and what else pertained to his Mediatory Office because these are the things by which the Nations of the Earth became blessed in him which was the thing expresly promised That such things were implyed in the promise appears not only by the reason of the thing but also from St. Paul's testimony Acts 13. 32 33. We declare unto you glad tidings how that the Promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their Children in that he hath raised up Iesus again I do not say that Abraham from a Promise that was but so generally expressed as that was could apprehend in particular what the Messias should both do and suffer though they were wrapt up in it He apprehended so much by it in general that God would send the Messias into the World and that he would send him upon such terms as that his coming should be matter of great benefit to the world Abraham had such a prospect of this though at that distance as made him rejoyce and be glad So saith our Saviour himself Iohn 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rojoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And the promise to Abraham as it was a Promise of sending Christ to be the Saviour of the world was expressive of the greatest love For in this was the love of God manifested towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 9 10. A Propitiation for our sins That is one that by his Death hath procured favour having taken off that sore displeasure which God by his Law had declared against all the transgressors of it For the wise and just God did not think the righteousness of his Government and the honour and reputation of his Law would be sufficiently salved and his great hatred of sin sufficiently manifested without some considerable satisfaction given for the dishonour done to Him and his Law by Mans transgression And yet that this might not be exacted at the hands of the guilty in executing the curse of the Law on them themselves he was most graciously pleased to accept of the sufferings of his own dear Son instead of what the sinners themselves were to have undergone He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Christ suffered for sins the Iust for the unjust or in their stead 1 Pet. 3. 18. Upon account of which undertaking of Christ for us all the benefits of the Covenant do accrue to Man What ever is required of Man by way of condition of his acceptation with God becomes accepted to that end upon account of Christ's suffering And His Intercession in Heaven through which all our sincere though otherwise imperfect performances become acceptable to God and rewardable by him is made in the virtue of it For the whole Covenant it self is founded in the Blood of Christ which he shed for the remission of sins Therefore it is called the New Testament in his Blood Mat. 26. 28. And his blood the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant Hebr. 13. 20. 2. It contained a Promise of Iustification or remission of sin through Christ unto all that should so believe as thereupon to repent of their former folly and become sincerely obedient for the future For that is necessarily implyed in the Promise of blessedâ—ess to the Nations in Abrahams Seed it being impossible men should be blessed without Remission of sin which consisteth in removing the curse of the Law in remitting the penalty Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered Psal. 32. 1. St. Paul acquaints us that this blessing of the New Covenant was declared to Abraham in the Promise Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed 3. It contained in it tacitly a Promise of Divine assistance unto men in their endeavours to fulfil the condition of the Promise For God in promising blessedness to the Nations through Abrahams Seed therein promised all that was absolutely necessary for him to vouchsafe to make them blessed and without which they could not be blessed And if so then he therein implicitly promised to assist the endeavours of men to perform the condition of the Promise without the assistance of whose grace they cannot savingly believe repent and obey And so it should seem the Old Testament-Church understood Gods subduing of sin as well as his pardoning of sin to be comprized in the Promise to Abraham Mich. 7. 19 20. He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Thou wilt perform the truth to Iacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the days of old And Christ his turning men from their iniquities which he doth accomplish by appointing them means by assisting them in the use of them to that end is part of the blessing contained in the Promise made to Abraham and was so reckoned by St. Peter Acts 3. 25 26. Ye are the children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Iesus Christ sent him to bless you in turning every one of you from his iniquities 4. It implicitly or somewhat obscurely contained in it a Promise of eternal Life I say implicitly For I do not find that eternal Life was expresly promised to Abraham But yet that was expresly promised him from which the hope of eternal Life might well be inferred As first Blessedness through his Seed the Messias And secondly That God would be a God to him and his Seed For blessedness is a happiness that runs parallel with the duration of Man's immortal Soul And God's Promise of being a God to Abraham carried in it a Promise of a happiness worthy of God to bestow such as everlasting Life or happiness is And therefore he was not ashamed to be called their God meaning Abraham Isaac and Iacob because he had prepared for them a City meaning that in so doing he had answered that title of relation of being their God and done like himsel Heb. 11. 16. And upon these and the like Revelatioâ—s of of God's mind to him Abraham looked for a City which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God and a heavenly Countrey Heb. 11. 10 16. If Abraham did but use his reason about these Promises as he did about reconciling God's Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be called with his command to sacrifice him Heb. 11. 17 18 19. he might discern eternal Life in them though but very obscurely in comparison of
