This was the glorious designe of God to make persons righteous in Christ as Christ had gathered up all truth and righteousnesse in himself So he being our Head should fulfill righteousnesse and truth in us by the Spirit And that 's the second reason of the point But then 3. 3. That God might be all in all and the creature nothing at all The third reason why we are freed from the law through the Spirt is this that God might be all in all and the creature nothing at all God hath gathered up all into Christ that we might not be saved by fulfilling the law or by any other way that he alone might be all in all that the Creature may not have whereof to boast therefore he doth all freely by his grace and by the law shall no man living be justified for if righteousnesse were by the law then might men have whereof to glory but the great designe of God is his owne glory which he will not give to another and therefore hath he freed us from the Law and glorified the riches of his grace towards us that beleeve in that we through the spirit are freed from the law which brought us under the curse that wee should not bee under the oldnesse of the letter but be of the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Iesus and have no confidence in the flesh I should here come to the uses of all but there two or three queeries first to be answered The first is that which Saint Paul both makes and answers having Rom. 7.5 6. declared this truth here hold forth in the Text that we are dead unto the law and freed from the oldnesse of the letter that we migot serve in the newnesse of the Spirit this queree he makes to prevent it in others Is the Law sin then To which the Answer may be in the Apostles words God forbid I say God forbid that any man should so conceive that that which was given immediately from God is sin No saies the Apostle the law is Holy and the Commandment holy just and good It speakes nothing but holinesse and there is nothing but puritie in it I need stand no longer in this to confirme the truth of the puritie of the law it is so apparent But 2. Queerie 2 The next queerie will be that which the same Apostle in another * Gal. 3.19 place also makes and that is this Wherefore then serveth the law Answe Answ The Gospell holds forth this to be the use of the Law viz. To convince every man and woman of their miserable condition out of Christ and this it doth as will appear if you consider this That no man can come into the presence of God or be advanced to the beatifical vision but those that are pure those that are holy For as the Apostle tels us without holinesse no man shall see God so that no unclean thing shall stand in the presence of the most holy God for he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquitie and therefore he hath given forth this Law as a rule for all to walk by in generall it being a holy Law and hath declared that in it he sets before men life and death blessings and cursings but man having in him by nature the seed and root of all corruption hath therefore a will to do evill but none to do good and having first lost his first image can never keep this law for all have sinned and all come short by nature of the glory of God held forth in this Law and therefore being in this condition must at last needes sinke into the bottomlesse pit and the burning Lake where the Worme dyeth not and the fire is not quenched if there be not a Mediator stepping in betweene to bring in everlasting righteousnes in which sinners may stand compleat before God and to redeem them from this Law which because of sinne puts them into this deplorable condition So that now all do see may see or shall see their miserable condition by the Law not having a Saviour and that is now the use of the Law And so much in effect the Apostle holds forth 1 Tim. 1.9 10. Having spoken in the former verses of some that would be Teachers of the Law and turning from the Gospell he bids Timothy to change them to teach no other doctrine then the doctrine of the Gospell Now sayes he the end of the commandement is purity and love the Law holds forth puritie But some sayes he that would be Teachers of the Law know not what they say nor whereof they affirm It seems they either did as the Pharisees seek righteousnesse in the Law or went it may be a little further mixing law and Gospell preaching that men must be saved partly by the Law and partly by Christ or some such like doctrine But positively to say what it was I cannot nor is it much materiall to our purpose But sayes the Apostle though they know not what they do yet we know what we do and what the use and end of the Law is we know it is pure and holds forth purity to all and all that come short of the purity thereof are under the curse thereof being out of Christ and not pure in him and righteous in him knowing that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully that is if it be rightly applyed if we preach the Law and all the terrors thereof unto all that are out of Christ and are not righteous by him Knowing sayes he that the Law was not made for a righteous man but for the lawlesse and disobedient for ungodly and prophane c. the law is made for these and so it discovers their miserable condition unto them And so Paul sayes the Law discovered sin to him and he never knew sin before the Law discovered sinne him and made iâ— to be exceeding sinfull So that this is now the use of the Law it makes all the world to become guilety before God and declares to altheir miserable condition out of Christ And so much for answer of the second quaerie But then 3. Queere 3 Another quaerie will be this Was not then Law given for a Rule of Life unto the people of GOD when it was delivered upon Mount Sinai Answ Answ Yes the Law was given for a rule unto his people Israell who were then the peculiar people of God and this the Apostle cleerly holds forth Gal. 3.24 where he tels us plainly the Law was a Tutor or a Schoole-master untill CHRIST For the Law was our Schoolemaster untill Christ And so the word runs in the Originall and not as it is in our ordinary Translation The Law was our Schoolemaster to bring us to Christ For this is not the sense of it but is contradictorie to what the Apostle had before delivered in the 12. verse where he sayes The Law is not of Faith That is Justification by Faith in the Lord
