a glass Jam. 1.24 He that looks into the perfect Law of liberty Here it is spoken of the Moral Law as Beza observes in opposition unto the bondage of the Ceremonial not that the Moral Law is a Law of liberty or can set us at liberty of it self but it is so to them that are in Christ because it is a Law written in their hearts and they are stablished by a free and a Princely spirit There is a double glass that the Scripture holds forth in which Christians should often look as this here and that in the 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 3.20 Rom. 7.7 Per legem peccati cognitio per fidem abolitio Ambros in Rom. 3. that in the one they may see themselves and in the other they may behold their Saviour even the Glory of the Lord. The Law is the one and the Gospel is the other Now the great use of this glass is that a man may see his own spots and deformities that his sin may be discovered and therefore the Text says it was added for transgressions And of this use of the Law the Scripture speaks often Rom. 30.20 By the Law is the knowledge of sin the Law entred that the offence might abound I had not known sin but by the Law And Rom. 7.13 That sin might appear sin and by the Commandment become exceeding sinful that is that he might see sin in the extent of it and its utmost vileness and filthiness and therefore he shews that there could be nothing worse than it he calls it by no worse name than its own sinful sin as to call Satan a devilish Devil is not so bad as to call him sinful Angel for sin being the worst of evils can have no worse name than it self and therefore when the Apostle says it did appear to him in the utmost sinfulness of it then he says it did appear sin Lex est Index peccati non genitrix the Law is the Index of sin â—ot the Parent As the light enters and discovers filthiness that before was there but it lay â—id in the dark And these Scriptures do direct us to sins of two sorts which are discovered â—y the Law 1 Original sin which is called the offence which was in the world beâ—ore the Law even from Adam for by one man sin entred into the world and by him it passed â—pon all mankind 2 Actual sins whether of the heart or of the life all the inordinate â—otions of the spirit tending unto evil which the Scripture calls lusts Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust 〈◊〉 be a sin unless the Law had said unto me Thou shalt not lust Here I must speak unto two â—hings 1 How does the Law discover sin 2 How by discovering sin is it a handmaid and 〈◊〉 servant to the Gospel 1. How does the Law discover Original sin and that cursed frame of nature which is in â—ery sin 1. By shewing unto a man as in a glass that primitive holiness and righteousness in which he â—s created For the Law indeed is primitive justitiae speculum the glass of primitive justice â—or that image of God in which man was created was nothing else but a perfect conformity 〈◊〉 the nature of the Law and will of God in every thing So that as Christ while he was â—pon earth in his humane nature was a perfect pattern of that obedience that the Law requiâ—ed so that all that he did was agreeable to the Law in every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.21 and he has therein left as a copy to write after so was Adams nature and so should also his life have been he should have known no sin neither should any guile have been found in his mouth he should â—ave been as it was said of one a living Scripture and a walking Bible a living Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so â—hat whatever the Law of God now requires of us that at first God created in us Now when a man compares himself with this Law and sees how unanswerable he is in every thing he does he thereby comes to see how he has utterly lost the righteousness and holiness that was in him at the first and the glory of his Creation his Mind that was in the Creation as full of light as the Sun is is now darkness it self and his Conscience is now feared his heart that was tender unto God is now hardned his Memory that was firm is now frail and leaking and his Affections that did move rationally and orderly as the Stars in their courses â—re now full of nothing else but confusion madness and disorder â—â—d his Thoughts the immediate issues and the first-born of his soul always excellent spiritual and useful but now polish vain and unprofitable flying up and down like atoms in the air to no end 2. A man looking upon this rule does not only see a privation of what formerly was his â—appiness and his glory but he sees now the quite contrary Act. 13.10 an opposition in him to the Law of God in every thing that he is an enemy unto all righteousness and full of the fruits of all unrighteousness the image of the Devil upon him so that look how the heart of the Devil works against God and duty so does his for he is as like him as a child can be like his father There is a touch that Satan has left upon a mans spirit and this is upon his whole soul 1 Joh. 5.19 also all the faculties of it are turned the wrong way all of them are taken off from God and duty and therefore a man when he is converted is said to return and when the Lord calls him he is said to hear a voice behind him but novv by sin he is turned quite avvay and there is this devillishness in him that he is the more contrary unto any duty because God commands it and is carried vvith the greater violence after any sin because God forbids it sin taking occasion by the Commandment which comes nearest unto direct â—â—â—ity that can be to do things by way of revenge which is the Devils sin 3. The Law discovers Original sin by shewing the dominion of it a man cannot resist it he cannot cast it off it has a double authority in the man the dominion of a Lord Rom. 6.14 and of a King a power of command and thence some expound sin mentioned by the Apostle Rom. 7.6 to be the husband and it is not much material which whether the Law irritating sin or sin irritated by the Law be the husband and so sin has a power of love also an interest as a husband to perswade and therefore there must be obedience men obey it in the lust thereof for he that hath authority over us to command and a power to persvvade the heart also he can procure obedience to all his commands vvhen he vvill but so has sin and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
