and Regeneration by the Spirit of Life and Grace from Christ and of this the Apostle Discourses after the Mentions of the Law of Nature and the Gentiles Conformity to it in some parts the Grace of the Gospel turns the Uncircumcision into Circumcision of the Spirit as he goes on 2. Let us consider the great difference between the Law and the Gospel in that which Scripture in the New Testament so universally stiles the Law viz. the whole Frame of the Mosaic Law and as this was purely by it self and as it did not look to Christ it is Represented as that rigorous and severe Dispensation that is the Killing Letter the Ministration of Death of Condemnation the Law that worketh Wrath by which is the Knowledge of Sin by which no Flesh can be Justified in his Sight a Law of Works done by our own Power in Number Weight and Measure or else it brings under the Curse A Law therefore that can by no means give life and so Righteousness cannot be by it unto Justification of Life and all the Ceremonies are but so many Labels Hand-writings and Seals against us and contrary to us Binding us to keep the whole Law so opposite to Christ that where they are observed since Reversed by the Gospel he can profit us nothing opposite to Grace so that he that Adheres to them for Righteousness falls from Grace and is under the works of the Law and under the Curse as the Apostle says whoever Sins having the Law perishes by it and with having it It is a Covenant that is found fault with because God finds fault with them who are under it for Breaking it And yet all this time the Law is Holy Just and Good and therefore there was a Glory in regard of its so intimate and essential Goodness that reflected a Glory on Moses his Face when God gave the Two Tables as it were in Remembrance of the first Glory on Adam but it soon vanished into a Ministry of Death and Condemnation shewing how soon Adam fell from the glory of God And yet even this whole Mosaic Frame was designed with all its Ceremonies to lead to Christ according to all the Service of the Law to the Gospel when it is in the hand of the Gospel as hath been before explained in which regard also Moses his Face shone receiving the Raies of the Divine glory in the Face of Christ but because the Efficacy of the Gospel-grace was only to the Elect the Law became Superior and the Ceremonies thickned as a Veil upon that glory Emblemed by the Veil on Moses his Face which hid the glory of Christ which Veil so sadly lies on the Minds of the Jews blinding them to this day But this very Law being in the hand of the Gospel to the Elect was a Law converting the Soul making Wise the Way of Life and all its Ceremonies led to Christ and his glory shone through them although because it was not a Dispensation high and Spiritual enough for that glory oâ— grace They saw That glory was to be done away in Christ not to Remain and therefore even as God did often under-value all the legal State in compare with the Gospel-grace So did his Saints also in the time of the Old-Testament and under the Gospel it is done away But the substantial Goodness of of it was then and ever shall be in the hand of the Gospel as hath been more fully set out in the last Head of Discourse 3. Let us now lastly duly weigh how far even the Dispensation of the Gospel becomes Law to them who by not being in Christ are under the Law although they have the Light of the Gospel vouchsafed to them in the outward Administration For to whomsoever the Gospel is hid or veiled and a Savor of Death they are left to the Dominion of the Law over them However the Gospel be never so clearly offered to them The Law then having nothing to do with the Promises of Grace it urges upon us whatever is to be done by our selves it presses the Acceptance of Christ and of his Righteousness a Conformity to his Holiness and to his holy Precepts as the only way to Recover our selves but it having no Power of Promise according to the Gospel in its own proper Ordination or Dispensation it calls upon us in our own Strength and Improvements of our selves to obtain both Righteousness and the Spirit and so entitles us after the manner of Works only to Pardon of Sin Righteousness and Sanctification by Christ which is turning the Gospel into a Law to all who are not the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ Hereupon it proceeds to aggravate Guilt and Condemnation and to make it more Tolerable for any than for those who having had the Gospel have not yet reached Justification and Righteousness and Sanctification and Holiness by and from the Gospel according to it But now the Gospel proceeds quite otherwise with all those who are the Evangelized truly the Children of Promise For it gives all to them freely and as a Ministration of Righteousness of Life and of the Spirit even that very Righteousness and Spirit It does not set the Elect of God to Correct their Faces the Face of their Hearts and Lives by it as by a Glass or Mirror shewing them what they are but it presents Jesus Christ the Image of God who is also the Lord that Spirit changing the Saints into the