Father the Son and the Spirit and then though thou couldest doe nothing befre yet thou mayest bee able to say with Paul I can doe all things through Christ which strengtheneth mee And so much for this use I come now to the next And 4. Vse To discover the fondnesse of those that seek to be instified by his works as Papist and Papisticall spirits Vse 4 IS it so that the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath free us from the Law Then this discovers the fondnesse of those that seeke to be Iustified by the by the Workes of the Law Let those Pharisees but to sider that unlesse the Lord Iesus had come into the world to free men from the curse of the Law no flesh could have been saved unlesse Christ himselfe through the eternall spirit had fulfilled the Law for us all men must have perished for ever for there is no life to be obtained by the Law but in the perfect fulfilling of the Law Gal. 2 17. Rom. 3.20 but saies the Apostle by the workes of the Law shall no man living be justified And therefore when the young man in Gospel that thought to be justified by his doings came to our Savious and said what must I doe to inheherite eternall life Our Saviour answers to his question because hee questions whither he might be saved by doing and tells him what he must doe and againe saies our Saviour if thou wilt bee perfect meaning if thou by thine owne strength seekes to bee perfect I will tell thee what thou must doe having before told him that hee must do all the workes of the Second Table towards his brother Our Saviour tells him further he must goe and sell that he had and he should have treasure in heaven and come and follow the Lord Jesus but that cast him into a sad fit as being utterly unable so to do And certainly unlesse men bee able to fulfill the Law to the uttermost is no obtaining salvation by it If thou failest but in one point thou art guilty of all for there is no hope for thee I meane in the Law How vaine is it therefore for any man to seek life by that which speakes nothing but death to all since all have sinned and all come short of it Aagaine consider that no man can come unto the Father but by the Lord Jesus He is the way the truth and the life God hath determined to glorifie and magnifie his free grace that all might be of grace that the Creature might not have whereof to boast and therefore wee are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in CHRIST JESUS Romancs 3.34 That the creature might not have whereof to glory and therefore the Scripture saies that Abraham was iustified by workes but Abraham beleeved God and it was accounted unto him for righteousnes And therefore saies the Apostle to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is accounted unto him for righteousnesse Rom 4.3.5 And in the 23. and 24. verses the Apostle tells us againe that Abrahams faith being imputed unto him for rigteousnesse It was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed unto him but for us also to whom it shall bee imputed for righteousne if we beleeve on him that raised up Iesus our Lord from the dead Be ashamed therefore of thy vanity thou that goest about to establish thine owne righteousnesse being ignorant of the righteousnesse of God and be now informed there is no other name under heaven by which thou canst be saved but by the name of Iesus Christ And 5. Vse To cleere the Saints of that odious nickname of Antinomians Vse 5 THe fifth use is this If it be so that the Saints have the Law of God written in their hearts and the law of the Spirit of life be within them then in the next place this point is of use to cleere the Saints from that nick-name of Antinomian which some doe indeavour to fasten upon them But herein I would not be mistaken as though I hereby Intended to sooth up those that are really such in their lawlesse practises for to such I have spoken already in the first use but I speake now of those that have the law of God written in their hearts through the Spirit Who yet are branded with this contemtible title of Antinomians or persons against the law by scandalous and wicked persons and that as it seemes upon this ground Because they professe they are saved by free grace and not by the workes of the law and instified in beleeving the promise of free grace without the deeds of the Law That which I shall say for them in this particular is this that in this they doe not make voide the Law but establish the Law And doe I say so or doth not rather the Spirit of God by the Apostle Rom. 3.31 say so for the Apostle having been in the former ver discoursing that no flesh should be justified by by the Law but by free grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and that the