man to seek out curious ways of sinning against it to avoid the power of the law as we see in Gaming c. sin takes occasion by the Commandment that it may sin more artificially and such men are hardly convinced 2 The Law discovers sin and men will not see it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment and vents it self by refusing knowledge And they stop their ears that they may not be charmed by the voice of the charmer Joh. 3.20 c. 3 Sin takes occasion from hence in that men hate the light of the law and they wish that there were no such law in the world He that does evil hates the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest and reproved As the law discovers that to be evil in which the soul placeth its greatest good so this discovery draws out a hatred in the soul a-against that law which does as a glass discover the spots which the sinner would have hidden 2. The law does restrain sin and puts a stop to it and shuts up the sinner as we may read Gal. 3.23 Whence sin breaks forth more violently men being prone to sin and cannot live without it for the comfort of their life comes in by it The Law may restrain and keep in lust for a while Mat. 12.43 but it breaks forth as fire when you suppress it outwardly it burns the hotter within and spreads the more by a restraint 1 It spreads the more in the man by the restraint of the Law a man that hath forborn a sin long there comes seven worse spirits at the last and makes him more the child of the Devil than he was before the former restraint that was upon him makes his inward man the more exceeding sinful As it was with Judas a Devil though a Disciple The restraint of sin by the Commandment causes it to defile his inward man the more 2 The more sin is enraged as Psal 2. They say let us break their bonds and cast their cords from us Chains put not a fierceness into a beast but yet it does outwardly draw forth that fury that was in its nature As a potion in some diseases given for the cure irritates the peccant humour and kills the man the sooner not that it puts a new sickness in but only the humours being stirred are the more enraged 3 So in this case it does not only enrage sin and so make it more fierce but it improves it by this enraging as the presence of an injury doth heighten a mans anger as we see Goliah did David s his brags drew forth David's courage and it rose to the greater height and so any difficulty would Alexander's so that it was an exploit fit for Alexander if none else would undertake it and so a damm in the water it does cause it to swell and foam the more and the coldness of the circumstant air in the winter does not put more heat into the fire and yet by an Antiperistasis it excites it so that it is felt the more And therefore men living under the clearest discoveries of the Law their sins do rise to the greatest height men by the light of nature cannot sin against the Holy Ghost the great and the unpardonable transgression but this sin is by Gospel-light and this draws forth to direct enmity a mans spirit against the light so that he sins wilfully after that he hath received the knowledge of the truth and with despight for it is this being under the irritating power of the Law that is the great occasion of the sin against the Holy Ghost 3. There is a condemning power of the Law it passes a sentence upon a man and upon his estate and let 's into his soul by the spirit of bondage fear of death and dreadful apprehensions of wrath fearful expectations of judgment and of violent fire to devour him And from this also sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrours that a man should destroy himself and become the instrument of his own mercy and be his own executioner as Judas and Achitophel and many others have done And 2 hence sin takes occasion to drive them to despair and draws it forth fastning their eyes upon the vengeance of God and never shewing them the remedy and the pardon and then with Cain men say mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven 3 Hence follows a giving up themselves unto all excess of riot there is no hope and therefore I will enjoy the good things that are present and not have a Hell here and hereafter too And therefore they refrain not from any evil way but resolve to take their fill of sin while they are here for they are sure they can be but damned as many a wicked wretch when he is condemned to die he cares not what he does then for he knows he can be but hanged Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 4 The rage of their spirits does rise from hence even to blasphemy and revenge against God He saith O that I were above God! for I know that he will not have mercy upon me And so the Damned in Hell do blaspheme God by way of revenge because they are shut up under wrath and know that there is no mercy for them And this is the ground also of the great rage and revenge against God that is acted by the Devil ever since the fall Thus men seeing themselves condemned by the Law and being in a continual expectation of this wrath the revenge and rage of their spirits against God is by this means drawn forth and in all these respects sin does take occasion by the Commandment and becomes the more exceeding sinful SECT II. Whence it is that the Law exasperates and encreases Sin § 1. LET us now come having proved the Point to look into the grounds of it How it should come to pass that that which discovers sin and forbids it should exasperate and increase it and that that which is a means to lead the people of God into ways of holiness and to sanctifie them converting the soul making wise the simple should occasion sin and death to others We must lay this as a ground That the cause is not in the Law the Apostles care is to remove any blemish that may be cast on the Law of God as if God had given a Law to this end to add unto the sin of man whereas indeed before the Law sin was in the world and it was out of measure sinful but it did not appear so without the Law There is a twofold cause that the Apostle does here point us unto 1 There is causa per se a formal cause which does of it self and of its own nature properly produce the effect from some inward and intrinsecal power and efficiency and so the Law is not the cause of sin in a man neither is there any thing in the Law that should
be a principle of flesh in you and this principle is sinful contrary to the Law and condemned by the Law yet it shall never prevail to condemn you though it will many times to defile you for you are not under the Law for condemnation they may be and will be matter of your trouble and affliction here but never the matter of your condemnation hereafter And so the meaning is that the godly that have received the spirit of Grace and submit themselves willingly to be acted and guided thereby though they have the remainders of sin in them that deserve death yet they shall never infer death because they are not for the condition of their persons under the Laws condemning power Rom. 8.1 Though there be in the Saints matter of condemnation yet there is in them no actual condemnation There is a second interpretation given of it and that is That though there be remainders of sin contrary lustings within you so that you cannot do the things you would do but all your performances 〈◊〉 blemished and defiled as a Collier and Fuller dwelling in the same house what the one whites the other pollutes Yet this shall not make your services hateful before God shall not hinder their acceptation for you are not under the rigor and conviction of the Law requiring perfect obedience or else it cannot be accepted as it is with all unregenerate men but you are not so under the Law neither shall this contrary principle be wholly able to hinder you in duties for you are not under the Law constraining you and forcibly compelling unto duty