for the Welfare of Society are those which are enjoyn'd by God. Such likewise are those that respect ourselves Why the Law is called The Ministration of Death by St. Paul. What he meaneth when he saith He was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and he died And how the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear P. 1. The Contents of the Second Discourse THE Inducements that Christians have to Love the Divine Law. Love was the moving cause of our Lord 's becoming our Law-giver The Greatness of our Lawgivers Person All the troublesome Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away by the Laws of our Lord and this not by his Will alone but by the admirable manifestation of his Goodness and Wisdom How the Jews urging the Everlastingness of their Law is from hence answered and how their way of Speaking is corrected when they say our Lawgiver hath vilified and destroy'd their Laws Only such Laws are enjoyn'd by our Lord as have in them an Intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely Good and such as are discernable by every one Though the Jews had some Inferiour Laws suted to their Temper and Climate which did the better fit them for the observance of those Laws which were Moral yet we have not the less reason to Love the Laws of our Lord because they are all Good without any mixture of such Inferiour Laws which may be agreeable to different Climates where Christians Live and which may promote the Precepts of our Lord are not by those Precepts excluded Christian Laws are such also as will in our Obedience much comply with our particular Way and Temper The Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given The Laws that respect ourselves are properly belonging io the New Testament At least are there only directly and openly injoyn'd The Objection answer'd that so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating to Faith which no one living can conceive how they should be The Reasonableness of making our Vnderstandings to yield to our Faith. P. 35. The Contents of the Third Discourse THE Severities of the Christian Laws are not unreasonable neither do they reduce us to such straights as cannot be gone through without a great deal of uneasiness if at all The Design of our Lord is not to beat down our Natural Inclinations and Appetites but to rectifie them Our Dispositions if well managed not averse from a right Improvement The Laws of Christ do not dash the pleasure of Conversation by threatning idle Words with the Day of Judgment The Loving of Enemies while they persist to be injurious is in itself not unmeet but highly equitable in case the History of our Redemption be true Fasting and Abstinence not unreasonable nor the parting with Estates and Lives for the asserting of the Gospel From the Laws of Christ we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins What the Law of Faith requires of us How much it is different from the Old Law. What the Law of Repentance is Too many make Faith and Repentance to stand in opposition to the other Laws of our Lord. How the Laws being done away which was Engraven on Stones is to be understood Repentance for Sin cannot without the greatest Absurdity be wrested to the further and more safe committing of Sin. The Examples of the Thief on the Cross and of the Labourers in the Vineyard at the Eleventh Hour consider'd none of the Divine Laws unsuitable to one another These Laws of themselves are grievous unto none As they have relation only to Civil Society and the welfare of Men in this World they do far surpass those of the most noted Lawgivers they by no means do favour the Opinion that Right of Possession is Founded in Grace And that it is Lawful to resist Sovereign Princes in the Maintenance of True Religion They make the Man truly beautiful within P. 66. The Contents of the Fourth Discourse GEneral Motives relating to these Laws altogether To the Conscionable Observance of them Eternal Rewards are promised yet Earthly ones are not excluded For the securing of our Obedience Eternal Punishments are threatned after Death to the neglect of these Laws The Constituting such Punishments is no more than what is meet to be done Stronger Assistances are afforded for the Performance of these Laws than under Moses there were Most Loving Invitations and Affectionate Expressions are joyned with them We have no reason to complain that there are not now under the Gospel-Law those Visible Expressions of Gods Power and Presence as under the Old Law there were Particular Motives relating to these Laws singly and apart Such as are wholly peculiar to the Gospel or else are there more clearly and convincingly urged than ever they were before It is impossible there should be any True Happiness without these Laws From the inward Excellence of them and those admirable Motives annexed to them there is a substantial Proof of their Divinity and Truth No Man hath ever deserved to be so much honoured among Men as our Lord hath done Those who faithfully give up their Names unto him have the Precedence of all others How it comes to pass that since the Law is so good Assistances so great and Motives so taking there should be so many Disobedient Ones P. 114. The Contents of the Fifth Discourse THough the Generality of Men be Wicked and by occasion of these Laws being given shall suffer the greater Torments hereafter yet it would not thereupon have been better that these Laws should not have been given The impious folly of those Men who are willing to flatter themselves with God's being so much a God of Mercy as that he will not destroy them though they walk contrary to his Laws An Explication of I am the Light of the World. Why Miracles were confined to the first Ages of the Church That Prophecy made good viz. The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb c. The great Goodness of God in making these Laws to reach so wide as the whole World. His great Wisdom and Mercy in putting these his Laws into Writing and enjoyning the frequent Reading and Preaching of them The Reasonableness that these Laws should endure without Abrogation or Change so long as the World shall stand The great expectation which was of this our Lawgiver for so many Ages and in every respect his answering of it may prevail much for Mens Obedience to his Laws The Righteousness and Goodness of these Laws will manifest themselves to those who are sincerely Obedient P. 150. The Contents of the Sixth Discourse NOt a few think themselves secure in their actings if they can shew that some good Men in Holy Writ or some well accounted of since have done the like Examples of Good Men to be imitated no further than
