he did saying The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul c. Psal. 19. 2. We are to consider the Law of Moses as given at Sinai in a stricter sense as it was an Instrument or Rule of Government in the Commonwealth of Israel The Law in the former sense of it promised eternal life though but obscurely to those that did believe its Promises and sincerely obey its Precepts In the latter sense it promised only temporal Blessings to those that strictly observed it in all the parts of it and threatned those with temporal calamities that did not The same Laws materially of this Political Covenant related to both the Covenants As eternal Life was promised in the Covenant of Grace upon condition of sincere obedience to those Laws as an effect of Faith in the Promise So those Laws in Conjunction with the Promise were as I may so say Evangelical But as temporal benefits only were promised in that Covenant upon condition of strict obedience to those Laws and as those Laws were enjoyned under temporal penalties as they were Commonwealth-Laws so that Convenant containing those Laws was Political and in this Political respect it was another Covenant If the Law of God and the Law of Man command or forbid things materially the same yet if the one command or forbid them under pain of damnation and the other only under temporal penalties these Laws are not formally the same The Commonwealth of Israel had no Commonwealth Laws but what God himself gave them the which Laws they also covenanted with him to observe by which Covenant they were united under him as Head of that Political Body And therefore when they would needs choose them a King like other Nations God told Samuel saying They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them 1 Sam. 8. 7. Ye said unto me said Samuel nay but a King shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your King 1 Sam. 12. 12. I conclude then that as the Law of Moses did serve to this Political end so it was a distinct Covenant and different from the Covenant of grace 2. Let us see how this may be proved to be a Covenant so distinct and different as I have said from the Covenant of Grace declared to Abraham And to this purpose these things are considerable First They are called the two Covenants by St. Paul Gal. 4. 24. And if they are two then there is a real difference between them else they would be but one and the same Secondly They bear distinct denominations the one is called the first and the Old Covenant and the other the Second and the New Heb. Chap. 8. 9. Thirdly There were some sins pardonable by one of these Covenants which were not so by the other and that shews that they were quite of a different nature The Murder and Adultery which David was guilty of was not pardonable according to the terms of the Political Covenant if there had been any Superiour Power on Earth to have executed that Commonwealth-Law and yet according to the terms of the Covenant of Grace they were pardonable upon repentance and upon those terms were pardoned unto him The like might be said perhaps of Manasseh The unbelief of Moses and Aaron in not Sanctifying God in the eyes of the Children of Israel was according to the terms of the Covenant of Grace pardoned as to the eternal penalty but yet was not wholly pardoned according to the terms of the the Political Covenant as to temporal punishment For the Lord told them that for that cause they should not bring the Children of Israel into the Land of Canaan Numb 20. 12. And in reference to this case the Psalmist saith thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions Psal. 99. 8. Fourthly The Covenant of Grace never ceaseth but it is of perpetual duration throughout all Generations and therefore is called the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. 20. But this Mosaical Political Covenant is vanished long since Heb. 8. 13. by which also it appears to be a Covenant effentially different from the other 3. For a farther Illustration of the nature of this Covenant we will consider it in its parts and in the relation which those parts bear one towards another And in general it did consist of two parts 1. Of Laws and 2. Of the Sanction of those Laws The Laws likewise were of two sorts 1. Laws of Duty 2. Laws of Indemnity 1. Laws of Duty And in them we may consider 1. What those Laws were 2. What manner of obedience to those Laws it was which would free men from the penalties of them and entitle them to the Promises of reward annexed to them First The Laws of Duty of which this Covenant did in great part consist were those which pass under the various denomination of Moral Ritual or Ceremonial and Judicial Some of which Laws viz. the Decalogue especially and almost wholly for the matter of them were natural that is such as were founded in the nature of Man forbidding things which of themselves were evil and commanding things which in their own nature were good and might be discerned to be so by Man in his pure Naturals and in great part since the degeneration of his nature whether they had been expresly forbidden or commanded or no. But these Laws became part of the Political Covenant only as they were expresly and externally declared to the Iews by a Promulgate Law For if this had not been so the Gentiles could not have been said to be without the Law as they were Rom. 2. 14 11. 1 Cor. 9. 21. For they had the force and effect of the Law in their hearts and were in that respect a Law unto themselves Rom. 2. 