Law is nothing in point of justification but it is all imputed to faith saies the Apostle do we then make voide the Law through faith God forbid Yea we establish the Law And now you that cast these false aspersions on the Saints How will you answer the Apostle heere For you cast not this aspersion upon those that are in these times only but upon all that are saved by free grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus in all ages and places Now saies the Apostle they doe not make voide the Law but they establish it And now friend whosoever thou art that castest this title upon the Saints know that if thou dost not see that they establish the Law it is through thine owne ignorance thy ignorance of the workings of the Spirit of JESUS CHRST in those that beleeve for though the Saints now are redeemed from the Law that they might not serve in the oldnesse of the Letter yet they now serve in the newnesse of the Spirit and though they be free from the Law yet it is that the Law of the Spirit might be put into them for the Spirit of Iesus Christ worketh in them mightily both to will and to doe and they are led by the Spirit of God in the waies of God They are led by the Spirit in the waies of holynesse and puritie And further they are led by the Spirit to doe that which is above the Law and which the Law doth not teach them also as to beleeve in the Lord Iesus and to see themselves compleate in him and to behold the things that are freely given to them of God even that the Lord Iesus is made unto them of God wisedome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption not that they can possibly slight the Law although they are carried in the Spirit beyond it as it holds forth any holinesse
The Glorious EXCELLENCIE OF THE Spirit of Adoption OR Of the Spirit of the Sonne of God derived to the Sonnes of GOD. Wherein are many precious truths held forth which are presented to all the children of Truth who are and shall be sanctified through the truth ISAIAH 44.3 I will powr water upon him that is thirsty and flouds upon the dry groâ—nd I will pâ—â—r my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring GAL. 4.6 And because ye are Sonnes God hath sent forth the spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father By M. G. Minister of the Gospell London printed by Jane Coe for HENRY OUERTON 1645. To the Reader THou art heere presented with a rich Cabinet of precious Jewels the which if thou doest unlock by the Key of the Spirit thou mayest both inrich thy inner and adorne thy outer man withall for they are not appointed for Swine nor Dogs who will trample them under their feet and turn again and rent those that present them but for the man who by the key of the spirit is able to unlock them to wit the man of which PAUL speaks the spirituall man that is able to discern spirituall things and that by faith is able to eloath and adorn himselfe with them to these and no other shall it be advantagious for as the talent wrapt up in a Naptkin and the precious oyntment kept still in a close boxe and the treasure hid in the earth can do good to none untill it be opened and applyed unto the severall uses for which they are appointed so neither can a Cabinet of spirituall Jewels and perals be any way profitable to any until they are opened and unlockt by the spirit who can lay open every truth is it is in its self and cause the simple to understand the sweet the high and the glorious misteries of it whereas before it is meerly foolishnes unto him and he cannot discern it And therefore to you that have the spirit to you it is commended but this let me say that even you are to beware how you come with a key of carnalitie to open it for in the best there is carnality as appears 1 Cor. 3.3 and Rom. 7.14.15 Oh therefore cast away that key for it is a false key and can never unlock it I mean the key of the love of the world which is contrary to the love of the Father the key of Pride of covetousnesse of self-conceitednesse of strength of Parts or mans wisdome and of any other thing that is contrary unto the fruits of the Spirit and let the spirit of Christ Jesus that is in thee unlock it for thee and open it to thee that so by faith thou mayest by the help of the same spirit pertake of the sweetnesse and the benefit of it and be gloriously adorned with it that thou mayest I say pertake of the benefit of it for he that is made a Pertaker of these glorious Priviledges and Prerogatives that is herein held forth is unconceivably rich and he that is adorned with the ornaments herein presented is all glorious within c. But let no perticular person whosoever he be think that he is hereby accounted either a dog or a swine or is excluded from a participation of these Jewels and Pearles Although in thine own apprehension and the apprehensions of others thoâ— art in as bad a condition aâ— can be imagined yet I am assured that God hath given his blessed spirit even the spirit of Adoption unto those that have formerly been apprehended to be as bad as thou art and who knowes but in the reading of or meditating on those lines the holy spirit may be given in unto thee and then though it be otherwise a dead letter it may prove a quickening word As in the very reading of the Word in former times nay and in this present time it hath proved so to others Now that all that shall read and meditate on this piece may if they belong to the Election of Grace behold and see the visions of the glory of the Lord that are either here or any where discovered and