from the Creation of the World which in the greatest Goodness was effected from the Continuance of God's Favour when Man had fallen and from the manifold Loving Kindnesses which he had shewed to his People in general and to Good Men in particular And therefore this good King could burst forth in earnest Exhortations to others O Love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the Faithful For your third Duty viz. Gratitude which you would have to be shewed to a Lawgiver are all those Injunctions and Incitements of Praising God which are scattered almost every where in the Holy Scriptures And no other Design had those Sacrifices which were unbloody than that Men should with Thankfulness acknowledge God as Supream 'T is said Levit. 7.12 If he offer it for a Thanksgiving as much as to say Thankfulness is to be offered unto God. And what more prevailing Motive could there be for the Obeying this Precept than that whatever was possessed was of God's Bounty It was He that gave unto the Israelites all that they look'd upon as their Wealth and Property And therefore they were to honour the Lord with their Substance and with the First-Fruits of their Increase That is They were in Gratitude to render back somthing of what he had bestowed upon them Not that he needs any thing of that which Men can return unto him but that their Thankfulness may be expressed in what manner they are able to do it And this their Gratitude might be the greater in that God secured his Gifts unto them by his Laws allotting to every Tribe its proper Portion and distributing that Portion amongst the Heads of particular Families That Discords at first might not hinder their Possessions and that Avarice and Ambition might not afterwards break into them For what was thus divided by Lot the Disposal of which was wholly from God was not to be alienated to other Tribes nor to other Families of the same Tribe The Property of the Land remained firm only the Use and Incomes of it might be sold for a season which yet might at any time be redeemed and if it were not redeemed it necessarily reverted to the ancient Owners at the Year of Jubile And hereupon Industry was encouraged and Peace established and they sate under their in a most proper sense Own Vines and Fig-trees none making them afraid Nay God had not only bestowed upon the Seed of Jacob all that they enjoyed but even They themselves were also wholly from Him. In Kindnesses from Men the Man is supposed to have a Being before And that we are Men and have an understanding Soul is not properly the Gift of any Man to us But God hath as I may so speak given us Ourselves as well as other things and so our Gratitude to Him is to be so much higher than to others by how much Life and Being are better than Possessions Yea by how much what we enjoy are more his Gifts unto us than they can be the Gifts of any others For the Propriety of them is for ever his and his Providence will never part with the Guidance and Direction of them And therefore though others should give them us it is his Bounty through their Hands How then might Those in the Judaick State love the Laws which have immediate Relation to God as a Lawgiver How full of Reason are they Is there not the greatest Beauty in them Which could it be discern'd by our outward Eyes who is it could see and not love them And surely what appears truly beautiful to the Eye of the Soul i. e. to clear and deliberate Thoughts will call no less for love but much more Intellectual Beauty being much to be preferr'd before that which is Sensible And if I may once more Paraphrase this Expression of the Psalmist O how I love thy Law Methinks it implyeth thus much Nothing in the World is there that shall hinder me from loving it I prefer it before all other things however esteemed they be by Men. Were it left to my choice whether I would have any of these Laws repealed or whether I would fear love and be grateful unto God or not though no Punishments should be inflicted if I did not do it there should not be one Law the less for my Duty towards my God and Lawgiver Nor should any thing how pleasant or advantageous soever it be buy off my Observance of his Laws So dear is their Practice and so delightful their Speculation to me Theoph. I see and acknowledge the Excellence of these Laws and do really think them worthy the high Character which this Royal Person gave and the great Love which he expressed to them But Eubulus of those Laws which in their Observance had relation to God immediately Some were such as might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather E. G. The shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision of Beasts in Sacrifice Others though not Cruel might yet seem to proceed and are by many thought so to do from the Will of God as Supream without any discernible Reason for their being enjoyn'd and consequently without any Love to his Creatures For what Love can be seen there where no Reason can be assigned why such and such things are commanded or forbidden And who is it then that can love such Laws Of this sort were those that forbad the wearing of Linnen and Woollen in the same Garment The Ploughing with an Ox and an Ass together And the use of such and such Creatures for Food and others not unlike unto these And then further The Laws that require Fear are such as are enforced upon the account that God is Terrible And where so great Terribleness is at the bottom of these Laws how could they be so much loved For as the Apostle saith Perfect Love casteth out Fear And where Laws do require so much Fear the Love to them must needs be the less Pray Eubulus tell me Are these to be excepted from our Psalmist's Love Or if not how can it be truly said he loved them Eubul For the satisfying of you in these things and first for your first Objection to wit That of those Laws which in their Observance had relation unto God immediately some might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather as the shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision and of Beasts in Sacrifice it will not I suppose be unmeet that these things be considered 1. That the Law which hath so much love here expressed to it is as I before hinted to be understood of the Moral Law chiefly For this hath a real and intrinsick Goodness in it It is just and good that God as he is our God and Lawgiver should be feared loved and have Gratitude shew'd to him 2. As to those other Laws of Circumcision and Sacrifices though in themselves considered they are not Morally good yet considered with relation to all the good
Disease but now mentioned it may seem he was For it is hard to give any other Reason why a Person whose Flesh is cover'd all over with the Leprosie should be pronounced clean and another who had any raw or live-flesh not overspread with it should be unclean Levit. 13.12 unless it were that the power of infection had ceased in the former and did continue in the later I doubt not Theophilus but our Psalmist and holy Men under Moses saw more things belonging to these Laws than any now adays are able to instance in But these may take off the force of what you urged against them as to their want of Reasons and in that respect as to their want of Excellencies Theoph. I willingly yield what indeed I cannot deny to these Laws And desire you will deal by my last Objection as you have done by the foregoing ones Eubul If I forget not it was this That the Precepts which require Fear are such as are enforced upon the account tbat God is Terrible and where so great Terribleness is at the bottom of these Laws the Love to them must needs be the Iess For perfect Love casteth out Fear I must confess that God in the Old Testament did often manifest himself in such a manner as might throw a Terrour into Men And even at the giving of the Law in Mount Sinai there were Thundrings and Lightnings and the Noise of the Trumpet and the Mountain smoaking All which might strike a Terrour and did strike so great an one into the People that they desired Moses to speak unto them and they would hear but should God speak unto them they should die But