therefore in the beginning of his Sermon upon the Mount He endeavours rightly to instruct the Heart and Soul by acquainting those who are his Followers That They are blessed who are poor in Spirit who are meek who hunger and thirst after righteousness who are pure in Heart c. Which Expressions denote that the Mind should be rightly framed and that They who give up their Names unto him must have their Souls brought into order and adorned He tells them that They are the Salt of the Earth and will be good for nothing unless they endeavour to season others by their exemplary Conversation Matth. 5.13 They are the Light of the World and so they must shine before others that their good Works may be seen and God glorified V. 16. He extends the Commandment of doing no Murther even to the not being angry with another without a cause V. 22. The Precept of not committing Adultery he makes reach even to the forbidding of Lustful Looks and Desires V. 28. He forbids all Divorces unless in the case of Fornication V. 32. He restored Marriage to its Primitive Perfection by prohibiting Polygamy Matth. 19.5 They Two shall be one Flesh Emphatically They Two as exclusive of more which we learn from V. 9. of the same Chapter Whosoever shall put away his Wife except it be for Fornication and shall marry another committeth Adultery For how weak would it have been to pronounce it Adultery for a Man to marry after a Divorce if the adding one Wife to another before a Divorce should be no Adultery And if it shall be said that our Lord orders it as a punishment to him who puts away his Wife not to marry another but permits those to marry more than one who put away none it may be replyed That surely the Punishment might little be feared because it might be so easily avoided For who need care whether he married or not after the putting away a Wife if he might marry as many as he would before And we cannot think that He who is the Wisdom of God should ground any Law upon so sandy a Foundation He disallows of Swearing how true soever in ordinary Conversation Vers 34. He prohibits all Revenge in that we are not to resist an Adversary so as to pay an Injury for an Injury V. 39. He commands Love to be shewed even to Enemies Blessings to be given to those that curse us V. 44. And truly this Command and the foregoing one may seem to be added by our Saviour as not having the Law of Nature for its Foundation according to which the Decalogue was framed but being built upon that Love which our Saviour afterwards did shew when he died for his Enemies For the Law of Nature may seem to allow of this Vt no cui quis noceat nisi lacessitus injuriâ Cic. But when injured he may requite it When we do Alms we must not have respect unto our own Glory but only to the Glory of God and the Good of the Miserable Chap. 6. V. 1. When we Pray and Fast both must be done with a devout secresie that God in both may be chiefly looked unto and the Eye of Men not cared for V. 16. We are commanded while on Earth to have our Hearts in Heaven To lay up Treasures there by laying them out here in Charitable and Virtuous Deeds V. 19. We are forbid to be anxiously concern'd for any things of this World though never so necessary but are with a devout submission to depend upon God and to lay all our cares upon him V. 25. We are commanded not to judge others nor to be Censorious towards them but are to think no evil of them to put the best Interpretation upon their Actions and to look with a strict Eye upon ourselves only Chap. 7.1 2. Yea in all our behaviour towards others to observe that excellent Rule of doing to Them whatsoever we would that They should do unto us What Precepts can there be more full and clear than these are Can the Decalogue be better interpreted than by them Is there not in them a more perfect and spiritual Sense than can be presently discern'd in the Old Law If as David saith Thy Law is pure therefore thy Servant loveth it what Heights of Love must the purity of these Laws raise up in us More largely and clearer by far are our Duties towards God and our Neighbours here delivered far more Reason then have we to love them If we consider the Laws which immediately respect a mans self we shall find that they are much more fully given unto us than under the Old Law they were It hath been observ'd by some that in Moses's Law strictly consider'd there are no Precepts to be found that immediately respect a Mans self And it may seem to be so far true viz. That there are hardly any there but what are included in and deducible from those that primarily look another way And therefore if we will rightly consider things the Laws that respect ourselves are more properly belonging to the New Testament at least are there more directly and openly enjoyn'd Such are the Precepts If our Right Hand offend us to cut it off If our Right Eye to pluck it out Such also are other Precepts tending towards Mortification The preserving not only our Bodies free from Intemperance but the keeping them under that we may be pure and clean both in Body and Soul. The bearing of Afflictions and Injuries with a patient and quiet Spirit and others not unlike unto these Whoever shall look into the Laws given us as we are Christians must needs confess whether they respect God our Neighbour or ourselves that they are at least much more fully and clearly given than before they were If yet some of the greatest purity and Excellence be not added and so we have a great Enducement on this Consideration also to Love them Theoph. By this their Clearness Fulness and Perfection they are fitted for the greatest extension of our Faculties and the most Heroick Endeavours both of our Souls and Bodies Yea could we rise to the highest pitch of Virtue that Mortality is capable of we should find room in them for even yet Nobler Attainments and those such as would require our still pressing forwards till the last Moment of our Lives Whence how answerable are they to that Sacred Infinity which is in God! To whom we can at no time say All these things have we done what lack we yet What Humility may they not nourish in us whose Perfection we still fall short of What Care and Watchfulness that our Obedience may be approved What Prayers to God that his Goodness may help us in our Perseverance and his Mercy pardon us in our Failures But yet Eubulus I wish that what you have said were owned by all as a Truth Some there are whose Auditor I much against my will have been who have said these following things which are direct objections against
Neighbours one to another Nothing can possibly prevail more upon Rational Men for Obedience to Princes than that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacred Ministers of God. That Damnation shall be received if resistance be made And that the Conscience within is to be preferr'd before the Fear of Wrath without And surely Princes may well embrace the Name and maintain the Practice of Christianity which thus secures them of the Hands and Hearts of their Subjects What stronger Motives can there be for Peoples Respect and Love to their Ministers than that they are Stewards of the Mysteries of God upon their account That in Christs stead they beseech them to be reconciled unto God And that they are set apart for this very thing to wit the promoting the welfare of their Souls and how prevalent such Motives have been we may learn from the Galatians carriage towards St. Paul who would if possible have plucked out their own Eyes and given them unto him Neither are the Duties of Pastors urged with less Weight The Church's being purchased by the Blood of God is the argument for their Feeding it and they are charged before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall Judge the Quick and the Dead to do it The consideration of which what Heart would it not affect For Mutual Love and Delight between Those whom Wedlock hath joyn'd it is an highly sacred Motive That Marriage is so far honour'd as to become Mysterious in the Signification of Christ the Bridegroom and the Church his Spouse and of that Vnion which is between them never to be dissolved And how admirably may the Hardness of Mens Hearts be overcome by such a Consideration as this And how is the Credit of those who are the Weaker Sex provided for by not being permitted now to be cast off upon every trivial Distaste For that Mysterious Signification which we said Marriage is enobled with doth plainly hint that the Bond thereof is to continue firm and unbroken and that the Faithful Affections both of the One and the Other in the Wedded Pair will certainly with other Virtues after this Life be rewarded living in a manner for ever in that Divine Love they did here represent Fathers must be tender to their Children and not provoke them to Wrath from that winning Motive that they have a Father in Heaven who they desire may not be pitiless and wrathful to them And Childrens Obedience is quickned by its being in the Lord Which Expression doth not only hint the Extent of their Obedience and how far it should reach but doth shew also that God is concern'd in it and doth observe whether it be truly perform'd or no. And the taking notice of the Fifth Commandment as being the first that hath a Promise annex'd unto it and the improving that Promise of Earthly and Temporal Blessings into Spiritual and Eternal is a very high Encouragement of the Duty The Faithfulness of Servants hath Motives admirably strong to wit That they do Service to Christ while they do it conscionably to their Masters That He sees their Diligence or Loitering when their Masters cannot And that He will reward whatsoever good thing any Man doth no less though he be bound than if he were free And Masters have a Motive equally as strong for their Gentleness and Goodness towards their Servants from their having a Master in Heaven with whom is no respect of Persons Which imports that the Authority which a Master hath on Earth shall not in Heaven or at God's Bar stand him in any stead if he bear it hardly and frowardly towards his Servant Lastly For the Duty of Neighbours one to another What more taking Motive can there be for their Love and Peaceableness than that they are as lively Stones built up a Spiritual House Absurd it would be if in our Buildings the Materials should be at variance and will it not be much more so in Gods Building where Jesus Christ is the chief Corner-Stone They are excited to love one another as being Brethren in a far more Noble Relation than that of Nature Thy Brother saith St. Paul in more than one place for whom Christ died And what an effectual and kindly Operation may this have in all those Matters of Discord which may arise among Neighbours and Friends Shall such or such an Offence make me an Enemy to him for whom Christ hath died Shall any Worldly Concern overturn that Love and break that Vnion which Christ hath Cemented and Established with his own most precious Blood A mighty Inducement for the love of Neighbours this Though not proper to this Relation alone but running through all the foregoing ones The higher place in every one of them being not too high and the lower one not too low to admit the Name of Brother And so all the Duties thereof may be promoted and the more benignly carried on by this Motive I thought it not amiss Theophilus in short thus to hint the Excellent Motives which the Gospel affords as proper to every particular Law by itself consider'd And they are as I said either purely Evangelical as flowing some way or other from the Mystery of our Redemption which could not have been known had it not been divinely revealed or else such as are to a much greater Persuasiveness urged than ever they were before Theoph. They prevail so much with me that methinks were I in the meanest of these Relations or could I by turns be each part in them all I could love every Law belonging to them for the apposite and excellent Motives which to every Law are annex'd But Eubulus you have not yet given me any taste of those Motives which respect the Laws to a Mans Self in particular Eubul But since you seem to desire it I will. And while I recount them in my thoughts somtimes though I approve of any thing that leads to Virtue be it even in the meanest of Philosophers yet I have a low esteem of the very highest of their Encouragements if compared with these of our Lord. For the keeping of our Bodies free from Intemperance and Vncleanness can there be any thing more prevailing than that they are Members of that Body to which Christ is the Head That they are Temples of the Holy Ghost That they are bought with a price even with the Blood of Christ And that they will not be lost when they are laid in the Earth but will be raised up again from the Dead And he who is wiling to weigh these things rightly How can he take the Members of Christ and make them the Instruments of Vncleanness the Receptacles of Luxury and Excess How can he pollute that Temple which the Holy Ghost doth Consecrate and delight to reside in How can he answer it if be defiles that Body which is not his own yea which our Saviour hath Cleansed with his Blood as well as Bought And with what Face can he abuse That
