but on the contrary hath heightned our obligation to it as much as is possible by telling us that the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them So that they know not what manner of Spirit they are of who will kill Men to do God service and to advance his Cause and Religion in the World will break through all obligations of Nature and Civil Society and disturb the Peace and Happiness of Mankind Nor did our Saviour by any thing in his Religion design to release Men from the obligation of Natural and Civil Duties He had as one would imagine as much Power as the Pope but yet he deposed none of the Princes of this World nor did Absolve their Subjects from their Fidelity and Obedience to them for their opposition to his Religion he assumed no such Power to himself no not in Ordine ad Spiritualia nor that ever we read of did he give it to any other Whence then comes his pretended Vicar to have this Authority And yet the horrid attempt of this Day was first designed and afterwards carried on in prosecution of the Popes Bull of Excommunication and was not so much the effect of the despair and discontent of that Party here in England as the Natural Consequence of their Doctrines of Extirpating Hereticks and Deposing Kings and Absolving Subjects from their Allegiance to them No Zeal for any positive Institution in Religion can justifie the Violation of the natural Law the Precepts whereof are of primary and indispensable Obligation The Pope's Supremacy is not so clear as the Duty of Obedience to civil Government nor is Transubstantiation so plainly revealed in Scripture as it is both in Nature and Scripture that we should do no murder And yet how many thousands have been
those future good things which were promised under the Gospel a kind of rude draught of a better and more perfect Institution which was designed and at last finâ—sht and perfected by the Christian Religion This account the Apostle gives of the legal Rites and Observances Col. 2. 16 17. Let nb maâ—â— judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come bâ—t the body is of Christ that is he is the substance and reality of all those things which were shâ—dowed and figured by those legal observances And so the Apostle to the Heb. calls the Priests and Sacrifices of the Law the Examples and shadows of Heavenly things Chap. 8. 5. and so Chap. 10. 1. the Law having a Shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things that is being but an obscure Type and not a perfect Representation of the Blessings and Benefits of the Gospel which we now have in truth and reality Now reason will tell us that the Laws concerning these Types and Shadows were only to continue 'till the Substance of the things signified by them should come and that they would be of no longer use when that more perfect Institution which was figured by them should take place and then they would expire and become void of themselves because the reason and use of them ceasing they must necessarily fall But they did not expire immediately upon the coming of Christ and therefore he himself submitted to these Laws so long as they continued in force he was Circumcised and presented in the Temple and performed all other Rites required by the Law that first Covenant to which these Laws and Ordinances belonged continuing in force 'till the ratification of the second Covenant by the death of Christ and then these Laws expired or rather were fulfill'd and had their accomplishment in the Sacrifice of Christ which made all the Sacrifices and other Rites of the Jewish Religion needless and of no use for the future Christ having by this one Sacrifice of himself perfected for ever them that are sanctified as the same Apostle speaks Heb. 10. 14. So that Christ did not properly abrogate and repeal those Ritual and Ceremonial Laws but they having continued as long as they were designed to do and there was any use of them they abated and ceased of themselves And that the death of Christ was the time of their expiration because then the new Covenant took place St. Paul expresly tells us Eph. 2. 15. having abolisht or voided in his flesh the law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and this v. 16. he is said to have done by his Cross and more plainly Col. 2. 14. blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross So that you see that even the Ceremonial Law was not so properly abrogated by the Sacrifice and Death of Christ but rather had its accomplishment and attained its end in the Sacrifice of Christ which by the Eternal efficacy of it to the expiation of Sin and the purifying of our Consciences hath made all the Sacrifices and Washings and other Rites of the Ceremonial Law for ever needless and superfluous Thirdly But especially as to the Moral Law and those Precepts which are of Natural and Perpetual obligation our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or to lessen and slacken the obligation of them And of this I told you our Saviour doth principally if not solely speak here in the Text as will appear to any one that shall attentively consider the scope of his Discourse In the beginning of his Sermon he promiseth Blessing to those and those only who were endowed with those Virtues which are required by the Precepts of the Moral Law or comprehended in them and then he tells them that Christians must be very eminent and conspicuous for the practice of them