though this were so yet we may truly say That God chose this way by reason of the inflexible Nature of the People whom more mild and gentle Methods would not so well have prevail'd upon How often in Scripture are they called A stiff-necked People And therefore they were to be trained under the Law as under a School-master not being as yet fit for the highest things but as it were in the lowest Form. Their Duty of Fearing God they are to be excited unto by Means that represented God Terrible or they would not have feared him at all Hereupon those that knew the great Love of God to his People who rather than He would lose Them or They should cast Him off would use the more severe Methods for the keeping them in their Duty and the fitting them for his Favour might well love the Law that enjoyn'd the Fearing of God and the way also that enforced it But yet the Methods which struck such Terrour God was pleased to use only upon some special Occasions and he often if not always intermixed with them Means which were more gentle that this Fear might not be the Fear of a Slave or Captive to his Tyrant but of a Subject to his Prince who looks after those under him with Care and Love though he sometimes injects a Dread into them by his Majesty And this is very remarkable even in the giving of the Law when as we said God manifested his Terrours The Preface to the Decalogue remembers the Israelites of his great Kindnesses to them I am the Lord that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage And in the Second Commandment his visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of those that hate him is abundantly out-weigh'd by his shewing Mercy unto thousands in them that love him and keep his Commandments Some indeed there have been who have not approved of any Prologue to be put before Laws or any persuasives to be mingled with them it being the part of a Lawgiver by Authority to Command and not by arguments to persuade But though God hath more Power than all other Lawgivers and hath a Will infinitely more perfect than theirs and consequently might give his Laws in the most peremptory manner yet he was pleased to make way for them into the Hearts of his People by Love as well as Fear that as the careless might be affrighted so the more ingenuous might be allured and none kept back from Obedience either by presumption or discouragement I might instance in many places of Scripture pertinent hereunto but I will do it only in two where God is said to be Terrible The former is in Deut. 10.17 18. The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a Mighty and Terrible God But then the very next words are He doth execute the Judgment of the Fatherless and the Widow and loveth the Stranger in giving him Food and Raiment The other place is in Nehemiah Chap. 1.5 O Lord of Heaven the great and TERRIBLE God that keepeth COVENANT and MERCY to them that Love him and observe his Commandments How is his Terribleness here mitigated yea set off and made Lovely by his Goodness and Mercy And what better Comment can we give of these Scriptures and many others not unlike them than that of David Psal 130.4 There is Mercy with Thee that thou mayest be Feared Though there hath been a Strong Wind that rent the Mountains and brake in pieces the Rocks though an Earthquake there were and after that a Fire yet God was not so much in any of these or at least delighted not so much to be in these as in the still small Voice And this I think may be sufficient for your Objection and also for the Laws which require Duties to God as a Prince and Lawgiver Better Laws and better grounds for their observance could not be wish'd and so they might well be Loved Theoph. Pray Eubulus proceed to those Laws which require Duties from Men one to another Which I well remember you would have to be considered in the next place to those Laws which respected the Duties to God immediately Eubul For the wellfare of Society a Rational Man would desire that there should be Honour and Respect shew'd unto Superiours by those that are below them and that there should not be oppression and ill nature towards Inferiours from those that are above them but that Righteousness and Kindness should be exercised unto all Now these excellent things are all strictly enjoyn'd by Gods Law. The Duty of Honour and Respect to Superiours the Fifth Command sufficiently requires Honour thy Father and thy Mother i. e. all those who being in Place or Authority above thee are in a larger Sense Fathers and Mothers And since Authority and Dignity were first seated in and did arise from that which was Paternal I suppose that therefore Father and Mother are put for all Superiours And under the Word Honour are comprised all those Duties which in any Circumstances are in right Reason to be shewn from meaner Persons to those that are above them which Circumstances may upon occasion be better conceived than here at the present discoursed of For Superiours not oppressing those who are Infeferiour
Rewards and his immediate Protection If thou shalt hearken unto the Voice of the Lord to observe and do all his Commandments the Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy Store Houses and in all that thou settest thy Hand unto And he shall bless thee in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee He shall give thee Rain in due season to multiply thy Corn and thy Wine so much that the Threshing shall reach unto the Vintage and the Vintage reach unto the Ploughing and thou shalt dwell safely in thy Land And so signal was this safety which they enjoyed that when for the Worshipping of God all the Males were frequently to repair to Jerusalem though their Borders were left Naked and defenceless yet never did their Enemies take that opportunity either to invade or any way molest them According to that Word of Exod. 34.24 Neither shall any man desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year And lest their Love to these Laws should from Earthly Prosperity sink into Carelesness as worldly Blessings make oftentimes even that Obedience to be forgotten for which they were sent as a Reward it was kept awake and taught to be Reverential by some miraculous things which attended these Laws Such were the Vrim and the Thummim on the Breast-plate of the High-Priest which when consulted by meet Persons on weighty concerns did by a wonderful power afford answers The Ark of the Testimony from which Oracles were given by an audible Voice The Sacred Fire of the Altar which falling as it were like a Lion on the Sacrifices presently consumed them The appearance of a Cloud somtimes on the Tabernacle and afterward on the Temple to which we may add the open and remarkable effects of Gods Power manifest in Battles and in particular Revenges from Heaven upon presumptuous Sinners God would not have done so wondrously in relation to his Laws had they not been of very high account with him and this might well keep up Life and Vigour in Considering and Devout Mens Love towards them I have Theophilus in my speaking to these Laws asked of you what in Right Reason and according to a perfect Harmony of Things you would have the Duties towards a Prince and Lawgiver to be And I have ventured to say that a Rational Man for the Welfare of Society would wish for such and such Laws And this I think I might well do without offering any injury to these Laws by making