for the Welfare of Society are those which are enjoyn'd by God. Such likewise are those that respect ourselves Why the Law is called The Ministration of Death by St. Paul. What he meaneth when he saith He was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and he died And how the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear P. 1. The Contents of the Second Discourse THE Inducements that Christians have to Love the Divine Law. Love was the moving cause of our Lord 's becoming our Law-giver The Greatness of our Lawgivers Person All the troublesome Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away by the Laws of our Lord and this not by his Will alone but by the admirable manifestation of his Goodness and Wisdom How the Jews urging the Everlastingness of their Law is from hence answered and how their way of Speaking is corrected when they say our Lawgiver hath vilified and destroy'd their Laws Only such Laws are enjoyn'd by our Lord as have in them an Intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely Good and such as are discernable by every one Though the Jews had some Inferiour Laws suted to their Temper and Climate which did the better fit them for the observance of those Laws which were Moral yet we have not the less reason to Love the Laws of our Lord because they are all Good without any mixture of such Inferiour Laws which may be agreeable to different Climates where Christians Live and which may promote the Precepts of our Lord are not by those Precepts excluded Christian Laws are such also as will in our Obedience much comply with our particular Way and Temper The Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given The Laws that respect ourselves are properly belonging io the New Testament At least are there only directly and openly injoyn'd The Objection answer'd that so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating to Faith which no one living can conceive how they should be The Reasonableness of making our Vnderstandings to yield to our Faith. P. 35. The Contents of the Third Discourse THE Severities of the Christian Laws are not unreasonable neither do they reduce us to such straights as cannot be gone through without a great deal of uneasiness if at all The Design of our Lord is not to beat down our Natural Inclinations and Appetites but to rectifie them Our Dispositions if well managed not averse from a right Improvement The Laws of Christ do not dash the pleasure of Conversation by threatning idle Words with the Day of Judgment The Loving of Enemies while they persist to be injurious is in itself not unmeet but highly equitable in case the History of our Redemption be true Fasting and Abstinence not unreasonable nor the parting with Estates and Lives for the asserting of the Gospel From the Laws of Christ we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins What the Law of Faith requires of us How much it is different from the Old Law. What the Law of Repentance is Too many make Faith and Repentance to stand in opposition to the other Laws of our Lord. How the Laws being done away which was Engraven on Stones is to be understood Repentance for Sin cannot without the greatest Absurdity be wrested to the further and more safe committing of Sin. The Examples of the Thief on the Cross and of the Labourers in the Vineyard at the Eleventh Hour consider'd none of the Divine Laws unsuitable to one another These Laws of themselves are grievous unto none As they have relation only to Civil Society and the welfare of Men in this World they do far surpass those of the most noted Lawgivers they by no means do favour the Opinion that Right of Possession is Founded in Grace And that it is Lawful to resist Sovereign Princes in the Maintenance of True Religion They make the Man truly beautiful within P. 66. The Contents of the Fourth Discourse GEneral Motives relating to these Laws altogether To the Conscionable Observance of them Eternal Rewards are promised yet Earthly ones are not excluded For the securing of our Obedience Eternal Punishments are threatned after Death to the neglect of these Laws The Constituting such Punishments is no more than what is meet to be done Stronger Assistances are afforded for the Performance of these Laws than under Moses there were Most Loving Invitations and Affectionate Expressions are joyned with them We have no reason to complain that there are not now under the Gospel-Law those Visible Expressions of Gods Power and Presence as under the Old Law there were Particular Motives relating to these Laws singly and apart Such as are wholly peculiar to the Gospel or else are there more clearly and convincingly urged than ever they were before It is impossible there should be any True Happiness without these Laws From the inward Excellence of them and those admirable Motives annexed to them there is a substantial Proof of their Divinity and Truth No Man hath ever deserved to be so much honoured among Men as our Lord hath done Those who faithfully give up their Names unto him have the Precedence of all others How it comes to pass that since the Law is so good Assistances so great and Motives so taking there should be so many Disobedient Ones P. 114. The Contents of the Fifth Discourse THough the Generality of Men be Wicked and by occasion of these Laws being given shall suffer the greater Torments hereafter yet it would not thereupon have been better that these Laws should not have been given The impious folly of those Men who are willing to flatter themselves with God's being so much a God of Mercy as that he will not destroy them though they walk contrary to his Laws An Explication of I am the Light of the World. Why Miracles were confined to the first Ages of the Church That Prophecy made good viz. The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb c. The great Goodness of God in making these Laws to reach so wide as the whole World. His great Wisdom and Mercy in putting these his Laws into Writing and enjoyning the frequent Reading and Preaching of them The Reasonableness that these Laws should endure without Abrogation or Change so long as the World shall stand The great expectation which was of this our Lawgiver for so many Ages and in every respect his answering of it may prevail much for Mens Obedience to his Laws The Righteousness and Goodness of these Laws will manifest themselves to those who are sincerely Obedient P. 150. The Contents of the Sixth Discourse NOt a few think themselves secure in their actings if they can shew that some good Men in Holy Writ or some well accounted of since have done the like Examples of Good Men to be imitated no further than
neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear DISCOURSE the First THEOPHILVS I Have often thought Eubulus that one of the greatest Pleasures of a Mans Life is to be found there where Two Faithful Friends enjoy one another in Ingenuous and Profitable Discourses Communicating what they find to have been most taking with themselves and by united Thoughts and Searches discussing some Truths which otherwise would not so well have been known EVBVLVS I Suppose there are none whose Souls are any whit refined but will readily assent to what you say Theophilus And I am persuaded that though his Expression be very high he yet spake with a true Sense of Discursive Friendship who said Cum una mehercule Ambulatiuncula atque uno Sermone nostro omnes fructus Provinciae non confero Cic. I prefer one Walk and one Discourse of ours before all the Honour and Income of my Province Theoph. What relish Honours and Incomes have with others I know not and am little solicitous to know But sure I am I seem to myself not to want them while I have what I speak of which I see is no less esteem'd by You also Eubul The Converse of a Faithful Friend is never otherwise than pleasant to me But then I judge it most to be valued when by his Words I am made not only the more knowing but the better Having a sacred kind of Warmth raised within me by which I am more enabled to DO those Duties which are incumbent on me and to SVFFER those Evils which are so frequent in the World and which I must not expect to be altogether freed from Theoph. I thank you for what you now say because if I shall ask some such Discourses from you which I from the first have designed to do you cannot deny me And I should account it a great Pleasure hereafter when I possibly shall walk these Fields alone to remember that under this Tree I learned such Knowledge under that was instructed in such a Virtue Here I discerned how little these outward Things are to be trusted in There how reasonable it is to submit to the Divine Will and in every place that I both had and rightly made use of an Understanding and True Friend Eubul You may be confident I will not deny you any thing which shall tend to the promoting of such an Innocent and Virtuous Pleasure And I the rather shall yield to you in what you desire because I am sure it will be mine own more than your Advantage Having sufficiently experienced that many things well spoken by others have been Hints to you of deeper Enquiries and more grateful Discourses Theoph. If you have any such Opinion of my Freeness which I am endebted to my Friend if he will kindly accept of I will promise that you shall not complain as if it were less to you than to others And for a Proof hereof I will take the boldness to propose the Matter to be discoursed of Which unless you shall think otherwise shall be concerning The True Nature of the Divine Laws which as I conceive doth consist not meerly in the Excellence which they have in Themselves but in another Excellence also viz. That Loveliness if I may be allow'd to use the word which they carry in them in respect of us Eubul Your Conception of their Nature is no more than just and a better Subject you cannot find out Unto which I shall the more willingly speak what I can because if we may make a Judgment of those Laws from the usual Practice of Men either there is not the Loveliness you speak of in them or if there be as certainly in the highest manner there is it is very much slighted Theoph. 'T is too true that so it is And therefore I hope it will by Him who sees in secret be accounted as some Reverence and Respect shew'd unto them if when they are so little observed abroad we shall endeavour to search into their Perfections in private Especially since for this End we shall do it that our Love to them may be the greater And truly Eubulus the Royal Psalmist's Expression of so great Love to the Divine Law gave the Occasion of my now mentioning this Subject For reading those words O how I love thy Law It is my Meditation all the day methought I felt my Soul more than a little touched with them They seeming to proceed from a more than ordinary Affection in that good King. Eubul I do not wonder it was so with You who I know keep your Heart soft and tender and thereby fitted for right Impressions from the Holy Scriptures But your saying that those words seemed to proceed from a more than ordinary Affection doth not reach the thing home They not seemed only but really did come from an Heart full of Love to God's Laws And indeed Theophilus I think it no hard matter to discern a true Passion from one that is so only in shew This later will betray itself in somthing or other which by a Judicious Eye will easily be perceived While the other carrieth its Evidences along with it and without scruple is presently owned as genuine and sincere And surely no true Affection can be more convincingly express'd than this King 's was to the Divine Precepts His saying O how I love thy Law is to me no less than if he had said He could not declare how much he loved it His Love to it was greater than what his Words could arise unto It being only comprehensible to his Understanding and the inward Sentiments of his Soul yea almost too big for his Heart to contain Thus much yet he could say if that might any way shew forth the greatness of his Love God's Law was his Meditation all the day His Thoughts were continually taken up in it Theoph. If I had question'd the greatness of the Psalmist's Love unto it I assure you Eubulus I should not have been so much affected with his Words For according to that Rule Si vis me flere dolendum est Primum ipsi tibi A Passion would not over quickly be stirred up in me by him who I should think was himself insensible But that we may not mistake one another in our following Discourse it will be requisite to know what is here meant by the word Law it being capable of more than one Signification Pray therefore Eubulus let me have your sense of it Eubul By the Law of God I presume every one understands the Will of God which he in his Word hath declared But then because part only of that which we now acknowledge to be the Word of God was then written by the Law here is meant the Law given by Moses and that part of it especially which is Moral Although the Judicial for the Justice and Prudence of it and the Ceremonial for its Mysteriousness are not wholly to be excluded from the Law we speak of nor yet whatever else is contained in Holy Writ