same Image though indeed it be but a Beginning Glory onwards still to Perfection of Glory So that there are Raies of Glory from Christ upon the Soul and Spirit of every one united to him far greater than the Raies of Glory on Moses his Face shining from God in his Law by his Image Christ but not as Mediator but as the Eternal Word in our Nature and as in the First Creation not our Trustee and Surety in the New-Covenant and New-Creation So That Glory was none being so much exceeded by Christ as Mediator which is also a remaining Glory always going on to the Perfection of Glory Whatever therefore of Righteousness arises any way to or in Man not thus derived from Christ Scripture calls it Flesh as being Man's Righteousness not Gods and Righteousness of Flesh that is of Humane Erection not Gods Righteousness and so the Holiness rising from Mens Faculties and Power is Born of Flesh and so is Flesh and is not Spirit not after the Spirit Therefore it cannot See Enjoy or enter into the Kingdom of God And this must needs be plainly our Lords Sense and thus he does not speak of Flesh Corrupt Flesh as it speaks Lust and foul Corruption for that cannot pretend to have any thing to do in the matter of Righteousness and Holiness but by Flesh is to be understood Creature-Righteousness and Holiness as in our present Fallen State and in regard of this No Flesh that is Man with all his Powers even of Soul in this sinful lapsed
thus I have laid down the great Doctrin of the New-Testament in these Points as I have Reason from such an abundant Scripture Evidence to be assur'd Let me for a Conclusion recommend to all the Ministers of the Gospel the due Consideration of the whole matter For it is of most exceeding Concernment to our Ministry This is our Enablement our Sufficiency as Ministers of the New-Testament to Preach not the Letter but the Spirit to Preach it as a Ministration of Righteousness and not of Condemnation as a Ministration not of the Letter but of the Spirit For the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life Thus we shall Minister it in its Abiding Continuing Glory as it shall continue in the Kingdom of Christ set out in all its Freeness and in all its Efficacy We cannot else Triumph in manifesting the Savor of the Knowledge of Christ nor will our Ministry be of Sufficiency to be a Savor of Death unto Death to the lost as it ought to be according to the Divine Ordination laid down by the Apostle 2 Cor. c. 2 3. For if the Full and true Grace of the Gospel be not set out as a Ministration of Righteousness of Life and of the Spirit It does not offer to Men the great Gospel Experiment whether it is unto them a Savor of Life unto Life or of Death unto Death They have not that high Savor of the knowledge of Christ that is the Instrument of Grace as by a most Divine and heavenly Suffumigation or Perfume of Life to excite and bring to Life such a stream of Life to give Life from the Spirit nor on the other side till This be Administred can it according to this Gospel Canon or Rule be said That the Ministry of it is a savor of Death unto Death for to whomsoever this high savor of Life is not Administred there is not that conclusion to be made it is of Death unto Death herein being the strength of the Crisis or distinction If the highest savor of the Gospel give not Life the only flavor of Life be not effectual to Life be but like a dead Savor effect nothing produce nothing of Life it must needs be argued such are unto Death And even the Gospel Preached concludes them unto Death when it does not prevail if the most irradiant Light of Christ the Image of God shining to Men does not Enlighten Such a hiding demonstrates such Lost and their Case Desperate Rationalizing Moralizing upon the Gospel yea Scripture Legalizing upon it without a continual interweaving this high Spirituality and rich Grace of it cannot thus Conclude Seal and Bind up If the Fountain and Sources of Light and Life be not kept clear and open tho Men do indeed die and perish for want of Life and Light yet they are not Sealed and bound up for Death as the true Preaching of the Grace of the Gospel by this Ordination of God declared here by the Apostle does The close Experiment for want of this Ministration of the New Testament is not made For the Apostle says Who is sufficient so to Preach the Gospel as that it should be if not a Savor of Life unto Life the principal purpose design and scope of it then of Death unto Death This sufficiency saith he is of God who hath therein Sufficientized to Minister the New Testament not as of a Letter that Kills but as of the Spirit that giveth Life so that tho it be not indeed to all a Ministration of the Spirit giving Life to all yet it is not our Male Admistration for we are by such a faithful discharge of our selves a Savor of Death unto Death without which so faithful a Discharge we could not be so for such a Preaching only as was said puts such a Crisis upon Persons makes such a Tremendous Gospel Experiment which the only Wise God hath yet Ordained should be made by the Free Gospel Preaching And