in beholding of them may be more and more changed into the same Image from glory to glory even by the Spirit of the Lord Is the fervent desire of The Servant of Jesus CHRIST M. C. THE CONTENTS TWo parts in the text p. 2. Three queries in the text First How the Spirit may be said to be a Law Answered p. 4. Secondly How the Spirit of life may be said to be in Christ Answered p. 11. Thirdly What doth the Apostle meane by the Law of sinne and death Answered p. 14. The Generall observation p. 21. Two things laid open First that the Spirt of life in Christ frees us from the Law Secondly the reasons of it and ibid. First that the Spirit of life in Christ sets us free as the Spirit is all in all in Christ in all his sufferings actions is shewed ibid. And secondly as the Spirit is all in all in his death p. 23. And thirdly as the Spirit is all in all in his Resurrection ibid. Now this Spirit in Christ sets us free from the Law first as Christ fulfilled the law for us p. 24. Secondly as Christ adiudged all our sins against the law to death upon the crosse p. 26. Thirdly As Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousnesse p. 30 But secondly The Spirit of life derived from Christ to us frees us First declaratively p. 32. Secondly operatively p. 33. The necessitie of our freedome from the law by the spirit of life in Christ is shewed first because else no flesh could be saved p. 36. Secondly that the righteosnesse of it might be fulfilled in us by the spirit p. 37. And thirdly that God might be all in all and the Creature nothing at all p. 38. Three queeries more First whether the law is sin Answered p. 39. Secondly Wherefore serveth the law Answered p. 40. Thirdly whither the law were given for a rule of life to the people of God Answered p. 44. The uses are 1. To rebuke and admonish those that really are Antinomians and against the law who goe about to make voyde the law p. 56. 2. To discover the sad condition of all that walke after the flesh p. 60. 3. To invite poore sinners to come to Iesus Christ p. 65. 4. To discover the fondnesse of those that seek to be iustified by works as all Papist and Papisticall spirits doe p. 69. 5. To cleere the Saints from that calumnious aspersion cast upon them of being Aminomians who â—n the contrary are such as establish the law p. 72. 6. To informe the Saints of their priviledges p. 76. 7. To exhort the Saints to walke in the sight of Iesus Christ and in the light the purity and the joyes of the Spirit p. 83. Imprimatur John Downham Errata PAge 64. line 16. for they read thy l. 23. f. the r. their l. 26. f.
to be a law in regard of his mighty operation in the Soule it brings downe light and truth and life and power into the soule and workes exceeding strongly in the soule and when it comes what is able to withstand the Spirit What is greater then the Spirit What is stronger then the Spirit If the spirit comes it bears down all opposition Though the flesh lust against the spirit yet the spirit is two strong for the flesh so that it divides the very jonts and marrow So that the Spirit is a law above the law the law is weake and cannot take place in the hearts of men But when the spirit comes with its law it prevails against all and takes place The flesh profiteth nothing saith our Saviour it is the Spirit that quickneth If the spirit quickneth it hath life in it and where life is it is full of activity for life is manifested in this in that it is full of motion quicknesse and agilitie and in beating off every thing that doeth offende it or anoy it So the spirit being a spirit of life it hath a mighty power in it Although the soule be filled with sin and guilt and in that condition cloathed also with ignorance which doth so inviron the foule as it cannot stir in any other way nor hath the least motion of good in it yet when the spirit comes he beares downe all he destroyes all and therefore it is called the spirit of burning in the scripture And when Christ comes to Baptise he is said to Baptise with the holy Ghost and with fire so that when the spirit comes nothing can stand before him and he brings both light and heate and motion in him and is most powerfull in operation But then 3. The spirit may be saide to be a law or to have a law in it as it is a sure and true guide and as it leades every soule in a right and true way And therefore our Saviour tells vs The spirit of truth shall leade you into all truth And indeed the Spirit guides securely and guides safely guides surely and guides Purely for the spirit cannot erre and he that hath the spirit knowes the minde of God and is guided to fullfill the minde of God as farr as he hath the spirit for the spirit is a blessed guide and a blessed rule and about the law for although the law it s true is righteous holy and good yet alas it Cannot bring forth power to inable the Creature to walke suteable to its selfe It is onely the Spirit hath that power and not the law Therefore the Spirit he is the law of the Saints he shews them the truth teaches them the truth and leades them in the truth and gives them power to walke according to the truth for its the spirit that guides the Saints to Christ who is the truth its selfe and so The spirit guides the Saints in the waies of holynesse through the Spirit they mortifie the deeds of the body and live through the spirit they are guided to denie themselves to abandon their owne parts and their own indowments and their owne righteousnesse and to see all in and to fetch all from a Christ Through the Spirit the