what is now revealed in the Gospel by which Life and Immortality is brought to light 2 Tim. 1. 10. But how obscurely soever a future happiness was promised to Abraham yet promised it was for which we have the testimony of St. Paul Gal. 3. 18. If the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise He was here proving against the Pharisaical Iews and Judaizing Christians that Justification unto Life was to be had by the Promise and not by the Law by Faith and not by works of the Law that the Iust should live by Faith as vers 12. And therefore by Inheritance here which he saith God gave to Abraham by Promise he doubtless means eternal Life which elsewhere he calls the Promise of eternal Inheritance Heb. 9. 15. Consider now how God carryed on his design of restoring Man by the promise of those benefits For if expressions of the greatest Grace and Love in God to Men is the way to beget in them a love to God again and in begetting that to beget all the desirable effects of Love which are no less than a sincere conformity in Man's Nature and Life to the Divine Law And if the giving of great and precious Promises is the way of recovering Man again to a participation of the Divine Nature as I have shewed it is then the Promise of God to Abraham which was expressive of the greatest Grace and Love and contained in it Promises than which there are not materially greater nor more precious was a wise and graciovs contrivance of God to recover Man to a likeness to himself wherein the glory and perfection of his Nature did first consist Sect. 4. The next thing to be considered is the extent of the Promise of God to Abraham The greatness of God's love and good-will was not expressed only in the greatness of the beneâ—its promised to Abraham but also in the extent of the Promise reaching not only to the Iewish people and their Proselytes to which another Covenant was restrained but even to all Nations of the Earth Gen. 12. 3. and 22. 18. which shews it to be of the same nature with the general Promise in the Gospel though it was not so intelligible then as it is since made by the Gospel But God we see so loved the world as first to promise and after to give his only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. Christ gave his life for the life of the world Joh. 6. 8. He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2. 2 He gave himself a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. And tasted death for every man Heb. 2. 9 Sect. 5. Consider we in the next place the security given by God for the performance of his Promise to Abraham and his Seed For because men knowing how ill they have deserved from God having made themselves enemies to him would be apt to question whether there were indeed so much love and good will in God to them as the greatness of his Promise did import Therefore God to remove all jealousie of this nature and to give them the greatest security and assurance he could of the reality of his intentions and of his heart and good will towards them he confirmed his Promise by an Oath swearing by himself because he could swear by no greater And this he did that they to whom the Promise did extend might have strong consolation from God such as might work in them strong and vigorous affections to him such as were in Abraham through which he was wrought to an entire resignation of himself to God and to his will and by which he was denominated the friend of God Heb. 6. 17 28. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us Sect. 6. The next thing I have to shew is That this Promise of God to Abraham was conditional If the Promise of sending Christ was absolute yet the actual collation of the great benefit of Remission of Sin and eternal Life by him was not promised but upon condition of Faith and Repentance as appears by the Scriptures frequent explanation of the the general Promise Abraham believed in the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness Gen. 15. 6. If Abraham had not believed God he had not been justified notwithstanding the Promise So that this Justification depended as well upon his performing the condition of the Promise as upon the Promise itself And when God said to Abraham Walk before me and be thou upright and I will make a Covenant with thee Gen. 17. 1. The Lord made Abrahams upright walking before him the condition of his keeping as well as making Covenant with him Besides it is apparent that God made Circumcision to be the Covenant to be kept on Abraham's and his Seeds part as the condition of what God had promised on his part Gen. 17. 4 7 10. As for me my Covenant is with thee c. Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their generations And this is the Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you every Man-child among you shall be circumcised By which is to be understood not so much Circumcision in the flesh as in the Spirit as I shall shew anon And the truth is it would not suit with God's end and design in his Covenant of restoring Man to the rectitude of his Nature mentioned before to do it without Man's endeavours in the use and exercise of his natural faculties of Understanding and Will as he is a rational Creature and free Agent For God works that change in Mans nature designed in his New Law or Covenant not meerly Physically but Morally also 1. By proposing great and important Truths to his mind and understanding and in assisting this natural faculty in considering how his happiness is concerned in that which is proposed in case it should prove true and in considering likewise what reason there is to believe that it is true and in discerning the truth of it upon consideration And 2. By proposing Motives to the Will to incline it to follow the dictates of the enlightned mind and by assisting the Will to be governed thereby So that Man himself is not wholly passive in this change or what goes to the making of it but is so far active in it as to denominate what he doth by God's assistance to be his own act So that the Man is said to believe to repent to obey when he doth believe repent and obey For so he is every where in Scripture said to do God doth not repent in Man but Man