14 15. But because the Decalogue as well as the other Laws was delivered to the Iews only and to none else from Mount Sinai therfore they only and Proselytes that joyned with them were said to be under the Law and all the rest without Law And therefore is the giving of the Law reckoned to the Iews among their peculiar Priviledges Rom. 9. 4. Psal. 147. 19 20. And in this sense only as the Decalogue was a part of the Political Law can the Ministration ingraven in Stones be said to be done away as it is 2 Cor. 3. 7 to ver 11. For so much of it as was a Copy of the Law of Nature or is by Christ incorporated into his Laws remains in force to all men The other Laws of which this Covenant did consist were Arbitrary the force of which did wholly depend upon Divine Institution And such were the Laws Ceremonial and a great part of those we call Judicial Secondly That obedience which would be sufficient to secure a Man from the penalty of the Political Law and to entitle him to the Promised Reward annexed thereto was no less than a strict Obedience to it in all
repents through his grace and assistance And therefore God's grace and Man's indeavours in working this change are very consistent Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure If Man do but what he can do through the assistance of God's common Providence in whom we live and move and have our being God is most ready through his good pleasure or out of the goodness of his will and pleasure to work in him both to will and to do savingly to carry the work quite thorow Otherwise if there were nothing that Man could do in a way of common Providence towards his salvation why should he be exhorted and perswaded to do that which yet will not be done to effect and quite thorow without the assistance of God's Grace and good Spirit The co-operation of God's grace with Man's endeavours in this change in the nature of Man which is necessary to his salvation is a Doctrine that lies very fair and plain in the Scriptures And therefore men are called upon to make themselves new hearts Ezek. 18. 31. Make you a new Heart and a new Spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel And God is said to make them new hearts also Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you Men are called upon to circumcise their own hearts Deut. 10. 16. And God is said to circumcise the heart Deut. 30. 6. Men are required to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. And they are also said to be washed and sanctified by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 6. 11. Men are commanded to repent Acts 17. 30. And God is said to give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 35. Acts 5. 31. It is by reason of this co-operation of God's assistance and Man's endeavours that St. Paul expresseth himself as he doth once and again Gal. 2. 20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me He doth not by these last words so deny what he had said in the former as if he had not spoke true for he speaks the same thing in effect in another place without any such correcting himself as here he useth 1 Cor. 3. 9. For we are labourers together with God And therefore by his so correcting himself saying Not I but the grace of God which was with me he only intends to magnifie Gods grace as having the principal stroke in the work It is a phrase of like import with that 2 Cor. 3. 10. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth So mans indeavour though it be somewhat in it self considered yet comparatively and in respect of the work of Gods grace by his Spirit which excels it is nothing Therefore in fine as men are said through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body Rom. 8. 13. So they may be said through the same Spirit to believe repent obey that is through the assistance of the Spirit who is said to help our infirmities Rom. 8. 26. Considering then that there is promise of Divine assistance to Man using his endeavours in doing what he may and can do towards the performing the condition of the Covenant we may well conclude that there is no Man under the Gospel doth perish but through his own fault and neglect It is true God doth sometimes for special reasons meet with and convert sinners with a high hand of grace whil'st they are pursuing their sins in a full career and using no indeavours at all towards their own salvation as he did Saul before he was Paul But such extraordinary instances are no Rules to us by which to judge of God's ordinary proceedings in converting men Nor hath the Lord put men in expectation by any promise of his of their being converted after that manner and upon such terms And therefore it will in no wise be safe for any man to expect to be converted by such extraordinary workings of grace and to neglect to do what he can do and what God requires he should do towards his own conversion There are many things which men may and can believe and do without any supernatural grace and by vertue of God's common grace It is no Supernatural Act to believe the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul or future state Or to know that we are â—inners against God and consequently that we stand in need of his mercy Nor is it a Supernatural Act for a man to desire the future happiness of his own Nature or Being or to hear the Word of God which directs the way to that happiness no more than it is to hear any other Doctrine that only pretends to do so Nor is it a Supernatural Act to consider the Doctrine of the Scriptures with as much seriousness as men do or may the contents of any other Books Nor is it a Supernatural Act to