that this Experiment may be made saith the Apastle we take great care not to allay the high flavor of the Gospel by any mixture of the Doctrin of Works with that of Grace as they who minding thir own Advantages make a Trade of Debasing what is most Excellent by vending worse in Temperament with Nobler Liquors But with greatest Sincerity as in the sight of God we bring forth only pure Gospel Supream Grace and herein we use all Freedom Clearness Frankness Openness and Boldness in manifesting this No darkned unintelligible Doublings between Grace and Works as Moses who veiled so the Gospel-part of his Ministry that it became a Ministration of Death And because Paul knew how distasteful this purity of Preaching is to the Condemned World that would yet be Righteous and to the proud and stately Powers of Reason and Free Will He says we arm our selves with a Divine Courage and constancy in pursuing this Ministry and will not on any account whatsoever use Art or Guile but with all integrity represent Truth in its own Light and leave to God the Discrimination of the Lost to whom this Preaching is as the Jealousie-Water to discover them when their very Mind the highest Rational Part being Blinded by the God of this World find not the Rays of the Glory of the Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God and all our Perfection is Likeness to Him shining to them Wherein the Apostle manifestly alludes to what he had said of the Superior Glory of the Gospel to that of the Law tho that gave such a Gloâ—y to Moses his Face And he alludes also to the Veil on Moses his Face upon that Glory and to the Veil on the Hearts of the Jews to this day Implying That not to receive this Pure Gospel Light is like Jewish Unbelief who Stumbled at that Stumbling-Block of Exalting Works and their own Righteousness above Christ and Grace It is true indeed this Preaching up of our Works Endeavours relying upon our own Action is very plausible and seems to carry greater force as being more a kin to our first Constitution under the First Adam And of this the Apostle also gives a Secret as we say Gird when in this so great Point he interposes not without great Design We Preach not our selves As if Preaching intermingled with Works and Humane Powers of Holiness were setting up and exalting our selves into a Dominion over mens Consciences but saith He we Preach Christ the only Lord and our selves Servants iâ— so high a Ministry And in this Epistle Chap. 11. They who even with design against the Grace of the Gospel Teach the Law are as the Apostle says in the appearance of Angels of Light and Ministers of Righteousness Zealous enforcers of Holiness and good Life if yet they stop up these Springs and are Enemies of this Grace they are False Apostles and Ministers of Satan Evil Workers as the Apostle calls them in a taunt of their high pretence to Works and others for want of true distinguishing Thoughts desirous and most propended to be Teachers of the Law and yet dare not desert the Grand Gospel-Principles Know not what they Speak nor whereof they affirm that is do not accurately Think nor Speak nor Reconcile themselves to themselves For the Law is good if a Man use it Lawfully that is according to the Gospel direction of it But pure perfect Law is only pointed set against those upon whom the Gospel hath not Effect who are given up by it as Incurable and unto Death This I speak not I appeal to Him who Searcheth Hearts with Reflection on any Person or sort of Persons and least upon Mr. Williams of whom I desire much other Esteem But to move and perswade him and all Preachers of the Gospel to reconcile all their Notions Disputes Preaching the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God commited to their Trust which the Apostle hath defined to be then sufficiently Preached when it is Primarily and till the Gospel hath remanded the Lost under the aggravated Condemnation of the Law for refusing the Grace of the Gospel 'till then I say the New Testament is to be Preached as a Ministration of the Spirit and not of the Letter for the Letter Killeth but the Spirit giveth Life a Ministration of Life not of Death not of Condemnation but of Righteousness which Ministration shall in a short time be with Open Face and all Veils removed the Lord drawing near and all Turning to Him beholding Christ the Image of God and the Glory of God in the Face of Christ we shall be Changed into the same Image from the Glory of a lower degree now to the Glory that shall be in perfection by the mighty Effusions of that Spirit who is Jehovah that shall so soon be Now this high and richest Gospel Treasure we have saith the Apostle at the present but in Vessels of Earth Men of like Corruptions and guilt low and base Appearances of outward Condition and State and of the vile and dying Bodies for Sin that the excellency of Divine Grace and Power may be Exalted alone throughout and throughout For at the present we have as the Apostle saith all this Glory but in hope we see yet but as in a Glass tho with an Open Face this Glory But when the Angelical Ministry Rev. 14. 6. shall in the Kingdom of Christ be Missioned and sent out this Ministration shall so Exceed in Glory that all other Glory of Humane Righteousness shall utterly Disappear and when it comes it shall for ever Remain And this shall he when the Israel of God shall be Called and Turn'd to the Lord and that shall be when 〈◊〉 Times are at an End as Christ says Luke 21. 24. And when the Eclipse on the 〈◊〉 Churches going off they shall have a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full Orbed Light as that Word Rom. 1â— 25. Opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Eclipse in that Chapter properly signifies and All this shall I doubt not begin at 1697. FINIS
