concernments is much pleased with them that after a little pain and patience there may be the greater indulgence unto carnal things for which they quickly hope for expiation by carnal sufferings A great cheat in carnal Religion Thus the outward man is much pleased 1. With the History of the Cross of Christ 2. With the pictures of the Cross of Christ and sheds many a melting tear at the actings of this Tragedy 3. With Whippings Fasting Sackcloth Pilgrimages c. Col. 2.18.23 A voluntary humility a shew of wisdom in Will-worship and humility in neglecting of the body and not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh 2. The Inward Cross is the power and virtue of Christ's death the spirit of Mortification and Self-denial the Spirit the Inward Man is much delighted with these exercises of the Spirit the Mystery of Christ's Cross the Memory and Love of Christ crucified the Joy and patience of suffering for Christ 2. The Effect of the Cross Crucifixion Effect of Cross Crucifixion Procured by Outward Cross which is 1. Procured and merited for us by the outward Cross and Passion Sacrifice and Oblation of Christ for us By these is Salvation from the victory of Sin Death and Hell all conquered by Christ Propitiation and Attonement made Security from the barr of Justice that Scopulus Reorum and Curse of Law Solus calcavit Torcular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ trod the Wine press of God's wrath alone no Angel nor Man to help him He left nothing undone that he might be the Author and Finisher of our Salvation and was made perfect through sufferings 2. Wrought and effected to us and in us by the Inward Cross and Passion of Christ sacrificed and offered in us This is the spirit and power of his death the virtue of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings Philosophy 1. Philosophy did combate much with sin Vertue kills Vice Reason destroys Passion Brave Seneca cries out like a Christian O when shall I see the day when all my Passions shall be subdued and that I shall say Vici I have overcome them Christianity 2. Christianity much more more than Conquerors I thank God through Jesus Christ Thanks be to God which hath given us Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Only be valiant and of a good courage Flie from sin as from a serpent resist the Devil and he will flie from you stand still and see the salvation of God This power of the Cross will do our work for us and in us this death destroys death this is to conquer by suffering Depressu Resurgo the more kept down the more we rise A Divine virtue in Christ's sufferings a great conquest made by the Son of God in his own person for us in our persons for our selves under him and by him From hence we have power to conquer Sin Law Satan Death I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Hence we overcome the world are dead unto it using the world as if we used it not this is our victory even our Faith this is Self-denial Mortification Crucifixion with Christ Regeneration a New Creature Thus Christ hath redeemed us from all iniquity and purified to himself a people zealous of Good works perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord that they might obtain an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Christ Jesus It is not therefore good to glory in Carnal things such as Eloquence Wit Beauty Health Honour Riches c. It is not good to glory in Carnal Religion such as are 1. Ceremonies Judaical or Heathenish 2. Ordinances Opus operatum Prayers Fastings Hearings c. It is good to glory in Spiritual things such as are Faith Love Hope Patience Joy Peace Rejoyce in the Lord evermore and again I say rejoyce But this is counted no Joy but Melancholy or Religious Madness in Sequestrations from worldly Policies and Glories and Conversation wit God and our own Souls The gaieties of this world affect the senses and they are counted little better than stark Fools that prefer undiscerned contentations of the spirit before them When Paulinus a Young Noble Man and Senatour of Rome renounced the World and became a Christian the whole City wondred at it and all the Wits jear'd at his retirement from the splendour of the Court What a Gallant so young ex illâ formâ ex illâ prosapiâ illâ indole so beautiful of such a family and of such ingenuity and leave all his companions and pleasures Such men are counted mad men and weary of their lives scorning the delights of Nature Paula and Melania two Noble Ladies left their honours and estates for the Cross This was presently Table-talk for all Rome St. Paul so noble so learned so honour'd as he was counted all but Loss and Dung to gain Christ was as a man crucified and dead unto the world the world had no favour for him nor he for the world so is a Christian not of this world dead to it looks to higher things As the Jews had no dealing with the Samaritans so Christians have not their conversation with the world As a man Proscribed is pursued from place to place hiding his head so is a Christian As a Woman divorced from the Bed and Board of her Husband lives still in the family walks up and down like a shadow hath food and clothing only upon courtesie but no countenance from her Husband nor respect from her children nor command over her servants So are those that take up the Cross of Christ and follow him Cast therefore your eye once more upon this great Mediator in all his Transactions Here 's a Conception Birth Life Cross Death Here 's a Resurrection Ascention Entrance and Oblation in the Holy Place Session and Intercession And what a coming to Judgment will that be at the Last Day How is all this apprehended Why was all this Action and Passion Shame and Glory Was not a Deity offended and thereby appeased How Affected what Joy what Sorrow what Hope what Faith what Obedience what Thankfulness what Love what Oblation of all that we are and have and all nothing to what is due from us but is all accepted of God More would a Soul inflamed with divine love do or suffer She cannot do what she would but she will do what she can and throw her self into the arms of her dear Lord praying him to accept her as she is and make her such as he would have her for to be for his own great Mercies sake I. Christ the true Sacrifi◠and Priest Christ therefore is the Absolute and true Sacrificer and Sacrifice in se per se in himself and by himself 1. Because he only perfectly pleased God This is my Well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased He only was without sin he only fulfilled the Will of his Father 2. Because he only is the cause of all our
can possibly be reckoned or accounted from another Man as that the use-fruit or propriety thereof should belong to me and no other No right can be imputed or reckoned to any Man's Virtues or vices which are the qualities and habits of his Soul no more than the temper features or proportion of his Body can be accounted to another But Rights adherent unto things to have use and enjoy them may and are with very good reason accounted and reckoned unto such or such Persons As by Birth Labour Purchase Donation or Usuâ—apion are qualified for them The summe is God by his Promise counted to Abraham a right not for his Birth generous nor for his Works righteous but for his acceptation of Faith Jus fidei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ro. 4.11 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ro. 9.30 Faith-right is opposed to Birth-right Work-right Purchase-right Gift-right or any other Right To all Rights Accounting is the common Genus that is to the species of justifying or condemning Rights for both these are acts of accounting either to justify Men to some good by giving to them a reward or to condemn Men to some evil by inflicting on them some punishment or taking their Rights away and laying contrary hardships upon them SECT VI. Reason 4. Abraham was legally and morally righteous before he believed the Promise and yet he was not justified by that Righteousness But when once the Promise was made by God and accepted by Abraham then was created unto him a Right which he never had nor could have before to a numberless Issue and plentiful Inheritance to an Alliance and Friendship with God and to an exceeding great reward which he had not here And therefore he looked for a City whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11.10 And he desired a better Countrey than the Land of Canaan was even a Heavenly And so did the Patriarchs who had not their portion in this life Heb. 11.16 but wandered up and down in Deserts and in Mountains and in Caves of the Earth clothed with sheep skins and Goatskins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy wherefore God was not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City and he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living I conclude therefore as far as I am able to conceive being ready to learn better that all Rights that do arise unto any Person from a promise are convey'd to that Person by his Faith or which is all one his Faith is reckoned unto him to be the means to give him Right to the thing promised and be he never so Righteous or Holy otherwise this is not nor cannot be imputed or reckoned to him to give him any Right as to God and his Rewards but Faith only Hitherto hath been treated the Righteousness of Man which is the stream now in humility I approach to God who is the Fountain from which all Righteousness is derived SECT VII God is only Righteous yea Righteousness it self There is none good but God who hath all Right and doth all Right God Righteous All that have Right and do all right both have it and do it from God they are of God and do the works of God that have any jural or legal or do any moral Righteousness Satan only is unrighteous and wickedness it self not having any jural or legal nor doing any moral Righteousness he hath no right and doth all wrong All that are unrighteous have it and do it from Satan As to have no good by Jural Righteousness and to do no good by Moral Righteousness Ye are of your Father the Devil because you do the works of your Father All Righteousness of God is by Faith and all unrighteousness of Satan is by infidelity SECT VIII 1. God is Legally Righteous the Fountain of Law and Justice Legally The Judgment is Gods he sitteth amongst Princes The Judg of all the World must needs do right Just and true are thy waies O King of Saints that thou mightst be justified when thou speakest Ps 51.4 and clear when thou judgest SECT IX 2. God is Morally Righteous the Fountain of Mercy and Pity Morally whose Mercies are above all his works He doth abundantly pardon and pass by iniquities transgressions and sins and remembers them no more SECT X. Jurally 3. God is Jurally Righteous the Fountain of all Lordship and Dominion that hath the Allodium the absolute direct soveraign Dominion of the whole world over all owners Lords and Kings by right of Creation all other Lords holding of him and he only of himself To Mankind God hath granted the utile Dominium the Usufruct and Emphyteusis of the World in fee under him and they performing the condition of Faith Homage and Allegiance to him their Liege Lord upon them he hath setled the Heavenly Inheritance And for the better Conveyance and assurance of this settlement God after the manner of Men ordained his last Will and Testament and confirmes it by the death of Jesus Christ that it might never be revoked and disannulled and justifies them to all the Rights and Legacies therein contained by the Title of their Faith Transition of which Justification we come now to speak in its proper place The Third BOOK OF JUSTIFICATION The CONTENTS The Term Justify Accounting Synonyma Bondage Freedom Burden Corporation Other names TITLE I. Of the Name of Justification THE Term Justifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies three things Term. 1. To make upright 2 To make kind 3. To make a proprietary or owner two waies 1. Declaratively by Sentence in Judgment to do Men right not to justifie the wicked The doers of the Law shall be justified Rom. 2.13 2. Efficiently by free donation i. e. to be Jurified 1. Procreantly My righteous Servant shall justifie many i. e. shall give them a right By the obedience of one many are made righteous 3. Conservantly to hold right Thus Abraham was justified by works after he was justified and created righteous by Faith Ja. 2.24 25. For by works a Man is justified and not by Faith only So Rahab was justified by her works Faith gives right works declare and keep right Works are a sign to shew Faith and a cause to conserve Faith from being a dead Faith The Term Justifie and Justified in English is a Latinisme in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ro. 5.19 made Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Constituted just in French Rendred just To Justifie is to declare a Man guiltless or to pardon and give him a right to have and to hold all those rights whereof condemnation would deprive him Ps 82.3 should Sentence of Law be given against him Defend the poor and Fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy The Latin saith Humilem pauperem justificate Justifie the oppressed and poor vulgar English