Saints put away the garment spotted by the flesh and forsake their vaine conversation wherein in times past they walked through the spirit the Saints are guided to deny all vngodlynesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly and holy and Godly in the present evill world through the spirit they are taught to love with an vnfained love the houshold of faith puting away malice and envie and the leaven of discention and wickednesse through the spirit the Saints are guided so to walke as to shine as lights amidst a crooked and perverse generation In a word through the spirit the Saints are guided having discliamed all their owne righteousnesse to doe that which the Jewes could not doe by the light of the law even to submit to the righteousnesse of Christ that is to cloath themselves through faith with the glorious robes of the righteousnesse of the Lord Jesus whereby they see themselves compleat in him and thus the spirit is a pure and a sure guide and in these three respects the Spirit may be said to have a law and so much may suffice for answer to the first queree But 2. Queree 2 In that the Apostle here tells us of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and doth not say the spirit of life in us but the spirit of life in Christ The queree will be how the spirit of life is said to be in Christ Answer To which I answer The spirit of life is said to be in Christ under two considerations 1. As hee is the Fountaine of life 2. As he communicates the spirit of life unto all his people 1. As the Lord lesus Christ is the fountaine of life as the fulnesse of all life dwells in him for so sayes the Apostle It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell 1 Cor. 15.47 45. and the same Apostle also saies he is the Lord from Heaven and that the first Adam was made a living soule but the second Adam was made a quickning spirit and therefore our Saviour tells us the flesh profiteth nothing but it is the spirit that quickens and the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life There is such a fulnesse of the spirit in Christ that whatsoever Christ speakes is spirituall and carries a spirituall signification along with it for indeed the spirit was in him without measure so that in him is life originally or he is the fountaine of Life but then 2. The Spirit of life is in him by way of communication all that of the spirit that is communicated unto us is communicated unto us in and by the Lord Iesus Have wee any life any strength any beautie upon us any grace conveyed unto us It is all conveyed in and through the Lord Iesus Christ And therefore our Saviour tells the Jewes that he was the bread of life the bread of Heaven that came down from Heaven And whosoever did eate of his flesh and drink of his blood should live for ever he breathed the Holy Ghost on his disciples and poures upon every one that beleeves on him rivers of living water rivers of his spirit for he conveies fulnesse of spirituallitie and divine strength into them That man therefore that hath the spirit of life in Christ conveyed into him through the spirit of life in Christ living in him is the most beautifull creature in the world for he carries divine sweetnesse and beautie upon his spirit And he that hath this spirit derived from Christ hath true life in him other men may be alive and yet dead but that man that hath the life of Christ through his spirit that works in him such a soul shall live for ever such a soule shall never die but it shall
to be remembred Now take away the offence and the law hath nothing to do with you take away the breaches and you are free from all the Curses of the Law Therefore the Apostle tels us that in Christ sin was condemned in the flesh Christ did thus condemne sin as he tooke away the power of sin and as he took away sinne it selfe so that it could have no voice against us Now the offence being taken away of what force is the law As suppose a man should live in a Kingdom wherein there should be a law made that whosoever should doe such a particular thing let it be what it will should snffer such a heavie punishmnnt onely the law maker hath power over the law to pardon such particular persons as he pleases Which if he doe the law hath no voyce at all against them They are free from the law The law hath nothing to doe with them though all others are under the power of it yet they are not under the power of it for the law maker having pardoned these perticuler persons the law hath no voice at all against them and though the law be powerfull against others yet it cannot against them they then are free from the law the law may bee a law to others to condemn them but not to these their offence being pardoned So the Lord Jesus Christ taking away the offence takes away condemning power of the law from us and so we are not under the law but under grace the law being taken away by Christ for in that Christ upon the Crosse adjudged all the breaches and trespasses of us committed by us contrary unto the law to death and destruction we are free from that Law God sending his owne Sonne in the flesh condemned sinne in the flesh How did the Lord Jesus Condemne sin in the flesh Thus The Lord Jesus Christ coming in our nature and taking our sinne upon him he condemned sin and suffered for it in the flesh and so tooke away the voice of sin and the power of sinne so that sinne is as a condemned man judged to death to be destroyed And if sinne be taken away I pray what is become of the law the strength of sinne The Apostle