requires Faith and Repentance Holiness and Obedience as Qualifications and Conditions This Publication of the Gospel reduced to the Everlasting Covenant must be Interpreted in Relation to the Elect so that Faith and Repentance may be understood to be no Qualifications Conditions or Means as on our Parts nor dependent on us but as Free and Absolute Gift to us though in us and Rising as from us when so given to us and so Scripture speaks often to the same purpose as is after to be shewn For All was both distinctly and together settled and Established in the same Eternal Council and under the Sanction and unmoveable Confirmation of an Everlasting Covenant whom he Predestinated He Called He Justified He Glorified All in one and the same Eternity in regard of Council in regard of Covenant All was then passed and Christ Enfeoffed in All for us however to be fulfilled in the Order of Time appointed by God with Christ To say then if the Elect do not Believe and Repent They shall be Damned I must confess may receive some Countenance from the Apostle Paul's saying to the Company that Sailed with him to Rome concerning the Shipmen Acts 28. 21. 31. 34. Except these abide in the Ship ye cannot be Saved when by a Prior Oracle He had assured them That there should not be the loss of any Man's life but only of the Ship which certainly included all the necâ—ssary Means of Preservation and so of the Shipmens being â—ept in the Ship that being such a Means before determined and so the Apostle returns to the first Certainty There shall not a Hair fall from any of your Heads Thus in Pressing Faith and Repentance it may very well be said Except ye believe and Repent You shall certainly Perish But concerning the Elâ—â—t it mâ—y be said You shall certainly be Saved as he that Repents and Believes shâ—ll be Saved For they shall certainly Repent and Believe and â—â—â—â—ved And I find not the Scripture is â—elâ— to spâ—â—k to allude to 〈◊〉 of the Arch Angel Jude on any Supposal whatever of the Elects being Damned but as with a Reverence of Election it says To deceive if possible the very Elect and except Those Days had been shortned No Flesh could be Saved but for the Elects sake Those Days shall be shortned For the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal the Lord knoweth Them that are His This is the Supream or Sovereign Seal And It carries the Exhortation importing the other Seal along with it Let him that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity For that Departure from Iniquity is settled equally by way of Gift in the Everlasting Covenant and not by way of Condition or Limitation but by the same Eternal Council Covenant and Free Gift upon it even as Justification or Glorification One is as free and as Indefailable as the Other and as Self-subsistent without dependance upon our selves or upon one another One as the Other saving yet the Wisdom of the Divine Order And no after manner of Speaking can Turn Gods Hath Called hath Justified hath Glorified into Conditional Dependent and Incertain no more then his Fore-knowledge or Predestination into Conditional or Incertain I therfore deny any of the Graces or Duties Required by the Gospel can be in supream Sense called either Condition or Qualification with Relation to any other part of Salvation or Dependance on our Acts When we speak of them whom Scripture stiles The Election Head 2. I come now to the Second Head which I stile a noble Question whether the Gospel can by it self be stiled a Law according to which Believers are Justified Suppose but upon the very point of Believing or in that they have Believed and Repented and Obeyed that Law of the New Covenant or the Covenant of Grace and with Sincerity though not to Perfection all the Holy Laws and Rules of it And this I undertake the Negative of That it ought not to be stiled a Law And that this Principal Qestion may be duly stated I must first lay down that most Prime Consideration both of the Gospel and Covenant of Grace and also of the Law as an Everlasting Covenant of Righteousness and how these Two both Conspire in the Eternal Salvation and Blessedness of the Elect and yet how they do in some Critical or as I may so call them Nodal Points oppose and Eclipse one the other It is manifest from Scripture by what hath been already said that the First and Supream Point in the Council of God is the Purpose and Grace of having