to death with pains and care in them But the Spiritual Souldier under Christs Banner aims at glorious things and goes on to perfection He looks beyond the gayeties and anxieties of this Life at the mark of the price of the high Calling which is laid up for him in Christ Jesus and having an eye to the recompense of the Reward and a hope of a glorious and blessed immortality he is contented to endure the Crosses and despise the shames of this World and purifies himself and is zealous of good works perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord that he may obtain an inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith which is in Christ Jesus To the King alone the faithful make all their Prayers not to the Saints their Brethren beneficiaries and fellow Servants under one Master and Benefactor They can merit nothing at their Lord's hands for they are Clients and Beneficiaries depending wholly upon his Grace and Favour They are all of the same Mind and of the same Spirit The Lord loves his Vassal and the Vassal his Lord. Thus all Feudal Rights are retained till there be a Desertio militiae a laying down Arms or unthankfulness and Rebellion in the case Thus Feudataries are all the Children of their Liege Lord not by Nature but by Grace they are all Filii-familias and heirs of his Estate Thus the Feudatary Brethren are all initiated into the Fee of their Lord by a Sacramental Oath and holy Covenant of Baptism Thus they commemorate the bounty of their Lord and Father by the Sacrament of the Holy Supper They eat the same Spiritual Bread and drink the same Spiritual Wine Thus they entertain one another not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness for Souldiers must be temperate in all things but in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in feasts of Love and Charity Thus they as Souldiers are not entangled with the affairs of this Life but use their Benefices as not abusing them being alwaies watchful and standing upon their guard to keep out Satan and to bruise him under every one of their feet Thus Christ hath purchased Blessedness by conquering Sin Law Satan so that all Salvation and Happiness is his who is the only Saviour of Mankind And therefore all that have right and do hold it to Blessedness have it and hold it of him who alone hath purchased it for them by the price of his precious Bloud by the Conquest of his death For there is no other name given under Heaven whereby we can be saved but only by the Name of Jesus Who is then the Lord Head of the Church but Christ What are Saints or Angels They have all from Christ as we and are our fellow Servants and Brethren partakers of the same Grace and therefore they have merited nothing for us nor can they help us nor may we seek to them for help but with them go to Christ for the participation of the common Salvation had and held by the same Right and Title of Faith and Love till we come to be perfect and receive the inheritance with them which is laid up for us eternal in the Heavens Though all Feudataries are alike usufructuaries only and have and hold of the same Liege Lord in the same Tenure yet some are Royal and Sacerdotal Dignitaries others inferior Titularies So Kings hold next and immediately under God of Christ their King by whom Kings reign and Princes decree justice And Priests hold from Christ the Great High Priest and Bishop of our Souls And Subjects hold under their Kings and Priests who rule them in Temporals and Spiri uals by Jurisdiction received from the Supreme Power of Christ who is the first born of God and higher than the Kings of the Earth and the Great High Priest by whom we are made both Kings and Priests He that is imploy'd in another Man's Estate must be called to an accompt so must we by Christ be called to an accompt at the last day for our Stewardship of the goods of God Conclusion Thus we know in part what God is Thus we know what we are Thus the Servant may not be above his Master Thus we are safe under God's Dominion Thus we shall want for nothing that is good That we may alwaies love serve honour and praise our Benefactor from whom we have our Being on whom we do depend by whom we shall be rewarded with an everlasting Well-Being to whom be all honour and glory World without end ☞ Note that Parables afford not correspondencies in every point the intent and scope of them only is argumentative Parables not on all four we may not strain the similitude to every period which runs not upon all four Object Some may rise up against this Doctrine in fury and say God's waies are not like new waies they are of another Fashion Answ By such general Notions many abuse the Scriptures and the mind of God deceiving themselves as here God's waies and the reasons of his workings are not so well known as Man's waies but yet they are alwaies just so are not Mens waies Yet God's waies may be like unto Mens waies and Mens waies may be like unto God's waies when they are just yet not for the exactness and degree of Justice or Mercy or for the Notoriety of the reasons of them both Justice and Mercy though infinitely more in God than in Man yet they are of the same species Justice is Justice and Mercy is Mercy more or less whether they be in God or Man and so Reason is Reason and Wisedom is Wisedom whether they be in God or Man And what hinders for all this disproportion but that there may be a form of Government amongst Men resembling though infinitely short the Government of God's Church and Kingdom SECT XVI Tenure of Fealty the best Take one impartial view more of this Tenure of Fealty obliging 1. The Lord to love and protect the Vassal in his Rights that is to be a Father and Patron unto him 2. The Vassal to love honour reverence and obey his Lord with all possible kindness as his Child Pupil Client and Beneficiary that hath all he hath from his goodness I say then that this Tenure of Fealty and love though invented by Heathens came by instinct from God and is the pattern of his Fatherly goodness And the obedience and love so exactly performed by them is the lively character of the obedience and love of the Church and a shame to us Christians that come so far short of Heathens in this particular And though originally by their customs derived to us we hold as they did from one Lord yet we have forgot the allegiance which by the same Laws we are sworn to perform as they did What more excellent way could be thought of than this to keep a Kingdom in peace plenty and love when Subjects shall be all Tenants to one Liege Lord and the inferior Lords as Petty-kings
more Persons which are but two Parties for something to be had or done For when one Person or Party frames his or their will or wills to the will or wills of another person or party such a mutual agreement of Wills is a Covenant So by the agreement of the Peoples will unto Gods will at Mount Sinai the Precepts Penalties and Promises of the Decalogue are framed into a Covenant severally and joyntly between God and the People Gods Will is for the Precepts that the People should observe them Precept framing their wills to his will and so the Precept becomes a Covenant Gods Will is for the Penalties Penalty that the People should endure them in case they should transgress the Precepts To this Will of God the People agree and so the Penalties become a Covenant Gods Will is for the Promises that the People should enjoy them Promises in case they observe the Precepts To this VVill of God the People agree by accepting the Promises and so the Promise becomes a Covenant v. Ex. 19.5 8. Ex. 34.10 Deut. 4.1 13 23. Deut. 5.2 3. Some Covenants are Personal and some pass into Succession as this of Gods Covenanting in both his Testaments to us and to our Seed or rather to Christ and to his Seed It is a great grace and favour to make a Testament Free Grace and therein a bequest of temporal and eternal Inheritances to such as had no hopes nor used any means by themselves or others for the procuring of the said grace which therefore was absolutely free But besides this original Grace here is a farther condescension in God that gives it to make a Covenant with them to whom he gives it So God Covenants with his Creatures as a King with his Subjects and a Father with his Children or a Lord with his Vassals to do them good Thus God is every way good and gracious in both his Testaments and Covenants as a Testatour and Donor in his Promises and as an Ally and Confederate in his Propositions and Conditions From both which Promises and Commands of God giving to All Hope from Gods Covenant and Covenanting with Mankind Mankind doth derive all their Comforts and Assurances especially for eternal blessedness And without these by their Creation or otherwise they could have no right title nor claim to the Inheritance of eternal life which only comes by promise and gift upon condition or covenant Thus God is and must be our God by Creation whether we will or no God our God by Covenant but he cannot be our God by grace and favour without our consent to his Covenant This lifts the Creature up to nearer Relation to its Creatour for life eternal which nature could not do Covenant advances the Creatures above Nature because a Creature is of its own nature frail and finite therefore cannot be eternal which is impregnable and infinite and also because let the Creature serve God all it can it cannot merit eternal life because it is Gods Creature and owns a duty to its Creatour and does no more than it ought to do But when Grace comes and proffers Blessedness to which the Party to whom it is proffered Mankind may have a right if they will accept of the Promise and keep that Right so had and obtained by obeying the Covenant or Condition or Command annexed to the Promise Then is the poor Creature nearly allyed to his God as his Son by Adoption and Heir also of the gift of the Inheritance and as his Friend in intimate communion and society with him by Covenant or Agreement of will to accept of what he hath given him and do what he hath commanded him The CONTENTS To give ones self to God To give our Souls to the Devil Claim by Covenant TITLE II. Of a Covenant with God Of a Covenant with God NOw to be in Covenant with God is this To give a mans self Soul and Body to God to be his propriety We are Gods Propriety already passively but being reasonable Creatures we may by act of our own from Gods grace so enabling us give our selves to God again for his propriety As he hath given us to our selves To give ones self to God and for his own so we give our selves again to him to be his own by our own consents A Captive is his who hath redeemed him whether he will or no but if he give himself freely to him this is a more special interest between both Parties and proceeds from the love of the Redeemed to him that did redeem him who therefore first loved him that he might love him again and be in League with him as his Friend as well as Servant yea as his Son and Heir To give all the powers and faculties of our selves i. e. of our Souls and Bodies for the usufruct and service of God To give all our Honours and Estates for Gods glory This must of necessity follow from a deed or gift of Propriety to him with whom we are also in League that this Gift of our selves should be for the use and behoof of him to whom we give our selves and all that we are or have or shall have As Slaves that are bought with mony are their Lords goods for Propriety and Dominion so also for Interest and Profit their wit their strength and labour and all the products and issues of them all internal or external accrue to their Lord that is their Ingenuities plots and contrivances their Off-spring of their Bodies the works of their hands they being not their own themselves all that they have contrive or do acquire by most just right is claimed by their Lord and Owner They were Lords of their own wills before and free in Soul though not in Body But if they shall farther surrender up as they have their Persons by act of their own so also their Wits and Wills and all their strengths to their Lord and Master who was so before and make him their Lord and Master again by their own Love yea even their King and Father this creates a special Right more excellent than the former to all intents and purposes of love and kindness and profit too to the Inferiour especially who is the Beneficiary the Superiour being the Benefactour and Patron Thus by Covenant we give our Persons our Wits our Children or Labours and Possessions unto God who hath so graciously given himself also for our Propriety to be our God besides his Creation by an act of Grace of his own superadded as also to our usufruct in all his actings and operations and also in all his estate and blessedness All which are Himself made ours altogether to our benefit and nothing at all accrues from us to his advantage as is usual to Temporal Lords Friends and Allies This it is to be in Covenant with God when God gives himself to us and we give our selves again unto God And this is the nature of true
strengthned and enlarged to all those Precepts which are Positively commanded by Christ under the Gospel as the Perfection of the Law of Nature generally propounded to all mankind for Salvation and are therefore stiled a New Law Eternal Heb. 9.10 whereas the Old Law was to hold but till the time of Reformation 27. That this Dispensation by which the Fathers obtained Salvation before the Gospel was granted to them in consideration of that obedience which our Lord Christ had taken upon him to perform in the fulness of Time by a kind of Novation as the Civilians speak or Delegation or Renewing of Bonds or Assignation of Payments God accepting the interposition of Christs Satisfaction by way of Acceptilation for the Reconcilement of them and the Payment of their Debts 28. That this the New Testament doth manifest for the reason of the Salvation of those that died under the Old Testament 1 Cor. 10.1 c. I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren that our Fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the Sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same Spiritual meat and all drank the same Spiritual drink for they all drank of the same Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ 29. That they therefore that entred into a Covenant of Works to obtain the Lord of Promise as they did cannot be said to have entred expressly into a Covenant of Faith in Christ for obtaining the World to come No more than being baptized into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea as they were that is into his Government into the observation of the Laws he should give in hope of the Promises he should give they can be said to have been baptized expressly into Christ and that profession which his Promises require Wherefore when he saith that the Rock was Christ his meaning is not immediately Christ and so to those that rested wholly in that Temporal Covenant of Works But as the Manna was Christ and Moses was Christ by the means of that Faith which then God received at their hands to wit the Assurance of everlasting happiness for them who under this Calling should as they were able sincerely tender unto God the Spiritual obedience of the Inward man not expressed but implied as well as the Carnal obedience of the outward man expressed upon those grounds which his Temporal goodness the Tradition of their Fathers and the Instruction of the Prophets afforded at that time Now I appeal to the sense of all Discerning men how they can be said to have