other Benefits which were Promised to Abraham and his Seed 2. They had an addition of several other Predictions concerning the Messias both by Moses and other Prophets that perhaps were somewhat more express such as in Deut. 18. 16. Isa. 53. Dan. 9. and others These Promises and Predictions put them in great expectations of Special Benefits by the Messias and wrought in them a longing after his day Upon which account our Saviour said to his Disciples Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear For I say unto you that many Prophets and Kings and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Mat. 13. 16 17. Luke 10. 23 24. 3. They had large significations from God of his special favour to them above all people as in chusing them to be his peculiar people and in declaring himself to be their God in giving visible Signs of his Presence among them and excellent Laws Promises to them and sending his Prophets amongst them and working many wonders for them and casting out the Nations before them to make room for them and the like Deut. 7. 6 7 8. and 26. 18 19. Psal. 147. 19 20. Rom. 9. 4 5. 4. They had express Declarations from God of the goodness of his Nature and of his compassion towards Sinners and of his readiness to pardon such as should repent and return to their duty in loving him and keeping his Commandments As for instance Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity trangression and sin And when he delivered them his Law with the greatest terrour and astonishment to them yet even then he assured them that he would shew mercy to thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments as in the second Commandment And in case of their miscarriage to the drawing down of Gods Judgements upon them he bespeaks them thus When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient to his voice For the Lord thy God is a merciful God he will not forsake thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers Deut. 4. 31. and 30. 1 2 3. Levit. 26. 39 c. From all which Grounds the faithful among them had such a hope and confidence of pardon of Sin and of a future happiness in another life upon their Repentance and sincere Obedience as did effectually induce them to have good thoughts of God to love him and to endeavour to please him by having respect unto all his Commandments This made him say Psal. 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And under this hope and confidence the twelve Tribes did instantly serve God day and night and grounded this Hope of theirs upon the Promise made of God unto their Fathers as St. Panl tells us Acts 26. 6 7. And indeed it was the unanimous Faith of the most eminent among them from age to age that God had both made and would keep a Covenant to shew mercy to those that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before him with all their heart For that they looked upon as the Condition of God's Promise of shewing Mercy This we may see in Moses David Solomon and in Daniel and Nehemiah Deut. 7. 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments So David Psalm 103. 17 18. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them And thus Solomon 1 Kings 8. 23. And he said Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee who keepest Covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart So Daniel in his 9th Chap. 4th ver O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping the Covenant and Mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his Commandments And Nehemiah likewise Ch. 1. 5. I beseech thee O Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his Commandments This we see was the serious and constant Profession of the Faith of the servants of God in those times And in this Faith and Practice doubtless it was that they lived and dyed and were saved CHAP. IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham IN the next place I am to shew that the Law of Moses did contain a Covenant distinct and of a different nature from the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed Besides the general Promise which God made to Abraham respecting the Gentiles as well as the Iews In thee all Nations of the Earth shall be blessed he made a Special Covenant with him as a reward of his Signal faithfulness to give unto his Natural Seed the Land of Canaan Nehem. 9. 