v. 16. Let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven and then he cautions them not to entertain any such imagination as if he intended to dissolve the obligation of the Law and to free Men from the practice of Moral Duties which probably some might have suggested against him think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets as if he had said you cannot entertain any such conceit if you consider that the Precepts which I inculcate upon you and those Virtues the practice whereof I recommend to you are the same which are contained in the Law and the Prophets So that I am so far from crossing the main design of the Law and the Prophets and taking away the obligation of Moral Duties enjoyned by the Jewish Religion that I come purposely to carry on the same Design to further perfection to give a more perfect and clear Law and to give a greater enforcement and encouragement to the practice of Moral Duties these were always the sum and substance of Religion the ultimate design of the Law and the Prophets and therefore I am so far from discharging Men from the obligation of the Moral Precepts of the Law that I come to bind them more strongly upon you And verily I say unto you that is I solemnly declare that whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is he shall in no wise enter therein You think the Scribes and Pharisees very Pious and Excellent Men and to have attained to a high pitch of Righteousness but I say unto you that except your Righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And then he instanceth in several Precepts of the Moral Law which in the letter of them especially as they were interpreted by the Teachers of the Law among the Jews were very much short of that Righteousness and Perfection which he now requires of his Disciples and Followers So that his whole Discourse is about Precepts and Obligations of the Moral Law and not a word concerning the Ritual and Ceremonial Law which makes me very prone to think that our Saviour's meaning in the Text is this that his Religion was so far from thwarting and opposing that which was the main design of the Law and the Prophets that is of the Jewish Religion that the principal intention of Christianity was to advance the practice of goodness and virtue by strengthning the obligation of Moral Duties and giving us a more perfect Law and Rule of Life and offering better Arguments and greater Encouragements to the obedience of this Law Therefore for the fuller explication and illustration of this Matter I shall endeavour to clear these three Points First That the Main and Ultimate Design of the Law and the
the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins I should now have proceeded to the Third Particular namely that the Christian Religion hath supplied all the defects and weakness and imperfection of the Jewish dispensation but that I shall not now enter upon but make one plain inference from the substance of what I have already discoursed upon this Argument If our Saviour came not to dissolve and loosen the obligation of Moral Duties but to confirm and establish it and to enforce and bind the practice of these Duties more strongly upon us then they do widely and wilfully mistake the design of Christianity who teach that it dischargeth Men from the obligation of the Moral Law which is the Fundamental and avowed Principle of the Antinomian Doctrine but directly contrary to this Declaration of our Saviour in the Text that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to perfect and fulfill them for to take away the obligation of a Law is plainly to destroy and make it void and contrary to the Apostle's solemn resolution of this matter Rom. 3. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith That is does the Gospel destroy and take away the obligation of the Law God forbid yea we establish the Law the Christian Religion is so far from designing or doing any such thing that it gives new strength and force to it But surely they that teach this Doctrine did never duly consider that terrible threatning of our Saviour after the Text which seems to be so directly level'd at them whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be call'd the least in the Kingdom of Heaven for how can Men more effectually teach the violation not only of the least but of the greatest of Gods Commandments than by declaring that the Gospel hath set Men free from the obligation of the Moral Law which is in effect to say that Christians may act contrary to all the Duties of Morality that is do the most impious things in the World without any offence against God and notwithstanding this continue to be his Children and highly in the favour of God And all the security they have against this impious Consequence is that weak and slender pretence that gratitude and love to God will preserve them from making this ill use of the grace of the Gospel and oblige them to abstain from Sin and to endeavour to please God as much as any Law could do But then they do not consider the nonsense of this for there can be no such thing as Sin if the obligation of the Law be taken away for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression as the Apostle and common Reason likewise tells us so that the Law being removed and taken away all Actions become indifferent and one thing is not more a sin or offence against God than another And what