that Interest in Christ which Christians have and therefore upon the same ground if there were no consideration of Christ in the blessings of Christ which they enjoyed Wherefore they are said also to tempt Christ who went along with them in that Angel in whom the Name of God and his Word was for the Land of Canaan and for Heaven too though they knew not that Christ nor Heaven distinctly Heb. 11.26 Heb. 13.8 So Moses counted the Reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt for he looked at the Recompence of the Reward For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever St. Peter saith that the Prophets who foretold the Gospel searched diligently against what time the Spirit of Christ which was in them 1 Pet. 1.10 declared and testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glorious things that followed St. Paul saith that all Gods Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 Therefore there must be a Consideration of Christ in those Promises though covertly to them who under such Promises as they had did run the same Race which Christians have set before them And when St. Paul saith As by Adam all die Ro. 5.12.19 even so in Christ the second Adam shall all be made alive And by one man Sin entred into the World and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned And if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many For as by one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners So by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous It is evident that those and all other Benefits not only to the Israelites but to all that feared God and worshipped him did redound to them upon the consideration and account of Christ For there is no other name under Heaven given unto men whereby they can be saved but only by the Name of Christ And God is the great Benefactor and exceeding great Rewarder only in and for Christ So Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant That Death coming Heb. 9.15 for the ransome of those Transgressions which were under the old they that are called may receive the Promise of an everlasting inheritance Because those Sins which were redeemed only to a temporal effect by the Sacrifices of the Old Law as also those which were not redeemed at all by any Propitiation then were all by the Sacrifice of Christ redeemed to the purchase of the World to come Which is that which St. Paul saith that through Christ every one that believeth is justified from all those sins from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.29 For as the Law did not expiate Capital Offences so it expiated none but to the Effect of a Civil Promise Apoc. 13.8 30. That whereas mention is made of Names not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world We may not inferr safely that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world but was predestinated to be slain and his Death was virtual to all the faithful ever since the foundation of the world whose names were written under that Appellative in that book of Life of the Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 20. Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times When Moses demands to be blotted out of Gods Book what can it be but the book of Christ in a Mystical sense And when St. Paul saith that Christ gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.6 to be testified in due time what can be meant but that though he gave himself for all yet this was not to be testified till the proper time of the preaching of the Gospel yet he was a Ransom for all before And whereas the Author to the Hebrews argues strongly That if Christ should offer himself more than once Heb. 9.25 26. that then he might more than once have entred into the Holy of Holies and so must have suffered more than once from the foundation of the World that is before the end of the World he must needs suppose that he
is my Spiritual will In allowing the Brute to rule over the Angel the Slave to domineer over the Master In hurrying my self headlong into Sin and Death when I should and could advance my self unto Righteousness and Life What course shall I take to change my condition for a better shall I alwaies be a Slave and know it and never seek to help it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this bondage shall I alwaies be a dying till I die everlastingly and know it and never seek to help it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Oh I have found out a Remedy The Law of God in it self does not do it but the Grace of God which is above the Law can do it Grace a sole Remedy The law of my Mind cannot do it but the Grace of God which is above the Law can do it and faith in the Promises of Grace to keep Covenant with God is God's instrument in my mind to do it And by this Grace and by this Faith I am saved and not by the Law nor by Works And I can do all things by my Faith through this Grace of God that strengthens me and I thank God for this Grace which is sufficient for me and for this victory by Grace through our Lord Jesus Christ SECTION 2. By all bad Law II. By all bad Laws A bad Law does not deceive as bad but under the notion of a good Law Evil in it self is ugly and therefore frightful and therefore abhorred and shunned but when the faces of Good is dawbed upon it then poor ignorant Souls are cheated by it A lively Bait hides the deadly Hook Thus there are Statuets of Omri The stool of Wickedness that establisheth mischief by a Law Am. 5.7 that decrees unrighteous decrees and writes grievous things that turns Judgment to wormwood that turns Judgment away backward Is 59.14 and forceth Justice to stand afar off Making Truth to fall in the streets and not suffering Equity to enter So that he that departeth from evil must make himself a prey There are Laws of Rebellion Oaths Covenants and Leagues against the Powers and Lives of Princes called Holy God's Cause the setting of Christ upon his Throne under the specious Pretences of Liberty the Children of Disobedience rise up against their Lawful Superiors call themselves Saints and the sober part of the Nation and make themselves and others more sinful and miserable Private Laws and Orders made by Subjects without the stamp of Authority are of force and credit to call forth private men out of their houses into the high Places of the field and from handling the Ax and Hammer nay the Plow and Spade to brandish the Sword of War and traverse the Instruments of death in the field and upon the mighty Waters A pitiful Injunction of a sneaking Fryer shall prevail with a wise and brave Fellow to strip himself of his Tissues and rub himself in hair and course Sacking and to plow upon his own back long Furrows like a fool with whips of Scorpions to pine himself to a Skeleton to hurt his bare feet upon the stones and in the Ice and Snow upon a Pilgrimage to I know not who And when he dyes to forget his poor dearest and nearest Relations and give all that he hath to a company of cheating lazy Lubbards that will promise to redeem his Soul from roasting in Purgatory and laugh heartily in their Sleeves to see his Heirs wiped out of all when he is dead and gone And what Law of God hath required these things at any man's hands There is a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels and of Saints under a great Shew of Devotion against all Devotion The Law against Law and Schools and Learning makes me hate all Pen-and-Ink-horn-men all Princes Priests Lawyers Magistrates and Scholars There are Preachings against Preachings Prayings against Prayings preaching and praying by the Spirit extempore against both these by premeditation Prophets prophesie falsly they dawb with untempered Morter they preach pleasing things smooth things words of deceit The Prophet is a fool and the Spiritual man is mad The blind lead the blind and the People will be deceived and make much of them that cause them to erre and love to have it so There are Laws for Fornication Adultery Incest Plunder Piracy Sacriledge and all Villanies but above all to do the highest pieces of Injustice under the solemn forms of Justice and to wash their hands and wipe their mouths and protest their Innocency and their Piety too that they do it for good There are Laws among Thieves and Robbers and all unlawful Societies Cateline drinks Blood and makes the Conspiratours pledge him The Jews bound themselves with an Oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul The Invasion of 88 the Gunpowder Treason the Holy War the Holy League the Sicilian Evensong the Massacre of Paris and of the Albigenses the Rebellions in Germany France Flanders Scotland Ireland but especially in England for twenty years were all by the Covenants and Oaths of a godly Party for Religion for Laws when against Religion and all Laws so true is that saying Omne malum in nomine Dei If there chance to be a flaw in any Statute or a contrariety between Law and Law we can take occasion quickly to justifie our Transgressions thereby A cunning Lawyer will pick out enough Law to overthrow many good Laws Who so nice in the Law as those that break Law and yet study how to evade the penalty of Law by Prohibitions from Process in Courts Christian by Protections by Prerogatives How many by strictness of Law against Rogues and Vagabonds break all Laws of Charity In a word How do men study and take pains to deceive themselves and that by the Law too which is good and should guide them into good and by Laws which are bad to justifie them to some purpose in their ungodly deeds SECTION III. By one Law in the same Law 3. By one Law in the same Law There may be one Clause in Law which may deceive me in another Clause of the same Law because Words and Idioms of speech are full of various ambiguities When the Grammar or Common sense of the words of a Law suffice not to interpret the meaning of a Law Words and sense of Law then that is taken for the true meaning of the words of a Law that tends to the doing of the works of the Law As for instance The Law of Sicily forbad their Priests to resign their Benefices to their Sons Now Instances two Priests of Panormo agreed interchangeably to resign their respective Livings to each others Son So they kept the words of the Law but hindred the Law of its true end and so sinned against the meaning and mind of the Law which was that no Priest should resign his Benefice to the
Rebellion by providing for my Family I am deceived in Covetousness Extortion because I am a Gentleman I must not starve therefore I will take a Purse upon the High-way because I have a Wife and many Children and poor Kinred to maintain therefore I will gripe and grind the faces of the Poor and take all the unjust courses I can by a Community I am deceived in levelling and denying all Propriety and Superiority 5. By a pretended Law of God in a certain Law of Man Instances 5. By a pretended Law of God I am deceived in a certain Law of Man As by the Jewish Ceremonial and Judicial Laws now abolished which were once established by God I would have Adultery to be death and Theft punished only by Restitution a Tooth for a Tooth c. By Dominion pretended to be founded upon Grace I would deny all legal Propriety and none but the Babes of Grace should have right to any of the Creatures By imagination of Christ's reigning a Thousand years upon Earth I would destroy all the wicked in the World by Community of all things I deny the Propriety in any thing by God's seeing no sin in his Children I affirm they sin not at all or most of all and yet shall never be punished by the work of Grace irresistibly and absolute Assurances of salvation I presume to run on in wickedness till God call me and to be free from all doubts and fears 6. By a private Law in a publick Law Instances 6. By a private Law I am deceived in a publick Law I will be true to my Neighbour but false to the State I will sell cheaper than others on purpose to engross all the trade to my self and cheat so much the more those that I employ to work under me I will tithe Mint and Cummin and devour Kings Priests Widows and Orphans houses I will be quiet at home and factious and tumultuous in the Church and State an Angel in the Church and a Devil in my House I will use private Prayers by the Spirit and Fast and Preach in close Conventicles and despise publick Set-forms of Prayer and Fastings and Sermons in the open Church 7. By the Moral Law in the Ceremonial Law Instance 7. By the Moral Law I am deceived in the Ceremonial Law Because of Spiritual worship I will endure no Bodily worship because I may worship God in every place I will not worship him in a Set-place commanded because I must serve God every day I will observe no Holydaies 8. By the Ceremonial Law in the Moral Law Instance 8. By the Ceremonial Law I am deceived in the Moral Law Because I worship God in External forms I will not be careful of the sincere worship of my heart If I am baptized and receive the Sacrament and pray and fast and give Alms I will trust to the opus operatum the work done I will draw near to God with my lips when my heart is after my Covetousness SECTION V. 5. By one Law in all other Laws Instances V. By one Law in all other Laws By the Law of Zeal I would be quite lawless I would be as Elias Phinehas the Maccabees the Jewish Zealots the Stoicks the Roman Tribunes the Lacedemonian Ephori like Tully Demosthenes the factious Oratours and Poets the Oracles and Soothsayers kill steal lie flatter or do any thing as if by divine impulse break through all Laws for the glory of God and the good of the Commonwealth I would as Jehu drive furiously kill and slay and rob a Kingdom and say Come see my zeal for the Lord. I would like Brutus Cassius Cateline Sylla Marius Mauritius Phocas Ravilliac Massenello Cromwell Bradshaw c. banish proscribe murder massacre assassinate Kings Nobles Priests or People for God's Cause or my Countrie 's good I would preach Christ and persecute his Members I would propagate Religion by the Sword as the Turks do and say the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon and write upon my Sword Holiness to the Lord and cry cursed is he that witholdeth his hand from blood and doth the Work of the Lord negligently And curse ye Meroz curse ye bitterly those that come not to the help of the Lord against the Mighty This is the Zeal that sets the World on fire these are the daring