consider how we are concerned in the Doctrine of the Scriptures in case it should prove true No more is it a Supernatural Act seriously to consider the strength and force of those Reasons that tend to perswade men to believe that Doctrine to be true Nor under the natural desires which men have to be happy in another world is it a Supernatural Act for them to pray to God to direct and assist them in the use of means that they may be happy These I take to be no Supernatural Acts in men For though the depraved wil of Man needs special or Supernatural grace to do these so seriously and effectually as is needful to true Sanctification yet in some sort and measure they may be done by common help And if men would but go thus far as they can out of a real desire to be happy I should make no question but that the Spirit of God would yield them his assistance to carry them quite through in the work of conversion And whether our Saviour doth not by the hearers resembled by the good ground mean such men as before their conversion have some such working of heart about their future state as doth incline them to hear and consider what with any fair probability may be said about the way to be happy in that state and not to hear out of curiosity or for fashion-sake or to carp I submit to consideration It is doubtless then mens inconsideration carelesness and negligence in those things which they do believe and which they can do that undoes them It is because seeing they see not and hearing they hear not which is the reason why more is not given but rather that taken away from them which they had That is The reason
why God with-holds his special grace and many times withdraws common grace and assistance from men is because though they have understanding and considering faculties which they could if they would use and imploy about their being happy in another world as well as they do about their happiness in this yet they will not though they are frequently called upon and excited thereto Whereas those that take heed or consider what they hear and how they are concerned in it to them more shall be given God wil come into such with supernatural aid Mark 4. 24. And therefore God to put men upon a holy necessity of complying with his grace in acting diligently towards the working out their own salvation hath wisely made the obtaining of the great benefits of the Covenant remission of Sin and eteternal Life conditional so that men can have no farther assurance of pardon of sin and Salvation than they are sure they sincerely indeavoâ—r to perform the condition on their part upon which they are promised Wherefore we are greatly concerned to be awakened by such sayings as these Strive to enter in at the strait gate So run that ye may obtain Vse all diligence to make your calling and election sure Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Sect. 7. I come now in the next place to shew What the condition of the Promise to Abraham was In short it was a practical Faith And under this Head I shall endeavour 1. To give some account of the nature of Abrahams Faith in general 2. To describe Faith And 3. To shew reason why Faith is made the condition of the Covenant 1. The condition of the Promise to Abraham was Faith and as I shall after shew a practical Faith For that was it upon which the great blessing of the Covenant Justification was conferred upon him with the consequent benefits In Gen. 15. 6. it is said of Abraham that he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness But St. Paul reciting this Scripture saith Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness Rom. 4. 3. Gal. 3. 6. If there be any difference between believing God and believing in God it seems to be this To believe God is to believe him upon his Word to believe all that to be true which he saith when he hath once spoken it But to believe in God is first to believe him to be such an one of such a Nature as neither will nor can at any time speak any thing but what is true It is to believe him to be a God that cannot lye For all true Faith as Abraham's was is founded in the Nature of God Abraham did primarily believe in God and consequently believed his sayings of what nature soever they were And secondly to believe in God is to believe that he can and will perform whatever he promised how unlikely soever the thing in its own nature otherwise be And this was the nature of Abrahams Faith as appears by St. Pauls Comment upon it Rom. 4. 20 21. He staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform He gave to God the glory of his Nature and Being of his truth and faithfulness in his Promises and of his power and ability to perform what he had promised notwithstanding its utmost improbability in nature And therefore or for this reason his Faith was imputed to him for righteousness as we are told in ver 22. of Rom. 4. And so it should seem it is not the believing of any one particular or single Promise that is counted for righteousness otherwise than as it is an instance of Faith in God in general in reference to whatever he doth say or shall declare Which may be the reason why Faith is said to be counted to Abraham for righteousness as well when he had not the Messias in the Promise as the immediate Object of his Faith but somewhat else as when he had The Promise the believing of which was counted to Abraham for righteousness in Gen. 15. 