Human Reason to be the Judge of them For they are rightly agreeable to our Nature and the true Sentiments thereof But though they are so and by all must be acknowledg'd so to be yet no Nation on Earth was so happy as to have them so established as the Jews had Hereupon it is said Deut. 4.6 Keep ye these Statutes and do these Judgments for this is your Wisdom and Vnderstanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these Statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a Wise and Vnderstanding People for what Nation is there so great which hath Statutes and Judgments so Righteous as all this Law which I set before you this Day And very observable it is as to what I have been speaking viz. That in times of Captivity when the Laws of the Conquer'd are usually changed if not wholly destroyed by the Conquerours these Laws found such favour abroad that they were never as to any part of them alter'd And that the Jewish Nation lived to see the Periods of three noted Monarchies succeeding one another and in an uninterrupted Line did itself continue still the same flourishing and happy unless when careless and disobedient cannot be ascribed to any thing but the Excellency of these Laws and Gods more than ordinary Blessing attending them All which things Theophilus being rightly weighed may shew forth the Madness of Marcion and some others of the Gnostick Crew who impiously pronounced the God of the Old Testamrnt to be an Evil One Morose and Cruel and of a different Nature quite from him to whom the New Testament belongeth Although greater Love is display'd by Christ than under Moses could be discern'd yet that the Old Law proceeded from a Good God who was Merciful and Gracious and who made those his Laws suitable to the Jewish Nation and pertinently significant of better things to come all certainly who will be righteous and considerate in their Thoughts must needs confess with a Detestation and Abhorrence of such Marcionitish Blasphemy Theoph. But since all these Laws whether relating to God or Men are so Excellent and so Worthy to be Loved Why doth St. Paul call them the Ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3.7 And why doth he say he was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin Revived and he Dyed Rom. 7.9 as if he were the worse for the Law and might date his Death from it Why lastly doth S. Peter call the Mosaick Institution a Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear Act. 15.10 Eubul In answer to your first Scripture wherein the Law is called the Ministration of Death some understand it thus not as if the Law brought no Priviledges with it or rather Death but so as that all the promises which were made to the Obedience of the Law were such as had relation to this Life only and were all terminated in Death And therefore it is observed that the Word Life in all the Books of Moses is never taken otherwise then for this Temporal Life And all the rewards are mention'd only under the Name of Temporal Blessings as may be seen in Deut. 28. and other places Not saith a Worthy Man of our own but that Eternal Rewards were in good measure Revealed to some Excellent Persons of Old and the frequenter afterwards as the coming of Christ drew nearer but these Revelations though vouchsafed by God under the Law did not properly belong to the Law and in strictness of Speaking were not of it It might therefore be well called the Ministration of Death in case the Rewards belonging unto it had thus an end and did cease in Death However the Law might justly have this Appellation because as I before mentioned in the primary Sanction of it Death was the Punishment of Disobedience Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them And though God was pleased to mitigate this Severity in allowing Sacrifices to be an Expiation for some Sins yet the great Transgressions of the Law how repentant soever the Committers might be found no such favour Only lesser Offences and such as proceeded from Imprudence rather than Design were those for which Sacrifices were indulg'd Whilst the Souls that did ought presumptuously whether Strangers or born in the Land were to be cut off from among the People Numb 15.30 31. Which as it may seem made David
him not as in a pompous and splendid but in an humble and afflicted Condition Though mean as a Bit of Bread and Sip of Wine may seem yet very apposite it is that our Spiritual Food by which we are nourished up unto Eternal Life should be conveighed to us in That which gives Nourishment unto and supports our Temporal Life in this World. So that all those Precepts which in their observance have an immediate Relation unto Gods Service are such as are Intrinsically Good or else such as may be ranked with those that are for the admirable Ends which 't is plainly shew'd they are ordain'd unto And further yet Theophilus Those Precepts which throughout our whole Conversation look towards God are such as are worthy to be practised by understanding Creatures towards the most perfect of Beings And it would not be just to conceive a God in the World who hath deserved infinitely well of Man and not conceive such obedience to be due unto him Such is the Believing and Trusting in him the submitting our Wills unto his and the Doing all things to his Glory and such like For by these He is own'd to be a God of Truth and Wisdom a God of Power and Goodness and to be All in all the Great and Holy One. And surely Those Laws cannot but be in themselves truly Good which so fashion the Hearts of Men that they appositely shall answer to those perfections which are in God and thereby as far as Man's Nature is capable become partakers of them And how genuine a pleasure is it for a Soul thus to believe in Him who cannot be Deceived himself and who will not Deceive us Who hath Revealed Truths which have been hid from Ages Truths that include the greatest Wonder and also the greatest Love And were it not a Command that so we should do what would we be more Solicitous for or what more seek after than the Priviledge of Reposing Trust in one who never faileth those that with a Christian confidence rely upon him When we are as of ourselves unable to see those things which shall be for our good and very forward to look to those things that will be for our hurt it sure is a Righteous Command that requires our Wills to be Subordinate unto His whose perfection it is to will only those things which are best And since the designs of Men so often create them trouble and nothing that here they enjoy can give them true satisfaction what can be a more noble End to all the Actions of Men than that which is the End the Almighty proposeth unto himself and which gives him Eternal delight in the obtaining it viz. His Glory If as all our powers and faculties proceed from him we shall in all things improve them unto him there will be no cause for us to complain that they are lost to Ourselves by being found in Him. But we shall be filled with that Glory which we do so Administer unto And lest the Goodness which these Laws have in them should be injured by an undue Practice they are to be obey'd in Righteousness and no otherwise Gods Glory is to be our continual Aim but we must not go about to promote it by a Lye or any thing that is Evil. The keeping of our Souls is to be committed unto God but it must be in Well-doing And the like is there for all others Laws