tells us that is in the same manner that sinne is taken away too Rom. 7.4 we are dead to the law by the body of Christ that we should be married unto another even to him who is raised from the dead c. So then we are dead to the Law For thus They that live unto the law have either life from it or death from it 1. Life from it but that we have not for there is no life from it but in the fulfilling of it but Christ is our life and we are justified freely by grace for by the works of the law shall no man living be iustified Or in the next Place they that live to the law have death from it for the breach of it but we are free from the condemnation of it also and shall not be destroyed by the Law so that we do not live unto the law but are dead unto the law And if you shall ask how The Apostle answers by the body of Christ How is that Thus. The Lord Jesus Christ taking our nature upon him in that body ascending upon the Crosse hee there blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us that was contrary to us that stood cursing of us he took it out of the way nayling it to his Crosse And this is a precious misterie which affords the Saints abundant consolation Again in that the Apostle saies in the aforementioned place that we are dead to the law by the body of Christ it is saies he that we should live unto another as if he had said we are not now to live any longer to the law but Christ hath therefore freed us from living to the Law that we should live unto himself live as by him and through him so to him as our first Husband being dead we are no longer to live to him but being married to another We are to live unto him and therefore saies the Apostle we are dead to the law our first husbnd to what end that we might be maried to another even to him who is raised from the dead And this is the further illustrated in the next verse for saies the Apostle Now being delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held It is that we should serve in the newnesse of the spirit and not in the oldnesse of the latter So now here we see cleerly Christ having adjudged all our sins to death upon the Crosse in his owne body hath also by the same way freed us from the Law But 3. 3. As Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse Rom. 10.4 And lastly wee are free from the law by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ as Christ is the end of the law for Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse unto every one that beleeveth He is the end of the law for righteousnesse Righteousnesse could not be by the law therefore the Lord Jesus became the end of the law to bring righteousnesse to us No man can performe the law or walke equivolent to it and therefore Christ must be the end of the Law to bring in everlasting righteousnesse that is such a glorious righteousnesse that is such a glorious righnesse as abides for ever The whole law is summed up in Christ whatever beauty or glory or excellencie appeares in the law It gives it all up â—o Christ As when many small sums are gathered up into into one sum they looze their number and names in it So the law and the beauties of it being as Severall small sums gathered up into Christ they looze their name in him and he is their perfection When the Gentiles do bring in their glory into the New Jerusalem they shall looze their glory in the New Jerusalem and New Jerusalem shall be their glory so is it with the Law Christ is the glory of it and as the beams of the Sun end and are summed up in the Sunne so the law is a beame of God and Shadowes out something of Christ and of God But when Christ came and took our nature upon him it was summed up in him and ends in him and in him it appers gloriously So Christ frees us from the law as he sums up the law wholly in himselfe If there be any beauty in the law it is beautifull as it is in Christ The truth is Christ is the substance of it all and so a beleever sees all the beauty and glory of the law as it is in Christ for him he having fulfilled all righteousnesse and so for righteousnesse he is become the end of it to every beleever and he is not to have his righteousnesse in the Law but in Chriist And thus now wee see in these three particulars how
Jesus is not held forth in the Law for the law is not of faith Life by Christ Jesus is not held forth in the law but the man that doth it shall live in them So that the law is not able to bring us to CHRIST but the law was our Schoolemaster untill CHRIST And therefore sayes the Apostle before CHRIST came the Saints were under the law as under a Tutor or Governour but when the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and being sonnes he hath sent forth the spirit of his Sonne c. So that CHRIST being come we are no longer under a Schoolemaster but being sonnes have the spirit of CHRIST JESUS now to be our guide Whereas before the Saints were under the Law as a guide as a Schoolemaster untill Christ But this will more cleerly appear if you looke upon the Covenant that GOD made with them of old And this was the Covenant that God made with them that they should observe all the lawes and all the Statutes and judgements that God had given them which are set downe in the 20.21.22 and 23. Chapters of Exodus in which iâ— set downe besides the ten precepts that were afterward written upon tables of stone Divers other Lawes and Ordinances and then in the 3. vers of the 24 chapter it is said Moses came and told the people all the Words of the LORD and all the judgements and all the people