men that have their Fates written in their Foreheads that are canonized for Saints and dye the Martyrs of Jesus or Mahomet and are called of God to be his Executioners to destroy all the wicked of the World to ride up to the Horse bridles in blood to carry all clear before them possess and rule all the Earth and after all mount up to rights into Celestial Mansions Cavete Principes Sacerdotes Nobiles c. My Zeal to Rome makes me cross the Law Temporal my Zeal to Geneva the Law Ecclesiastical and make them Ropes of Sand. This is the Hercules that clears the Augaean stable the St. George and Amadis de Gall that rids the World of Monsters and relieves all distressed Souls These sight the Lords Battels these are the Favourites and Darlings of Heaven and the Jewels of the Earth these are taught of God by the Impulse of the Spirit seeking God and finding Kingdoms these have signal Victoies and are as signally destroyed as ever that Egyptian Theudos the Gaulonite Moses Barchochebas David George John of Leyden Knipperdolling and Cromwell were By this Law I will outlaw the Law maintain and make the King a Subject My care of the Clergy and consistory would subordinate the Prince to the Priest and my love to the Lay-Presbytery would make Princes truckle under the People Iterum atque iterum cavetè Principes By this Law I walk alone in the pride and loftiness of my spirit By virtue of my zeal for the Lord of Hosts I am above all Laws I tread upon the necks of Kings and trample Lions under my feet Nay I sore aloft in the Clouds and disdain the poor Ants crawling upon this Mole-hill and fly swifter than the Wind upon the wings of the Spirit Alas poor vile Souls I have some pity in my holy anger I could tell them of higher and statelier conducts but they are not able to bear the ravishments and raptures of the Spirit Thus much inspired Learning makes me mad and Madmen will be subject to no Laws So with and without a Law I am deceived and will be deceived any way I care not God help me The CONTENTS Deliberation by halves Judgment by likelyhood Ampliations and limitations of Law Weighing my action by one Law Suspense between two Laws Sin hath the casting voice Reason of Law TITLE VII Of the Reasons of Deceit THE Reasons in general why one Law deceives me in another may be these Deliberation by halves I. To resolve upon my Action I deliberate to halves I grant the conclusion upon demi-Principles I lay an Action in the balance stript from those
necessary material circumstances which should make it ponderous and by a shew of falling even with the scale of some general Law I pronounce that for weight which is not if I had the skill or the honesty to poize it Judgment by likelyhood II. I judge of my Action by any likelyhood of Law as Idiots do of Coyn by the general stamp and colour without regard to the mettal I consider not that as all Rules have their exceptions all Topick Axioms their fallacies so all Laws have their limitations Ampliations and limitations of Law III. The naked Law it self being a plain and familiar Principle doth easily sink into my dull brain and prevails with my popular capacity but her ampliations and limitations are so various and intricate that it requires more than ordinary sharpness of wit to conceive aright of them For it is the Crown or Masterpiece of wisdom to set out fairly the true bounds of a Law how far it takes effect and when and where and with whom and why it fails Again because I would have my fuller swing and career of Liberty I will not learn nor believe that my life is subject to the controll of many and diverse Laws or to the Will of one or more uncontrollable Men and that several of those Laws at once may have their several force in one and the same Action Weighing my action by one Law IV. Upon this heedlessness of Understanding or hastiness of Will I weigh mine Action but against one Law when I should counterpoize it with many Yea to deal exactly I should examine it by every particular Law of the whole body to any whereof my repugnancy makes my Action quite unlawful For as in Speculation nothing can be truth that contradicts another truth so in Practice nothing is lawful which any Law forbids And when I have canvased all the respective Laws and got their consent yet I never follow the Rule of my private Reason when the publick should prevail Rather learn by the wary Usurer who in receiving mony hath a peering eye to the mettal and stamp and tries it alwaies by the Touch-stone V. Lastly Suspense between two Laws If I have some knowledge in the variety and opposition of Laws when I find it hang so level between two Laws if I can discover no difference Then my Sin hath the casting voice so which way soever she takes Sin hath the casting voice she gives the scale a twitch and I rest satisfied and my Action is down-weight and very lawful Herein I look not to the Rules that should lead me to the fairest interpretation To follow in doubtful cases the safest in obscure the likeliest in penal the mildest and the largest in favourable But if my sin be driven with Passion or Custome she presently cries down that Law for unreasonable I consider not that where a Law hath no reason annexed Reason of Law it is hard to find it out and that some Laws have no original reason at all Good reason there was for some final determination one way or other but upon deliberation no prevalent reason appearing why this way rather than that way The last Resolution was from the will and pleasure of the Legislator as a matter only indifferent which way but necessary as far as might be guessed to pitch upon this way Thus Law or no Law good Law or bad Law my sin deceives me though differently Without the Law she is liveless but by the Law lawless Let me then no more blame the Casuists that they teach Sin least the like aspersion fall upon all Law All Law may be casual any so infortunate that thence I may take leave to sin For my Lust is so lawless that by learning the Law it will learn to sin and yet my Lust so legal that for any sin it will pretend a law So that as it is true on Sin 's part Ex malis moribus nascuntur bonae Leges Good Laws spring from evil manners so it is true on the Law 's part Ex bonis Legibus nascuntur mali mores Evil manners arise from good Laws In a word Sin gives occasion to some Laws but takes occasion from any Laws The CONTENTS Transition Nature of Slavery Tye of Slavery TITLE VIII Of Slavery under the Law Transition HItherto I have treated of the great and strange Question How we are deceived by the Law In the next place I proceed to another of as strange a nature How we are in bondage or slavery under the Law To the Subject of Slavery there belong these three points Nature of Slavery 1. The Nature of it 2. The Subject of it 3. The Lord of it which is Servitude the Sinner Sin and Satan The Nature of Slavery consists in three things 1. The Tye of it 2. The Seat of it 3. The Cases of it Tye of Slavery 1. The Tye of Slavery Slavery is a state of servitude the Tenure whereby it holds is Bondage bond service whence such as are under that yoke are called Bond servants or Bond slaves The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Servus are equivocal and signifie two degrees of Servants not kinds 1. A Free servant that lets out his service by contract freely 2. A Bond servant whose service is constrained and forced from him The offices of a Wife to a Husband a Son to a Father a Servant to a Master are not only services but free services 1. Because they are all temporary and expire as the service of the Wise by the Husband's death for then she is free from the Law of her Husband As the Son in full Age is no longer under Tutours and Governours As the Servant after the time of Contract is expired is free from the Law of his Master 2. Because they are certain and have limited and distinct offices as the duties of a Wife Son and Servant are distinct one from another 3. Because they are meritorious and have several rewards for their services as the Wife hath her Dower the Son his Portion the Servant his Wages But the service of the Slave is a bondage a miserable service contrary to the former 1. Because it is perpetual the time thereof is timeless for Bondage is a mutual Inheritance entailed to the Lord and the Slave and to their Heirs for ever The Lord being lord to the Slave and his heirs for ever and the Slave being slave to the Lord and his heirs for ever 2. Because it is arbitrary for the works and services thereof are uncertain pro libitu Domini according to the will of the Lord. 3. Because it is unprofitable no reward for the Slave but his labour for his pains and stripes to boot or pains for his pains All profits that arise by the Slave or his Wife and Children and his and their gains accrue to the Lord of them all and all they have or do Therefore Bondage is a barren or fruitless service Thus the Israelites
good hath no will at all As because Light is the proper object of seeing that Eye that cannot see the light hath no sight at all But as a blind man whose eyes are covered with a Film hath the faculty of seeing for he hath a Soul and organs of sight for he hath eyes but not the sense of seeing for he doth not see so the sinner hath the faculty of Will for he hath a Soul and the organ of Will for he hath a heart but not the Act of will he doth not will for his heart is hard and strong as the Scripture termeth it harder than the Neather Mill-stone The Regenerate have the first Act of the will to good but they fail in the second they cannot perform it Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not The sinner hath neither the first Act nor the second not a will to do good much less to perform it for to will evil is not exactly evil but an act contrary thereto for which we have no name IV. Because Restrained from his own proper Rule Restraint from proper Rule i. e. the Law of God The Law of God is no Rule to the sinner for he will not be ruled by it nor can he enjoy the benefit of it he opposeth the power of it and will not have it The Carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 for he is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can he he hath disabled himself from keeping it by making the Law impossible to him and himself impossible to the Law But the Sinner is over-ruled by the Will of the Flesh which orders him at pleasure and carries him captive to the Law of sin and sin being contrary to the Law of God must needs be a Law of Slavery for God's Law is a perfect Law of Liberty God's Law is a Royal Law but Sin 's is a Tyrannical Law and every Tyranny is Slavery V. Because Restrained from his proper State to be a Person Restraint from proper State Sin puts man from the Person of man When God formed him after his own Image Sin transformed him after the Image of a Beast and the Scripture brands him with the name of a beast profane a dog Cast not that which is holy unto dogs Mat. 7.6 Mat. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are Ravening Wolves Herod called a Fox Go tell that Fox c. I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men i. e. with railing Jews Chrys Theoph. Antichrist termed a Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns Satan the Author of sin called a Serpent or Dragon The Sinner in lower terms sunk to the dead legally dead in sin Let the dead i. e. Sinners bury their dead As Sin is a dead work that goes for no work so Sinner a dead person that goes for no person Restraint from proper Right VI. Because restrained from his proper Right i. e. the propriety of himself Is not Owner Master of himself Sin rules over him as a Lord over a slave Captivity Three waies a man loseth the Right over himself and becomes a slave by Birth by Captivity and by Sale Psal 51. 1. By Birth in sin I was conceived in sin and in iniquity did my Mother bring me forth For as the Rights of the Father so his Losses are conveyed to his Children by birth 2. By Captivity Captivity makes a slave of whom a man is overcome Ro. 7.23 of him he is brought in bondage carried captive to the law of Sin 3. By Sale he sells himself to sin Ahab sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. I am sold under sin A sale made by Adam and all his Posterity Constraint to base Actions VII Because constrained to vile and base Actions As to be born in sin is true Bastardy so to commit sin is an act so base as it is all Baseness For as true Nobility consists only in Vertue so true Baseness consists in Vice Gen. 3.14 A Serpent is a base Creature goes basely creeping on his belly fares basely feeding on dust God's Curse An emblem of a Sinner A base service to serve a Beast to feed Swine and not be suffered to eat with them so is a Sinner A menstruous cloth is a base rag such is our righteousness stained with sin How filthy then is our sinfulness The vomit of a Dog is filthy such is Sin as when the Dog returneth to his vomit and the Swine that is washed to her wallowing in the mire The particular acts of Ambition Avarice and Filthiness such as that they must not be named Eph. 5.3 The CONTENTS Sin Satan TITLE XIII Of the Lord of Slavery THE Lord of slavery is Sin Servant of sin Of which sin The Lord of slavery Sin not of that he commits for that is actual sin which is the Sinner's work but the sinner is the servant of sin Original 1. Because sin Original is the lord and makes him a slave to work sin Actual Original sin is indeed in the godly not as a lord Sin shall not have dominion over them for they are not under the Law but under Grace But that sin is in them as a slave over whom they domineer They mortifie and crucifie it and make it a dying sin They that are Christs do crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts But Original sin is in the sinner as a Lord an Inmate that domineers doth mortifie and crucifie the sinner till he be destroyed 2. Because Original sin restrains him from all his several properties from his proper end Eternal happiness from his proper guide a right Spirit from his proper act of choosing good and refusing evil from his proper rule the Law of God from his proper state a person after God's image from his proper right the propriety and possession of himself and constrains him to actual sins which are vile and base acts If the sinner be thus restrained to be a slave then Original sin that restrains him is his Lord because whatsoever restrains is Lord and Master over him that is restrained 3. Because Original sin reigns over the sinner She is a Tyrant usurping soveraignty and hath her Laws whereby to command him those laws are but several lusts i. e. her arbitrary will and pleasure Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof In the godly it reigns not for they obey it not but in the sinner it reigns for he obeys it his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether it be to Sin or Righteousness If then thou obey Righteousness thou art a free servant but if Sin a bond-slave and the more willingly thou obeyest the more slave thou art II. But the Sinner's chief Lord is Satan The Prince of the Air Eph. 2.2 Satan the