6. was a Promise of a numerous issue So shall thy Seed be viz. as numberless as the Stars But that which produced a belief of this particular Promise would and doubtless did produce in him a belief of the Promise of the Messias and of every other Promise and Word of God and declaration of his mind so far as understood by him that was a habitual belief of God's Truth and Faithfulness Wiâ—dom Power and Goodness his fixed belief in God And so a believing God's threatnings so as to use means to escape them is it should seem counted to one for righteousness as well as the belief of the Promises as growing upon the same Root Thus Noahs believing God's threatning to bring a Deluge upon the World and his obedience to God's command in the preparing an Ark for the saving of his house was that or at least one instance of that Faith by which he became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith Heb. 11. 7. It was this general Faith in God that made Abraham so complyant with every intimation of his will and pleasure By it he forsook his own Countrey and Kindred at God's command to go he knew not whither but depended on God's after-direction in that case Heb. 11. 8. By it he was ready to offer his son Isaac in whom the Promises were made And he had such a firm belief in God's Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be called that he concluded that God would raise him from the dead when he had sacrificed him rather than fail in the least of making good his Promise Heb. 11. 17 18 19. He had such a confidence in God that is to say in his Wisdom Goodness Truth and Power as wrought him to an entire resignation of himself to God's will and pleasure He believed God to be so good so wise as not to put him upon any thing but what should be for his good in the issue And so true and powerful as to promise nothing but what he could and would perform In a word this his belief in God made him believe all his Promises and obey all his Precepts 2. Come we next to some description of that Faith which is the condition of the Promise or Covenant of Salvation Wherein I shall have respect to the nature of saving Faith in general in reference to all Ages of the Church and also to the Christian Evangelical Faith in special Faith strictly taken is an assent unto the truth of any Proposition upon the credit of the Speaker But saving Faith is of a more comprehensive nature than is a meer assent unto the truth of any one Proposition And although saving Faith is
other Benefits which were Promised to Abraham and his Seed 2. They had an addition of several other Predictions concerning the Messias both by Moses and other Prophets that perhaps were somewhat more express such as in Deut. 18. 16. Isa. 53. Dan. 9. and others These Promises and Predictions put them in great expectations of Special Benefits by the Messias and wrought in them a longing after his day Upon which account our Saviour said to his Disciples Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear For I say unto you that many Prophets and Kings and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Mat. 13. 16 17. Luke 10. 23 24. 3. They had large significations from God of his special favour to them above all people as in chusing them to be his peculiar people and in declaring himself to be their God in giving visible Signs of his Presence among them and excellent Laws Promises to them and sending his Prophets amongst them and working many wonders for them and casting out the Nations before them to make room for them and the like Deut. 7. 6 7 8. and 26. 18 19. Psal. 147. 19 20. Rom. 9. 4 5. 4. They had express Declarations from God of the goodness of his Nature and of his compassion towards Sinners and of his readiness to pardon such as should repent and return to their duty in loving him and keeping his Commandments As for instance Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity trangression and sin And when he delivered them his Law with the greatest terrour and astonishment to them yet even then he assured them that he would shew mercy to thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments as in the second Commandment And in case of their miscarriage to the drawing down of Gods Judgements upon them he bespeaks them thus When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient to his voice For the Lord thy God is a merciful God he will not forsake thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers Deut. 4. 31. and 30. 1 2 3. Levit. 26. 39 c. From all which Grounds the faithful among them had such a hope and confidence of pardon of Sin and of a future happiness in another life upon their Repentance and sincere Obedience as did effectually induce them to have good thoughts of God to love him and to endeavour to please him by having respect unto all his Commandments This made him say Psal. 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And under this hope and confidence the twelve Tribes did instantly serve God day and night and grounded this Hope of theirs upon the Promise made of God unto their Fathers as St. Panl tells us Acts 26. 6 7. And indeed it was the unanimous Faith of the most eminent among them from age to age that God had both made and would keep a Covenant to shew mercy to those that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before him with all their heart For that they looked upon as the Condition of God's Promise of shewing Mercy This we may see in Moses David Solomon and in Daniel and Nehemiah Deut. 7. 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments So David Psalm 103. 17 18. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them And thus Solomon 1 Kings 8. 