Theoph. You rightly say what the word Law imports as spoken by our Psalmist God's Will being written at that time no further than as it made up the Jewish Oeconomy As it hath been manifested since it hath relation to Men in a far wider sense wheresoever planted upon the Face of the Earth Yea even those Laws of Moses which are retained in the Evangelical Dispensation cease to bind as they were given by Moses and are Obligatory now from another Lawgiver Jesus Christ But yet still they are to be acknowledged God's Laws and we may even now use these words O how I love thy Law Therefore Eubulus I desire you will shew me these things 1. What the Inducements were to this so great Love in David and other holy Men of old to the Divine Laws 2. What the Inducements are which we Christians have to love them Eubul I see Theophilus the greater share of Discourse must lie upon me but you will have it so and to my power I will obey you As to the Inducements which David and other holy Men of old had to love the Divine Laws they seem to me to arise partly from its pleasing God to give those Laws and partly from the Excellency of the Laws themselves In relation to the former I must confess that the Nature of Men seemeth necessarily to require that Laws should be given unto them For it would have been highly irrational on Mens part not to acknowledge Him as their Lord who gave them a Being and it would be a very great Dishonour unto God should we think that They whom he had made a little lower than the Angels should be left unregarded and lawless But yet when Men had fallen from their Obedience and had in great measure sullied that Law which was imprest on their Natures it was certainly a very great Favour that God in stead of throwing upon them deserved Punishments should chuse a Numerous People to be his Peculiar and should himself repair that Law thus obliterated within by writing it in Tables that it might be discern'd by the Eye Consider Theophilus the Greatness of Him who gives this Law how he needs not the Services of any Creature and also the Ingratitude of Man how he disobeyed the most righteous Law in Paradise where all the Love and Observance which possibly he could shew would not have been too much Consider this I say and the Law if it carry but any favour along with it may certainly for the sake of Him who gave it be justly esteemed and loved Neither is the Time wherein it pleased God to give these Laws unworthy of our Notice So much was the Welfare of Mankind esteemed to depend upon the Writing of Laws that many Nations in after Ages contended for the Dignity of being the first Authors thereof And Greece especially among the Priviledges which she boasts to have held forth to the rest of the World reckons this as one of the the chief But the Honour of having the first Written Laws belongs to the Hebrews alone in comparison of whom as Josephus against Apion proveth the Grecian Legislators were but of yesterday and this Honour is much heightned by God's owning the immediate Relation of a King unto them while he wrote these Laws Now the Benefit of Laws and the Glory of having These given so early and by such an Hand being well understood and rightly valued by our Psalmist who himself was a Ruler and a King might well engage his Love to them Theoph. I acknowledge the Inducement from God's thus giving the Law to be a very fair one Pray Eubulus go on to the other you mentioned viz. The Excellency of the Laws themselves Eubulus Take it in that pious King 's own words Psal 19. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul The Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statuts of the Lord are righteous rejoycing the Heart The Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes The Fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than Honey and the Honey-Comb Moreover by them is thy Servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Theoph. This is a very high Character indeed of those Laws if there be as I doubt not but there is Truth in the whole Eubul There is Truth in every tittle And this will appear if we shall look upon the Laws which require Duties to Him who is the Lawgiver or to Those from one to another or to Themselves whom these Laws are given unto Pray tell me Theophilus what would you in Right Reason and according to a perfect Harmony of Things have the Duties towards a Prince and Lawgiver to be Theoph. I would desire they should be Fear Love and Gratitude and these shewn upon Grounds every way good There being nothing more comely than that Subjects should be with-held from offending by Fear moved to all Obedience by Love and excited to Acknowledgments of Benefits and Protection by Gratitude More than These I mention not because to These all others I suppose may be reduced and are in effect no other than Expressions of them Eubul All these you shall find to be according to your Wish Your first Duty of Fear is in Deut. 6.13 as also in sundry places more Thou shalt Fear the Lord thy God and serve Him and swear by his Name Their Fear is to be such as not to scare them from him but they are to approach unto him and to do him Service And for the deciding of Controversies and establishing of Truth they are to use his Name solemnly in an Oath And a right good Ground there is for such a Fear from the Power and Justice of God such as can and will inflict Punishments on them when they wilfully transgress and this to the utmost of their Deserts The Destruction of the Old World for its Impiety The Overwhelming of the Egyptians in the Red Sea The Earths opening her Mouth and swallowing up Corah Dathan and Abiram and numerous other Instances of the like Nature were hereof Testimonies sufficient So that this Law of Fearing God as a Prince and Lawgiver manifests itself to be built on a sure and lasting Foundation Your second Duty of Love is commanded Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength It is not to be a faint and an unconstant Love but one that is strong and will not fail For the Loving of God with all the Heart and Soul and Strength doth not only import the greatest vigour of Love but the greatest duration of it also It must not be towards him Now and anon quite off him but the greatest Length it must have as well as the greatest Heighth And the strong Inducements to this Duty were well known
from the Creation of the World which in the greatest Goodness was effected from the Continuance of God's Favour when Man had fallen and from the manifold Loving Kindnesses which he had shewed to his People in general and to Good Men in particular And therefore this good King could burst forth in earnest Exhortations to others O Love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the Faithful For your third Duty viz. Gratitude which you would have to be shewed to a Lawgiver are all those Injunctions and Incitements of Praising God which are scattered almost every where in the Holy Scriptures And no other Design had those Sacrifices which were unbloody than that Men should with Thankfulness acknowledge God as Supream 'T is said Levit. 7.12 If he offer it for a Thanksgiving as much as to say Thankfulness is to be offered unto God. And what more prevailing Motive could there be for the Obeying this Precept than that whatever was possessed was of God's Bounty It was He that gave unto the Israelites all that they look'd upon as their Wealth and Property And therefore they were to honour the Lord with their Substance and with the First-Fruits of their Increase That is They were in Gratitude to render back somthing of what he had bestowed upon them Not that he needs any thing of that which Men can return unto him but that their Thankfulness may be expressed in what manner they are able to do it And this their Gratitude might be the greater in that God secured his Gifts unto them by his Laws allotting to every Tribe its proper Portion and distributing that Portion amongst the Heads of particular Families That Discords at first might not hinder their Possessions and that Avarice and Ambition might not afterwards break into them For what was thus divided by Lot the Disposal of which was wholly from God was not to be alienated to other Tribes nor to other Families of the same Tribe The Property of the Land remained firm only the Use and Incomes of it might be sold for a season which yet might at any time be redeemed and if it were not redeemed it necessarily reverted to the ancient Owners at the Year of Jubile And hereupon Industry was encouraged and Peace established and they sate under their in a most proper sense Own Vines and Fig-trees none making them afraid Nay God had not only bestowed upon the Seed of Jacob all that they enjoyed but even They themselves were also wholly from Him. In Kindnesses from Men the Man is supposed to have a Being before And that we are Men and have an understanding Soul is not properly the Gift of any Man to us But God hath as I may so speak given us Ourselves as well as other things and so our Gratitude to Him is to be so much higher than to others by how much Life and Being are better than Possessions Yea by how much what we enjoy are more his Gifts unto us than they can be the Gifts of any others For the Propriety of them is for ever his and his Providence will never part with the Guidance and Direction of them And therefore though others should give them us it is his Bounty through their Hands How then might Those in the Judaick State love the Laws which have immediate Relation to God as a Lawgiver How full of Reason are they Is there not the greatest Beauty in them Which could it be discern'd by our outward Eyes who is it could see and not love them And surely what appears truly beautiful to the Eye of the Soul i. e. to clear and deliberate Thoughts will call no less for love but much more Intellectual Beauty being much to be preferr'd before that which is Sensible And if I may once more Paraphrase this Expression of the Psalmist O how I love thy Law Methinks it implyeth thus much Nothing in the World is there that shall hinder me from loving it I prefer it before all other things however esteemed they be by Men. Were it left to my choice whether I would have any of these Laws repealed or whether I would fear love and be grateful unto God or not though no Punishments should be inflicted if I did not do it there should not be one Law the less for my Duty towards my God and Lawgiver Nor should any thing how pleasant or advantageous soever it be buy off my Observance of his Laws So dear