8. Thou foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a Covenant with him to give the Land of the Caâ—aanites to his Seed In order to the fulfilling of which Promise after he had brought them out of Egypt he united them under himself as Head in one Political Body by a Political Covenant Exod. 19 c. which is the Covenant I am now to discourse of In which discourse I would 1. Shew in what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham 2. Prove that it did contain such a different Covenant 3. For farther Illustration consider it in its parts and their relation one to another 4. And in what respect this Covenant is called the first Covenant when as the Covenant of Grace was made before it 1. In what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different Nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Law of Moses comes under a twofold consideration 1. As in conjunction with the Promise to Abraham to which it was annexed it made up one entire Law by which the Israelites were to be governed and directed in the way to eternal life And in this Conjunction the Promise was the Life and Soul as it were of the Body of the Mosaic Law properly taken And in this sense as the word Law signifies the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses which contain the Promise as well as the Law it is sometimes used in the New Testament Gal. 4. 21 22. 1 Cor. 14. 34. Luke 16. And in this sense doubtless we are to understand the Law upon which David bestowed so many glorious Encomiums as
it be a grievous torment to the corrupt nature of Men in another morld to retain their lusts and the violent cravings of them and yet to be without all hope of having wherewith to satisfie them which yet is like to be the condition of men in Hell Here mens unnatural lusts are not such a torment to them because they can make provision to satisfie them or live in hopes so to do and in the mean while drown the noise of them by diversion But in Hell it will be quite otherwise And therefore its easie to imagine that the torment which will arise from the corruption of mens natures there will be unspeakably great besides the piercing sence of the happiness they have lost and the other intollerable pains which they must indure and therefore as whoever hath not his nature renewed in this World is never like to have it renewed in another so without renewing of it it is impossible he should be happy there Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Joh. 3. 3. That is he cannot enjoy it and why It is not only from Gods Decree or established Law to the contrary that he cannot but also from the utter incapacity of his Nature as corrupt Wherefore all the Vessels of Mercy are such as God aforehand prepares unto glory Rom. 9. 23. They are such as are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. Such as God hath wrought for the self same thing 2. Cor. 5. 5. So that as I said there is a necessity in the nature of the thing that if God would design the Restoration of the Nature of Man to happiness that in order thereto he should design a Restoration of it to holiness as indeed he hath He hath chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes. 2. 13. And therefore the end of Christs great undertaking for the Redemption and Restauration of Man is described by his saving his people from their sins By his redeeming them from all â—niquity and purifying to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works By his washing and sanctifying of them that he might present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing That this was the design of Gods promise to Abraham appears in that at the very first it was propounded to him by way of Motive to quit the Idolatry of his Fathers and the evil customes of his Countrey for they served other Gods Iosh. 24. 2. Get thee out of thy Countrey and from thy Kindred and from thy Fathers house and I will make of thee a great Nation and thou shalt be a blessing and in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed Gen. 12. 1 2 3. In which God had a farther design than to reform Abraham only His design in him and by him was to set on foot the Reformation of the World and the recovering the Nations thereof from the dregs of Idolatry into which they were sunk And therefore God said unto him Thou shalt be a blessing And this he designed not only in giving him a numerous Issue and making them a great Nation whose Education in the worship of the true God was founded in Abraham but also in making both him and them eminent examples of his special favour in the â—ight of the Nations by which they might see how much better it was to serve the God of Abraham than the Gods of the Nations And thereby to invite and draw them from their Idolatry Superstition and Ungodliness to worship and serve the true God And God in promising to Abraham both the Messias in his Seed and also that he would bless them that should bless him and curse them that should curse him and that his Seed should possess the gate of his enemies had it should seem this in design viz. to encourage and quicken them to a holy life Luke 1. 72 73 74 75. To perform the mercy promised to our Fathers and to remember his holy Covenant The Oath which he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life But besides all this considering that the Promise made to Abraham was the New Covenant as it was then exhibited as I have shewed before the benefits therein promised had a proper tendency in them to restore Man again to a likeness to God in the Moral perfections of his Nature For the great and precious Promises contained in the New Covenant as such are given for this very end that by them we might be partakers of a Divine Nature the glory whereof is knowledge purity and charity 2 Pet. 1. 4. And for God by such promises to make overtures unto Man of love and good-will and of desires of reconciliation is the direct way and method of recovering faln Man from a state of enmity against God to a mind reconciled to him to think well of him to love him and delight in him For we love him because he first loved us 1 Joh. 4. 19. And God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself and how by not imputing their trespasses to them but being willing upon their repentance and returning to their duty to forgive them 2 Cor. 5. 