answered with one voice and said all that the Lord hath said we will doe and then verse 4. it is said Moses wrote all these words of the Lord and Moses offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace-offerings and took the Booke of the Covenant and read in the audience of the people and they said all that the Lord hath spoken will we doe and be obedient And Moses took the blood and sprinked on the people and said behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with us concerning all these words so that this was the Coveant that God then made with his people as appeares also Exod. 34.27 28. Where the first Tables being broken Moses goes up againe to mount Sinai the Lord there making a recapitulation of those things in the forementioned Chapters he saies againe to Moses after the tenor of these words I have made a Covenant with Israel and Moses wrote upon the Tables the Words of the Covenant the ten Commandments which Moses the man of God who also faithfull in all his house againe presses upon the people all along his whole fifth Book called Deuteronomie declaring from the Lord the blessings and cursings that did attend the fulfilling and breaking of it So that this was the Covenant and this was the rule by which they were to walke but most Peculiarly the ten precepts are said to be the covenant Exod. 34.28 as in the forementioned place though yet the rest of the statutes and laws and judgements were not excluded so that this is evident that this is the covenant that God made with his people when he tooke them by the hand and led them out of Eâ—â—pt and according to this rule they were to walke in which was sett before them life and death blessings and cursâ—ings But this letme adde that though the Saints were under this covenant vntill Christ yet besides this they were under a covenant or a promise of free grace too which way given to Abraham in that promise In thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed which all the Saints vnder the law beleeved for saies the Apostle The law which was four hundered and thirtie yeers after could not disanull it And therefore the Saints vnder their Ceremonies saw a Christ then although but darkly and in a figure as Heb. 9.9 yet all the Saints had an eye vnto the Lord Iesus though yet vntill the coming of Christ they were still held vnder the law being then vnder that covenant though now the Lord hath made a new covenant with his people since the comming of Chirst in the flesh as we find Ier 31.32.33.34 which is quoted by the Apostle Hob. 8. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel not according to the Covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to leade them out of Egypt to wit the Covenant before mentioned which my Covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord but this shall be the Covenant that I will make with them saith the Lord. And surely this is a new Covenant not according to the tenor of the old Covenant but a new Covenant established upon better promises Heb. 7.11 and 8.6 and therefore sayes the Author to the Hebrewes God finding fault he sayes behold the dayes come wherein I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel Heb. 8.8 And verse 13. In that he saith a new covenant he hath made the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away So then it is not according to the old covenant But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes faith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall teach no more every man his brother and every man his neighbour saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sin no more This is the new covenant and this is a glorious new covenant indeed And should I here go about to hold forth the glory of it though but in some perticulars and shew wherein it excels the former covenant having that in it which never any former covenant had this beings new covenant It would swell into a large volume but because I am but answering of this quaeric Whether the Law were given for a Rule I shall here speak but to that onely thus that it was unto the Israelites before the comming of Christ for they were then under that covenant though now God hath made 3 new covenant with his people and they are not under the old that being as the Holy Ghost sayes vanished away and so all that are in Christ Jesus are under a new covenant according to which they are to walk which comes nothing short of but farre exceeds in holinesse and spiritualitie the old covenant and as many as walk according to this rule of the new covenant in Christ Jesus peace be on them and mercy and upon all the Israel of God But this let me adde That though the Saints be now freed from that