is their Practice and so delightful their Speculation to me Theoph. I see and acknowledge the Excellence of these Laws and do really think them worthy the high Character which this Royal Person gave and the great Love which he expressed to them But Eubulus of those Laws which in their Observance had relation to God immediately Some were such as might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather E. G. The shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision of Beasts in Sacrifice Others though not Cruel might yet seem to proceed and are by many thought so to do from the Will of God as Supream without any discernible Reason for their being enjoyn'd and consequently without any Love to his Creatures For what Love can be seen there where no Reason can be assigned why such and such things are commanded or forbidden And who is it then that can love such Laws Of this sort were those that forbad the wearing of Linnen and Woollen in the same Garment The Ploughing with an Ox and an Ass together And the use of such and such Creatures for Food and others not unlike unto these And then further The Laws that require Fear are such as are enforced upon the account that God is Terrible And where so great Terribleness is at the bottom of these Laws how could they be so much loved For as the Apostle saith Perfect Love casteth out Fear And where Laws do require so much Fear the Love to them must needs be the less Pray Eubulus tell me Are these to be excepted from our Psalmist's Love Or if not how can it be truly said he loved them Eubul For the satisfying of you in these things and first for your first Objection to wit That of those Laws which in their Observance had relation unto God immediately some might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather as the shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision and of Beasts in Sacrifice it will not I suppose be unmeet that these things be considered 1. That the Law which hath so much love here expressed to it is as I before hinted to be understood of the Moral Law chiefly For this hath a real and intrinsick Goodness in it It is just and good that God as he is our God and Lawgiver should be feared loved and have Gratitude shew'd to him 2. As to those other Laws of Circumcision and Sacrifices though in themselves considered they are not Morally good yet considered with relation to all the good
by using their Power to the depriving them of what is theirs the Tenth Commandment is by a just consequence a strong Law. They are therein forbid to Covet any thing much less then are they to take by force that which is their Neighbours and the meaner sort surely may bear the Name of Neighbour to those who are higher But there is an express Precept Levit. 25.17 You shall not oppress one another no not a Stranger Chap. 22.17 No nor a Servant that is escaped from an hard Master Deut. 23.16 Nor shut thine Hand from him nor thine Eye against him Chap. 15.7.9 Yea Excellent Laws were made for good Deeds to be done unto them The Corners of the Field were not to be fully Reaped nor the Gleanings of the Vintage to be gathered but left for them Levit. 18. Whatsoever grew every Seventh year was not to be inned and a Release was also then to be made of all Debts i. e. of all Debts owing by the Poor to the Rich. And lest a Man should from the thoughts of this years Release be the more strait-handed to his poor Brother there is is a special caution given in this point Deut. 15. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked Heart saying the Seventh year the year of Release is at hand and thine Eye be evil against thy poor Brother thou shalt surely give him And at the year of Jubile which was every Fiftieth year there was an Universal Freedom and Joy every Man might return to his Possession and every Servant to his own Family Yea this year as it expressed the greatest Mercy and Gladness when it came so it stretched forth Righteousness and Mercy to all other the years For thus it is Lev. 25. According to the number of years after the Jubile thou shalt buy of thy Neighbour and according to the number of the Fruits he shall sell unto thee according to the multitude of years thou shalt encrease the price thereof and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price thereof ye shall not therefore oppress one another but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God. And then in general all Persons were upon occasion to shew Love and Kindnesses and to have them shew'd back again to themselves And by such Acts as these as also by the abstaining from Adulteries Thefts False-Testimonies and such like ill Actions Society was to be kept up and Righteousness and Peace maintain'd It is Theophilus delightful to consider how by Laws even towards Beasts Birds and Trees God minded his People of a kind and good deportment one towards another The Ewe and her Lamb were not to killed both in one day Levit 22.28 Neither was the Old Bird to be taken with her Eggs or Young but in any wise to be let go that it might be well with them Deut. 22.6 Such seeming Cruelty must not be committed as to seethe a Kid in its Mothers Milk Exod. 23.19 And the Fruit-Trees though in a Siege against an Enemy must not be cut down but spared and this out of a kind of Gratitude because they bring forth for the Life of Man Deut. 20.19 So every way do these Laws tend to the planting of good Nature and sociable Virtues And surely such Laws as these might well have the Expression of Love towards them Consider Theophilus a Commonwealth well govern'd as That of the Jews was and all Happiness accruing unto it as to That there did and tell me if those Laws be not worthy to be loved One Law indeed there was which the Jews afterwards complain'd of as bringing them into great Straits and Troubles viz. That which commanded their Ground not to be Tilled and their Increase not to be gathered by the Owners every seventh year For since Pecuniary Tributs were exacted of them and their Field-encreases were the Foundation of their Coin they found themselves when their Crops were not brought home to be in great measure disabled for the answering such Taxations And therefore when Alexander the Great at Jerusalem had learnt out of Daniel's Prophesie that the Persian Empire should be overthrown by a Man that was a Greek and thereupon as persuaded that Himself was the Person had bid the Jews ask of him some great Boon they signified to him that a greater Privilege could not be granted them than the being freed from the seventh years Tribute which Request they obtain'd of him But though this Law proved heavy to them yet it was not from any defect in the Institution but from their Sins By these they forfeited God's Favour and gave him cause to turn that Law into their Punishment which he first made for the exercise of Mercy among themselves and for the manifesting of his own Power and Goodness towards them For thus we find it Lev. 25.20 21 22. If ye shall say What shall we eat the seventh year behold we shall not sow nor gather in our encrease then I will command my Blessing upon you in the sixth year and it shall bring forth fruit for three years And ye shall sow the eighth year and eat yet of old fruit the ninth year until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store If their Land fail'd of its Fertility A fruitful Land was turn'd into Barrenness for the Wickedness of them that dwelt therein According as it was expresly foretold Lev. 26.20 If you will not hearken unto me your Land shall not yield her Increase nor the Trees their Fruit. Hitherto of the Laws which respected the Jews from one another As to the Laws which related to Themselves in their own Persons I will say only this and it is enough to shew an amiable Excellence in them viz. That they are such as make a Man calm in his Breast and strong in his Body Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self supposeth that a Man is to love Himself and the Supposition is built upon and is as valid as a Law A more benign Law than which what Man is it can desire He is hereby not to torture himself by Anxious Cares and Envious Thoughts He is engaged likewise not to impair his Health by any manner of Excess for in doing either the one or the other he would not be his own Friend nor love himself And this hath an excellent tendency to Friendship abroad also He who loves himself so well as not to envy others will by others not be envied but loved And He who for his own Welfare will be temperate and sober is rightly fitted for the being faithful and for the having Trust reposed in him And thus Theophilus we have briefly run through these Laws And if you consider them as to the Moral part they naturally tend to the establishing of a People in Peace and Prosperity And may therefore deservedly be loved And if you consider them altogether they had some things from without that might preserve Mens Love towards them from growing Faint viz. Gods especial promise of Earthly
himself afterwards with respect to his Adultery and Murther to say Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it Psal 51. There not being any Sacrifices provided for such Sins And hereupon the Law is called The Ministration of Death when yet to those that were Obedient the Priviledges it gave were many and so for those as for the Excellency which in itself it had might be loved That other Scripture to wit I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died We if we take it as spoken in the Person of the Apostle and not rather by a Figure for others are not so to understand it as if he were the worse for the Law and might date his Death from it But thus While he look'd upon himself and his own Actions without a due Examination of them according to the exactness of the Law he might think himself to be in very good plight and free from danger But when he compared his Actions and Performances with the exceeding Accurateness of the Law the Actions which before look'd well appear'd sinful and he saw his Danger and Demerits to be very great Whereas the Law in itself was holy and the Commandment holy and just and good and so for its own worth might be loved Your last Scripture is this viz. That the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which neither We nor our Fathers were able to bear To this it may be replyed That we are not to take these words in a strict sense as if the Apostles and Jews could not bear that Yoke but thus They could not bear it without difficulty For we know that they had born it for many Generations from the time of Moses to that day Besides Neither was it a Yoke absolutely consider'd For God in the giving of these Laws did as a great Man interprets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13.18 bear with some of their Manners which the use of those Times had taught them and made his Sanctions suitable in many things to their being under-age as it were and too weak as yet for more perfect Institutions But it is therefore term'd A Yoke with reference to that Freedom and those very great Priviledges which are brought unto us by Christ In Comparison of These it is little better than a Bondage When yet before it was a great Honour to the Jews and such as They only had a share in The Heathens as they were Heathens having nothing to do in it You have Theophilus what at present I think may be replyed to the Scriptures you brought Yourself could possibly to your own Satisfaction better have answered them But if you are any way pleased with what I have said and can reap though but the least of that Spiritual Advantage you in the beginning of our Discourse spake of I shall be the less solicitous for the excusing of my Failures DISCOURSE the Second The Contents THE Inducements that Christians have to Love the Divine Law. Love was the moving cause of our Lords becoming our Law-giver The Greatness of our Lawgivers Person All the troublesome Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away by the Laws of our Lord and this not by his Will alone but by the admirable manifestation of his Goodness and Wisdom How the Jews urging the Everlastingness of their Law is from hence answered and how their way of Speaking is Corrected when they say our Lawgiver hath vilified and destroy'd their Laws