which both sheweth and establisheth their Goodness Neither are those Laws which more nearly respect Men of a different Make from the other we by these are enjoyn'd the Exercise of Righteousness Mercy and Kindness And what would a Man wish should by others be Practised to himself and his Friend dear as himself sooner than these These do not from any thing we possess wring out the Tears of the Orphans and Widow No Stone is there to cry out of the Wall nor Beam to answer it out of the Timber We by them are taught to rejoyce at the Welfare of others as if it were the Fruit of our Prayers To esteem the Blessings which we ourselves do enjoy to be the greater because thereby we are enabled to do the more good By them also a True Relish is preserved in our Meats and Drinks and they are made to hold out Health and Long Life unto us by freeing us from those Surfeits and Excesses which would turn the most pleasant and wholsom things nto Bitterness and Poison In a Word these Laws how many or of what sort soever they be are such as perfect our Natures and capacitate us for a better World when this is done For a Man without the Practice of these would be altogether as far from reaching to the Glory of a Saint as a Beast is from being improved into the Excellencies of a Man. And Theophilus thay which is not to be forgotten have nothing of dark Ceremony annexed to be observed with the same Care as we do the substance of the Duties themselves Wherefore upon these accounts also we have very great Inducements to Love the Divine Laws Theoph I can easily grant that from the Intrinsick Goodness of these Laws there is a very strong inducement to Love them But is it Eubulus so great an one that these Laws which have an Intrinsick Goodness should Alone be enjoyn'd I therefore ask this because I remember you said that the sitting some inferiour Laws to the Temper of the Jewish Nation did the better fit that People for the observance of those Laws which were in their own Nature Moral Eubul It is a very great Inducement to our Love that those Laws alone should be enjoyned which have an Intrinsick Goodness in them For now as our whole Duty is reasonable so we have it in a little room and may the better understand and do it which would not so well be done by reason of the vast Number of Laws if all People wheresoever scatter'd should have had some suted to their Dispositions which are so Various The giving of the Christian Laws and of the Mosaick was very different Those by Moses were only or chiefly to the Jews God having then his Tabernacle in Salem and his dwelling place in Sion and among Them alone of all the Inhabitants of the Earth He chose to place his Name And over and above as he was their God so as was before said at the giving of these Laws he was their Temporal Prince And therefore the Nation being one People he might the better sute some Laws to their Temper Which in much Wisdom he did in the Judicial Law apparently and not less in the Ceremonial making That which did so much Typifie the future Kingdom of the Messias to hit also the Constitution of their Climate which enclined them much to a Variety of Rites and a Ceremonious way of Worship Yet not so did God sute his Laws to their Tempers as in every thing to Close with them But he in a manner did cultivate that People keeping
its own Nature truly Evil forgotten in their Prohibitions Nor can there be any the least occasion as in the wisest Human Constitutions somtimes there is for second Thoughts to add any thing unto or alter any thing in them Yea Theophilus if we consider the Laws of our Lord as they have relation only to Civil Society and the Welfare of Men in this World how far do they surpass those of the most noted Lawgivers We find not among his Laws any that look like that of Solon which required that All in Publick Seditions should run and joyn with the juster Part and ordered that if any did not so be should for ever after be infamous For when specious Pretences should make as very often they do the Worst Side to the Many look fairer than that which is is really the Better and every one must of necessity take his Sword into his Hand what a Flame would there hereby be blown up in a Commonwealth without any probable means left of quenching it but by large Effusion of Blood So that Plutarch might well call this a singular and altogether New Law nor would the good Intent out-weigh the sad Consequences of it had it upon occasion been faithfully put in practice He doth not institute with Lycurgus That Youth from Hardships of Education should be inured to Thieve for their Meat and should be commended if they could do it cunningly and without being found out An ill Foundation surely for Honesty in greater Matters to be built upon when they should be Men. Neither doth he with Plato in his Republick take away a Fatherly Affection and Filial Duty by indulging a Community of Women Nor hath he any Law like that of Aristotle in his Politicks which enjoyns That Lame and Deformed Children should be cast out and not suffer'd to live And as none of our Lords Laws are in themselves evil or of bad consequence to Society as these now mention'd and others that might be mentioned are so if any Law of his shall by Craft and an ill Mind be made injurious unto any there are other Laws which come in for a right bounding of such a Law and do allow no room for Guile and Fraud to work upon If any shall on purpose to our wrong make use of the Law that requires If a Man smite us on one Cheek to turn the other or of that which bids us Give to every one that asketh of us and of him that taketh away our Goods not to ask them again which Laws are in a signal manner designed for the establishing of Peace and Charity there are Laws that secure these to a Rational Practice by telling these Men That Whatsoever they would i. e. in Right Reason would that Men should do unto them they themselves should do the same to others And by allowing ourselves to call the Serpents Wisdom to the Doves Innocence Had there been such Provision made by the Athenian Lawgiver for the right limiting of his Law which required the Cancelling of all Obligations and Debts past That which was well intended for the Relief of the Poor had not proved so great an Oppression to others as it did The Fraud of many had been prevented and the Reputation of his own Justice had not been hurt Neither do our Saviours Laws fit us only for one State of Life and render us altogether unapt to another as it is observed Lycurgus's did They tended chiefly to make the Lacedemonians able for War and were so ill constituted for Peace that when That People were free from Enemies abroad they quickly declined at home not so much by the â—reach of good Laws as by the Want of them Indeed the Laws of Christ do chiefly promote and establish Peace and do admirably provide against those Vices that are the attendants of Peace as Luxury Sloth Wantonness and such like but yet they no less instruct us to a right Deportment in Troublesom Times And moreover when a Righteous Cause puts a Sword into a Christian's Hand they teach him a Valour beyond that of other Men. A Valour which shall not owe itself to a Passion that overwhelms consideration but which shall be firm and well-grounded from an assured hope that God will either give success unto him here or will reward him after Death Whence Machiavel surely had small reason to reflect