19. God useth the same way of overcoming mans enmity against him which he hath taught us to use to overcome mans enmity against us and that is by overcoming their evil with our good Rom. 12. 21. David dealing so with Saul though a bitter enemy melted him into tears and made him cry Is this thy voice my son David 1 Sam. 24. 16. And to whom much is forgiven the same person loveth much Luke 7. 42 47. And if God by these methods do once recover Mans love to him he will quickly recover him to his loyalty and duty of which Love is the proper Source and Spring If a man love me he will keep my words Joh. 14. 23. Now that God's promise to Abraham did contain expressions of wonderful grace and love and consequently what is most apt to beget in Man a love to God again and all the desirable effects of it will appear if we consider the special benefits comprehended in that Promise Which is the third thing now to be considered Sect. 3. The special benefits contained in the Promise made to Abraham were such as these 1. It contained a Promise of the Messias a promise of sending Christ into the world and that he should come of his Seed In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Gen. 12. 3. and 18. 18. and 22. 18. which Seed is Christ as is said Gal. 3. 16. And in this promise of sending Christ were implyed the things he was sent for the things by which he should bless the world as his Death and Resurrection
thus God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause thy Face to shine upon us That thy way may be known on Earth thy saving health unto all Nations Psal. 67. 1 2. and concludes ver 7. that if God should so do his fear would be propagated through the World God shall bless us and all the ends of the Earth shall fear him Deut 4. 6 7 8. Keep therefore and do them for this is your Wisdom and your Vnderstanding in the sight of the Nations who shall hear all these Statutes and say surely this great Nation is a Wise and an Vnderstanding people For what Nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for And what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Iudgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day To them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. They were committed in trust to them as Feoffees for the World to communicate the knowledge of God and of his Laws to the Nations to carry on further the Reformation of the World begun in their Father Abraham and which was Promised to be more compleatly effected by the Messias in that all Nations of the Earth should be blessed in him And as God's Judgements on the Iews for breaking his Laws was Admonitory to the Nations about them Deut. 29. 24 28. So his famous Deliverances wrought for them upon their Repentance for breaking his Laws made God known abroad to be a great favourer of such as repent of their worshipping and serving other Gods and such a one as could and would save deliver and bless them that turned to him to serve him only Which seems to be his meaning when he saith he will be sanctified before the Heathen when he should gather them from among the people where they were Captives and that the Heathen should know that he was the Lord Ezek. 20. 41. 36. 23. And by this means be brought them to fear worship the God of Israel Psal. 102. 13 15. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion So the Heathen shall fear the Name of the Lord and all the Kings of the Earth thy glory When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion they said among the Heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Psal. 126. 1 2. 6. The whole Law was given to be a Political Instrument of governing the Israelites according to that state of their minority as a peculiar Republick of which God himself was the Soveraign Legislator But of this more afterward CHAP. III. Shewing by what Faith and Practice the Iews under the Law were saved I Câ—me now to shew by what Faith and Practice the Iews under the Law were saved And doubtless what ever it was it became available to that end upon the account of what Christ was to suffer when he should come For as I shewed before that God's Covenant with Abraham and his Seed by virtue of which the faithful then were saved was confirmed in Christ was established with them in reference to what he was to do and suffer as Mediatour afterwards Gal. 3. 17. And by means of his death there was Redemption for the transgressions that were under the first Testament Heb. 9. 15. And the Sacrifices and Priesthood were a Figure for the time then present of what Christ should afterwards do and suffer and for what end But when I say so I do not say that all that were saved did understand so much For we see the Apostles of Christ though they did believe him to be the Messias which the Iews expected yet they did not understand or expect that he should suffer death as a Sacrifice till he told them so Nay the thing was so far from their thoughts as that they did not understand him when he plainly foretold them of his death Luke 18. 32. And if the Doctrine touching the resemblance that is between the Priesthood of Melchizedech and the Priesthood of Christ was not in the Apostles sense Meat which Babes in Christanity could well digest in their understandings but was Meat for strong Men Heb. 5. 10. 14. we may well guess by that how little the Iews understood the Typical and Spiritual sense of those Types about which they were frequently conversant and wherefore it 's said that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than Iohn the Baptist though he was so great that there was none greater before him Hence we may see that one Reason why those Iews were all their life time under a spirit of bondage to fear was the great Obscurity of the Declaration of God's purpose of Grace to the World through Christ and the Way and Method of Salvation by him Moses was but a servant for a Testimony of those things which were after to be spoken and so declared afterwards as that the Typical meaning of them might be understood Heb. 3. 