then is it they mean that gratitude will oblige Men to or preserve them from When there can be no such thing as sin or duty as pleasing or offending God if there be no Law to oblige us to the one or restrain us from the other And what is if this be not to turn the grace of God into wantonness and to make Christian Liberty a Cloke for all sorts of Sins A Man cannot do a greater despite to the Christian Religion nor take a more effectual course to bring it into contempt and to make it to be hiss'd out of the World than to represent it as a lewd and licentious Doctrine which gives Men a perfect discharge from all the Duties of Morality and obligeth them only to believe confidently that Christ hath purchased for them a liberty to do what they will and that upon these terms and no other they are secure of the favour of God in this World and Eternal Salvation in the other This is the sum and the plain result of the Antinomian Doctrine the most pernicious Heresie and most directly destructive of the great End and Design of Christianity that ever yet was broached in the World But ye have not so learned Christ if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning your former conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful Lusts and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness SERMON IV. Christianity doth not destroy but perfect the Law of Moses MATTHEW V. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil I Have consider'd this Saying of our Saviour's with respect to the Moral Law and those Precepts which are of Natural and Perpetual force and that our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or loosen the obligation of them for the illustration of which I propounded to clear these three Points First That the main and ultimate design of the Law and the Prophets was to engage Men to the practice of Moral Duties that is of real and substantial goodness Secondly That the Law of Moses or the dispensation of the Jewish Religion was comparatively very weak and insufficient to make Men truly good and ineffectual to promote inward and real Righteousness These two points I have spoken to I shall now proceed to the Third Namely that the Christian Religion doth supply all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of the Jewish dispensation The Jewish Religion had very considerable advantages above the meer light of Nature which was all that the Heathen World had to conduct them towards Eternal Happiness the Jews had the knowledge of the one true God and very signal and particular Testimonies of the Divine Providence which did naturally tend to beget in them good hopes of a future Life and the rewards of another World they had the Natural Law revealed and the main Precepts of it written with God's own hand and by Moses delivered to them by which means they had a more certain and distinct knowledge of their duty they had Prophets frequently sent to them to admonish them of their Duty and to exhort them to Repentance and to warn them of approaching judgments They had good encouragement given to hope for the pardon of Sin by God's appointment of several ways of expiation which how unlikely soever they were to be available to the effectual expiation of Sin yet they did signifie that the Divine Nature was placable and did seem to figure some more effectual way designed by God for that purpose that should be exhibited in due time And finally they had most express promises and threatnings of Temporal Blessings and judgements to encourage them in their obedience and to deter them from the transgression of God's Laws These Advantages the Jews plainly had above the rest of the World God did not deal
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that is whereas the Law left Sinners as to those Sins which stood most in need of pardon under a Curse having provided no expiation for them Christ hath redeemed them from that Curse by making a general expiation for Sin and in this sense it is that the Author to the Hebrews says Ch. 9. 15. that Christ died for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Covenant that is for those Sins for which the Covenant of the Law had provided no way of forgiveness and therefore St. John says emphatically 1 Joh. 1. 7. that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Thirdly The Law did not afford sufficiently plain and certain Rules and Directions for a good Life As the corruption and degeneracy of Mankind grew worse so the light of Nature waxed dimmer and dimmer and the Rule of Good and Evil was more doubtful and uncertain and that in very considerable instances of our Duty The Law of Moses was peculiar to the Jews and even to them who only had the benefit and advantage of it it did not give clear and perfect light and direction as to Moral Duties and those things which are of an Eternal and Immutable Reason and Goodness And therefore our Saviour in this Sermon explains it to a greater perfection than it was understood to have among the Jews or the letter of it seemed to intend and hath not only forbidden several things permitted by that Law as Divorce and Retaliation of Injuries but hath heightned our Duty in several instances of it requiring us to love our Enemies and to forgive the greatest injuries and provocations tho' never so often repeated and not only not to revenge them but to requite them with good turns which were not understood