without giving you strength to perform it but you have a spirit within you as well as a rule without you the one directing and the other assisting and inabling Both these will make one compleat sense and are for consolation to the condition of those that are in Christ that though corruptions may remain in them yet they shall never prevail against them to their condemnation neither shall they hinder their acceptation with the Lord in the midst of all their failings We must consider that the dispensations of God to every man are according to the Covenant under which he stands and the administrations of both Covenants are ever since the fall in the hand of Christ as Mediator he dispenseth the Curse of the first Covenant as well as the Grace of the second and at the day of Judgment it is the Man Christ Jesus that shall say to the wicked Go you cursed as well as to the Saints Come you blessed c. Now for the administration of all things according to this great trust Jesus Christ as Mediator has received the spirit as a spirit of union and a spirit of unction and this spirit is the viceroy or prorex that works all the works and all the administrations of Christ in this great Kingdom only he dispenses this spirit to some as a Lord and to others as a head unto some only as a spirit of qualification for service unto others as a spirit of sanctification for their Salvation So that all that Christ does he does by the spirit and answerable unto the condition of the person so is the spirit that works in him all is wrought suitably unto the Covenant under which he stands if the man be under the first Covenant he is a bondman for his Covenant genders unto bondage and all the works of the spirit of God in that man are only the works of bondage and this spirit is a spirit of fear There is a double spirit by which wicked men are acted there is a spirit of the world that works effectually in the children of disobedience the strong man armed keeps the house and they are taken by him as beasts taken alive and led captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 and this spirit does act them wholly in most of the acts of their lives but God has reserved unto himself a Judicature in the man and that is Conscience but this commonly works not there is a fearedness a spirit of slumber and senslesness a being past feeling that sin has brought upon it but sometimes the spirit of God comes into the Court of Conscience and awakens it and then it speaks in Gods name unto the man and therefore it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience and it is always a co-witness Rom. 9.1 A renewed Conscience can never work of it self nor witness of it self neither does a natural Conscience but as it is acted by the spirit of God Now if the man be in the condition of a servant the spirit does witness unto him and speaks in his Conscience nothing but fear and bondage and therefore it is called answerable to the condition of the man a spirit of bondage But if the man be under the second Covenant and in the condition of a son then the spirit does speak peace favour and acceptance unto him and liberty and is a spirit of Sonship Not that in a godly man there is never any thing else spoken but from Rom. 8.15 where the Apostle says You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father I conclude The Spirit of God never speaks bondage to a godly man that he is in a state of bondage and death and binding a man over to wrath again though sometimes God leaving a man unto the spirit of Satan he may speak so in his heart and tell him he is unregenerate and then the darkness of a mans own spirit may be apt to gather such conclusions but the Spirit of God does never speak any thing unto a Saint concerning his eternal state but liberty after his translation out of the first Covenant Every regenerate man having received the Spirit of Christ and his Covenant being changed this spirit has undertaken to be dux viae his guide Joh. 16. to lead him on in his way till he comes to glory Now a man that is in Christ and has received the Spirit of Christ and is led by that Spirit Rom. 8.14 that man is not under the Law neither for condemnation nor for coaction therefore every man that is out of Christ and not led by this Spirit but has received a spirit of bondage he is under the Law both these ways § 2. Hence we observe Doct. Tom. 4. p. 87. That every man that is out of Christ is under the coaction and rigor of the Law Austin upon this place in the Galatians makes a fourfold state of man 1 Ante legem before the Law when a man did sin without the knowledg of sin and committed it without restraint or controul and so it is with many men that lay the reins upon their lusts necks 2 Sub lege under the law c. when a man does strive against sin his Conscience being convinced that it is sin but yet he is over-come though he does strive 3
of it 1 Some understand â—t of the Moral Law and the Law given to Adam in Paradise In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die 2 By the hand-writing some of them say is meant the Ceremonial Law and the whole Paedagogy of Moses consisting in Rites and Ordinances by which men did acknowledg themselves guilty of the breach of the Moral Law for they were all of them open and publick confessions of sin and thus much doth Calvin and Beza only understand by the hand-writing 3 There is another Interpretation that I have met withal in Glassius quoted also and hinted by Erasmus Chirographum est conscientia arguens condemnans the hand-writing is the Conscience accusing and condemning according to that Scripture The iniquity of Jacob is written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond noting that knowledg of sin in a mans Conscience and a mans obligation unto wrath thereby And all these I conceive to be meant by the hand-writing in this place 1 It must be understood of the Moâ—al Law because it is a consolation given to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews but they were never bound unto the Ceremonial Law 2 It is to be understood of the Ceremonial â—aw as an appendix to the Moral Law and both these had a power upon the Conscience to condemn a man and lay him as guilty before God therefore with Aretius I should understand Quicquid nos apud Deum potuit reos peragere quicquid nos damnat quicquid Satan contra nos citare potest hoc totum Chirographum esse hoc est testimonium peccati So that the Moral Law of God enjoining us obedience and the Ceremonial Law convincing us of sin and the conscience of both these are all meant by the hand-writing against us 2 The manner of the abolition and that in several gradations There are three ways of cancelling Bonds and making them void 1 Dispunctione by Dispunction or Cancellation 2 Laceratione by Laceration 3 Litura by the sponge blotting out c. Now if the seal be taken off and the Bond rent it is cancelled but yet so that the characters of the writing remain but now in blotting it out which is here meant it does not only cancel the Bond but it does it so that nothing can be read against a man for time to come and therefore it is