Only such Laws are enjoyn'd by our Lord as have in them an Intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely Good and such as are discernable by every one Though the Jews had some Inferiour Laws suted to their Temper and Climate which did the better fit them for the observance of those Laws which were Moral yet we have not the less reason to Love the Laws of our Lord because they are all Good without any mixture of such Inferiour Laws Laws which may be agreeable to different Climates where Christians Live and which may promote the Precepts of our Lord are not by those Precepts excluded Christian Laws are such also as will in our Obedience much comply with our particular Way and Temper The Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given The Laws that respect ourselves are properly belonging to the New Testament At least are there only directly and openly injoyn'd The Objection answer'd that so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating to Faith which no one living can conceive how they should be The Reasonableness of making our Vnderstandings to yield to our Faith. THEOPHILVS I Am very glad Eubulus I have once more your good Company and from the privacy of the place the calmness of the Weather and the leisure you at present have you will I hope go on where Yesterday you left off For I have a great desire to hear the Inducements which Christians have to Love the Divine Law. EVBVLVS YOur desire shall be complied with not because I think I can so much inform you but because those things which we already know are made more Active upon us when we hear they are the Sentiments of others as well as our own Theoph. You will make whatever Truths after this manner shall be quickned in me to belong to yourself as being Watered at least if not Planted by you Besides since the things that lie only in our thoughts do not usually so much affect us as they do when we bring them out into Words it is to be imagined that yourself will not be wholly destitute of benefit while you are kind unto me Eubul Well then with Prayers that it may be for the Ghostly Health of us both we will proceed The Inducements that Christians have for the Loving the Divine Law which are far greater than what the Jews had may I presume be collected from the consideration of these things viz. The Lawgiver The Laws themselves and those Motives which are annexed unto them for the securing of our Obedience As to what concerns the Lawgiver it may very much contribute to the Love of the Christian Law That Love was the moving Cause of his becoming our Lawgiver The Punishment which Mankind for the breach of the Command in Paradise was from Gods Justice to suffer the Son of God was willing in our Nature to undergo himself And though God the Father if he had so pleased might have refus'd that any should bear the Punishment besides those who had deserv'd it for the Law when it is Trangress'd doth require that the Offenders should suffer in their own Persons The Soul that Sinneth it shall dye yet he was pleased to accept of his Son in our stead Accounting the Reverence of his Laws which by the Sins of Mankind had been Violated to be sufficiently maintain'd by his Death But on this condition only would God accept of his
Son to dye in our Room that the works of the Devil should be destroy'd in us and that we as was but meet for us to do should endeavour after Holiness of Life The Son of God therefore that He might be our Propitiation and that We might not be altogether unfit to whom so great Favours should be shewn cometh into the World to establish and promote Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness among Men. It pitied him to see those whom he had Created in such an Eminent Rank of Beings to wander in Darkness unable by all their Reasonings to find out those things that nearliest concern'd them and recommending upon uncertain grounds those that in some faint measures they did discern He hereupon reduceth them into right Paths giving them a true sight of their wretched Estate prescribing an Exact Rule to live by and settling it on a strong and sure Foundation Not only as agreeable to Mans Reason which though somtimes right is often dim and erroneous but as suteable to the Goodness of God which is absolutely perfect as being the Dictate of his Wisdom which cannot be deceived The resolution of his Will which is most Holy the Injunction of his Authority which is most unquestionable and the only way to a true and lasting Happiness Whence it is easie to discern that in infinite Love he gives his Laws unto us And the same Love from which these Laws proceeded did in an eminent manner confirm them and testifie their being Divine When he gave them he ascended into a Mount and therein there was indeed some agreeableness betwixt the giving of the Law by Moses and by Him. But this Mount did not burn with Fire nor had it Blackness and Darkness and Tempest as the other had to keep the People at a distance from him Neither were his Miracles of the severer kind as those of Old for the most part were He by an Almighty Power restored several to Life but none ever suffered Death by him He gave Health to more than a few for from him the Blind received their sight the Lame walked the Lepers were cleansed but he never hurt the Bodies of any that it might well be said He went about doing good But such a sweet-natured Establishment of his Laws we the less may wonder at as being no more than what might well be expected when such infinite and unspeakable Love had brought him into the World to give Laws A very great Inducement sure for us to love those Laws which were bottom'd on such a tender Affection to Mankind Theoph. It is pity that any should be willing to overthrow this so great Love in him who is our Lawgiver by saying that it cannot consist with the Divine Justice to punish an Innocent Person in the place of the Guilty That by an Act of Dominion God laid Affliction upon our Lord but no Punishment That therefore Christ was not a Propitiation for our Sins and consequently that there is no such Love as we talk of at the bottom of these Laws Eubul It is sad Theophilus that any should oppose a Truth so evident and advantageous For is it possible that any thing should be more plainly spoken in Holy Writ than that Christ suffered for our Sins the Just for the Vnjust That he came to give his Life a Ransom for many That he is the Propitiation for our Sins and that in due time he Died for the Vngodly And can any thing be more manifest than that our Lords dying in our stead was from his own Will and was the act of one who had a Power to do what he did and of one who could not sink under the Punishment and also an act which is conducive to the best Ends in the World the illustrating of the infinite Justice of God in punishing Sin of his infinite Mercy in saving Sinners and of his unspeakable Wisdom in doing it in such a way which the Contrivances of Men and Angels could never have reached unto And since God's Dominion is so much pleaded in this matter for the avoiding the Name of Punishment and making it to be only Affliction we may pertinently ask Why by his Dominion he might not Punish an Innocent Person offering himself in the place of the Offenders as well as throw Afflictions upon him as great and acute as Punishment itself could be And what difference is there to the Persons Sense who thus suffereth betwixt Afflictions and Punishments Surely These Men are very ill Asserters of the Divine Justice who while they deny that God may punish the Innocent instead of the Guilty though from such admirable Motives but now mentioned dare at the same time make him to have laid the Torments of the Cross upon his beloved Son without respect to any offence or fault in the least Which how unworthy a thought of God is it And how little are they Friends to the Sacred Laws who thus deprive them of their great Ornament the wonderful Love in which they were founded Theoph. But leaving these Men how Rational soever they would be thought cum ratione sua insanire if you have any thing more to say of this our Law-giver pray Eubulus do it Eubul This I think I may say truly That the Old Mosaick Law and the Blessings accruing to the Jews thereby were very much upon the Account of and in order unto our Lawgivers Coming into the World. And whosoever throughly instructed in Christianity will look into the Jewish State and the Laws and Customs of it will without much difficulty find that they were for the most part Types and Representations of him who was to come And they did betoken either the Excellency of his Person or the Purity and Holiness of his Laws or the Way how he would be a Ransom for us or the blessed Liberty we should have under his Government somthing or other relating unto him was signified by them as might easily be shewed from their Priesthood Sacrifices Washings Jubiles from the Land to which they were brought from the Person that brought them from the Cities of Refuge and such like VVhich things do shew forth the Greatness of our Lawgiver though while on Earth He for most Gracious Ends was in appearance mean. For what Man ever before Him was so Honour'd as to have the State and Government of a great Nation for so long a time to be formed as a Prophecy of Him And though Greatness as such is rather fitted to strike a Reverence than to allure Affections yet it may allure them when Majesty and Love are equally mingled and when our Lawgiver is Primarily not more so by his Greatness than by his Tenderness towards Men. The Apostle therefore to magnifie the Gospel and the Laws thereof speaks of them as given and declared by the Son of God God saith he who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto our Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his SON whom
he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom he made the Heavens Heb. 1.1 2. As much as to say He hath spoken to us in a more Eminent manner than ever yet he hath done unto any And Chap. 2. he gives Precedency to his Laws before the Law given on Mount Sinai upon the Account that THAT was spoken by Angels THESE by the Lord. And by how much the greater the Person is that speaks supposing the things he speaks are in themselves Good as we shall shew that His absolutely are by so much the more should the things spoken have our Observance and Esteem This is my beloved Son hear ye Him said the Voice out of the Cloud at the Transfiguration when our Lawgiver did far exceed Moses in the Brightness of his Face and had Moses himself with Elias Attendants upon him He it is that hath the note of Excellence by S. John Chap. 1.18 viz. Who is in the Bosom of his Father i. e. Who as nearest unto him knows his mind most of any Above All he is to be heard He alone is the Man in whom saith God I am well pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom I fully rest having made known my Will unto him so as that a further notice of it is not to be expected for to my full satisfaction it is by him declared unto Mankind Such considerations of our Lawgiver may well excite our esteem of his Laws and we have great reason to Love them for the Givers Sake Since never any Laws were so much Honour'd from Love and Greatness as these were Theoph. The things which you have said are of no mean Concern and I wish that they were entertain'd abroad with such a Sense as they ought to be Good Eubulus proceed to the consideration of the Laws themselves Eubul I will and surely they well deserve our Love in these four respects 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner 2. In that only such Laws are enjoyned as have in them an intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely good and such as are discernable by every one 3. In that those Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given 4. In that from these Laws we have a fair way for a pardon of all Sins 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner The Eighth Day doth not now shew us the Blood of our Children nor give us an occasion to pity them from the pains they endured by a Knife or sharp Stone And how great these Pains were and what the Soreness may be collected from the Story of the Shechemites whom Simeon and Levi were able to slay Two Men a whole City Those Numerous