many Sons among the Children of Men whom He would bring to Glory and make Conformable to the Image of his Son and so as to be Holy and without Blame before Him in Love All which was Established in Christ the Eternal Son of God the Eternal Son of His Love and so this Decree and Purpose is properly called the Adoption of Children When this was Decreed by God the Creation of these Heirs of Life must needs be and so of the whole Humane Nature must needs be supposed to stand before and to the Eye of God in that Decree as Created and therefore there must be by any that would distiâ—ctly and stedfastly Understand these Points a most intent and due Consideration of what Scripture hath Revealed to us Concerning the First Creation of Man 1. It must then be acknowledged that Communication of the Divine Glory in the Creating an Intellectual and Immortal Spirit and in Righteousness and True Holiness the most lively Expressions of the Divine Being to us and so to be Happy and Glorious and Blessed in the Enjoyment of Himself in a Perfection of Holiness and Righteousness is the Supream Scripture Account of Creation and It becomes the Immutable and Unchangeable Law upon Man that can no more vary nor alter than the very Being of God and therefore in that great Relation wherein Jesus Christ stood in the Creation of Man It is said 1 Cor. 11. 3. God is the Head of Christ and the Man especially as we shall presently see intending Christ is the Image and Glory of God Christ speaking of himself even as Mediator in the human Nature He says My Father is greater than I while as Mediator in the Divine Nature He thought it no Robbery to be Equal with God John 14. Phil. 2. This is the Primo-Prime as may be said Foundation of Holiness and Happiness To Know and Enjoy the only True God Which Scripture calls the Glory of God 2 Cor. 4. as First in Nature and is before the Face of Christ And the Praise of this Glory is Sovereign even to Election in Christ Eph. 1. Of this Glory Man is fallen short or become destitute Rom. 3. 23. by Sin But neither Sin nor Redemption can bring down this Highest Glory For notwithstanding Sin and even Hell it self An Immortal Intellectual Spirit is eternally Obliged and Redemption is Bringing or Restoring to God and to an Access to the
Father as Jesus Christ in all his Mediatory Discourses most fully declared and his Apostles after him and as all along the Kingdom of God is in Christ's Kingdom So It is at last delivered up to God All in All Which I lay in the Foundation to shew the absolute Excellency Perfection and Immutability of the Divine Law of Creation standing in Participation of and Conformity to the Divine Nature in Holiness for the Participation also of its Blessedness both which are the Glory of God 2. It is much to be Considered and deeply Pondered What Scripture so often says of Man being made in the Image of God This Image of God Jesus Christ is most positively affirmed to be 2 Cor. 4. Colos 1. He is the Image of the Invisible God The Eternal Word fore-seen in Humane Nature is the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1. and as in Humane Nature He is the First-born of every Creature Colos 1. The Glory of God spoken of so much in the former Particular is in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. and Christ is the Head of every Man 1 Cor. 11. even as God is the Head of Christ and Man viz. that great Supream Man is primarily the Image and Glory of God v. 7. For Christ being the Head of Man as between God and Man It is He must be the Image and Glory of God else God without Christ intervening would be the Head of every Man which the Apostle says expresly Christ is and God the Head of Christ as whose Image and Glory the Man Christ is Therefore is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manly Man Rev. 12. 5. or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11. 7. foreseen in human Nature and not every Man immediately and so the Apostles Argument in that place Reaches from Christ to every Man All these great Expressions of Christ shew more nearly who that Image of God is in which Adam was made For all these cannot be supposed to come in upon Sin and on that Occasion or Necessity only They have place before it And this I say not only to ascribe Excellency to our Mediator but to shew how fit He is to be so who is thus the Original Image of God by whom as the Eternal Word He made and Created All I speak it also with a peculiar Respect to the Point to be discoursed Concerning that Admirable Agreement and Conspiration between the Law and the Gospel and so to resolve whether the Gospel can be called a Law On all which these Things well apprehended will reflect great Light 3. When Man was thus made in the Participation of the Divine Nature and in the Image of God which Image Christ is in order to the Eternal Enjoyment of God in Blessedness and in his Glory As it became an Immutable unchangeable Law upon Man which can no more be put off than his very Being So it must needs be secondarily a Law upon Him to be like Christ who is the Image of God Now therefore here