by Mankind to be Laws before but yet when duly consider'd are very agreeable to right Reason and the sense of the wisest and bâ—st Men. So that the Christian Religion â—ath not only fixt and determined our Duty and brought it to a greater certainty but hath raised it to a greater perfection and rendered it every way fit to bring the Minds of Men to a more Divine temper and a more reasonable and perfect way of serving God than ever the World was instructed in before Fourthly The Promises and Threatnings of the Law were only of temporal good and evil things which are in comparison of the endless Rewards and Punishments of another World but very languid and faint Motives to obedience Not but that the Jews under the Law had such apprehensions of their own Immortality and of a future state of Happiness and Misery after this Life as Natural Light suggested to them which was in most but a wavering and uncertain perswasion and consequently of small efficacy to engage Men to their Duty but the Law of Moses added little or nothing to the clearness of those Natural Notions concerning a future state and the strengthning of this perswasion in the Minds of Men it did rather suppose it than give any new force and life to it And for this Reason more particularly the Apostle tells us that the Law was but weak to make Men good because it did not work strongly enough upon the hopes and fears of Men by the weight of its Promises and the terrour of its Threatnings and that for this weakness and imperfection of it it was removed and a more powerful and awakening dispensation brought in in the place of it Heb. 7. 18 19. For there is verily a disannulling of the Commandment that was before that is of the Jewish Law for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did that is the Covenant of the Gospel which promiseth Eternal Life And Ch. 8. 6. for this Reason more especially the Apostle says that Christ had obtained a more excellent Ministry being the Mediator of a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises And Rom. 1. 16 18. St. Paul tell us that for this Reason the Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation because therein the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. The clear Revelation of a Future Judgment was that which made the Gospel so proper and so powerful an Instrument for the Salvation of Men. The great impiety of Mankind and their impenitency in it was not so much to be wondred at before while the World was in a great measure ignorant of the infinite danger of a wicked Life and therefore God is said in some sort to overlook it but now he commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. The clear discovery and perfect assurance of a future Judgment calls loudly upon all Men to leave their Sins and turn to God Fifthly The Covenant of the Law had no spiritual Promises contained in it of the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit for the mortifying of Sin and enabling Men to their Duty and supporting them under Sufferings but the Gospel is full of clear and express Promises to this purpose Our Saviour hath assured us that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. and this the Apostle tells us is actually confer'd upon all true Christians those who do sincerely embrace and believe the Gospel Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Hence the Gospel is call'd by the same Apostle the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus v. 2d of that Chap. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and in the next words he tells us that herein manifestly appeared the weakness of the Law that it left Men destitute of this mighty help and advantage at least as to any special promise of it What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by making him a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is that that Righteousness which the Law aimed at and signified but was too weak to effect might be really accomplisht in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who are acted and assisted by a higher and better Principle than Men either have in Nature or the carnal dispesnation of the Law did endow Men withall And because of this great defect the Law is said to be a state of Bondage and Servitude and on the contrary
and not Sacrifice which Saying is quoted by him out of the Prophet Hosea chap. 6. 6. I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt Offerings which Text our Saviour cites and applies upon two several Occasions the considering and comparing of which will give full Light to the true meaning of it The First is here in the Text upon occasion of the Pharisees finding Fault with him for conversing with Publicans and Sinners the other is Matth. 12. 