23. And he said Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee who keepest Covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart So Daniel in his 9th Chap. 4th ver O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping the Covenant and Mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his Commandments And Nehemiah likewise Ch. 1. 5. I beseech thee O Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his Commandments This we see was the serious and constant Profession of the Faith of the servants of God in those times And in this Faith and Practice doubtless it was that they lived and dyed and were saved CHAP. IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham IN the next place I am to shew that the Law of Moses did contain a Covenant distinct and of a different nature from the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed Besides the general Promise which God made to Abraham respecting the Gentiles as well as the Iews In thee all Nations of the Earth shall be blessed he made a Special Covenant with him as a reward of his Signal faithfulness to give unto his Natural Seed the Land of Canaan Nehem. 9. 8. Thou foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a Covenant with him to give the Land of the Caâ—aanites to his Seed In order to the fulfilling of which Promise after he had brought them out of Egypt he united them under himself as Head in one Political Body by a Political Covenant Exod. 19 c. which is the Covenant I am now to discourse of In which discourse I would 1. Shew in what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham 2. Prove that it did contain such a different Covenant 3. For farther Illustration consider it in its parts and their relation one to another 4. And in what respect this Covenant is called the first Covenant when as the Covenant of Grace was made before it 1. In what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different Nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Law of Moses comes under a twofold consideration 1. As in conjunction with the Promise to Abraham to which it was annexed it made up one entire Law by which the Israelites were to be governed and directed in the way to eternal life And in this Conjunction the Promise was the Life and Soul as it were of the Body of the Mosaic Law properly taken And in this sense as the word Law signifies the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses which contain the Promise as well as the Law it is sometimes used in the New Testament Gal. 4. 21 22. 1 Cor. 14. 34. Luke 16. And in this sense doubtless we are to understand the Law upon which David bestowed so many glorious Encomiums as
Person from suffering those temporal evils which were threatned in this Covenant against those which did not continue in all things written in the Book of it Neither Sacrifices nor Legal Purifications Sanctified but unto the purifying of the flesh and to their temporal concerns only Heb. 9. 9 10 13. And here we may observe a five-fold difference in reference to Remission of Sin between the first Covenant and the Covenant of Grace 1. They differ in the nature of those Sacrifices by which Atonements were made and upon which forgiveness was promised The blood of the Sacrifice of the first Covenant was but the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the like Heb. 10. 4. But the Blood of the Sacrifice of the second Covenant is the Blood of Christ the Eternal Son of God So that the nature of the Sacrifices of the two Covenants upon which the Promise of the pardon of Sins was granted doth differ as much as the blood of Beasts and the Blood of the Son of God differ 2. Those two sorts of Sacrifices pertaining to two kinds of Covenants differ in the proportion of Efficaty and Virtue to accomplish their respective ends and effects There is a greater richness of proportion in the Blood of Christ to free the Consâ—ience from the guilt of Sin or obligation to Eternal punishment than there was in the blood of Beasts to free the Delinquent person from temporal punishments This is plainly intimated in Heb. 9. 13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sactifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God 3. They differ in the nature of the pardon promised in each of the Covenants respectively The Redemption granted in the first Covenant was but temporal as the Covenant it self was it was but from evils temporal But Christ Jesus by his Atonement hath obtained Eternal Redemption for us Hebr. 9. 12. 4. They differ in respect of the Sins made pardonable by each Covenant respectively There were many sins for which the first Covenant granted no pardon upon any terms whatsoever They that despised Moses Law died without mercy Heb. 10. 28. But the Covenant of Grace makes promise of the pardon of the greatest sins upon Repentance All manner of Sin and Blasphemy except the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost are pardonable upon Repentance This difference is set down Acts 13. 39. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses We may well suppose that the first Covenant did finally condemn some which the Covenant of Mercy pardoned David in the matter of Vriah did that which was unpardonable by the first Covenant it was a Fact to have been punished with death by the Law but that there was none but God that could duly inflict it upon him in his capacity and yet upon his Repentance it was pardoned as to his Eternal concerns as well as temporal by virtue of God's Covenant of Mercy On the other hand a man probably might be so righteous in the Eye of the first Covenant as not to be visibly blameable and yet even then he obnoxious to the curse of the Everlasting Covenant Paul while he was Saul and in the state of unbelief was even then as touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless as he himself saith Phil. 3. 