infinitely unlike him and disagreeable to his Spirit And only the pure Spiritual offices do remain which are in their own nature acceptable unto God very like him and agreeable to his Spirit This is the dispensation of the Grace of God Eph. 3.2 5. The Mystery which in other Ages was not made known to the Sons of men as it is now revealed unto the holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit The CONTENTS Writing in Tables Law lost Law found Law lost again Law restored Septuagints Translation Law burnt Maccabes Sects of Jews Christ's coming Law on Mount Sinai the same with that of Adam in Paradise The Renewal of the Covenant of Works The equivocal word Law TITLE XVI Of the History of the Law THE History of the Law is this 1. Besides the universal Writing in the hearts of all men much obscured by evil Practice and Examples 2. It was written by God briefly in two Tables Moral Writing in Tables It was farther written by Moses in a Book Ceremonial that it might be read by the King and published by the Priest to all the People in the solemnity of the Feast of Tabernacles Deut. 17.9 3. After that by Malice or Negligence this Book was lost Law lost Then by chance found by Hilkiah the Priest Law found 2 Chr. 34.12 2 Kings 22.8 and brought to Josiah the King and by him published 4. Few years after at the Captivity of Babylon it was lost Law lost again Neh 8.1 Dan. 9.13 or at least corrupted At the Return from seventy years Captivity Esdras Law restored the Scribe and Priest either restored it or amended it as it is now who also expounded it And hence came the Scribes and Doctours of the Law 5. Septuagints Translation This Book by Ptolomeus Philadelphus was translated by the Septuagint into Greek which Original was burnt in the Temple of Serapis by the Souldiers of Julius Caesar while he was dallying with Cleopatra the Egyptian Queen brought to him in Culcitro but by the Providence of God there had been Copies thereof in several places whereby it is preserved to this day Law burnt 1 Mac. 1.42 6. Some years after Antiochus Epiphanes King of Syria compelled the Jews to forsake and burn their Law Maccabes 7. Little more than five years this mischief continued then came Judas Maccabaeus and relieved the Jews Sects of Jews 8. The Assanonaei his Race coming to reign the Law was retrieved but many Heresies and Sects arose as Scribes Pharises Sadduces Essens the Schools of Shanai and Hillel c. who falsly interpreting the Law led the People into Errours by vain Traditions Teaching for Doctrines of God the Commandments of Men. Christ's coming 9. Then came Christ in a corrupt Age and restored the Truth and confuted their vain Doctrines and Manners And abolished the Ceremonial or Ecclesiastical Law of the Priesthood and brought in a New Law and a New Priesthood of his own after the order of Melchisedeck And by this his New Law Gospel Covenant and Testament he fulfilled the Old of Types and perfected the Moral Law of Nature The Law on Mount Sinai the same with that of Adam in Paradise The Law delivered by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and written by him in two Tables of Stone was the same Covenant of works with the Children of Israel which he had made before with Adam in Paradise before his Fall writing it in his heart Do this and live and renewed to Noah Gen. 8.21 Heb. 9.9 to Melchisedeck Gen. 14.18 To Abraham David and all the Prophets And that this was the Covenant of Works appears by that of Moses The Lord made not this Covenant with our Fathers Deut. 5.3 but with us These Fathers were the Patriarchs unto Adam with whom he made the Covenant of Grace after his Fall The Renewal of the Covenant of Works The reason of the Repetition and renewal of this Covenant of Works by writing it upon Tables of Stone was because that Law which was written by God in Adams heart was obliterated and defaced by customes of Idolatry and all sorts of wickedness which the Sons of men gave themselves unto while the Sons of God by keeping the Old Traditions and the help of divine Revelations retrieved the Impressions of God's Law And yet the Posterity of Abraham Isaac and Jacob by conversation and example in Egypt had much forgotten the Old Rules of Nature's Law and the Instructions and Examples of their godly Parents and imputed not their own sin unto themselves because they saw no Law written against their Actions and could not see the Law in their own hearts Ro. 5.13 20. neither heard of any punishment denounced against them for their wickedness and would not hear the checks of their own Consciences And therefore because Sin was in them and increased and death reigned over them for their sin yet they being without a written Law to evidence this sin and death unto their Consciences God saw it necessary that there should be a New Edition and publication of the Law or Covenant of Works to bring them to the knowledge of Sin and Punishment and thereby to stop them in their career of Wickedness by the fear of a Curse and a Fleshly hope of a fruitful Land to dwell in if they would observe his Laws Reserving a greater Blessing if they would trust in his Promises which was the Covenant of Grace by which they were to be justified upon their Faith in those Promises and not by the Works of the Law So the Law was added because of Transgressions till Justification should ome by the Promise of Grace For the Law was weak and unprofitable to the purpose of Salvation but helpful to the discovery and stopping of Sin and the Curse that they might see the need they had of the Grace of God by which they might be saved and not by Works For as the Covenant of Grace made with Adam and renewed to Abraham had been needless if the Covenant of Works could have given Life So after the Promise or Covenant of Grace was once made it had been needless to renew the Covenant of Works to the end that Righteousness and Life should be had thereby Gal. 3.19 It was meerly added because of Transgressions that is not set up as a solid thing in gross sufficient of it self but added or put to the former Law given to Adam which was most forgotten Furthermore this Law given on Mount Sinai was added by way of subserviency and attendance the better to advance and make effectual the Covenant of Grace so that although the same Covenant which was made with Adam was renewed on Mount Sinai yet I say still it was not for the same purpose but it was given to Adam as a Rule of Salvation by it self if he had kept it but it was renewed only to help forward and to introduce another and better Covenant and so to be
deformed In a word Phil. 4.3 Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise we are bound to think on these things SECTION V. Exhortations Have not the Word of God in respect of Persons have no man's person in too much admiration Aim directly at the plain Truth with a single eye in simplicity of heart not inventing objections or making knots nor yet willing to be cheated or captivated in your Judgments by being magisterially imposed upon Take no part nor side resolutely to pin your Faith upon all that they say or do Count no man or Society of men infallible Be not biassed for favour or affection gain or preferment to any Sect nor from them for malice or hatred or fear of loss or punishment but strive to be of an universal Spirit free to embrace or shun without bondage or base love or fear Let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath because the wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God Thus it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness strive to take in all truth walk humbly honestly and warily working out our Salvation with fear and trembling and making our Calling and Election sure Look alwaies well to the end walk circumspectly as wise men stand fast in your Christian liberty quit your selves like men pressing on still to the mark of the High calling which is laid up for you in Christ Jesus The Gospel promiseth great things to all Eternity and having such a hope in you so full of a glorious and blessed Immortality be alwaies aspiring to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord that ye may obtain an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Christ Jesus Let no Profane or Unclean Wretches expect any good Be not deceived God is not mocked No Whoremonger nor Adulterer nor Fornicator nor Covetous person which is an Idolater shall ever enter into the Kingdom of God or of Christ They can have no part or share of the Inheritance with the Saints in Light that walk on here in darkness The hopes of Hypocrites must needs perish as the Spider's web Let the Faithful hope and pray for the Kingdom of heaven let them be glad and rejoyce for great is their Reward in heaven yea let them lift up their heads with joy for their Redemption draweth nigh and now is nearer than they are aware of Let them remember that their Saviour is their Judge and most favourable to all that have honest hearts he knows how to relieve the ignorant and weak and such as are out of the way He will resolve them in all their doubts comfort them in all their sorrows direct them in all their wandrings heal them in all their maladies strengthen them in all their weaknesses and do for them abundantly above all that they are able to ask or think He will reject none that come unto him he will admit all to the Legacies contained in his Father's Will and Testament that shall be found capable to receive them cum favore Believe Love Work Hope Desire Persevere no matter what Men judge Trust to the Word of Life follow that blessed Rule and be happy Live and die in Faith and lie down in Hope to rise again to everlasting Life and Salvation Be thankful that ye are under the conduct of the Spirit of Life and Grace plentiful and strong Helps brought home to the door of your hearts waiting to be let in These are within us If we will receive them there they be ready for us Nothing of God wanting to us if we be not wanting to our selves There is a Voice behind us saying This is the Way walk in it turn from the waies of Wickedness pass by them come not near unto them for fear Iniquity procure your ruine The Spirit invites perswades by all means if our Spirits will hear incline or desire God will move and incline our desires to good If honestly Uprightness and Meekness be in us God will love us and we shall love him and Love shall cover a multitude of sins Having such pretious Promises and such gracious Encouragements be bold with a holy boldness to challenge them from God by the Mediation of Jesus Christ in whom they are made sure Claim therefore as your dues The Word and Sacraments The Liberty from the Law Access to the Throne of Grace Forgiveness of Sins The Gift of the Spirit The Resurrection of the Body The Life Everlasting For these things are fit for God to give and for God's Children to receive because Great is he that hath promised and Great is he in whose Name and for whose sake he hath promised such great things and therefore in and by and through him we have freedom of Access to the Throne of Grace for Grace sufficient to help us in the times of all our need The CONTENTS Nature of Liberty Form Loosness from all Incumbrances Largeness TITLE VIII Of Liberty BEsides the two forementioned Properties of the two Testaments viz. The New Spiritual and Lively The Old Literal and Deadly There may be added two more to distinguish them from each other viz. The New Testament begeteth the Spirit of Freedom The Old Testament engendreth the Spirit of Bondage Between a Son and a Servant is great difference chiefly in their state The Son is free of his Father's house and hath a Right of perpetuity to abide therein for ever but the Servant is at the will of his Lord and hath no liberty to abide in the house for ever The Son is Herus minor quasi Dominus rerum paternarum The Church is God's Family Christ is God's Son therefore is free of the Church for his self and hath power to make others free not in word or shew Joh. 8.36 but in deed and truth If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed Nature of Liberty Of Liberty there are two parts the Nature the Subjects The Nature of Liberty consists in four Points the Form the Seat the Terms and the Cases of it Form The Form is a Loosness and clearness from all Impediments Entanglements and Incumbrances Loosness from all Incumbrances The more Loose we be the more free if fully loose then fully free termed Inalligation opposit to obligation an Independency Therefore whatsoever is unbound not hanging upon any thing is properly loose as Psal 2.20 He looseth them that are appointed to die that are fast bound in misery and Iron The shaking off of Shackles and Fetters So the Woman whose Husband is dead is loosed from the Law of her Husband Ro. 7.2 I. The first Reason is from the Contrariety of Slavery which Reas 1 is 1. Perpetual an Inheritance to the Lord and his Heirs for ever So Liberty is perpetual to himself and his
by Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory now and for evermore Amen APPENDIX OR APPLICATION TO THE CLERGY and LAITY The CONTENTS Word Sacraments Gospel-Spirit TITLE I. Of the Clergie's Calling SAint Paul saith 2 Cor. 3.6 God hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Old not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life We must therefore consider our Calling Heb. 7.12 the Priesthood is changed therefore there must of necessity be a change also of the Law The Gospel is the Royal Law the Law of Faith the Law of liberty and of perfection that nulls the servile Law of bondage and works The Word therefore of this New Testament we must preach Word the newness of the Spirit not the oldness of the Letter and that in season and out of season and that carefully for wo be unto us if we preach not the Gospel and cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently and having put our hands to this plow we must not look back Sacraments 2. The Sacraments of this New Testament we must administer as 1. Baptism which is not by Water only but by Water and Blood for without blood there is no Remission of sins and Baptism is for the remission of sins therefore we are baptized into Christ's death in which is blood that our sins might be buried in Christ's grave and we buried with him in Baptism and rise again with him in newness of Life 2. The Lord's Supper containing 1. The Body of Christ which is given for us Sacrifice and Burnt-offering thou wouldest not have but a body hast thou prepared me This is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you This is the New Testament in my Blood and no Testament can be confirmed without Blood And hereby we shew the Lord's death until he come again Gospel-spirit Let us aim therefore at a Gospel-Spirit for behold I shew unto you a more excellent way both in your Doctrine and in your Persons I do not take upon me to be a Magisterial Dictator to the Clergy but as having received some helps from the Lord I hope I may become an humble and modest Adviser and Director The CONTENTS Precepts Promises Conditions TITLE II. Of the Clergie's Doctrine I. IN Your Doctrine therefore consider what high Preceps and what high Promises you are to publish to the world For surely we are no Old-Testament-Divines but Ministers of a better Testament than that was and established upon far better Promises Precepts The Precepts you are to teach are very pure no less than Spiritual and perfect Holiness which is the condition for the obtaining of God's Promises For Godliness hath the promise of this life and of that which is to come and without Holiness no man shall ever see the face of God The Promises you are to teach are no less than Spiritual and Eternal Happiness and the graces that tend thereto as Forgiveness of sins Promises Adoption Liberty Protection Priviledges the Earnest and Comfort of the Spirit Resurrection and Life Everlasting Fear not little Flock for it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom Come ye Blessed children of my Father inherit the kingdom of God prepared for you from the beginning of the world Greater Precepts cannot be enjoyned and greater promises cannot be made and surer cannot be performed For they are the Gifts and Legacies of God devised by him in his last Will and Testament conveyed and administred by Christ the Executor The conditions upon which these high things are given are as noble Conditions so as easie and favourable written upon the Tables of our hearts by the finger of God's Spirit Thy Law is within my heart therefore easie to be known and as easie to be done by the help of the same Spirit which shall lead us into all truth and help all our Infirmities and do our work for us and in us I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me My Grace is sufficient for thee Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easie and my burden is light Embrace wisdom for her ways are always pure and pleasant and all her paths are peace Every Wise man will make his Last Will and Testament his best Will and Testament most plain and easie to be understood that the Heir and Legataries may know their several Duties and Dues how to perform them and how to claim by them And every good man will make his last Will and Testament his most favourable and bountiful Will and Testament bestowing the best things and commanding the easiest and less irksome Conditions Much more will the great and wise God who is wisdom and goodness it self make his last will most clear and most gracious For if we that are evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much more will our Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to those that ask him Hit therefore this Basilick vein find out the pretious Pearl pour in this Balm of Gilead open this Phoenix Nest this bed of Spices this pretious Box of odoriferous Ointments Let your Speech be seasoned with Salt and let such gracious words proceed out of your mouths as may administer Grace unto the Hearers Be not sons of Thunder as if you came from Mount Sinai but rather sons of consolation as coming from Mount Sion Be sure ye utter no Principles against the Justice and Mercy of God nor Dogmata Reipublicae noxia nor Doctrines hurtful or disgraceful to Princes or Common-Wealths Remember that Religion is first pure and then peaceable not reflecting upon the Dishonour of God nor injurious to any man Be not as the Seditious Zealots among the Jews before and at the destruction of Jerusalem nor like the factious and rebellious Philosophers Orators and Poets among the Gentiles especially in Greece and Rome Beware of all Judaizing or Heathenizing by Cabbalistical Sophistical vain Philosophy insinuating deceivable Rhetorick Flourishes Gingles and Querks of Flashy Wit Preach the plain good will and mind of God plainly and kindly Hide your Art and that will be your chiefest Art Tell poor Souls what a large Portion they have in God's Will and Testament how their Namss are written in that book of Life Tell them the mark of the price of the high Calling which is laid up for them in Christ Jesus the crown of Righteousness the exceeding great Recompence of the Reward for all such as diligently seek him Freely you have received this treasure into your Earthen Vessels freely give it to them to whom it belongs distribute the favours of your bountiful Lord and Master with a courteous hand let not your eye be evil because God's is good be you willing as God is that all men should be saved and come to the knowledg of the truth be not rigid austere morose sullen saturnine ghostly
Correction Work Payment Church Elders Bishops Priests Deacons High Priest Altar Sacrifice Tithes Oblations First fruits Dedication Consecration Expiation Propitiation Excommunication Idol Faith Vow Covenant Contract Promise Oath Stipulation Sacrament Seal Intercession Hand-writing Mediator Obligation Assurance Evidence Conveyance Alliance Affinity Consanguinity Tribe Stock Familie Degrees Line Birthright Succession Dominion Lordship These and other learned Titles of the Law with the profound judgments of renowned Antecessors upon each of them serve more to the enrichment of the treasury of wisdom for the furnishing of apt Interpretations and Glosses upon the Laws divine than all the Arts or Learning of the World Besides the aptitude of resolving cases and doing business with prudence honesty and gallantry is created by them after the rellish of those equitable and brave Souls that made them The CONTENTS Of the Laitie's Calling AND as to the Laity I say consider your Calling we may not speak the mind of God in learned and unknown Tongues to the high ones only that Pearch on the Towers but in Vulgar language to the meanest that sit on the wall Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debet That which concerns all ought to be understood by all We will not hoodwink you to make your Ignorance the Mother of your as blind devotion we will not captivate your minds by Magisterial dictates of us men and hide from you the Royal Commandments of your God TITLE VI. Of the Laitie's Doctrine I. I Say then boldly Consider your Calling For Doctrine 1. From beyond the lowest Law of Nature 2. From beyond any Laws written upon Tables 1. To the Law of the Spirit and of Grace 2. To the Law written upon the Heart To the best of Precepts of Evangelical perfection taught by Christ in his famous Sermon upon the Mount and other occasional Discourses and by the Apostles and other holy Men of God that had the same treasure in earthen vessels To the best of Promises Viz. Forgiveness of sins Liberty Adoption Spirit Resurrection eternal life These are the Laws that are so high and yet so easie few favourable and pleasant for the wayes of Wisdom are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace I exhort them therefore to a high belief and full assurance of Heaven by the seal and earnest of the Spirit to be partakers of the holy Unction of Wisdom and Perfection to be a Royal Priesthood and a peculiar people by vertue of the promises that belong to you and to your Children of high exemptions and priviledges of great honour and estate TITLE VII Of the Laitie's Persons II. FOR your Persons Look therefore to your selves that ye walk worthy of so great Salvation and having such an hope in you so full of a glorious and blessed Immortality see that ye purifie your selves even as God is pure and become a people altogether zealous of good Works perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord that at last you may obtain an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Christ Jesus Fear not therefore little Flock for it is your Father's good Will and pleasure to give you a kingdom Your hope is laid up for you in heaven And neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath laid up for those that fear him When Christ the favourable Mediatour and Executor of God's Testament shall put the Faithful into actual possession of Eternal Glory saying Come ye Blessed Children of my Father receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Aim therefore at a Gospel-Spirit 1. Care not for unnecessary Disputes God's Testament is a plain Testament of Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ As Men's Testaments are to be seen and read by all that are concerned so is God's Will to be seen and read by all Col. 2.6 c. As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ 2 Tim. 2.23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strifes also Genealogies and contentions and strivings about the Law for they are unprofitable and vain 1 Tim. 1.4 Neither give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in Faith If any man teach otherwise 1 Tim 6.3 c. and consent not to wholsome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness he is proud knowing nothing but doating about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness Jude 27 c. from such turn away Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly Lusts these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit But ye Beloved building up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Life and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garments spotted by the flesh Let the Clergy exhort and teach these things and whatsoever else belongeth unto sound doctrine with all long suffering and patience as the stout Soldiers of Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 6.20 And let them be sure to keep that which is committed to their Trust avoiding profane and vain bablings and oppositions of Sciences falsly so called which some professing have erred concerning the Faith Tit. 1.14 Let them not give heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth nor yet to endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edification 1 Cor. 2.4 Let not your speech nor your preaching be with the entising words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power Speak Wisdom among them that are perfect the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our Glory For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid 1 Cor. 3.11 c which is Jesus Christ Now if any man build upon this foundation Gold Silver Pretious stones Wood Hay Stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall trie every man's work whatsoever it is If any
Laws and therefore above them as morally righteous or gracious and jurally righteous or an owner of all things to make Man not only legally righteous according to Law and morally righteous according to Law but jurally righteous according to free Grace The CONTENTS Imputation Logick Logistick Christ's Righteousness TITLE II. Of the form of Justification Imputation THe Form of Justification is Imputation or rather Reckoning Accounting Reasoning or Concluding Computing Ascribing or Numbring The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so signifies The great Acts of Counting are Logick and Logistick SECT I. Logick 1. Logick is the counting of sayings or Propositions according to their Rations or Reasons as they are composed to infer their Conclusions and to be resolved into their Principles For the Conclusion is the effect of two Propositions rightly figured whereof one is the Cause the other the Medium or mean between the Cause and the Effect and produceth the Effect The major Term in the major Proposition is the Cause the minor Term in the minor Proposition is the Effect and the medium or middle Term in both major and minor Propositions is the mean that produceth the Effect in the Conclusion as thus Every breathing Creature hath sense Every Man is a breathing Creature Therefore Every Man hath sense This last Proposition is the effect of the two former in which sensibility which is the major term is the cause and a Man is the effect and a breathing Creature is the means whereby this cause produceth this effect For because a Man is a breathing Creature therefore a Man hath sense or is sensible SECT II. 2. Logistick is the Counting of Numbers Logistick according to their rations or rates as they are composed into their powers and resolved into their roots The power or product is the effect of two numbers rightly multiplied when one of those two is the root of that power and the other is the rate between the root and the power As 6 is the cause of 12 and 12 is the effect of that cause and the root 2 multiplying 6 is the means between the cause and the effect producing the effect 12. So the cause of Salvation is God's promise The effect of this cause is Salvation it self The Mean between both that makes the cause to produce this effect is Faith And as in Logick the Conclusion is the effect of two sayings or propositions rightly figured when one of those sayings is the cause of that effect and the other saying is the reason or mean between the cause and the effect so in Logistick the power is the product of two numbers rightly multiply'd when one of those two numbers is the root of that power and the other is the rate between the root and the power Both these Countings or reckonings or reasonings do manifest the ration or rate of a saying to a saying