as if it had never been but the Bond remains though the hand-writing be bloted out Therefore it is further added he has taken it away as well as blotted it out But though it be taken away it may be reserved against a man to the day of judgment no it was rent in pieces and nailed to the Cross of Christ with the same nails that Christ himself was so that the obligatory power of the Law and the damnatory power of it is utterly abolished by the death of Christ Vniversaliter sufficienter universally and sufficiently upon the Cross Particulariter efficaciter particularly and efficaciously when it is by the Spirit applied unto the Conscience of a man and speaks pardon to him being justified by faith so that he hath peace with God c. Thence to blot out the hand-writing is to take away the sentence of condemnation Wherefore the observation from hence is this Doctrin The first Covenant is perfectly and utterly abolished by Christ to all that are in him § 2. That the Law is taken away as a Covenant has been shewed at large in respect of the main 〈◊〉 of it namely 1 That it remains not for Justification For no man is justified by the law in the sight of God Gal. 3.11 Christ is the end of the law for righteousness 2 Neither does the Law remain for condemnation for he has redeemed us from the curse of the law and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Nor 3 for Irritation You are not under the law says the Apostle therefore sin shall not have dominion over you Not under the Law forbidding sin barely and so provoking it but under Grace healing a mans nature and strengthning him against sin 4 Nor for Coaction If you are led by the spirit you are not under the Law that is not under the Law as a slave under a Tyrant forcibly compelling but you have a spirit of Sonship which freely leads a man in all his ways and carries him on with a free and a willing spirit Thus the Law is abolished as a Covenant with respect to all ends for which it can serve whether principal or accidental These Particulars having been already largely opened that which I would now chiefly speak to in the opening of this Doctrine is the manner how the Law as a Covenant comes to be abolished and this is by these steps 1. Christ himself is made under the Law as a Covenant of Works the Law that is here meant is not only the Ceremonial Law which he did freely subject himself to being a Jew but also and chiefly the Moral Law to which he did subject himself as a man for it 's said He was made under the Law to redeem us that were under it therefore it must be understood of that Law under which we were and from which Christs purpose was to redeem us and that wherein our redemption does mainly lie Now so all men are in particular the Galatians who were not under the Ceremonial Law therefore it must be meant of the Moral Law that he is said Gal. 3.13 to be made under the curse of the Moral Law now who-ever comes under the curse must also so far come under the Covenant therefore Christ being made under the Moral Law as it is a Covenant came under the curse of it 2. Christ was made under the Law two ways as he was man 1 In respect of the debt to be paid 2 In reference to the bond to be cancelled for if man could have paid the debt of the Law of obedience and undergone the curse yet he could never have taken off the bond of the Law it would have lain upon him for ever he would have been for ever under the Law Now Christ must do both 1 As our surety he paid the debt the principal of which was obedience so that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us to Justification and by the Gospel the Law is not made void but established and also the forfeiture taken off he being made sin was also made a curse for us 2 That the Law might not stand in force against us for the time to come as a Covenant therefore he has also cancelled the bond being made under the Law as a Covenant of Works he has taken away the Law as a Covenant unto all the Saints He delivered us from sin being made sin for us and from the curse being made a curse for us and from the Law as a Covenant by being made under the same Covenant And so he did not only pay the debt
produce any such effect but rather the contrary for it doth forbid sin upon the highest penalties it has upon it an impress of the Holiness of God and is contrary to sin in all things being holy and just and good and in its proper causality does work holiness in the hearts of men and a conformity unto the will of God as the rule of Goodness as it appears in the Saints all the grace that they have is nothing else but the Law written in their hearts which is the grand promise of the new Covenant 2 There is causa per accidens an accidental cause when the effect flows not from the nature of the cause but from something else that does by accident cleave to it so the Apostle says knowledge puffs up all true knowledge is humbling and there is nothing that a man can know either of God or himself but it does afford him great ground of abasement and self-denial but yet through the lusts of men sin takes occasion by the knowledge that should humble him to lift him up so fountains are hottest in the Winter and the fire by reason of the cold of the circumstant air not that the Winter does add heat to either by its own nature but by accident and occasionally inclose the one and draw forth the other so the Gospel meeting with the lusts of men who either reject the Gospel or else do turn the grace of God into wantonness thence it becomes the savour of death unto death not of it self nor in its own nature for it is the word of life and salvation so does the Law draw forth sin not of its own nature for it forbids it and curseth it but yet sin takes occasion by the Law and through many things that do adhere and cleave to the man by the Law it does become the more exceeding sinful Let us therefore come unto the proper causes how it comes to pass that sin by the Law which is good should take such an occasion of evil The causes are many 1. One cause of it is lust There are in lust many things from whence it flows but especially these 1 Lust is carried towards its object with earnestness violence and vehemency there is a lifting up of the soul to vanity and the hearts going after covetousness and therefore some render that of Laban when Jacob departed and he saw that the hope of his gain was gone Gen. 31.20 Deut. 29.19 Amos 2.7 Eph. 4.19 Jude 11. that he stole away the heart of Laban And as a godly mans desires are for God and Grace so a wicked mans desires are after sin and he thirsts and pants after it and it is therefore exprest by greediness as we may see it in Shechem Amnon and Ahab after Naboth's Vineyard All these set forth the violence of lust how fully the soul of man is carried after sinful objects and the ground is because sin looks upon sinful objects as the husband of the soul as the chief good and therefore is carried after them modo infinito in an infinite manner as a God therefore they are said to serve mammon and their God is their belly and they are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God