upon the Christian Laws as those which by teaching so much Meekness and Patience indisposed Men for great undertakings which according to him could not be accomplished without somthing of Cruelty And he ill-affirm'd the Religions of Old to fit Men better for mighty Actions as accustoming them by the Multitude of Sacrifices to Blood and Destruction Indeed if high Enterprizes did necessarily include a share of Inhumanity in them what this Man says might the better be attended unto But if those actions only are truly Noble in which Courage is regulated by Reason and adorned with Justice and Temperance how false and disingenuous an Imputation he fastens on the Laws of Christianity I need not say Theoph. The Laws of our Lord are indeed so constituted as that they highly promote the Welfare of Society in this World by establishing all those publick Virtues without which the publick Good could not subsist The more deplorable than it is that any who are Christians should from any words of our Lord or his Apostles take up and nourish Opinions that tend to the disturbance of Government and Society Two Opinions especially there are that do it which too many have been and are very ready to entertain the one is That whatever Right a Man hath to what he enjoys he hath it only by inward Holiness and Virtue Or in a Word That all Dominion is founded in Grace and this they infer from 1 Cor. 3.31 32. All are yours whether the World things present or things to come all are yours And hence if they have an high Opinion of their own Sanctity and a very low one of some other Mens they can easily persuade themselves to take as their own what the other have no just Title unto By which means Righteousness and Honesty which are the great Establishers of Society are as to these Persons destroyed and consequently Society itself disturb'd The other Opinion which for its illness may well be ranked with the now mention'd is this That Sovereign Princes may be Resisted in the Defence and Maintenance of True Religion as being that which is dearer than Life and must by no means be with parted And hence besides when Religion is really struck at if any Persons be disaffected to their Prince it is easie to pretend that he is no friend to Religion that he cares not which way it goes and unless timely means be used all will be lost And so Wars and Fightings arise and the publick welfare is miserably discomposed Eubul Whether through Weakness or an Evil Heart these Opinions are embraced I am sure the Laws of our Lord are no way chargeable with
Christ it is not because these Laws do not extend unto Them but because They refuse them The Goodness of God is not the less for not being entertain'd by the Generality of Men. Were it with an Impartial Eye look'd upon it might excite the Praises of all Men. That now every Nation is in the sight of God of equal account with the Land of Judea Every City that will truly own and obey his Laws is esteem'd no less than Jerusalem and every Temple where true Devotion is offered up where the Laws of Christ are un-corruptly declared and his Sacraments duly Administred as highly valued by him as the Gates of Sion and the Temple there And as he respects not One Nation before another so neither is He a respecter of Persons The Poor Man shall not be despised because he is Poor but shall have his Obedience kindly accepted and fully Rewarded Neither shall the Rich be Envy'd or Rejected because he is Rich but shall find our Lord Faithful and Just in the Valuing and Recompensing the Observance of his Laws So that we may say with David possibly in a larger Sense than he meant of Lands Nations and People which in Holy Writ are often limited to the Tribes and Families of the Jews the Regions and Cities of Palestine O be joyful in the Lord all ye Lands serve the Lord with Gladness and come before his presence with a Song Let the People Praise thee O God yea let all the People Praise thee For having given such Excellent Laws to all People thou wilt judge the folk righteously and with thy especial favour govern all the Nations upon Earth Hear ye all ye People give Ear all ye Inhabitants of the World both Low and High Rich and Poor one with another the Goodness of God is the same to you all in these his Holy Laws Praise him therefore and Magnifie him for ever Eubul And have we not also from hence Theophilus an instance of Gods Wisdom and Mercy in putting these his Laws into Writing and enjoyning the frequent Reading and Preaching of them What are for all the World and do belong to all Nations how distant soever could not so conveniently have been dispersed for the good of all had they been confined to some Mens Breasts only Whereas now in their being written they can the more easily and punctually be known And from their being translated into all Languages and speaking in those Languages the same thing God is pleased happily to reverse the Confusion of Tongues at Babel Had they been left merely to an Oral Tradition we by reason of the Passions Prejudices Interests and to say the best the weakness of the Memories of Men should have had little security for their being preserved uncorrupt if yet they would have been preserved at all The Instance is sad but not impertinent to be mention'd how by this Traditional way the Knowledge of God and his Laws were in not many Hundred Years after the Flood in effect wholly lost not retrieveable but by new Revelations and the Constituting as it were a new Ecclesiastick State in Abraham and his Posterity to which for a not unlike Reason he afterwards saw it requisite to write his Laws in the Mount. Besides how would they have escaped amidst the Enthusiasms of many who pretend unto fairer Revelations than any of these Written Laws Which shews the great Wisdom of God in committing these his Laws unto Writing and may also shew Us that no Laws which are not Written are to be accounted His how Divine soever they may be pretended For why these should be put in Writing for the securing them from the corrupt Passions and personal Weaknesses of Men and others of no less Authority and Concern as is pretended than These should be left merely to the Breasts and Tongues of some Men who are of like Passions and Deficiencies with others I must confess Theophilus I understand not Nor is Gods Mercy less shewn than his Wisdom in that now we are not to go we know not whither to seek the Will of God that we may obey it but have his Laws near us and at hand in every place As God said to the Israelites Deut. 30.13 so may it now be said to all Men These Laws are not hidden from thee neither are they far off They are not in Heaven that thou shouldst say Who shall go up for us into Heaven and bring them unto us that we may hear them and do them Neither are they beyond the Sea that thou shouldst say Who shall go over the Sea for us and bring them unto us that we may hear them and do them But they are nigh unto thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that thou mayst do them Nigh they are and not a Family but may have them always lie open to their view not a particular Person but may have them as a Treasure in his Chamber or Closet Neither doth God only take care that these his Laws should be made known by being Written but he hath also commanded that they being Written should be Preached For those Precepts Preach the Word be Instant in season and out of season Reprove