and of a number to a number SECT III. The grounds of both these reasonings and reckonings are two 1. Those things that agree in one third do agree among themselves as in Logick the major and minor agree in the medium therefore they agree among themselves so in Logistick the multiplication and the product agree in the root or multiplier therefore they agree among themselves As 6 and 12 agree in 2 for 2 times 6 is 12. So God's promises and our salvation do agree in Faith 2. Whatsoever is affirmed of the genus is affirmed also of the species and all that are under it As whatsoever is affirmed of Abraham the Father of the Faithful is affirmed of his Children For all that believe are blessed with faithful Abraham A Believer is blessed Peter c. are believers Therefore Peter c. are blessed So that to account is to conclude by reasoning or numbring by arguing to find the conclusion by addition to find the total by multiplication the product and by division the Quotient The Grammatical sense of the word Impute is to cut divide purge or clear but custom hath made it to signifie to account reckon ascribe pass over the right or title to a thing or the thing it self or something for it by acceptilation either voluntarily by private act of gift Contract Payment release or consideration otherwise or necessarily by publick act of condemning or discharging for punishment or reward Imputation therefore that is accounting or reckoning is a Spiritual action for the conveyance of rights which are Spiritual things belonging to corporeal things Which rights are jural belonging to Persons and may be passed over from one to another by donation succession cession or dereliction deputation or assignment degradation or deprivation And therefore in this great business of Justification to the Rights of Spiritual and Celestial Blessedness Faith is the means whereby all these things are accounted or reckoned to be due unto us or which is all one Faith is accounted for our right unto them And this is clearly demonstrated Rom. 4.3 1. From the letter of the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness Ja. 2.23 And ver 9. Cometh this blessedness then upon the Circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also for we say that Faith was reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness And ver 22. It was imputed to him for Righteousness not for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe c. 2. From the scope of the Scripture Faith is the means of Justification instead of works by the which no Flesh can be justified and this is the only true work that God would have us to work even to covenant with him and embrace what he hath promised as for other works of our own righteousness Joh. 6.28 29. we may not relie upon them at all but meerly depend upon Grace accounting our Faith only for our right What shall we do that we might work the works of God Jesus answered and said unto them This is the work of God Ro. 3.24 c. that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Being justified freely by his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Where is boasting then it is excluded by what Law of works nay but by the Law of Faith Therefore we conclude that a Man is justified by Faith Ro. 5.1 2. without the deeds of the Law Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by Faith unto this Grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God Much more then being now justified by his Blood Rom. 5.9
Justification but Faith with works doth conserve Justification And so Paul and James do full well agree and James's Doctrine will be a consequence from Paul's principles For because my Faith only without works doth create my Justification and because evil works do destroy the state of it and do build again my state of Sin therefore it followeth That good works do continue my state of Justification and keep it from ruin For in case I should fall my Faith alone cannot restore me but if I recover working my works of repentance must be the means of my recovery 1 Cor. 13.2 And because as Paul saith Though I have all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing Therefore as James teacheth Faith without works is dead And lastly because as Paul teacheth In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith that worketh by Love Therefore as James teaches Faith working with works is by works made perfect For the farther clearing of this seeming contradiction of St. Paul and St. James note That as faith sworn by the Vassal to his Lord justifies the Vassal to his Fee or benefice to have right thereto so the Homage it self is the life of his faith and justifies him to the same benefice that he may hold his right so obtained by his Faith In like manner faith made to God justifies his Creature to the Estate of Blessedness to have right thereto and the Homage it self which is the life of his faith justifies him to the same Estate that he may hold his right so obtained by his faith For faith without homage or works doth not justifie fully nor homage or works without Faith So true it is that Faith though it doth justifie alone to have right yet works also do justifie to hold it so both Faith and Works do justifie compleatly and not one without the other And this distinction rightly weighed and compared may easily put an end to this Controversy SECT I. The works that are the Tenure of my Justification are works of Love Works of Love 1. The Right of Justification under the Law was Faith of the promise to Abraham and his carnal Seed for the Land of Canaan 2. The Tenure of Justification under the Law was by the works of the Law of Rites and Ceremonies Thou shalt walk in all the waies which the Lord your God hath commanded you Deut. 6.24 that ye may prolong your daies in the Land which ye shall possess i. e. you shall continue your possession in the Land whereto you have a right The Law it self speaketh thus Lev. 18.5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments which if a Man do he shall live in them i. e. shall prolong his life from violent death inflicted by the Law The Just shall live by his Faith He that hath walked in my Statutes to deal truly he is just he shall surely live The doers of the Law shall be justified i. e. continue to be justified For default of this Tenure of works the Ten Tribes forfeited their right to Canaan for ever and the other Two Tribes were sequestred for seventy years in Babylon 3. The right of Justification under the Gospel is Faith in the promise to Abraham and his Spiritual Seed for Heaven 4. The Tenure of Justification under the Gospel is by the works of Grace which are acts of Love exercising equity mercy and kindness above the works of the Law 1. Because the works of Love are super-legal above and beyond the Law of Moses as to feed the hungry and to cloth the naked to entertain Strangers visit the Sick relieve the Prisoners pray for Persecutors c. 2. The works of Love are supernatural above and beyond the Law of Nature as not to be angry and not to resist and revenge evil to suffer persecution gladly for Righteousness sake to rejoyce in temptations to lay down our life for the Brethren c. therefore much more for God To love our Enemies and comparatively to hate our Friends Luc. 14.26 as our Father and Mother Wife and Children Brothers and Sisters these and the like works of Love are not commanded in the Law but they are the commands of Grace Hence Christ calls Love a New Commandment Joh. 13.34 A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another And Christ calleth it his Commandment That ye love one another as I have loved you And this Love is the fulfilling of the Law He that loves his Brother abideth in the Light 1 Joh. 4.16 He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him These are the works of Love not of Law which St. James saith do justifie Was not Abraham our Father justified by works Jam. 2.21 when he had offered Isaak his Son upon the Altar That work was not a duty of the Law but a service of Love by God's immediat command to try Abraham's love for no Law did command a Father to sacrifice his Son His love therefore was superlegal beyond any Law of mercy And not only so but supernatural beyond any Law of Nature when his love to God to whom he had Alliance only by Faith surpassed his love to his only Son to whom he had Alliance only by Nature and in whose behalf he had received the promises Jam. 2.25 Likewise also Rahab the harlot was justified by works when she received the Messengers and had sent them out another way Those works were not duties of any Law Josh 2.12 but the Offices of Love or as she called it A shewing of kindness in entertaining lodging and protecting of Strangers Her love was therefore superlegal above and beyond the Law for no Law commanded to entertain Spies to the destruction of a City And her love was supernatural above and beyond the Law of Nature when she shew'd kindness to her Enemies in housing hiding and sending them away safely The Ceremonious works of the Ritual Law are carnal in themselves and could justifie to nothing but a carnal purity and a security from a carnal punishment of Death All these Rites of Sacrificing Washing Feasting Fasting Circumcising c. are extinct The Moralities of Moses Law as to be no idolater no forswearer no murderer adulterer thief lyar nor deceiver c. are the bare negative duties for the most part and according to the letter are themselves dead and I am dead to that dead Letter which killed those that are under it with a curse and it is a part of my Justification to be free from the Law for I am not under the Law but under Grace nor under the Letter but under the Spirit And therefore the works of the Gospel are works of the Spirit which gives life by faith and maintaineth it by Love the works whereof are purely Spiritual inward and lively free from all carnal and outward shew
fight of Faith the whole Armor of God the Tenure and Service of a Vassal to his Lord and King according to the Feudal Laws of Faith and Homage in peace or war The Laws are Fundamental to which all must trust to be known and understood by all SECT III. COLLECTIONS Thus the Kingdom is God's Thus God hath given the Kingdom to Christ to fight for it Thus God hath given the Kingdom to Christians to fight for it Collections Thus Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father when he hath put all his enemies under his feet that God may be all in all because it is the nature of an Estate in trust to be delivered up Thus Christ is Lord over our Souls and Bodies over the World and the Devil Thus kingly power is given to Christ to rule over the Church and the World Thus Priestly power is given to Christ to Sacrifice and propitiate for the Church and the World Thus Prophetical power is given to Christ to teach and instruct the Church and the World Thus Christ fights in his Person by sufferings by preaching and Miracles Thus Christians fight in their Persons by sufferings Faith and obedience Thus Kings hold under Christ by waiting at the Altar of Justice under the Throne of his Power Thus Priests hold under Christ by waiting at the Altar of Mercy under the Throne of his Grace Thus Service and Tribute is due to Kings for their waiting and they must live by the Crown Thus Honour and Offerings are due to Priests for their waiting and they must live by the Altar Thus Christs kingdom is a kingdom of Grace and his Ambassadors invite all to accept and hold of his Grace Thus Christ intercedes in his own person and by his Ambassadors for Sinners that have broken their faith and forfeited their Fee that they may be restored again Thus earthly Vassals to Satan savour of Earthly things worship and serve the god of this World Thus heavenly Vassals to Christ savour of Heavenly things worship and serve the God of Heaven Thus the wicked are in Fee to the Devil faithful in wickedness inherit shame and destruction Thus the Righteous are in Fee to Christ faithful in Religion inherit glory and salvation Thus a man may forfeit his Fee to Satan and lose his Tenure to darkness and enter into Fee to God and become the child of Light And so è contra A man may forfeit his Fee to God and lose his Tenure to Light and enter into Fee to Satan and become the child of Darkness Thus he that is fighting against God may be overcome i. e. willingly not against his will as in other battels The good Spirit may perswade his Spirit and bring him back or translate him from the power of Darkness into the kingdom of the dear Son of God Thus he that is fighting for God may be overcome i. e. willingly not against his will as in other battels The evil Spirit may perswade his Spirit and bring him back Heb. 6. or translate him from the power of Light into the kingdom of the Devil Thus a Vassal that breaks his Faith may return to his Liege lord and submit and be restored for any man may lose his right or he may give it away or leave it to the wide World The Natural branches may be cut off and others engrafted and they may be grafted in their own stock again The Wheat may be chaff and the Chaff wheat The Devil may be cast out and enter in again The good Spirit may depart and return A Citizen may be disfranchised a free Head lessened an Heir disinherited And after all to all these there may be restitution in Integrum Thus Portae dignitatum non patent infamibus personis The gates of Honour are shut against Infamous persons Feuda non capiunt Infideles False men Felons and Rebels cannot hold a Fee There is no blemish in Christs kingdom every one that maketh and loveth a Lie must be gone from thence Christ knows not Hypocrites that have broken their faith and forsaken their first Love Without are Dogs and Murtherers and no unclean thing shall ever enter into the kingdom of Heaven Thus all Liege Lords are Patrons and Benefactors and all Liege Subjects are Clients and Beneficiaries The Devil rewards his Servants and God rewards his Servants No Schism or Heresie in Satans kingdom no Schism or Heresie in Christs kingdom because it is a breach of Fee Thus the Covenant of Works is not a Fee or Grace but a Debt but the Covenant of Grace is a Fee or of grace and a gift Adam was in Covenant of Works in his Innocency but after his Fall he was in the Covenant of Grace and entred into a Fee Moses was not a Liege Lord nor his Subjects in Fee with him but Christ is a Liege Lord and his Subjects in Fee with him All Feudataries are fellow-Souldiers and fellow-Subjects Though some are called Lords yet all are Servants to one Lord. The genius of a Feudist is Love and Obedience because he is a Beneficiary and hath nothing but what he hath received and can call nothing his own but is in continual dependency upon his Lords free Grace and bounty and cannot but serve him by all the tyes of Love and Honour as Children are tyed by the bonds of Nature to love and honour their Parents The CONTENTS Transition Foundation of Merit Supererogation Demerit Rewards and Punishments TITLE IV. Of Merit IN a Feudal kingdom there can be no place for Merit Transition because Beneficiaries and Usufructuaries receive all upon grace from their Lord and Benefactor and hold what they have from him for love honour and service which they owe him for all that they have neither can they recompense the Donor by all that they do or can do for him but must account themselves unprofitable Servants when all is done The foundation and source of Merit is Foundation of Merit the performance of a work which is not due to another or which no Right on our part could compel us nor the party for whose sake it is done had any right to enforce the doing of the same from us Therefore no mortal man can merit any thing at Gods hands though it were possible for him to fulfil the Law of God exactly and therefore God can be a Debtor to no man but as he is pleased to make himself so by his free and gracious Promise which gives him to whom the Promise was made a right by Grace which by works he could not have And if by Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace Ro. 11.6 7. But if it be of Works then it is no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work Therefore it is of Faith or Covenant that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure Ro. 4.16 Therefore no mortal man can merit any thing at the hands of his