5. In the mean while as touching those things they were shut up unto the Faith which should afterwards be revealed Gal. 3. 23. It is said of the Prophets whereof Moses was one that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto us by them that have preached the Gospel to us 1 Pet. 1. 12. Add we to all this Heb. 9. 8. where having spoken in ver 7. of the High Priests entering alone into the Holy of Holiâ—s with the blood of the Sacrifice in behalf of the people once every year he saith The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing By the Holiest of all here is meant Heaven signified of Old by the Holy of Holies as appears ver 12 24. And the plain meaning seems to be this That the peoples entring into Heaven by the Sacrifice and Blood and Intercession of Christ was not made manifest while the Tabernacle-Worship continued For Christ is our way into Heaven to the place within the Vail by his Blood shed as a Sacrifice Heb. 10. 19 20. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us thâ—ough the Vail that is to say his flesh But this way he tells us was not made manifest while the first Tabernacle was standing But as obscure as this way was as to what was to be done and suffered in particular by the Messias yet they had some general Grounds of Faith and Hope that upon their Faith Repentance and sedulous endeavours to walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord they should obtain remission of their sins and a future happiness in another World Among which Grounds these were not the least 1. They had the knowledge of the Promise of Blessedness to all Nations in Abrahams Seed and of the Promise of those
the parts of it For it is written Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them And all the people shall say Amen Deut. 27. 26. And this extended to Heart-obedience and Heart-sinning as well as to the outward act commanding love to God forbidding to covet as under the Heart-searching Political Soveraign who reserved to himself the final Judgement and Execution even in temporal respects in many cases 2. Laws of Indemnity of which also this Covenant did consist were partly those which ordained Sacrifice and Offerings for the Expiation of many sins made pardonable by those Laws so far as to exempt the Delinquent person from the temporal penalty threatned for breach of those other Laws which for distinction sake I call Laws of Duty for otherwise these also were Laws of Duty as well as of Priviledge There were other Laws of Indemnity likewise for the purification of persons legally unclean which being observed the persons unclean became delivered from the penalties they suffered while their uncleanness was upon them such as was their separation from the Congregation Consider we next the Sanction of these Laws and that did consist in Promises annexed to the observing of them and in a curse denounced against the transgressors of them And for our better understanding the Nature of the Promises of this Covenant we will consider them Negatively and Affirmatively 1. Negatively The Promises of this Political-covenant as such were not Promise of eternal life And when I say so I do not deny but that first the Iews in Moses time and before had Promises of eternal life implyed in the Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed And accordingly the faithful ones among them sought after the Heavenly Countrey and looked for a City which hath Foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10 14 16. Nor secondly will I deny but that there are some passages in the Law of Moses if you take the Law of Moses in a large sense which look somewhat like a renewall of the antient Covenant with Abraham to his Seed As when for instance God made a conditional Promise to the Israelites in Moses his time to be their God and that they should be his people as in Levit 26. 12. Deut. 29. 13. Which form of words is interpreted sometimes to imply a future happiness in another World Heb. 11. 16. Matth. 21. 31 32. And I do not deny but the Iews had by Moses as express a Promise of the Messias as Abraham had Deut. 18. 15. 19. But St. Paul doth not speak of the Law in this large sense when he opposeth the Law and the Promise the Law and Faith one to another But if we understand by the Law of Moâ—es the Law as Political the Law of the Common-wealth so the Promises of it were not Promises of Eternal Life For Promises of this nature did pertain to another Covenant to wit thâ—t made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed as such First Therefore St. Paul doth down-rightly deny that the Promise of the Inheritance which in Heb. 9. 15. is called the Eternal Inheritance was by the Law which yet it would have been if by Law he had meant the Law in that large sense in which the Law and Promise to Abraham are conjoyned and not in that strict sense by which he means the Political Law distinctly And if the Inheritance had been promised upon the same terms as temporal Blessings were in the temporal Covenant the Inheritance might have been obtained by the Law as well as temporal Blessings were Rom. 4. 13. For the Promise that he should be Heir of the World was not through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith Secondly St. Paul evinceth the badness of that Opinion to think that Eternal Life was Promised upon the Law-terms from the absurd consequence of it shewing that if it were that then it would make void the Promise of God to Abraham and the way of saving men by Faith in that Promise of none effect Gal. 3. 