6. So different were these two Covenants that him whom the one condemned the other might justifie and likewise justifie him whom the other condemned 5. They differed in respect of the Condition to be performed on Man's part for the obtaining of pardon Pardon was promised iâ— the first Covenant upon condition of doing only without reference to Faith but so are not the pardons of the New Covenant Gal. 3. 11 12. But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident for the Iust shall live by Faith And the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them So much concerning the first Part of the Sanction of the first Covenant Come we now to the second The other part of the Sanction of this Covenant did consist in the curse of it denounced against the breakers of it Though it 's true that every Man is under a condemnation that would be Eternal until he comes to be absolved by Virtue of the Law of Grace yet more than temporal death was not expresly threatned for breach of the Political Covenant as such 1. For first A violent death inflicted by the hand of the Magistrate for Capital Offences is called the Curse Deut. 22. 23. He that is hanged is accursed of God or is the Curse of God 2. Christ who did not suffer Eternal punishment for Man's Sin did yet suffer the curse of the Law in that he was hanged on a Tree Gal. 3. 13. It is true indeed that by that temporary suffering of his he redeemed us from Eternal punishment which we were obnoxious to 3. Those who Aposâ—atize from Christ and reject his Gospel merit sorer punishment than what was inflicted on them that despised Moses Law and yet sorer punishment for kind they cannot suffer if Eternal punishment had been the penalty of that Covenant as such Heb. 10. 28 29. 4. As the Promises of that Covenant when particularly expressed did appear to be but temporal so the curses of it appear to be no other in the particular enumeration of them As for instance a violent death inflicted by the hand of the Magistrate was the punishment threatned for many Capital Offences Such as was Idolatry Blasphemy Witchcraft working on the Sabbath invading the Priests Office and for being a false Prophet also for Murder Adultery Sodomy Buggery Man-stealing Cursing or Smiting of Parents or being stubbornly rebllious against them and some other And a cutting off from among the people whether by God's hand immediately or by Mans I determine not was the penalty threatned for eating leavened Bread within the time prohibited for not purifying ones self when unclean for profaning holy things for ones eating of the Sacrifice with his uncleanness upon him for offering Sacrifice any where but at the Tabernacle for eating of Blood and for eating of the fat of the Sacrifice for neglecting to keep the Passover and for not afflicting the Soul in the day of general Atonement and for several other Offences And those Offences for which cutting off from among the people is threatned being less criminous than the former we have no reason to think the penalty of cutting off from among the people to signifie more if so much than the suffering of a temporal death As we may observe how the Israelites various punishments are exprest for their manifold crimes in the Wilderness by God's overthrowing them
in the Wilderness by Pestilence and otherwise 1 Cor. 10. In brief The temporal evils threatned in this Covenant were either Personal Domestick or National The Personal and Domestick evils were no less than whatsoever tended to the infelicity of Man's life as Diseases in Body Perplexity of Mind unfruitfulness in Body in Cattel in Ground Scarcity Poverty Oppression loss of Relations fewness of days and an untimely cutting off from the Promised Land The National were wild Beasts Pestilence Sword Famine Captivity and such like These were inflicted when the breach of the Covenant became National in the generality of the people But especially when those who had the management of publick Affairs Civil and Ecclesiastick did not restrain the people by a due Execution of Laws but rather led them into sin by their Example and sometimes by their Commands corrupting Religion and perverting Justice Levit. 26. Deut. 28. And the evils threatned being National as the Covenant it self was they must needs be but temporal because there is no Judging Condemning and Executing Nations as Nations but in this World 4. Come we now to shew reason why this Covenant is called the first Covenant since there were others made before it as that with Adam in Paradise and that Covenant of Salvation with Adam after his fall and with Noah and Abraham And 1. Negatively It is not so called as if it were the same for substance with that which was first made with Adam in Paradise as many have thought or because it was proposed upon the same term For First That Covenant was established upon the terms or condition of perfect innocency no provision being made in it for pardon in case of failure upon any condition whatsoever But it was otherwise in this Mosaick Covenant as I have shewed in that it contained several Laws of Indemnity for the relief of Delinquent persons upon certain possible and practicable conditions Secondly If this and the Paradisical-Covenant had been of the same Nature then it and the Promise made to Abraham and his Spiritual Seed would have been inconsistent the one promising Eternal life upon believing the other only upon condition of sinless obedience If this had been the case the Law would have been against the Promise which God forbid it should Gal. 3. 