7. where the Pharisees blaming the Disciples of our Saviour for plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath day our Saviour tells them if ye had known what this meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice ye would not have comdemned the guiltless that is if they had understood the true Nature of Religion and what Duties of it are chiefly and in the first place to be regarded they would not have been so forward to censure this Action of his Disciples So that the plain meaning of this Saying is this that in comparing the parts of Religion and the Obligation of Duties together those Duties which are of moral and natural Obligation are most valued by God and ought to take place of those which are positive and ritual I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice that is rather than Sacrifice according to the true meaning of this Hebrew Phrase which is to be understood in a comparitive Sense as is evident from the Text it self in Hosea I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings if they cannot be observed together let Sacrifice be neglected and the work of Mercy be done And the Reason of this seems very plain because shewing Mercy or doing Good in any kind is a prime Instance of those moral Duties which do naturally and perpetually oblige but Sacrifice is an instance of positive and ritual Observances and one of the chief of the kind so that when moral Duties and ritual Observances come in Competition and do clash with one another the Observation of a Rite or positive Institution is to give way to a moral Duty and it is no Sin in that case to neglect the Observation of such a Rite yea though it were commanded and appointed by God himself And though this may seem to be a breach of the letter of the Law yet it is according to the true mind and meaning of the Law it being a tacit condition implyed in all Laws of a ritual and positive Nature provided the observance of them be not to the hindrance and prejudice of any Duty which is of a higher and better nature in that case the Obligation of it does for that time give way and is suspended And this will appear to be the true meaning of this Rule by comparing more particularly the Instances to which our Saviour applies it His Disciples passing through the Corn on the Sabbath Day and being hungry pluckt the Ears and did eat this our Saviour does justifie to be no Breach of the Law of the Sabbath because in that case and in such Circumstances it did not oblige for the Disciples being call'd to attend upon our Saviour to be instructed by him in the things which concerned the Kingdom of God that is in the Doctrine of the Gospel which they were to publish to the World this Attendance hindred them from making necessary Provisions against the Sabbath they in obedience to their Master being intent upon a better Work but that they might not starve the necessities of Nature must be provided for and therefore it was fit that the Law of the Sabbath which was but positive and ritual should give way to an act of Mercy and Self-preservation If ye had known what this meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice ye would not have condemned the guiltless And the reason is the same as to any instrumental part of Religion by which I mean any thing which may be a means to promote Piety and Goodness as Prayer hearing the Word of God keeping good Company and avoiding bad the Duties of this kind our Saviour here in the Text where he likewise applies this Rule compares with moral Duties To avoid the Company of vicious and wicked Persons is a good means to preserve men from the contagion of their Vices and was always esteemed a Duty among prudent men both Jews and Heathens and is in no wise disallowed by our Saviour but yet not so a Duty as to hinder a greater Duty nor so strictly and perversely to be insisted upon as if one ought not to converse with bad Men in any Case or upon any Account no not for so great and good an end as to reclaim them from their Vices In this Case we ought to consider that our first and highest obligation is to moral Duties comprehended under the love of God and our Neighbour among which one of the chief is to do good to Men and to shew Mercy and Pity to those that are in Misery and the greatest good that one Man can do to another is to be instrumental to reclaim him from the Evil and Error of his Way because this is to save his soul from death and we cannot imagine that God ever intended by any Rule of prudence or positive Constitution of the Jewish Law so to forbid their accompaning with bad and scandalous Men that it should be unlawful to converse with them in order to their Recovery and Amendment Go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And St. Paul was of the same mind in the Precepts he gives concerning avoiding the Company of scandalous Christians 2 Thes 3. 14 15. and if any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no Company with him that he may be ashamed yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother St. Paul qualifies his Precept lest Christians should mistake it and fall into the Jewish extream not to converse with those whom they esteemed scandalous and wicked upon any account whatsoever no not in order to their Amendment and Reformation The Bond of Intimacy and Friendship with bad Men ought to be broken and yet the Bond of common Humanity may be as strong as ever It is one thing to discountenance bad Men to bring them to Shame and a Sense of their Fault and quite another thing to abandon them to Ruin and even in case of notorious Heresie or wickedness of Life it is one thing to cut them off from the Society and Communion of Christians and quite another to cut them off from Humane Society to cut their Throats and to extirpate them out of the World And yet the matter was carried thus far by the furious Zeal of the Jews when Christianity first appeared in the World they thought that no Mercy in such Cases was the best Service that could be done and the best Sacrifice that could be offered to Almighty God and