Washings which upon the Touching of Unclean Things and those Unclean Things so many were to be performed are now at an end There is now no being polluted for many Days or until the Evening separated from the Company of others neither need we for every Sin of Ignorance go with a Goat unto the Temple for Sacrifice Which how many must they have been since too apt we are unawares to fall into Sin Yea a Period is put to all those Sacrifices which were continually offered up These things had indeed good Reasons as hath been said for their being enjoyn'd to the Jews But it must be confessed that as to their Number and Nature they were tedious and burdensom There was somthing in the whole Oeconomy itself that in the Apostles word Heb. 8.7 was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from blame And though it serv'd well for a time yet Men in after-Ages when their Understandings were adult and their Reason improved were capable of better things than such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul termeth them weak and beggerly Elements Now had God done them or the more uneasie part of them away by his Will only without any visible Effects of his Wisdom in their being abolished it would have been a great Favour unto us But that they All should cease by being improved into greater Excellencies That Circumcision as it mark'd the Jews for Gods People should be at an end by all the Kingdoms of the World becoming the Kingdoms of the Lord That as it imported Purity and Chastness it should be raised into the Spiritual Circumcision of the Heart and the daily cutting off as it were all impure and corrupt Affections That as it was a sign of the Promised Seed it should end in His Wonderfully being Born who is the Everlasting Perfection of it That so many Allusions and Sprinklings should terminate in the inward Cleanness of the Soul and Conscience so as that there should be no further need of such things to denote it That extraordinary Sacrifices should be finished by the Lamb of God's offering up himself once for all appeasing by his pretious Blood his Fathers Wrath satisfying his Justice and purging away our Sins That ordinary Sacrifices should be no more through our Bodies and Souls being presented daily unto God a Living Sacrifice an holy acceptable and rational Service That all those Ceremonies Theophilus should in so admirable a manner be cancell'd is an high Demonstration of Gods Wisdom and the greatest Expression of his Love to us And therefore his Laws so excellently freed from such Troublesom Rites may very much engage our Love. Theoph. What you say as it may much engage our Love to the Christian Law so methinks it affords a good Answer to the Jews who urge that their Laws are in Holy Writ styled Everlasting and Ordinances for ever and so cannot be thought to cease so long as the World stands And it also may correct their way of speaking when they say our Lord hath vilified and destroyed those their Laws Eubul Pray go on and shew how in both Theoph. Some Things being said to be Everlasting and for ever denoteth only their Duration so long till their Nature cannot extend them to a further length Thus Isai 34.10 The Fire is said to burn for ever which shall not be quenched before it hath consumed all the Matter in which it burneth So likewise Deut. 15.17 A Servant is said to be a Servant for ever i. e. So long as till the Year of Jubile should free him Before that time he must not think to leave his Master And not impertinent to what we are now speaking was their way of dividing the World into Two Ages The one before the Messias the other after The former they called one for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Seculum The later added to it was for ever and ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Secula Seculorum Now the Law as given by Moses was Everlasting as the word Everlasting may import a Duration so long as the Nature thereof would well allow of so long as till the great Jubile should be
preserve our Lives by no means to lose them However let not this Command of our Lord which requires us to part with Estates and Lives rather than deny him be faulted as too rigid and hard while the Rewards are so much beyond the Pains and while so many of Those who have thus suffered have had such Assistances and Joys afforded them even in the midst of their Sufferings that a Man would almost wish for their Sorrows could he but have their Joys together with them From all which it may appear Theophilus that the Air as was objected is not too pure to be breath'd in and that they are not unreasonable Heights of Duty which are required of us Neither may it disturb us that this our Work is not without difficulty to be begun and in like manner for some time to be carried on by us For it is in a sort a Priviledge which Angels have not to testifie unto Pains yea even unto Death itself the Sincerity of Obedience Which Testification of Sincerity although it ariseth from an Imperfection of Human Nature will yet be very acceptable unto God possibly no less than that of the Holy Ones Above which is wholly free from all such Conflicts And while the chief Intent of our Lawgiver is to make us Pious towards God Composed in our own Breasts Loving unto others and Loved again by them Perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect who makes his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and meting only the same measure to others which hath first been meted by the Love and Compassion of our Lord unto us we must one would think use very much Violence to the better Inclinations of our Souls if we do not entirely love these Laws As for mine own part Theophilus will you give me leave to speak my Heart freely to you my Love is so great to them that methinks I would obey them all not so much because I am commanded to do it as because they are every way in themselves so worthy to be loved I could wish that they were even one with my Soul and that all my Thoughts and Actions might proceed not more from Life than from Them. And so far would I be from questioning the goodness of them that I would as soon doubt whether it were good to Live and be Happy So dear are they unto me yea so much better than Life itself Theoph. I am much prevail'd upon by the Reasons you have given and your last Affectionate Words add so much a further weight to those Reasons that they appear to me not to be more the Issues of your Brain than of your Heart And therefore you may on good Grounds presume that they will be convincing to others when they have first been so to yourself But though I acknowledge the Laws of our Lord to require most reasonable things of us and do find that they truly have an high place in my Esteem and Love yet I 'll confess to you Eubulus much dejected I am somtimes when I reflect upon my many Failures Resolve indeed I do for the greatest Care and Circumspection but yet my Sins do daily increase upon me and what will it boot me to love these Laws when every day I transgress them To own them so admirably fitted for the perfecting of our Nature and the refining of our Practise when I see mine own Nature so imperfect under them and my Practcie so impure in Comparison of them Eubul What you now say Theophilus makes way for and will best be answer'd by the Consideration of the Fourth thing viz. That from these Laws we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins Most perfect these Laws are as you have heard but by reason of that weakness which is within us and those many strong Temptations which are without they are not like to be perfectly obeyed All that we can do is as it were a great way off to behold and admire that perfection which we cannot of ourselves attain unto and to grieve that we daily and hourly some way or other have Sinn'd against it But yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Our Blessed Lord knowing our frame and make and seeing that our strength and abilities are but small hath added two other Laws of Faith and Repentance in which we may find some cheering in respect of those many Breaches of the Divine Laws which lie as a weight upon our Souls That of Faith requires thus much of us That we believe in Christ as a Saviour who by his precious Blood for us Shed hath appeased Gods Wrath and obtain'd Remission for all the Sins of Men and for ours in that number And from the mighty importance of this Law and the infinite benefits it affordeth unto us the whole Gospel and all the Laws thereof are in a comprehensive Word called the Law of Faith. And in this respect it is much different from the Old Law. Perfect Obedience was required by That and because perfection of Obedience is necessarily grounded upon a perfection of Nature the Law seemeth therefore to have been the Rule not of our Works only but of our Nature also which at the Creation was committed pure into our Hands But this Law of Faith by reason of Human Natures having been perfect in Christ and having Done also without the least failure whatsoever was Incumbent on the Representative of Mankind to do and as united with the Divine Nature having suffered likewise what Punishment was Due to the Sins of Men this Law I say of Faith doth Command that we should not rely upon any Righteousness of our own not yet Despair for any Sin whether belonging to our Nature or more particularly to our own Persons but should have our Eyes upon Him who alone by his Merits hath purchased Salvation for us The Law of Repentance is this viz. That we truly be sorry for what Sins soever we commit and do heartily endeavour an amendment of Life And this shall be available through the Death of Christ for our Pardon Repentance shall not Theophilus be unto Sins after the same manner as Sacrifices in Moses Law were Not the small Sins only shall be done away but the great ones also shall no less For he who hath called us unto Repentance hath been a propitiation for all the Sins of Mankind alike for those of a deeper Dye as well as those of a lighter Stain And his Blood is against the greatest Offences and the smallest Infirmities equally Efficacious Of Old if a Man had unwillingly Kill'd his Brother and was truly sorry for it the avenger of Blood was notwithstanding allowed to Slay him if he could overtake him before he reach'd to the City of Refuge The Sin here if it were not rather an unhappiness was so far imputed as That he must dye for it if another could run faster than he which might happen to be a thing beyond his power to prevent And though this might