21. and the one would have excluded the other according to St. Pauls ' reasoning Rom. 11. 6. If by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace But if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work But 2. Affirmatively It is called the first Covenant because it is the first of the two under question and dispute between the Apostles and unbelieving Iews The Question and Controversie between them was which of the two Covenants that by Moses or that by Christ was finally adhered to as the way of Salvation In the handling of which Controversie that by Moses is called the first and the Gospel-Covenant established by Christ as was Prophesied by Ieremiah is called the second Even as the one is called the Old Covenant not because it was the Oldest of all Covenants but because opposed to that which was Prophesied of under the name of a New Covenant It is observable that where we meet with the first mention of the first Covenant under that Denomination it is not stiled the first Covenant absolutely but that first Covenant as pointing at that under dispute Hebr. 8. 7. For if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second CHAP. V. The grand mistakes of the Jews about the Law and Promise and how St. Paul counter-argues these mistakes I Am now in the next place to shew the fatal mistakes of the unbelieving Iews about God's Promise to Abraham and about the Law of Moses and how St. Paul doth counter-argue these mistakes A distinct understanding of which Errors and of St. Paul's arguings against them sometimes severally and sometimes conjunctively and in the gross will be as a Key to open many passages in his Epistles which otherwise will be hard to be understood 1. They held Circumcision in the flesh to be the condition in special upon which all the blessings of God's Covenant with Abraham were promised but did not understand thaâ— Spiritual Circumcision viz. the mortification of sinful affections and lusts was principally intended when God made Circumcision the Condition of his Covenant For they were it seems grosly ignorant of the necessity of Regeneration and so of the Spiritual design of Circumcision which was the reason why Nicodemus though a Ruler among the Iews answered Christ so aukardly when he Preached to him the necessity of being born again Joh. 3. An ignorance that some allowance possibly might have been made for had not the Circumcision of the Heart and the making themselves a new Heart been expresly called for as it was Deut. 10. 16. Ier. 4. 4. Ezek. 18. 31. Now this ignorance of theirs in the Doctrine of the Circumcision of the Heart and the sense they put upon God's making Circumcision to be the Condition of his Covenant of being their God was doubtless the reason why they placed so very much as they did in Literal Circumcision For although Circumcision first given to Abraham by way of Covenant was afterwards incorporated with the body of Moses's Law yet it should seem these Iews considered it not so much as it was a part of that Law but chiefly as a Condition of God's Covenant with them in Abraham as they were his Seed And therefore St. Paul where he reckons up his Jewish Priviledges whil'st he was a Pharisee puts Circumision in the Head of them all and as accouâ—ted by him while a Pharisee a Priviledge distinct from his being blameless touching the Righteousness which was in the Law Phil. 3. 5 6. Whence also the Judaizers said it was needful to Circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses Acts 15. 5 24. as if Circumcising did import something different from or at least something more than keeping of the Law did though otherwise it was a part of the Law Upon this account doubtless it was that we find them more zealous for Circumcision than for any other Point of the Law besides Against this Erroneous Opinion of theirs touching Literal Circumcisions being the Condition of the Spiritual Beneâ—its of the Covenant St. Paul argueth several ways First By maintaining that the Covenant did chiefly respect Circumcision in the Spirit Rom. 2. 28 29. He is not a Iew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh that is it was not that Circumcision which would savingly avail them as they thought it would but he is a Iew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of Men but of God Again By shewing that Abraham could not have been justified before
and not direct Precepts But the Christians-Righteousness which is by Faith may be said to be of God because by Grace they are saved through Faith in Christ Iesus and that not of themselves it is the gift of God And we are his Workmanship created in Christ Iesus Ephes. 2. 8 10. 