Rom. 7. and therefore desire them infinitely the sinner is never satisfied but like the barren womb crys give give his desire is as Hell and the Grave it never has enough Now whatever comes in the way as a bar unto that which his soul does so infinitely desire it is no wonder if his heart rise against it with an answerable violence If Naboth come in the way of Ahab's Covetousness his life is little enough to make satisfaction and if any man stand in the way of Haman's honour his life and the life of a whole Nation is but a fit sacrifice to expiate so great an offence Now the Law of God putting a stop upon such vast desires therefore the hearts of men do rise up against the Law in opposition answerable to the desire that sin hath unto the object from which it is stopt by the prohibition of the Law 2 Lusts are proud and do swell the heart and cause it to be lifted up Psal 10.4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance doth not seek after God Obed. 3 The pride of thy heart has deceived thee And this fills the heart with a great deal of obstinacy and stoutness of spirit against God and contempt and scorn of whatever comes in his way to resist it as we see in Pharaoh even against the Lord himself Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice And answerable unto a mans pride and exaltation of spirit such is the rising of his heart against any thing that makes against him and the more full of lust any man is the more the pride of his heart is drawn forth for he is thereby made the more conformable to the Devil who saith I am a God and so do all mens lusts say and therefore the heart is lifted up as a God answerable to the pride of a man such is his impatience 3 Lust is resolute this proceeds from the two former it will go on whatever come of it Ephes 2.3 Hos 9. in despight of all opposition There are wills of the flesh as great resolutions as if there were many wills in one as a wild ass alone by it self i. e. that has neither rider to command it nor bridle to restrain it will venture any-where Jer. 8.7 They go on in their own ways as the horse rushes into the battel Christ warns Judas The son of man goeth indeed as it is written but wo to him by whom the son of man is betrayed it had been good for that man that he had never been born And yet Judas went forth and from that time he sought an opportunity to betray him If the Lord make hedges about a soul yet he will labour to tread down all with the greatest resolution and with the highest contempt as we may see it in Pharaoh after all his plagues yet his heart was hardened that is his will remained obstinate and he resolved not to yield unto God come what will come yea though death to himself and destruction upon his Kingdom did ensue And therefore they say What thou speakest to us in the name of the Lord we will not do Jer. 44.16 but we will do whatever proceeds out of our own mouths And if any thing come in the way to cross them in this resolution men resolve to oppose it see it in Saul 1 Sam. 22.17 Go and kill the Priests of Jehovah which some have made to be the sin against the Holy Ghost and Job 15.26 They do prepare themselves thick-bossed bucklers they resolve to make resistance they harden their hearts and stiffen their necks though the law of God set the sin and the evil before them yet men despise it and fear not the danger let it be of temporal judgment they say
justifie themselves in an evil way and to extenuate their sins and they do call light darkness and darkness light evil good and good evil and they love to have Prophets that should call them so also Now comes the Law as a glass and that discovers duty and makes men to see their sins and the duties that they hate and the evil of the sin which they love and delight in The Law is in Scripture resembled unto a glass and a glass it is two ways as it discovers duty and so it is of use in four things Jam. 1.24 1 As a glass it shews to a man that holiness â—â—â—â—ure and life that God did give unto him and require of him in his state of innocency which condition man has lost now and if a man look into the nature and lives of the best men he can find only some vestigia and poor beginnings of it which are not indicia veteris hominis but rudimenta novi not indices of the old man but rudiments of the new 2 Christ was our surety made under the Law and answered the precept and the curse and the Lord rather required if we may compare it that the precept should be fulfilled than the curse be born because the principal intention of the Lords giving the Law was obedience to the precept and not the suffering of the curse now all that holiness that was required of Christ and performed by him either in nature or life we may behold in the Law thus the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us there is in our justification a commutation of the person but not of the righteousness 3 The Law is unto the Saints a glass that shews them the obedience that the Lord doth require of them the Gospel indeed gives grace to obey but the Gospel requires no other obedience but that which the Law does discover as a rule a man must look into the perfect law of liberty and continue therein Psal 119.6 I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments c. 4 It is the glass of perfection in the life to come Joh. 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him There shall be a perfect conformity in nature and life in us unto the Law in all things and we shall be every one of us living Scripture and walking Bibles for the word of the Lord is written in the heart and turned into grace enduring for ever c. Here indeed we have little conformity to the Law of God but hereafter our holiness shall be perfected 2. By the Law is the knowledg of sin when the commandment came sin revived and I died As a glass set before a man discovers his spots and as the light coming into a dark place shews our filthiness that before was hid An unregenerate man would never see his sin nor search himself nor turn into his own heart and try his ways if the Law did not make these discoveries All reflex thoughts he hates and if at any time he be forced into them and hath a glimpse of himself that does affright him that he does begin to see his own ugliness and deformity and smell the savour of his own filthiness even the sepulcher that is within him he doth immediately turn from it as an unpleasing sight which he is no ways willing to behold and fix his eyes upon Jam. 1. Beholding his natural face in a glass he forgets what manner of man he was Though he may remember the notions of a Sermon that are speculative to adorn his understanding yet the discoveries of his own sin and self in a Sermon he doth quickly forget and therein the main forgetfulness of a hearer of the Law lyes Now the Law has a constraining power and sets a mans sins in order before him and makes a man see his own vileness and holds it to his eyes that he cannot look off it but he crys out Psal 50. my iniquity is always before me as it was with Judas his sin in betraying innocent blood was still so present with him that he chose