18. For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Rom. 4. 14. For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect It was altogether unreasonable to think that the Inheritance should be promised upon such distant and inconsistent terms as are Faith in the Promise and by Works of the Law Thirdly The Law saith the Apostle is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3. 12. meaning that what the Law promised it did not promise it upon condition of believing but upon condition of doing And Eternal Life is not since the fall promised upon condition of doing without Faith but upon condition of believing For the Iust shall live by Faith Vers. 11. and therefore Eternal Life is not promised by the Law Fourthly Wherefore else are the Promises of that better Covenant Heb. 8. 6. said to be better Promises But because they are Promises of better things than were promised in the first Covenant which yet they could not be if Eternal Life had been promised in that Covenant because that is the best of all Promises To say they are better only in respect of Administration and clearness of Revelation would not satisfie such as should well consider That if the betterness of the Covenant and Promises lay only in that the difference would not be so great as to denominate them two Covenants and two so vastly distant as the Scripture represents them to be The difference then would be but only gradual as that is which is found in the same Covenant of Grace in the several Editions of it to Adam to Abraham to David and now to all Nations since Christ's coming and not Essential as that between the two Covenants seem to be as it is represented in Gal. 4. 24. Besides St. Paul represents the Administration of the two Covenants to differ as much as Righteousness and Condemnation Life and Death differ which sure is more than a gradual difference The one is the Ministration of Death and Condemnation the other the Ministration of Righteousness and Life 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8 9. The Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did Heb. 7. 19. By which it appears again that the hope of the Gospel in which the things hoped for upon the Promises of the Gospel are not the least is better than what the Law promised the observers of it This is the Promise which he hath promised us even Eternal Life 1 John 2. 25. 2. And Affirmatively It was then a long and Prosperous life in the Land of Canaan that was promised in the first Covenant Deut. 28. 11. The Lord shall make thee plenteous in Goods in the fruit of thy Body and in the fruit of thy Cattel and in the fruit of thy Ground in the Land which the Lord sware
Judaizers who stand for the necessity of Mosaic Observations have no right to nor shall receive benefit by Christ who is the only Christian Altar to which we bring all our Sacrifices 6. They held the Law of Moses to be unalterable and of perpetual obligation In opposition to which the Author to the Hebrews improves to great purpose that Prophesie Ier. 31. 31 32. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Iudah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt c. For in that he saith a new Covenant he hath saith he made the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready saith he to vanish away And St. Paul shews how that the Legal Ministration how glorious soever it was was yet done away when that which was far more glorious did appear 2 Cor. 3. 7 11. And again that we are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ and delivered from the Law Rom. 7. 4 6. 7. The last of their Errors I shall insist on was this They held the first Covenant as alone or separated to be the Covenant of Salvation only taking in with it the Covenant of Literal Circumcision which also was made a part of their Law That first Covenant which I have already described as a temporal Covenant and the Promises and the threatnings of it but temporal they took to be established for perpetuity and the Promises of it to contain Promises of Eternal Redemption or Remission as well as temporal and Eternal Life and Felicity as well as Temporal And such a Literal observation of the Laws of it to be the Condition of those Promises as would render them inculpable in the eye of the Magistracy such a Righteousness sufficient to justifie them before God as St. Paul saith he had while he was a Pharisee Phil. 3. 6. As touching the Righteousness which is in the Law blameless which then he accounted to be his gain Now that they did peremptorily adhere to this first Covenant and the terms of it for Justification and Eternal Life it doth plainly appear by the mighty opposition which the Apostles made against them in it For they did still oppose another Covenant as the Covenant of Justification and Eternal Life unto this Mosaical Covenant and Faith as the Condition of that in opposition to Works as the condition of this as will appear if we come to Instances 1. St. Paul argues it with them that the Promise of God to Abraham and his Seed was not through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 13. Not through the Law that is not upon the terms upon which the benefits of the first Covenant were promised to the Nation of the Iews but upon quite other terms exprest by the Righteousness of Faith 2. He argues it farther with them That God's way of accounting men righteous by Faith and their way of seeking Righteousness npon the terms of the first Covenant were utterly inconsistent the one destructive of the other and that but one of these ways could possibly stand For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect Rom. 4. 