which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Ro. 3.28 Therefore we conclude that a Man is justified by Faith without the works of the Law Hebr. 8.10 11 12. This is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those daies saith the Lord I will pour out my Laws in their mind and write them in their heart and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People all shall know me from the least unto the greatest for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their iniquities will I remember no more Act. 2.37 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise unto you and to your Children and to all that are afar off and to as many as the Lord our God shall call Ro. 8.3 4. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Num. 16.20 c. Unusne homo peccaverit adeò graviter in universum coetum irasceris S. Ignat. Ep. ad Trall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Aug. de Civ Dei l. 16. c. 18. Peccatum Originale Nascuntur non propriè sed originaliter peccatores Ulpianus ff l. 48. T. 19. de Poenis Praegnantis Mulieris consumendae damnatae poena differtur quoad pariat Deut. 24.16 Non occidentur Patres pro filiis nec filii pro patribus sed unusquisque pro peccato suo morietur Gen. 18.25 Absit à te ut hanc rem facias occidas Justum cum impio fiatque justus sicut impius Absit inquam à te nunquid Judex universae terrae non faciet Judicium Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes Peccatum Originale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in 5. Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. lib. 3. Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peccatrix concepit sed non peccatorem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mar. Q. 88. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Hieronym Ep. 3. ad Nepot Noxa caput sequitur neque virtutes neque vitia parentum liberis imputantur L. Sancimus C. De poenis Peccata igitur suos teneant auctores nec ulterius progrediatur metus quà m reperiatur delictum S. Cyrillus Catech. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrys Hom. 42. in Gen. 38. Ubi gemellos quos Judas Patriarcha ex Thamar suscepit in figuram Christianorum Judaeorum exponit Ordinante enim Deo Lex Fides manum prior extendit qui posterior nasciturus erat Ut significaret subing ressuram Legem quae Fidei cessura erat Lex ad peccatum cohibendum Fides ad extinguendum S. Chrys ad Gal. 3.16 Deus ostendit Fidem antiquiorem esse Lege Hoc autem ab Abrahamo manifestum facit priusquam enim extitisset Lex ille justificatus est S. Theodor. ad Gal. 4.11 Cum Fidem Lege antiquiorem praestantiorem demonstrasset rursùs Legem promissione Abrahamo factâ aetate posteriorem demonstrat Cum gratiam Lege antiquiorem pronunciat S. Epiph. initio Magni operis Neque ulla erat in terris Secta aut sententiarum dissidium Tantùm hominum appellatione censebantur labio uno unâque linguâ praediti Pietas autem Impietas erat sola naturae Lege voluntatis cujusque secundum naturam electione definita necdum Error emerserat sive Disciplinâ sive Scriptorum monimentis introductus Neque Judaismus neque alia ulla Secta erat sed illa eadem ut ita dicam Fides vigebat Fides quae nunc in eâ quae Catholica appellatur Ecclesia quae cum ab initio extitisset posteà patefacta est Nam qui studio veritatis rem spectare voluerit inveniet primam extitisse Catholicam Ecclesiam ex ipso ejus scopo Adam enim primus à Deo formatus est non circumcisus sed praeputio praeditus Neque tamen Idololatra erat sed Deum Patrem cum Filio Spiritu Sancto agnovit Erat enim Propheta Itaque Circumcisionem non habens Judaeus non erat sculptile autem nullum adorans aut aliud id genus Idololatra non erat Propheta enim erat Adam noverat Patrem Filio dixisse Faciamus Hominem Quis igitur erat Neque circumcisus neque Idola colens sanè Christianismi formam indicabat Idem de Abele Setho Enos Enoch Mathusala Noe Ebero usque ad Abraham judicium Obtinebat autem pietas impietas Fides infidelitas illa quidem Christianismi imaginem exhibens haec autem infidelitatis faciem ac transgressionis usque ad illud tempus quod designatum est S. Aug. in Psal 73. Si enim discernimus duo Testamenta Vetus Novum non sunt eadem Sacramenta nec eadem promissa eadem tamen plerumque praecepta Nam Non occides Non moechaberis Non furaberis honora Patrem Matrem Non falsum testimonium dixeris Non concupisces res proximi tui Non concupisces uxorem proximi tui Duo Testamenta nobis praeceptum est Videamus quare praecepta eadem quia alia sunt Sacramenta dantia Salutem alia promittentia Salvatorem Sacramenta N. T. dant Salutem Sacramenta V. T. promiserunt Salvatorem Promissa quare non eadem Quia promissa est Terra Chanaan Terra copiosa fructuosa affluens Lacte Melle Promissum Regnum temporale promissa felicitas saeculi promissa faecunditas filiorum promissa subjectio inimicorum Haec omnia ad terrenam felicitatem pertinent sed quare ipsa primo promitti oportebat Quia non primò quod spirituale est Sed quod Animale postea inquit Spirituale Sed ne quisquam putaret ab alio fuisse factum hominem terrenum ab alio coelestem ideo Deus estendens se esse utriusque Creatorem etiam utriusque Testamenti se voluit esse Auctorem ut terrena promitteret in V. T. coelestia in Novo Testamento Idem de Bapt. contra Donat. l. 15. Ecclesia verò quae est populus Dei etiamsi in istius vitae peregrinatione antiqua res est in aliis hominibus habens animalem portionem in aliis autem Spiritualem Ad animalem pertinet V. T. ad Spiritualem Novum Sed primis temporibus utrumque occultum fuit ab Adam usque ad Mosem A Mose autem manifestatum est vetus in eo ipso occultabatur Novum quia occultè significabatur Postea verò quà m in carne Dominus venit revelatum est Novum Veteris autem Sacramenta cessarunt sed concupiscentiae tales non cessarunt In illis enim sunt quos Apostolus per Sacramentum N. T. natos adhuc tamen dicit animales non posse
a word they say and unsay sometimes bring in remission of sins and sometimes their own satisfaction and so set St. Paul and their Church at such a distance that neither St. Peter himself nor all the Angels and Saints she prayeth to will be able to reconcile them and make his Gratis and their Merits meet in one It is true every good act doth justifie a man so far as it is good and God so far esteemeth them holy and good and taketh notice of his graces in his Children he registreth the patience of Job the zeal of Phineas and the devotion of David not a cup of cold water not a mite flung into the treasury but shall have its reward But yet all the works of the Saints in the world cannot satisfie for the breach of the Law for let it once be granted what cannot be denied that we are all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilty and culpable before God that all have sinned and are come short of the glory of God then all that noise the Church of Rome hath filled the world with concerning Merits and Satisfaction and Inherent righteousness will vanish as a mist before the Sun and Justification and Remission of sins will appear in its brightness in that form and shape in which Christ first left it to his Church Bring in Abraham and Isaac and all the Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles and deck them with all those vertues which made them glorious but yet they sinned Bring in the noble Army of Martyrs who shed their blood for Christ but yet they sinned They were stoned they were sawn asunder they were slain with the sword but yet they sinned and he that sinneth is presently the servant of sin obnoxious to it for ever and cannot be redeemed by his own blood because he sinned but by the blood of him in whom there was no sin to be found Justificatio Impii this one form of speech of Justifying a sinner doth plainly exclude the Law and the Works of it and may serve as an Axe or Hammer to beat down all their carved work and those Anticks which are fastned to the building which may perhaps take a wandring or gadding fancy but will never enter the heart of a man of understanding We do not find that beauty in their artificial and forced inventions that we do in the simple and native truth Neither are those effects which are as irradiations and resultances from forgiveness of sin so visible in their Justification by faith and works as in the free remission which is by faith alone The urging of our Merits is of no force to make our peace with God They may indeed make us gracious in his eyes after remission but have as much power to remove our sins as our breath hath to remove a mountain or put out the fire of hell For every sin is as Seneca speaketh of that of Alexander in killing Callisthenes Crimen aeternum an Eternal crime which no vertue of our own can redeem Let me add my passions to my actions my Imprisonment to my Alms let me suffer for Christ let me die for Christ But yet I have sinned We may observe those Justitiaries how their complexion altereth how their colour goeth and cometh how they are not the same Men in their Controversies and Commentaries that they are in their Devotions and Meditations Nothing but Merit in their ruff and jollity and nothing but Mercy on their Death-Beds nothing but the Bloud of Martyrs then and nothing but Christ's now nothing but their own satisfaction all their lives and nothing but Christ's at their last gaspe Before Magis honorificum it was more honourable to bring in something of our own towards the forgiveness of our sins but none for the uncertainty of our own Righteousness Because there is no harbour here Christ's Righteousness is called in with a Tutissimum est as the best shelter And here they will abide till the storm be overpast Id. ib S. 24. p. 870 c. Imputed Righteousness Some stand much upon imputed Righteousness and it is true which they say if they understood themselves And upon Christ's Righteousness imputed to us which might be true also if they did not interpret what they say For this in a pleasing phrase they call To appear in our Elder Brother's Robes and apparel that as Jacob did we may steal away the Blessing Thus the Adulterer may say I am chast with Christ's Chastity and if he please every wicked Person may say That with Christ he is crucified dead and buried And that though he did nothing yet he did it though he did ill yet he did well because Christ did it This Righteousness if they have no other doth but ill become them because it had no Artificer but the Fancy to make it For that Christ's Righteousness is thus imputed to any we do not read no not so much as that it is imputed though in some sense the phrase may be admitted Jerm For what is done cannot be undone no not by Omnipotency it self for it implyeth a contradiction Deo qui omnia potest hoc impossibile God who can do all things cannot restore a lost Virginity He may forgive it blot it out bury it not impute it account of it as if it had never been but a sin it was We read indeed that Faith was imputed to Abraham for Righteousness Ro. 4.3 And the Apostle interpreteth himself out of the 32. Psal Blessed is the Man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without work Gal. 3.6 2 Cor. 5.21 That is as followeth whose sins are forgiven to whom the Lord imputeth no sin And Abraham believed in God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness And we are made the Righteousness of God in him That is we are counted righteous for his sake And it is more than evident that it is one thing to say That Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us another that Faith is imputed for Righteousness or which is the very same our sins are not imputed to us Which two imputations of Faith for Righteousness and not-imputation of sin make up that which we call the Justification of a Sinner For therefore are our sins blotted out by the hand of God because we believe in Christ and Christ in God That place where we are told that Christ of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification is not such a Pillar of Christ's imputed Righteousness in that sense which they take it as they fancy'd when they first set it up For the sense of the Apostle is plain and can be no more than this That Christ by the will of God was the only cause of our Righteousness and Justification and that for his sake God will justifie and absolve us from all our sins will reckon or account us holy and just and wise Not that he who loved the error of his life is wise or he that hath been unjust is righteous in that wherein he was unjust or