Incorruption they are Sown in Dishonour they shall be raised in Glory They are Sown in Weakness they shall be raised in Power they are Sown Natural Bodies they shall be raised Spiritual This is plainly spoken and not only so but is confirmed by our Lords own Rising from the Dead and becoming the First-Fruits of them that Slept Which implies that as the Harvest followeth the First-Fruits so shall our Christian Friends with all other Holy Men follow our Lord in his Resurrection It is very remarkable that the Holy Scripture gives to the whole Church as united with its Head The Name of Christ Thus 1 Cor. 12.12 As the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body SO ALSO IS CHRIST Whence there may seem an holy Necessity that our Religious Friends should rise from the Dead They are parts of the Church and as the Church and Christ are one He could not be said to be wholly risen unless They likewise should rise from the Dead If there be no Resurrection of the Dead saith the Apostle then is Christ not risen which is true also in this sense His Resurrection would be incompleat and in effect no Resurrection should not his Church which is his Body rise after him What need is there then of so many Lamentations and of such Floods of Tears Why should we be dejected at the Graves of our Friends which we may look upon as the places from which they will arise rather than as the places wherein they are buried And what may yet further contribute to the appeasing of our Sorrow is their rising again never to be sick more Never any more to leave us but to enjoy us and to be enjoyed by us in an Eternity of Happiness For it cannot reasonably be thought that those particular Friendships which were founded in Virtue will not hereafter be continued in Heaven especially since a Religious Faithfulness and Constancy in Affection shall have a good share in the Everlasting Rewards which are there given So that we shall have our Friends again and much more ours than ever they were before Neither even at the present is our Communion with them dissolved by their Death For that Bond which unites us one to another and to our Head is Spiritual and so Death which only divides the Soul from the Body makes no real separation of the Christian who is dead from the Christians who are alive For they who still continue Members of the same Head do also continue Members one of another And the same good Will which our Friends as Christians had to us while they lived we may safely believe they have after they have left us Such as consisteth in the making Supplications unto God that it may be well with us both in Life and Death and in rejoycing at those Spiritual Blessings which are held out unto us for the obtaining that Happiness which they before us have reach'd unto Why then should we grieve as though they were quite lost unto us As though all our Interest in them were buried in their Graves and all that Virtuous Kindness they bore us were wholly extinct We rather may rejoyce that their Love towards us and other Christians is increased and more perfect as their own Happiness is increased and themselves are more perfect Theoph. What you say might administer unto Patience were it not that the Fears of an Hell and the Apprehensions that it may be worse with them now they are dead than it was when they were alive did not so often interpose Eubul But why should we suffer such Fears and Apprehensions to interpose in relation to those Friends who have loved Religion and Virtue and made them visible in their Lives Precious in the sight of God is the death of such And as for those daily Slips and Failures which proceed only from that Weakness which is common to all Mankind they from the Sincerity which hath been in the Heart shall be forgiven Indeed there are some Persons for whom our Hopes cannot be so great and we are not to be blamed if our Griefs be of a larger measure in the Deaths of these But yet we are by no means to pass sentence ourselves upon them but must leave them to stand or fall to their own Master And the same God that commands us to be charitable means that we should be so not only to the Living but the Dead also And if he so strictly enjoyns our Charity towards them we have some reason to hope he will not deny unto them his own Mercy This is certain that however the evil Lives of some Men may render the Thoughts of Death less comfortable to themselves and others yet through our dear Lord's Dying for us Death is in reality become an harmless thing to us as we are Christians and we may Triumphantly use the words of St. Paul O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be unto God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Nay though Death to our Bodily Eyes hath Terrour in its Face and is attended with Worms and Corruption yet the same Apostle reckons it a part of the Church's Dowry 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Life or DEATH or Things present or Things to come all are yours and the same we may esteem it to be in relation to our departed Friends You have seen Theophilus the excellent Motives for Patience on every Hand and for Obedience also to the other Laws that more nearly concern ourselves And truly the conceiving of a Man whose outward actions are all Clean and Chast whose inward Thoughts are Pure and Holy who can part with even Lawful Enjoyments rather than be insnared by them who is contented with his Lot not anxious for the years to come and cheerfully bearing up under present sufferings the conceiving I say of such an one so every way perfect is very pleasant to the thoughts and we cannot sooner think of him than we must Love him the Laws then that form the Man to be such must needs be no less fitted for our Love and Delight and these sure will much be heightned from such pleasing and weighty Inducements Theoph. I 'll confess to you Eubulus from this short account which you have given all my Affections are turn'd into a Love of these Sacred Laws except only that there is some room in my Soul left for Reverence and Admiration of them And I hope while I speak the same Words that the Pious Mr. Herbert did I speak to the utmost the same Truth also viz. That I would not part with one Leaf of these Holy Laws might I have the whole World in Exchange They are able to make would Men permit them an Heaven upon Earth while Peace and Joy and Love would be in the Community and an Holy Calmness and Inexpressible Pleasure in every private Breast Eubul And may such be
continually in yours without any ceasing or decay for the great Veneration and Love which you express to these Laws Theoph. Truly Eubulus it is impossible there should be any true Happiness without them Should not the Understanding be recovered from that Blindness and Errour which are in it should not the Will be reduced from its Pravity and Perverseness Should not the Affections be delivered from their Tumultuousness and Evil Excesses even Heaven would not be a place of Joy and Bliss For how unagreeable would Glorious Mansions be and an incorruptible Body were the Soul imperfect and vicious in all its Faculties unacquainted with Holiness secretly grudging at God's Will and openly disobeying it What would the Salvation be should Saint with Saint carry it ill-naturedly and enjoy their Immortality only for the Perpetuating of their Dissentions And if to them whose Natures are not fashioned by these Laws Heaven would not afford an Happiness we may be sure Earth will not Which makes me Eubulus to pity those Men as Enemies to their own Welfare who esteem Liberty and Greatness to be then alone truly perfect when they are attended with a Licentiousness doing whatever liketh them without any respect had to the Laws of God or Man. Whereas God himself who is infinite in Majesty and most absolute in Power acteth according to the Eternal Laws of Righteousness and Goodness And it is the perfection of his Greatness and Liberty so to do Eubul What you have said I cannot gainsay but do much approve And though I confess I could never think as some have done that the Scriptures bare saying that they are the Word of God is a sufficient Testimony that they are so yet from the inward Excellence of these Laws and those admirable Motives which are added to them for the securing of our Obedience there is methinks a substantial Proof of their Divinity and Truth Can it be thought that the Devil could ever prompt any Man to make Laws so righteous and good as these are Or that he would promote their Observance with such mighty Rewards such severe Threatnings and such sacred Considerations If so then surely our Saviour's Argument of Satans being divided against himself and his Kingdoms not being able thereby to stand might be altogether as valid in the present case as then it was when the Jews said that Devils were cast out by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Neither have we more reason to imagine That any Man out of his own falseness and deceit did make these Laws since they are so directly destructive of all falseness and deceit and may justly be supposed to be everlastingly so in that they are recommended to the World with Considerations so powerful and savoury From their own Purity therefore and Goodness they may well be own'd to be the same Divine Precepts which in reality they are Theoph. And let me add That no Man ever deserv'd to be so much honour'd among Men as He hath done who hath given these Laws and beyond all example hath encouraged their practice I cannot but think somtimes how highly the grave Lucretius hath extoll'd and is himself highly extoll'd by some for so doing his Epicurus who endeavour'd to Arm Men against all Fears by the beating down of all Religion and the excluding the Gods from the knowledge of every thing on Earth as being neither pleas'd with good Actions nor offended with evil ones And He so far well doth shew that all other Inventions however very much conducive to the Welfare of Men are yet nothing to be compared to That which will quiet tumultuous Passions and render the Mind well informed and steady Compare saith he with This the great things which others have found out Ceres and Bacchus are much honour'd She as having first taught the way of sowing Corn He as having first instructed Men in planting of Vines But yet without these things Mens Lives may be sustain'd and as report goes some Nations even now do live without them At bene non poterat sine puro pectore vivi but without a Breast well purged a Man can have no happy Life And then he goes on with the Praises of his Philosopher as being worthy a Place among the Gods. But if He had so much Honour who profanely taught Men not to fear what shall our Lord have who with sacred Religion directs Men in the pleasant and right Paths to Happiness Who gives them Laws which will render them easie to themselves and acceptable unto others Who in any Troubles that may befal them affords them the only Methods of Comfort by telling them that God is a Father unto Men in every thing taking care of them and ordering even Afflictions for the good of those who are pious Who makes known everlasting Joys after Death which are prepared for those that live holy Lives and renders the way thereunto not difficult by the help which he continually vouchsafes from above And all this in such a wonderful manner by having loved us even unto Death with a Love much stronger than Death itself Eubul Our Lord doth indeed in these things deserve Honour above all Men and we may often on his account sing that Anthem which at his Birth the Angels sung Glory be to God on high on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. And I will further say That They who faithfully give up their Names unto him have the Precedency not only of all Those who among the Heathens pretended to the study of Wisdom but also of God's own People the Jews yea in a sort even of David himself who was so dear to him and whom in our Discourse we have had occasion so often to mention For though I cannot but yield that this King had a fair insight into the Kingdom of the Messias and the things belonging unto it there being in his Psalms so many undoubted Descriptions thereof yet it will not be an Untruth to affirm That the meanest Christian among us hath unless it be his own fault more clear Revelations of Christ of Life and Immortality and of the Assistances of the Holy Spirit than David had or any of the Prophets The words of our Lord tending to what I now say are very remarkable Verily I say unto you Among them that are born of Women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist Notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he Matth. 11.11 i. e. However a very great Prophet John was one that above all the rest had the Honour to see our Lord in the Flesh a thing which many Prophets and Kings had desired to see and had not seen it yet the least Disciple or Christian when Christ shall be set at the Right-Hand of God and shall raise up an Heavenly Kingdom upon Earth shall he greater than John. i. e. From the being Baptized with the Holy Ghost and having a larger knowledge of the Divine Will manifested being made acquainted with higher and