It comes to be solemnly enquired whether Adam had any Notices of Jesus Christ the Image of God wherein He was made and there are Two great Reasons that He had Notices 1. Because it being so expresly said God made Adam in that Image which is Christ It is not probable He could be ignorant of it in so perfect a State of holy Understanding as wherein He was made 2. Because the Apostle says Adam was the Type of Him to Come as the great and supream Adam though the Second in order of Time of Appearance yet the First in Dignity and Designation Again therefore here I argue Adam in so Perfect a State could not probably be ignorant of so great a Truth as of the Second-First-Adam of whom He was a Type And this I desire the further Observation of as much tending to shew how close the Gospel and this Eternal Law may conspire 3. Though the Perfection of Man's Being was as hath been said a Law Adequate to his Being as in Conformity to the Divine Being and to the Image of God Jesus Christ Yet because Man was but a living Soul and not a quickning Spirit as the Second Adam that is he was but a Vessel that had its measure and not a Fountain or Spring still supplying it self Therefore what ever further Revelation of the Will and Pleasure of God to which He should be Obedient God would please to vouchsafe Adam for the securing his Perseverance and the Consirming Him in a Continuation of that happy State wherein his Creator had placed Him such Revelation became as much of the Essence of the Law of his Creation as his Conformity in any Branch of it whatever to the Divine Being in the Image of God viz. Christ both because of the Authority and Goodness of the Revealer to which that Eternal Law must needs oblige him as also because it tended to secure and confirm him in that Blessed Estate For whatever did so must needs bind Him even as the Preservation of that Conformity to God and his Image in any other Essential Branch did and herein if possible more Because it Secured and Confirmed all the rest It pleased therefore that Infinite Wisdom and Goodness as well as Supream Authority of God to appoint in the Paradise wherein he placed Adam as the Representation of his Holy and Happy State Two Sacramental Trees One the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Other the Tree of Life By the One He was under a Test of his Obedience in refraining from it By Eating of the Other he was to receive a visible Pledge and Seal of the Confirmation of his Blessed State The refraining therefore from the one was to be but for a time till which time of Abstinence observed and expired he had no right to Eat of the Other For so is signified In that the Tree of Life was plainly prepared to be Eaten so there must be a Time for the Eating of it And in the Care God took Adam should not Eat of it after he had Sinned It appears God intended Adam should not Eat of it and Dye For it was a Sacrament of living for ever as God said least he put forth his Hand and Eat of the Tree of Life and Live forever which however spoken in derision yet imports the Sacramental Sense of the Tree of Life According to all which Sense It is said of the true and substantial Tree of life Blessed are They that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the Tree of life Rev. 21. 14. Alluding to the First Tree of life of which Adam if he for the time appointed had kept the Command of God in not Eating of the Tree Forbidden he would in due Season have had Right to Eat of the Tree of life Now we may conceive two great Reasons of God's forbidding the Fruit of this Tree 1. The Observation of this Command had fixed Adam in
God and us but by the Blood of the Lamb offered by the Eternal Spirit and his Appearing in that Blood to the very Face of God for us in Heaven For on the least Failing or Offence the Law hath none to offer us So that there can be nothing but Condemnation On this Account therefore we find in the Gospel so many of the Laws Severities that we may be continually awakened to go to Christ 2. That we may find Inability in our selves to do any thing suitable or agreeable to that holy Law which Commands with an Astonishing and Admirable Excellency of Holiness but gives not the least Power or Strength to perform what it Commands And in both Respects The Apostle may be very well understood If there had been a Law that could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Law that Commands and gives not Power is therefore called a Letter that Kills 3. That herein the Gospel may shew it self to be a Gospel indeed In the Ministration of Righteousness opposite to the Law the Ministration of Condemnation and in the Ministration of Life and Power by the Spirit giving strength to do what is Commanded and so enabling the Spirits of Saints to become the Epistle and Gospel of Christ Ministred by the Servants of Christ in Preaching the New Testament but written not with Ink or in the Leaves of the Bible but with the Spirit of the Living God and not in Tables of Stone but in the Fleshly Tables of the Heart and therefore is the Gospel in all its most proper ways of Speaking