Rebuke Exhort with all long-Suffering and Doctrine are not Temporary ones given to Timothy and in Him to cease but such as are to be practised by Ministers to the end of the World. They must not be negligent to put Men always in Remembrance of these Laws though they be already known but still Line must be upon Line and Precept upon Precept here a little and there a little A very great Mercy of God it is Theophilus that he will have his Laws though they be written to be yet thus frequently Preach'd that none may perish for want of Knowledge And a Mercy it is no less that though his Laws be Preached he yet hath caused them to be written putting them into the Hands of every Christian That in case False Teachers should arise as 't is foretold there will we may have wherewithal to discover and disprove them And truly the having the Holy Scriptures in their Hand and Eye is a Priviledge that one would wonder any should endeavour to take away from the People since it always by the Bounty of God belong'd unto them Under the Old Testament the Divine Laws were to be bound upon the Hands of the People and to be as it were Frontlets between their Eyes to be written also on the Posts of their Houses and on their Gates so far were they from being withheld Under the New Testament we find that the Writings of the Evangelists were not composed for the use of the Apostles only but for every Christian also in particular As may in good sort be seen by our Saviour's Sermon in the Mount which was not spoken to the Disciples as Ministers but as private Christians For at his Preaching it there were no Apostles they not being made nor sent till afterwards We find also that all the
5.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall be liable to the Judgment viz. The Court of the Twenty Three Elders where the Punishment was Capital though in a more mild manner than in the Council viz. of the Sanhedrim or in the Vally of Hinnom denoted there by the Expression of Hell-fire And therefore the least Punishment hereafter being such as answers to Death here importeth no less than Death Eternal though a lesser degree thereof than what shall be inflicted upon greater Sins Theoph. But can this Motive be said any way to prevail for our Love to these Laws It may excite indeed a Dread but not likely our Love. Eubul Yet Theophilus let things be seriously considered and even from This Motive how dreadful soever it may at first view appear there will be reason to love these Laws For the Constituting such Punishments is no more than what is meet to be done Where the Laws are in themselves so every way good and where there are Eternal Rewards promised to the Observance of them you will say when they are disobey'd that it is but fit there should be Penalties inflicted and these Penalties such as shall be answerable to the Offences committed Now the greatness of the Offences is to be gathered from the exceeding Riches of Gods Bounty viz. Everlasting Rewards held out unto Men on Terms so excellent and to Rational Natures so truly agreeable If These shall be despised and cast behind their backs the Sin is of a very great height and what Punishment will so rightly sute it as the contrary to that Eternal Happiness which they have rejected viz. Eternal Misery The measure of Gods Justice is to these Men not greater than the abundant Goodness was which they so ungratefully refused They shall not be thrown deeper in Hell than by the Will of God they might have been raised in Heaven Nor shall they continue longer in Punishments than they should have done in Joys Now these things in Speculation must be acknowledged to carry in them a dueness of proportion and to be therefore bountiful as indeed every thing in God and in his Actings is even his Justice no less than his Mercy Only we are weak and sinful and so cannot over quickly discern it But to impartial Consideration it will at length shew itself so to be But that which comes more near us and may more move our Love is this viz. That the Intent of threatning these Punishments is primarily not that they should be born but that they should be escaped Self-preservation is a thing so natural unto Men that the fears of losing their Welfare and Being shall have a more quick touch upon them than any thing else God therefore hath added this Motive of Fear that it may be a spur to quicken us when by the Corruption of Nature other Arguments are rendred less prevalent These Punishments shall indeed be undergone by refractory Sinners For they have as much as in them lies gone about to dissolve utterly the Community which is made up between God the Legislator and Men his People by infringing the Authority of the Divine Laws and the Dignity of Him who is to see that they be observed But it is only by such as These that these Punishments shall be undergone To others they are chiefly a Motive to Obedience and are further only as a reserve when all other means have proved ineffectual The case in respect of Punishments is much different betwixt our Lawgiver and Lawgivers on Earth Some of These are more forward to punish than to reward because Punishments do oftentimes increase their Treasuries and Rewards diminish them But our Lord is no way profited by the punishment of any neither in the rewarding them is his Abundance extenuated Much delight he takes in the Life of Men but he hath given us the greatest Assurances that he hath no pleasure in the death of Sinners His threatning therefore to punish them is that they may not be punished And truly though we may dread the Effects of God's Justice yet when he thereby shall awaken our Hearts that we may be the more secured unto Happiness as it may very much excite our Obedience so may it also our Love to God's Law even upon the account of threatning Eternal Punishments Theoph. I see out of the Eater there may be Meat and out of the Strong Sweetness What to common view is at the greatest distance from Love is hearer than what I could think an Engagement thereof to the Divine Law. Eubul Another Motive for the securing of Obedience to the Laws of Christ is their having stronger Assistances afforded for the Performance of them than under the Old Law there were The Holy Spirit will always joyn with our sincere Endeavours and will help our Infirmities And hereupon the Gospel and all the Laws of Jesus Christ are in Holy Writ called Spirit by reason of the Grace of God's Spirit preventing and enabling us in the doing of them and are therein put in opposition to the Mosaick Law which is term'd the Letter Thus is it 2 Cor. 3.6 God hath fitted us to be Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit i. e. not of the Old Law but of the Evangelical for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life i. e. The Spirit with its Assistances in this Law enables us to perform it and in so doing to obtain Life Hence it is that the Apostle as some very Learned Persons interpret him reckons more to the Constitution of a Christian than of other Men joyning Spirit to Soul and Body and giving that the precedence of the other two I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 2 Thess 5.23 Not that This is a Substance distinct from the Soul and Body but a Principle we may call it which is wrought within us by the Blessed Spirit and is well expressed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Paul the New Creation and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Peter the Divine Nature whereby we are enabled to act those things which meerly by our Natural Powers we cannot reach unto And what is it that we cannot do if our Lord through the Blessed Spirit will lend us an Hand in the doing it I can do saith St. Paul all things through Christ that strengtheneth me and so may every good Christian say as well as he Which is a very great Encouragement to love these Laws in that they bring their Helps as well as their Rewards along with them Theoph. What you say Eubulus might be a great Encouragement to love these Laws were these Assistances such as you speak them to be But alas our Work seems to be little the less for them We must labour fight and strive and when we have done all which we are able we can see much of the Weakness of Men but little of the Strength of God and nothing