strangling rather than any income of comfort from any creature he quickly returned the thirty pieces of silver again So let all unregenerate men go from one creature to another and build Cities like Cain and add to their recreation and pleasures of sin yet still the sight of sin is by the light in this glass set before them and haeret lateri lethalis arundo the mortal dart sticks in his side 8. It forces men to a self-judgment and condemnation for sin and an expectation of the judgment of God for it Every natural man is willing to acquit himself and to put off the thoughts of judgment to put far from them the evil day and to say I shall sit as a lady for ever and shall see no sorrow or cry peace peace when sudden destruction comes upon him For there doth two evils go with a way of sinning Isa 2.1 1 a hard heart 2 a spirit of deep sleep that a man is willing to sleep and not to wake to see his danger as one that lyes down in the middle of the sea Prov. 23.34 or as one that sleeps on the top of a mast but a gracious heart troubles himself for sin and lays the judgment of God to the sin and labours to bring his heart to a trembling frame under the sense of it Joh. 11. as we see in Josiah and in Christ himself and so do all the godly if any affliction befall a child of God if he be judged of God he does clear God in it Psal 51.4 Rom. 3. and willingly takes the blame upon himself that he may justifie God but the property of a 〈◊〉 regenerate man is to justifie God but the property of an unregenerate man is to justifie himself and to condemn God Job 40.8 Says the Apostle Paul is God unrighteous I speak as a man Says Job Wilt thou disanull my judgment wilt thou condemn me that thou maist be righteous It is the disposition that is in the heart of men by nature to condemn God that they may justifie themselves Now the Law of God comes in with the coaction of it and that forces this man to judg himself and to fill him with fear and expectation of wrath Rom. 3.20 That all flesh may become guilty that they may appear and acknowledge themselves guilty before God Rom. 7 Sin revived and I died that is seeing self in a state of death and this is called the spirit of fear Rom. 8.15 and a receiving of judgment Heb. 10. This we may see in the Devils they know there is a time of torment coming wrath unto which they are reserved and they believe it and tremble and that never-dying worm that shall be in Hell is nothing else but from this coaction of the Law and the spirit of God setting a mans sins in order before him whereon there follows
they grow above ground the more they spread under ground lop them continually that they grow not above and they will by degrees wither and die Grace doth grow by the actings of it and so does sin and if a man should have Grace in his heart and yet never bring forth fruit though it could not wholly die because it it an immortal seed upheld by the Spirit of Grace yet it would never thrive There is a double way that the Devil takes to increase sin in a wicked man 1 He doth infuse all the devillishness into them that he can the Devil entred into Judas and put it into his heart to betray Christ the wicked one toucheth them 2 All that wickedness that is in them he does act and draw forth to the utmost And there is a double way of the decay of Grace 1 By stirring up and strengthning the contrary principle of sin 2 By hindering Grace from acting in all things and so though it be immortal seed yet in the degrees of it it will decay So it is here the Spirit of God infusing a new principle and restraining and hindering the actings of the old by this means sin dies by degrees and the heart is weaned and taken off from it and this is done by the Law SECT IV. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it is a Rule § 1. WE have thus far considered the Law as it is in its subservience to the Gospel as a glass discovering sin and as a bridle restraining it now we come to the third Consideration as it is a Rule to guide and direct a man in all the ways of obedience and it is a Rule within and a Rule without 1. It is a Rule within that is the Spirit of God given by the Gospel or the second Covenant doth make use of the Law of God as an Instrument of Conversion and so plants in a man a rule of holiness and obedience in his own heart a principle of conformity unto the will of God in all things The Law indeed cannot do this of it self looked upon as a Covenant alone for so it is a dead letter but as it is in the hand of the Spirit Rom. 7.9 The saving knowledge of the Law is brought in by a secret and yet sacred blast of the Spirit of God breaking in and blowing when he listeth Now that the Law is an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the conversion of souls is plain 1 Every part of the Word of God has a converting power if the Spirit of God be pleased to concur with it for every part of the Word of God is seed to beget as well as milk and strong meat to nourish if any part of the Word of God be ingrafted in the heart it will change the stock of what nature soever 2 It is that which is attributed to the Law Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Indeed there is some difference about the word converting some say it is reviving or returning the soul when going down to the pit thou sayest Return again but it is returning from sin as well as sorrow and therefore Act. 7.38 called verba viva vivificantia living and life-giving oracles which give life here and bring to life hereafter 3 That is the promise of the new Covenant I will put my Law into their hearts and write it in their inward parts for no man has by nature the Law of God in his heart for the image of sin and the law of sin is upon the heart of man by nature Gen. 6.5 Rom. 12.2 1 The Law of the Lord is by sin blotted out of the hearts of men that image of God and conformity unto his will is taken away which they had at first and they have a new law the law of sin there 2 It is the Law put into the heart by the Spirit of God that is the rule of all a mans inward obedience and conformity unto God Adam had the Law written in his heart not only a Law without but inward dispositions conformable to it within and when man had blotted it out God wrote it in tables of stone but now he will put it into the hearts of men so that they shall have an inward principle answerable to the Law-rule without and whatever he does require in the Law something within shall answer to it but this Law is put in by the hand of God 3 In Conversion God does put in the whole Law into the heart of man what Law is it but the Moral Law that which is a Rule of a mans way without is the Rule of a mans heart within and God will put it so therein that it shall never be blotted out again by sin for he will write it there that it may remain Litera scripta manet c. but more particularly observe 1. That no man hath in him the Law of God by nature but all are enemies unto the Law in their minds they are not subject unto it neither can be and therefore the Apostle says Rom. 8.7 When the Commandment came c. it was a coming Commandment not of his own