so constantly interlineated with Christ and his Spirit 4. Seeing what even the Spirit is pleased to vouchsafe in the present State is so much below the very Glory the Gospel holds out There is a continual Incitation the Gospel sets before us to desire that Change from the Beginning Glory of the present State to the Glory that shall be in the Perfect State of the Kingdom of Christ And on this Account is that Future State so often mentioned when indeed with a Face perfectedly open we shall behold as in a Mirror not as in ordinary Mirrors our own Natural Faces but Jesus Christ the Image of God in his own Glory and we now are in Degrees and shall be perfectly Changed into the same Image from Glory begun now to the Perfection of the same Glory in the Kingdom of Christ as by that Spirit Jehovah And this gives us the true Excellency of the Gospel The Law like our ordinary Mirrors shews our own Faces by that Light which first indeed represents what we ought to be but we not being that it Reproves and Condemns such Sinners or Imperfect Saints as the Best are but it shews no Glorious Image or not in Christ with an Efficacious Changing Grace and Power But this the Gospel does for us 4. The Gospel takes the Law into it self that it may though it be in it self a Ministration of Righteousness and Life and Spirit Yet that it may by the Law shew the Greatness of the Sin of Unbelief and Impenitency Reâ—â—ection of it self and Refusal of its gracious Offers And this it does on Two great Reasons 1. That all those Manifestations of the Sin and Danger of an Unbelieving Impenitent State may be Rational Instruments and Conveyances in the hand of the Spirit of that Power of Faith and Repentance flowing from it self in the New-Testament into the Hearts of the Elect. 2. That the Gospel may have in Readiness the Law to Revenge every Disobedience against it self and yet preserve its own high Title of the New-Testament and the Covenant of Grace For as the Lord saith I accuse you not You have one that Accuseth you even Moses in whom you Trust and I Judge you not The Words that I have spoken they shall Judge you at the Last Day viz. in the Virtue and the Authority of that Eternal Law of Righteousness which as hath been shewn cannot but pass along with the so gracious Gospel Dispensation And thus when the Gospel hath made offer of it self and all the Grace of it without Saving Effect The Law and Justice according to it Seises upon the Sinner for Sin against that Eternal Righteousness Essential to it self and against the Unspeakable Grace of the Gospel with dreadfullest Aggravations of Condemnation And herein Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God in our Nature is the Righteous Judge at that Day though here on Earth he judged not being Come not to Judge but to Save And his Judgment is according to that Eternal Law seated in the Heart and Thoughts of Men and yet according to the Gospel as the Apostle speaks declaring that his Judgment agreeable with the Law written in Mens Hearts and so in the Word of God which very Law written in the Heart and Thoughts of Men Accusing or Excusing is now in the hand of Christ and of the Gospel to its own great Ends of drawing them to Christ who are his and leading them under the Conduct of his Spirit And God is said there to Judge the Secrets of Mens Hearts according to the Gospel concerning that Light and Sense of Natural Conscience Because the Grace of the Gospel both exalts this Light and because also according to the saving Effects of the Gospel upon these Powers of Natural Conscience so preserved by Christ every Man is found to Honor Praise and Glory or else falls under the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God upon their hard and Impenitent Hearts and Ways by which they have treasured up Wrath against the Day of Wrath. And of all things in both States Jesus Christ is most righteously and propperly constituted the Judge as shall be further made out But notwithstanding the Law and the Gospel do thus far join themselves one to another yet which will come up close to the Decision of this Question The Law can never pass into the Nature of the Gospel nor can the Gospel become a Law For First It is most evident the Law can never become Gospel or of the excellent Nature of it as shall be seen in a brief Compare of the one with other in these following Particulars 1. The Gospel or New-Testament gives the Image of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ an Image of the Admirable Beauty and Life in Christ the Wisdom of God the Righteousness of God and the Power of God Perfect Increated Invariable Eternal ready to communicate it self in Richest Abundance to All the Election of God But the Spirit of God it self Represents the Law a Holy and Righteous Rule It must so needs be But it is Engraven only in Tables of Stone or written with Ink For Jesus Christ the Image of God in which Adam was made withdrew upon the Sin and Fall of Adam and what Adam had was lost and defaced so that there is a Rule of Glory but no Image of Glory as in the Gospel that by the Covenant