Law yet they being spirituall see a spirituall beautie and glory in it they see it is holy and just and pure they see the Characters of the glory of God upon it and cannot have slight and undervalewing thoughts of it as the manner of some is though they are not to have over-valewing thoughts as to think to be justified thereby or to think they are to walk no further then that rule for justification this I say they cannot do for the spirit in the Gospell leades them further then the Law yea it leades them to serve in the newnesse of the spirit and not in the oldnesse of the Letter that the Law might be fulfilled in a spirituall maner though they are not to tye themselves to that only but to go further yet what is there in the law that the Spirit in the Gospell doth not spiritually hold forth Either in the ten Commandements or all those other Statutes and judgments and ordinances given to them of old I say what is there which is not spiritually held forth in the Gospell Though not in the outward Letter Although the Saints do not now nor are now to fulfill it in the Letter as I might instance in circumcision and many other things yet all these things are to be fullfild spiritually in them And thus though the Saints are freed from the Law yet they are to walk by a higher rule and a higher Law the Law of the Spirit and he is a pure and a sure guide And he that hath not the Spirit for his guide he knowes not what it is to be united to the Lord Jesus for he that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his and as many as are led by the spirit of God are the sonnes of God and iâ— is the spirit of God indeed that leades the Saints into all truth That Spirit that comes from God leades them up to God And thus have I briefly answered this quaery and showed by comparing the two covenants together that the Saints are free from the Law and that they are not under that covenant for for that is made old c. So that they are not First under the condemning power Nor secondly are they to seek to be justified by the workes of it Nor thirdly are they to take the Law as it lyeth in the Letter Rom. 7. in all the parts of it as a rule to walk by But heer lest I should be mistaken by any slight or vain spirits who may be apt to conclude that the Law is utterly to be cast aside now and is no more to be lookt upon but they may live as they list I must further declare that though beleevers are now free from the condemnation of the Law and though they are not to take the whole Law as it lyeth in the Letter of it to be the rule of life as was the Pharisaicall and now is the Popish manner yet this Law is still to be taken as a rule as it is in the spirit or as it is held forth in the Gospell For as I said before the Law is spiritually held forth in the Gospell And so not onely the ten Precepts is to be taken as a Rule and is morall but other Lawes besides them which were given with the ten Precepts are rules for Saints now and are morall also because the Gospel holds them forth also As for instance that Law of doing good to our Enemies Exod. 23.4 5. and that Law that forbids oppression of the poore and of the Widdow the fatherlesse children and of the stranger Exod. 22.22 23 24 and 23.9 As also that of keeping just weights and just ballances and that of reverencing the ancient and the gray head c. These and others are I say morall as well as the ten Precepts because they are helâ— forth in the Gospell and therefore are they rules by which Saints are strictly injoyned to walk by In a word all that which is written in the Law and the Prophets is freely and fully and sweetly to be embraced and practised by all beleevers as the Gospell holds it forth And doubtlesse the Spirit of Christ doth lead those that are his so to do whatsoever the practises of others are But now on the other side I would not have any to think that those other lawes which are abolished in the Gospell I mean in the outward litterall observation of them as those typicall Ceremoniall and Leviticall lawes are to be in the least practised by Beleevers now but we are to receive all laws from the hand of Christ now and not from the hand of Moses As the Lord Iesus now hath explained them himself and by his spirit in his servants in the Gospell and not as Moses laid them down And thus much in answer c. Now by this time wee see this truth cleere That the Saints have obtained a freedome from the Law by the law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus And it comes now to bee applied in severall uses and it is of use to both those two sorts of people which doe divide the world Those that walke after the flesh and those that walke after the Spirit First those that walke after the flesh And 1. Vse To rebuke and admonish those which really are Antinomians against the Law and would make voide the Law Vse 1 IN the first here is a word of reprehension to those that having a loose and carnall spirit do contemne and despise the Law upon this consideration because they heare that in the Gospel it is the priviledge of the Saints that they are not under the Law but under Grace therefore doe these men turne the Grace of God into wantonnes take libertie in waies of licenciousnesse as though they might live as they list turning the Glory of God against the Glory of God The Glory of his Grace against the Glory of his Holinesse and of such the Apostele speakes for there were such also in his time Jude 1.4 And he saies they are ungodly men turning the grace of God into wantonnesse and denying saies he the onely Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ And truely they may well be said to denie the Lord Jesus For were the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ within it would fulfill in them the righteousnesse of the Law and they would now serve though not in the oldnesse of the letter yet in the newnesse of the Spirit Their spirits would be carried out into a conformitie to Jesus Christ and the Glorious Image of God would bâ— renewed in them in a word they would be a new creature If any man be in Christ he is a new crature A new creature What is a new creature You may the better know it if you look upon its contrary The old man which the Apostle describes Ephes 4.22 Put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts Now if the Old man be corrupt and deceitfull the new creature