chiefly acceptable from Men unto God For He hath Loved them and his Love should be answer'd with Love again But true Love proceeds by the Persuasive Way and never shews itself aright but when it is Willing and Free and is wrought upon by kind Inducements and endearing Motives which are things that are at the greatest distance from Force Now this persuasive Method God generally takes with Men as being most sutable to their Natures and the proper way to prevail with them for that Obedience which as it ariseth from their Willingness and Love will be pleasing in his Sight He multiplieth his Favours upon them sendeth his Holy Spirit to quicken and excite him by Sacred Allurements and taking Suggestions but never with a mighty force to compel them or at most very rarely and that upon very signal Occasions Yea somtimes he useth the Severer Way partly out of Judgment but yet out of Love too Commissioning-Afflictions to fall upon them if by this means he may prevail with them yet always so as that he leaves room for their Will without which their Obedience would be of no worth with Him and not their Virtue in the least nor any way fit for Rewards This may be one Reason Another why God will not Force them into Obedience we may conceive to be this viz. That if they shall not by these gentle Methods be wrought upon but shall still persist in their Sins He may show his Power and Wisdom in improving into his Service and to his Glory those their Sins by which They in appearance made him to serve Thus did he in the King of Assyria Isai 10. Highly proud this King was and very great and his Greatness which consisted in large Possessions and Multitudes of Men the Works and Gifts of God both must be employ'd to no other Ends but the bringing under others though by the most unjustifiable Methods of Unrighteousness and Cruelty Well God sees the Designs of this Haughty Man and he will not presently check him The Jews were a Nation that had behaved themselves so ill that God styles them the People of his Wrath. Against these now will God improve the Pride and Cruelty of this Assyrian making Him his Rod to scourge Them O Assyrian the Rod of mine Anger I will send him against an Hypocritical Nation and against the People of my Wrath will I give him a Charge to take the Spoil and to take the Prey and to tread them down like the Mire in the Streets Vers 6. But that you may see this King had no good Design but the quite contrary it is said in the next Verse Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his Heart think so but it is in his Heart to cut off Nations not a few And therefore when God hath performed his whole Work upon Mount Sion and Samaria in punishing them thus by the Pride of the King of Assyria then will he also punish the stout Heart of that King and the Glory of his Looks Vers 12. Thus those Actions that are least intended by Men to God's Service will He by his Wisdom engage for his own Service yet so as that they shall remain Sins still in the Actors and shall at the last have the Recompence that is due unto them After the same manner also is it in other Sins In the Covetous God's Gifts must serve their greedy Desires and must be heap'd up for this End chiefly that the Owners may have as little a Dependence upon Providence as may be And could they think their Treasures should ever administer to Free-handedness and Liberality it would be their Trouble Yet these Men's sordid Desires and Actions God in his secret Wisdom somtimes will order to serve after some years in the good Offices of Charity and Pity in that He who by Vsury and unjust Gain encreaseth his Substance shall when he little intendeth so gather it for him that will pity the Poor Innumerable Instances might be given of God's improving the contrary Designs of Men into his Glory I will only say this That the Wisdom of the Almighty is on Earth in nothing more seen than in this I now mention His Service is hardly more frequently carried on by the pious and righteous Actions of good Men than it is by the indirect and crooked Practices of the Disobedient God as it were secretly arresting their ungodly Contrivances and bringing them about without any virtue of theirs or thanks to them somtimes that the Crafty may be taken in their own Craftiness somtimes that the Welfare of Good Men may be the more promoted and in all that it may be known That however Evil Men may endeavour to make Him in his Holy Name and Works serve their wicked Ends He yet Himself is the Great God that Ruleth over all And though many Devices may be in Mens Hearts yet the Counsel of the Lord That shall stand And whosoever considereth This together with the other Reasons before instanced in why God doth neither Cut these Wicked Men generally off nor force them into Obedience will have no cause to say that God acted below the Wisdom of Prudent Governors on Earth That Criminals are encouraged to continue in their Sins and Others to come in and be partakers with them by their Example Theoph. I confess what you have said I cannot but assent unto And do heartily acknowledge that God is Merciful and Wise in his Dealings with the Children of Men. Eubul But though God doth somtimes abstain from punishing their Disobedience and somtimes doth improve it for the effecting of what He himself would have done yet it is not thereupon the less Loathsome in its own Nature and Deform'd It tendeth as far as possible for ever to Dissolve the Community betwixt God as a Lawgiver and Men his Subjects And perchance we hence may not unmeetly discern how agreeably Rebellious Men are requited in being Eternally punished in Hell. Their will would have had their wickedness uncontroul'd and the pleasures thereof extended to an infinite Duration and God must thus for ever have Ministred unto them to the Eternal Overthrow of all that is Sacred They suffer therefore no longer than they would have Sinned And it is not Incongruous that they should for ever bear his Wrath who might they have had their Desire would for ever have made Him to Serve under Them for the maintaining of their Iniquities But Theophilus it is time to conclude Theoph. The coming on of Night tells us it is Yet I cannot Eubulus but make one Wish first viz. That Men would be willing not to be imposed upon by the false appearances of Disobedience for very deceitful Colours it often weareth but would consider the true Nature thereof in its Genuine Vncomeliness and Deformity Eubul It would be well if they would so do For I dare appeal even to wicked Men themselves whether it would not seem grosly ill in their Eyes if those Servants who by duty and many particular
Pollution in them which the same Sins in others do For no Relation that a Man can stand in unto God can make Injustice to become Righteousness Falseness to become Truth Intemperance Moderation and Uncleanness Purity And the Reason is Because the Relation which they have unto God as Children lieth chiefly in an Internal Likeness unto him and a partaking of the Divine Nature in its Imitable Perfections Now These consist in a Spiritual Remoteness from Sin and an hatred of it as being themselves contrary unto it And therefore they can in no respect be thought to Extenuate much less to cast a Beauty upon That unto which they are so extreamly opposite Gods not beholding Iniquity in Jacob and his not seeing perverseness in Israel can never be rightly interpreted of their Sins being overlook'd or not taken notice of by him upon the mere account that they were his Children For how grievously hath God complain'd of them I have seen saith he to Moses this People and behold it is a Stiff-Necked People now therefore let me alone that my Wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of Thee a great Nation And how often hath he threatned and severely punish'd their Iniquities Surely Balaam himself understood not Those his own words as These Men are too forward to do For had he so done why should he have Counsell'd Balack That the Israelites by the Midianitish Woman should be allured to Trespass against the Lord that thereby they might be excluded from his Favour Iniquity therefore in Jacob and Perverseness in Israel are not to be understood of their own Sins against either God or Men but of the Iniquity and Perverseness of Others against Them. Which thing the next Verse but one doth very well shew Where the very same Preposition in which the Margin retains with Relation to the very same Words Jacob and Israel is rendred against Surely there is no Inchantments in against Jacob nor Divination in against Israel Numb 23.23 And Gods not Seeing and not Beholding denote his not approving or not enduring it to be So that the Sense of the Words is not that he will not see Iniquity and Perverseness in Them if they shall be Guilty but that he will not suffer Iniquity and Perverseness against Them if they shall be Innocent Nay so far will the Relation of being Children unto God be from less'ning the Pollution of any Heinous Sin that it will be a very great Aggravation and Heightning of it and will render it the more displeasing unto Him. That Those who have given up their Names unto Christ who have seen the Beauty of Holiness who have tasted of the good Word of God and have been washed and cleansed should commit Sin lose their first Love fall away and wallow in the Mire again how Odious in the Sight of God will it be These though they should be the Signet on his Right Hand He without their unfeigned Sorrow and Repentance would pluck them thence as he spake of Coniah Jerem 22.24 God is no Respecter of Persons But as in every Nation He that feareth Him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him so He that worketh Wickedness is rejected by him As he is Judge of all the Earth he will do right and by no means will clear the Guilty He may sooner put off the Title of Father to such or such an One than he can lay aside the Name of Holy and Just His being a Father to any Man is with Relation to his Obedience which is mutable and may be withheld And if Obedience shall be wholly withheld the Man ceaseth to be his Child and God is no longer unto him a Father in a Sense that betokeneth Love and Delight in him But He who is most contrary unto God putteth on that Relation Ye are of your Father the Devil saith our Saviour But then Holiness and Justice are Essential unto God and cannot by any Condition or Carriage of Men be parted with And so by These be Wickedness and Pollution in what Persons soever they will He rightly will discern and punish them God indeed is said to Love with an Everlasting Lvve Jer. 31.3 Which yet is not so to be understood as if he were a fond Father that could not spy the Faults of his Children or would think them lighter or less than they are but He is said to Love Everlastingly in that he will never fail Those that Obedientially seek unto and depend upon him and will always afford sufficient means for their abiding in his Love as well as at the last infinitely Reward them for Loving and Obeying him And He is pleased also to say he Loveth with an Everlasting Love in opposition to those Earthly Parents who somtimes have no natural Affection and so do not Love and somtimes may want means and abilities to express their Love. Thus when my Father and Mother forsake me i. e. either for want of Will do not love me or for want of Power cannot shew it as they would the Lord taketh me up But yet if his Child shall grow disobedient requiting his Love with Presumption and carrying it quite otherwise than a dutiful Child ought to do Gods Eyes are open to the Faults of such his Son and he will use his Rod of Correction towards him Yea if his Son shall grow stubborn and disobedient Shall not hearken unto his Voice but be a Drunkard or a Glutton as it is in Deut. 21.20 or any other way profane and dissolute He will cast him off and disinherit him and it will not be the failing of his Love but the Expression of his Justice and Holiness so to do Agreeable hereunto is that of Ezekiel Chap. 18.24 When the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the Abominations which the wicked Man doth shall he live All his Righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembred in the Trespasses that he hath trespassed and in the Sin that he hath sinned shall he die And in this his dealing God appealeth to the House of Israel if his way be not equal And thus Theophilus I have considered the Sins of good Men in Holy Scripture together with the ill Inferences which some Men are apt to make from them They look not upon them as the Sins of good Men who take not the Repentance together with the Sins And they are much mistaken who think that those Sins are there mention'd only to shew how far God's Children may fall and do not consider them rather as Punishments to their Names who thus offended God and as greater Cautions to us that we from their Falls may stand the surer Yea They deal treacherously with themselves who from the Sins of God's Children in Holy Scripture will flatter and encourage themselves in their own And they most grosly and dangerously err who thinking that God will esteem the Sins of his Children which are the same