fetching it is therefore said to be a voice crying behind us This is the way walk in it for every man by nature hath another law the law of sin the law of his members which stands in opposition to the law of his mind the image he has upon him is the image of the Devil and he has contrary dispositions in his inward man unto God and to the will of God in all things not formed by the word Rom. 12.2 2. That which is written there is the Moral Law There are two great principal parts of a mans holiness Faith and Obedience and because the ground of Obedience is Faith therefore it is commonly called in Scripture the Obedience of Faith and answerable unto these are the two great principal parts of the Word there are the precepts of the Law and the promises of the Gospel and both these the Lord makes an ingrafted word the foundation of a mans faith is the Promise and thereby a man is made partaker of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and the foundation of a mans obedience is the Precept for in the regeneration we are renewed after the image of him that created it therefore writing the Law in the heart is a renewing of the image of God which in Adam we had lost and that was a knowledge of the whole will of God in whatever concerned Gods glory and his own duty and he had an inward ability and disposition of soul in all things to submit himself thereunto with cheerfulness So that in the fall the Law of God that was written in our hearts that was stamped upon us and concreated with us was utterly blotted out and now the renewing of this Law in our inward man is our regeneration a putting the same dispositions within us that were
plainly that they did seek a country so when we see the Saints of God to seek after no creature-sufficiency and not to place their happiness and the stay of their lives upon them it is a plain argument that they have their sufficiency in something else there is something else that doth bear up and elevate their spirits which can be nothing else but the acting of their souls upon the alsufficiency of God Vse 5 § 5. All you that have an interest in the alsufficiency of God walk before him and be upright Gen. 17.1 2. for what need a man to turn aside to any other what need had he to hasten after another god Psal 16.4 If the alsufficiency of God be yours he that is self-sufficient for his own happiness surely he will be alsufficient for yours and therefore there is no need to wander after the pleasures of sin or the comforts of the creatures if there be no defect to be supplied what need had we to call in any other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect good seems to be alsufficient Aristot If there be a perfect good it must needs be sufficient for that is perfect unto which nothing can be added if the creatures be added unto the Lord he is never the more perfect therefore if the creatures are wanting there is no defect no deficiency in him and if we need no other why should we trouble our selves to make out to another to do any thing in vain we count it folly to take in many things for that which may be supplied in one frustra fit per plura c. therefore keep God to thee and thou shalt want nothing Here is a double duty required from the alsufficiency of God to all his Covenant-people 1. To walk with God Walk before me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before my face in conspectu meo as in my sight as being under mine eye in whatever thou dost put thy hand unto There are three expressions take in a mans whole duty towards God in the way and in the course of his conversation 1 Walking with God Gen. 5.24 Enoch walked with God 1 It is a term of reconciliation that the enmity between God and the man is taken away for they are friends that walk together Amos 3.3 2. Two cannot walk together unless they be agreed so that a man must be in a state of reconciliation 2 It 's a term of communion that in a mans way he should have fellowship with God in his whole course and in all the actions of his life for that is a mans walk and therefore 2 Cor. 6.16 when the Lord hath communion with his people he is said to walk with us and when we have communion with God we are said to walk with him Luther extra causam justificationis nemo potest bona opera satis magnificè commendare Luth. and a man is to walk with God not only in religious duties but also in all the common and ordinary actions of his life a man should not only do what the Lord doth command but he should do it unto the same end for which it was commanded and that is that he might enjoy communion with God therein 2 There is a following of God or a walking after him Num. 14.24 it 's called following of the Lamb that implies three things 1 A walking by rule for a man must go no where but where he sees the footsteps of God before him 2 It is coming up unto the exactness of the rule that he doth follow the Lord exactly he doth not miss one step where he sees God to have gone before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this Eph. 5.15 is walking circumspectly 3 It is walking with God unto the end and so it implies a perseverance it is not a going a part of the way after God and then to turn back from following him but it is to follow after him and to continue unto the end and so it is said That the Lord called Abraham to his foot Esa 41.1 and this is to follow the Lord fully or as it is in the Original implevit post me he did fulfil after me c. 3 There is a walking before God that is with a constant respect unto his all-seeing eye he sees the eye of God always upon him and he sees that to be a holy eye that no sin can scape it nothing can blind it all things are naked and open before it and he that doth observe it it is unto this end that he may judge it that he may give unto every man according as his works shall be and that 's the meaning Luke 15.21 I have sinned against heaven and before thee by Heaven the Learned do understand the presence of God who doth dwell in Heaven and therefore Psal 73.9 They do set their mouth against heaven Mollet Ad veram sapientiam pertinet ut Deum praesentem cuncta inspicientem jugiter attendamus Carth. that is contra Deum audacter sese efferunt Mat. 21.25 The Baptism of John was it from Heaven or from men that is from God and that was the great thing that without regard unto the greatness of God and his glory without respect unto his presence and his holiness and his all-seeing eye he sinned against him and that did affect him and that also did cut the heart of David I have done this evil in thy sight and yet I had no fear of thy glorious presence and thy all-seeing eye so that there are these six things necessary to a mans walking as becomes a Saint in reference unto God 1 he must be in a state of reconciliation 2 he must walk by rule 3 he must go to the exactness of the rule 4 he must persevere and continue unto the end and not turn away and draw back 5 he must have an eye upon the presence of God and his eye in all he doth 6 he must do all this that he may enjoy fellowship and communion with the Lord in his whole course 2. That we be upright or perfect with him there is a perfection of the Saints in this life even while their souls are imperfect Heb. 12.23 and it consists in two things 1 When the soul in its choice and bent cleaves unto God alone and goes out after no other Psal 18.29 God will be yours if you will be his you must be unto him and to no other Hos 3.3 God can admit of no Corrivals with him 2 When there is a perfection in the inward man all grace is there in truth the whole new man the whole Law of God is written in the heart he respects the whole Law of God leaves none of his Commandments out in his practice it 's not enough to know the will of God but there must be a doing of his will his practice must answer his knowledge and when all these are in you and abound then you are said to be perfect