3. It was called their own Righteousness because it was a way of seeking to be justified of their own devising and not of God's appointing And on the contrary the Gospel-Method of Justification is called the Righteousness of God through Faith because it is of God's Institution and appointment It is the substance of God's new Law or Covenant The result of all then is That they were the Works of the Law as exclusive of Faith in Christ and his death which the Apostle denied any Man to be justified by and not those works of the Law which are the immediate effects of Faith in Christ in his Death and in his Doctrine CHAP. VI. How St. Paul's Doctrine of Iustification by Faith and not by Works was then mistaken by some I Come in the next place to shew how that St. Paul's reasonings about Faith and Works in reference to Justification were probably mistaken by such Solifidians as St. Iames reasoned against For he having taught that God did justifie the ungodly Gentiles upon their believing and without the deeds of the Law but denying Justification to as many of the Iews as did not believe though they were Observers of the Law there were some who thereupon through mistake laid the whole stress of Salvation upon believing to the neglect of a holy and virtuous life And St. Paul being sensible how apt some were to make a bad use of his good Doctrine and to draw bad Conclusions out of good Premises he frequently mentions such Inferences on purpose to caution Men against them As for Instance He having said in Rom. 5. 20. That where sin abounded grace did abound much more In Chap. 6. 1. he saith What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound as some it seems were ready to infer God forbid saith he how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein You may consult to like purpose in general Rom. 3. 5 6 7 31. 6. 15. Gal. 2. 17. and find that St. Paul and others were slanderously reported to have said let us do evil that good may come That there were such as did misrepresent St. Paul's Doctrince touching God's grace and long-suffering and wrest several passages in his Epistles and other Scriptures to their own destruction we are told by St. Peter also 2 Pet. 3. 15. 16. And account that the long-suffering of the Lord is Salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the Wisdom given him hath written unto you as also in all his Epistles speaking in them of these things In which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction And after St. Paul in his 2 Tim. 3. 2 3 4 5 verses had by many black Characters described a sort of Christians that had a form of godliness but denyed the power thereof In ver 8. he further describes them by that which was the cause of the forementioned unsavoury fruits of the flesh to wit that they were men of corrupt minds or understandings and reprobate concerning the Faith or void of Judgement concerning the Faith as the Margin hath it They were Men of corrupt Principles and injudicious concerning the Doctrine of faith They did not discern faith to be necessary in the operative and practical nature of it But as they did satisfie themselves with a form of godliness without the power so they did likewise with a formal inefficacious and liveless Faith which made them so unsavoury in their lives And St. Iohn after he had in his first Epistle antidoted the Christians against the pretentions of the Gnosticks who held a bad life consistent with Communion with God through illumination of mind and the Christian Faith deceiving themselves and labouring to deceive others in thinking they might be righteous without doing Righteousness 1 Ioh. 3. 7. He towards the conclusion of that Epistle sums up his general scope in it in these words These things have I written unto you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God Chap. 5. 13. His meaning is as I conceive that he wrote this Epistle first to the end they might be the better assured of salvation by Christ upon their rightly believing on him And secondly To the end they might not be drawn into mistakes in the point of believing as if any Faith less than such as is accompanied with a constant adherence to Christ's Doctrine and example touching a holy life would give them that assurance He wrote to them that did believe that they might believe that is that they might believe yet more understandingly more groundedly and so perseveringly against all temptations to Apostacy from the Profession of the Faith or to loosness in the Profession of it St. Iude also ver 3 4. stirred up the Christians to contend earnestly for the Faith the Doctrine of saving Sinners in the way of Believing because as he told them there were certain Men professing Faith but of ungodly lives that were amongst them that turned the grace of God into lasciviousness so understanding the Law of Grace the Gospel as if it had been a Proclamation from Heaven of a general pardon for Christ's sake and through Faith in him of as many sins as Men had a mind to commit The which Error led them into those Monstrous Impieties charged upon them in that Epistle By reason of which the way of Truth the right Faith they pretended to was evil-spoken of in the World as St. Peter notes they being indeed Spots and Blemishes to the Christians and Christian-Profession so long as they were admitted to their Feasts of Charity as owned by them to be of their number This was indeed an ungodly Faith But the Faith which he exhorted them to contend for and to build up themselves upon as on a sure Foundation he calls their most holy Faith vers 20. such a Faith as is an Operative Principle of a holy life And they were such Christians as St. Iames in his Epistle did expostulate with that did lean so much upon a meer believing upon a meer assent of the mind unto the truth of certain Propositions as that they were careless in the subduing of their Passions and bridling their Tongues and regulating their Actions as if these had not been necessary to Salvation But thought themselves safe upon account of their barren Faith though they were proud and conceited of their knowledge and Atainments censorious and contentious unmerciful and uncharitable In a word they were