that appears either answerable to the Title of Spirit which is given to these Laws by reason as you say of God's Holy Spirit preventing and enabling us in our Obedience or expressive of the Constitution of a Christian in which Spirit is added to Soul and Body Eubul I hope Theophilus you do not think that the Assistances of the Holy Spirit are such things as put by our Endeavours and nourish our Sloth They are Assistances and so they do suppose that we ourselves should do somthing For were all to be performed by the Holy Spirit without the intervention of our Actions we must call them by some other Name for they could not properly be termed Assistances And therefore it is that what our Lord doth accomplish for us by his Grace through the Holy Ghost he enjoyneth us by his Command to do as of our own Power He worketh in us to will and to do but yet we are to work out our own Salvation He strengtheneth us but we are to strive The Victory is from Him but the Fighting must be ours And so it is very true what you said viz. That our Work seems not to be the less to us for the Assistances which he gives we must be altogether as industrious and earnest as if the whole were to be done by ourselves and nothing at all by Him. But because when we have done all which we are able to do we can see much of Human Weakness in our Actions and but little of Divine Strength shall we therefore conclude that the Assistances of the Spirit have been none or at most very mean and nothing worthy of the Character which is given them What Theophilus if the Holy Spirit in his aiding us will so comply with the Natural Powers of our Souls that we cannot discetn his Actings from our own What if he in a silent and gentle manner shall suggest things to our Understandings shall secretly sway our Wills and move our Affections really but yet imperceivably unto us Let us not because he draws us with the Cords of a Man say that we are not drawn at all If when we have done our best we seem to ourselves to be weak and to have done far less than we should have done it possibly is none of the least Aids of the Spirit that we can discern our own weakness and desire to please God even beyond our Abilities His Grace can be and it this way is very properly made perfect in our Weakness I dare be bold to say that he is not prompted from above who shall deny that there are Divine Assistances because there is not a Demonstration to the Soul that there are such Nay it may seem expedient that ordinarily they should be secret and imperceptible For should they commonly be otherwise Men would be too apt to rely upon them and thereby do less themselves because they see what their Aids are Or it may be they would grow conceited and abuse the helps of Gods Holy Spirit to the overthrow of the Excellent Grace of Humility Out of Mercy therefore the Blessed Spirit may Insensibly give his Aids unto Men that so by a constancy in their endeavours they at last may attain unto a greater perfection of all Graces and may the surer enjoy his Love by their Humility Theoph. But Eubulus if the Holy Spirit should in his Assistances move upon the Soul in this insensible way how could it be known that there were any Assistances at all And if it could not be known where would the Excellency of these Laws be from such a Motive as we are uncertain of Eubul There would be certainty enough of it from the Scriptures Revealing that such Assistances there are although we should not know the manner of them nor the times in which they are afforded But yet Theophilus these Spiritual Aids are not always indiscernible neither They oftentimes are seen by their effects though in their actings they were unperceiv'd And when a Mans Life is changed and he that heretofore was Dissolute and Wicked is now become Sober and Religious Or when in a constant course of Piety and Devotion he from his Childhood hath escaped the enticements of Satan and pollutions of the World we and he himself also though those Assistances have not been discerned may no less know that the Holy Spirit hath been present with him than we know that there is a Wind when we hear the Sound thereof though we see not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth And yet further Theophilus after faithful Obedience to the more Silent and Gentle Motions of the Holy Spirit it is not altogether unusual to have inward and sacred Joys darted into the Soul which as they are Rewards for Fidelity in the years past so are they likewise more sensible Helps for higher degrees of Piety in the years to come and prelibations of that unspeakable Joy which Holy Men shall be filled with hereafter in Heaven If there be not such discernible Assistances more frequent in the World it is either because Men do not duly close with the Holy Spirit in his Ordinary and Secret Aids or because they indulge a Sad and Melancholy Temper which shuts them out of the Soul or because God sees them not requisite for a great many Persons But yet the Laws of our Lord may notwithstanding be truly said to have more strong Assistances afforded than under the Old Law there were and deservedly to be entitled so much to the Spirit from the Secret Helps which the Holy Spirit offers unto all that are willing to obey Theoph. I was willing to urge you somthing the more upon this Head because the Holy Spirit is signally the Honour of the Evangelical Laws and because many are forward to talk slightly of his Assistances upon the account that they are not Visible to the Eye nor gross enough to be touch'd Eubul I heartily pity the State of these Men since none are more surely in the way to Misery than those that laugh at the Aids to Happiness especially when held out by a Divine Hand But let us go to the Third and last Motive for the securing of Obedience to these Laws which is their having such Loving Invitations and Affectionate Expressions of Kindness joyn'd with them Come unto me saith our Lord all ye that Labour and are heavy Laden and I will give you rest Where by those that Labour and are heavy Laden I suppose that They are not only to be understood who perceive the burden of their Sins and see the necessity of Grace from their Misdoings Our Lord here calls Men not only to Comfort but also to Teach and Instruct them that they may come to an Acknowledgment of their Sins which in their own Nature are a Weight and Burden although they be not yet perceived so to be After the manner of those who Rev. 3.17 were Wretched and Miserable and Poor and Blind and Naked when they felt no such thing So that all Men