threefold power sin has from the law 1 Of condemnation and so the law saith Luther that is weak through the flesh for justification is through the flesh powerful to condemnation The law does strengthen sin by its condemning power 2 Of Conviction for the discovery of sin is by the law and it 's through the law only that sin does trouble the Conscience and convince the sinner Paul saith I was alive without the law once i. e. in his unregenerate estate but his sins were before alive only they lay hid as colours in the dark Now when the Commandment came sin did appear to be sin it being discovered thereby so that the strength of sin as to Conviction is by the law 3 As to Irritation By the law lust is drawn forth and improved and provoked and so sin receives a power from the law also and therefore they that have the clearest discoveries of the law their sins are improved and made stronger than other mens as it appears by the people of Israel Zech. 5.6 8. there was an Ephah Zech. 5.6 8. which is the greatest dry measure amongst the Jews and it is wickedness that is in it that sets forth the fulness of their sins and we see what it was that did fill it up sin taking occasion from the Commandment Jer. 1.11 as a rod of an Almond-tree their sins did ripen in the greatest colds that which a man would have thought should have been a means to have kept sin under that was a means to improve and increase it As a basket of Summer-fruits which is sooner ripe than other fruits Jer. 24.2 Amos 8.1 they were divided into two sorts the good figs very good but the bad very bad such as could not be eaten the rain does ripen the briers and thorns as well as the corn Heb. 6.7 8. therefore the law of God does improve mens sins and ripen them and hasten judgment for them 1. In every unregenerate man there is the seed of all sin Rom. 1.26 Act. 13.10 they are filled with the fruits of all unrighteousness full of all subtlety and all mischief a fountain of sin a treasury a bundle of folly Let Satan come when he will and he will find something that is in us Though all sins break not forth actually in every man yet vertually and seminally all sins are in every man 2. Lusts are acted and drawn forth by degrees as water out of a fountain it casts not forth all at once your experience teaches that the more it is drawn the quicker the spring is no man is suddenly very bad sin ripens as a child in the womb first lust is conceived Jam. 1.14 Ezek. 7.10 Isa 59.4 and then it brings forth sin and sin finished brings forth death It first brings forth the bud and then the blossom and afterward the fruit as Serpents do first the egg and afterwards the Cocatrice c. 3. Unto men in an unregenerate state there is nothing that is not a means to draw out and improve their lusts and this is the curse upon every thing unto them and therefore Tit. 1.15 To the unclean all things are unclean Rom. 8.28 To a gracious heart all things work together for his good because they are all means to subdue his corruption and improve his graces so to another man all things improve his corruption 1 All Creatures 1 Joh. 2.16 whatsoever is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye or the pride of life There is no Creature but draws out some lust or other and therefore the lust is put for the thing it self for every Creature shall improve his corruption there is nothing that he sees with his eyes but sin takes occasion by it to make the man more exceeding sinful If he look upon the Sun in its brightness his heart is enticed c. He cannot look upon a woman but to lust after her they have eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2.14 2 All opportunities draw out his corruption as Gehazi said As the Lord liveth I will go after him and get something of him And the Harlot Prov. 7. The good man is gone from home c. 3 All estates do draw out his corruption if in prosperity he does wax fat and kick and as the pasture so is his filling his heart is lifted up and he forgets the Lord and if afflicted with Ahaz he sins yet more so that sin takes occasion by all the ways and dispensations of God towards the man and as sin is improved and takes all occasion by all other things so it does by the law of God also and so as a godly man grows from grace to grace from faith to faith so does a wicked man from sin to sin from one degree of wickedness to another § 3. But the main thing in opening of the point is this How sin takes occasion by the Commandment and what improvement the law that forbids sin and discovers sin can give unto it There are several acts of the law by which sin is improved Rom. 7. 1. The law as a glass doth discover sins I had not known lust but by the law says the Apostle Paul Now in this sin takes occasion by the Commandment three ways 1 It does act many sins because they are forbidden that there is nothing in the sin that should else carry the heart to it but only we affect things forbidden In sins where there is neither pleasure nor profit yet how do the hearts of men run out to them even to new oaths and new-invented blasphemies as if they were the flowers of speech for which no man can give a reason but this because it is forbidden As Hyperius gives advice unto Divines not to revive ancient Heresies in their reproofs lest thereby they do teach men those errors they went about to refute For the very hearing of a blasphemy is enough to take the heart as we see by experience daily and the very speaking of some things as sins is enough to draw out the lusts of men towards them Thus sin takes occasion by the Commandment 2 The discovery of the Law makes sin the more exceeding sinful because it is against light which shews it unto his Conscience and yet the man does it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment to become the more out of measure sinful 1 When the Commandment forbids and discovers a thing to be evil and sin takes occasion thereby to mince it and in a politick manner to conceal it self Sin would do the thing and yet elude the force and the spirituality of the Law as the Pharisees the Law said Thou shalt not swear but they said to swear by Heaven is lawful and it is lawful to swear by the Temple but not by the Gold of the Temple The Law saith Men should nourish their Parents but they said it is Corban a gift c. And so the discovery of the Law makes a