14. And again If the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Gal. 3. 18. And if by Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace c. Rom. 11. 6. 3. And that the Law did not exclude the Promise to Abraham he farther argues in that the Covenant with Abraham was confirmed and unalterably setled and established in the Messias 430 years before the Law by Moses was given and that therefore for them to go about to introduce the Law in the room of the Promise to Abraham so confirmed would be as unreasonable and unjust as for one man to alter or make void anothers Covenant after he hath confirmed it Gal. 3. 15 17. Brethren I speak after the manner of men though it be but a Mans Covenant yet if it be confirmed no Man disanulleth or addeth thereto And this I say that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was 430 years after cannot disanul that it should make the Promise of none effect 4. St. Paul argues it impossible in the nature of the thing that they should be justified by the Law because one main end of God's promulging the Law of Nature which yet was a great part of the first Covenant was to convince men of their guilt and of their obnoxiousness to wrath and to stop their Mouthes and to leave them without any plea of defence as from it Rom. 3. 19 20. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law That every mouth may be stopt and all the world may become guilty before God Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be jnstified in his sight for by the Law is the knowledge of sin And if the Law doth convict men it cannot justifie them For the same Law cannot both condemn and justifie the same person in reference to the same charge If all are cast and condemned by the Original Law as they are for he hath concluded all under sin that he might have mercy upon all Gal. 3. then so many as come to be justified after this must needs be justified by another Law superceding that and that is none other than the Law of Grace The Law of Nature curseth every one that hath broken it though but once and therefore it cannot justifie them too Out of the same mouth in this case doth not proceed blessing and cursing 5. He argues this Opinion of theirs to be contrary to the Doctrine of the Prophets many hundred years after as well as contrary to the Promise to Abraham long before the Law That no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident for the Iust shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3. 11 12. from Hab. 2. 4. The Law is not of Faith that is it doth not promise pardon or any other blessing upon believing but upon condition of doing the things therein required the man that doth them shall live in them Levit. 18. 5. 6. The insufficiency of the first Covenant to make men eternally happy and the necessity validity of the second to that end is further argued in Heb. 8. from another famous Prophecy in Ier. 31. 31 c. of God's making a new Covenant with Israel and Iudah in the latter days not according to that he made with their Fathers when he brought them out of Egypt 1. It 's argued that that first Covenant
had been weary and heavy laden under a Spirit of bondage before 4. The Law saith St. Paul was our Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith Gal. 3. 24. That is It was a lower sort of Institution accommodated to the weak and more imperfect state of the Churchâ— until afterward it should deliver them over to a more perfect Institution under Christ. Parents first teach their Children to speak and after put them to School to learn Letters Syllables Words and Sentences the use and design of all which they do not understand while they are Children as they do when they come to be Men. In proportion to this hath God dealt with his Church in the World beginning with a lower and more imperfect sort of Instruction Precepts and promises and so proceeding to those that are higher and more perfect and so by certain gradations to lead on and build up his Church to a more perfect Spiritual and compleat state of Faith and Holiness To all the riches of fulness of understanding of the Mystery of God of the Father and of Christ Col. 2. 2. And thus the Law as a Schoolmaster had a double end and use The one respecting the time then present The other that which was then future and to come The then present use of it was twofold also 1. To reclaim and restrain them from the Superstitious Customs of the Heathen to which they were addicted in which respect also it was added because of transgression The Heathen Worship stood in divers Superstitious Rites or Ceremonies And because the Israelites were adicted to a bodily Worship like theirs for they said let us make us Gods to go before us Exod. 32. 1. and were in danger thereby of being drawn to Worship their Gods therefore to prevent this as Parents put their Childeren to School partly to keep them out of harms way the Lord by way of condescention to their childish humour did ordain a Worship consisting much in bodily exercise and Instituted divers Laws which stood in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and carnal Ordinances until the time of Reformation till he should by sending his Son appoint more excellent Laws for reforming both them and the rest of the World Lev. 18. 3 4 5. After the doings of the Law of Egypt wherein ye dwelt shall ye not do and after the doings of the Land of Canaan whither I bring you shall ye not do neither shall ye walk in their Ordinances Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Iudgments Which if a Man do â—e shall live in them Ezek. 20. 6. 11. 2. The Lord did Institute diuers Temporary Laws for tryal and exercise of their Obedience in those lesser things for a time as being such as they were as yet best capable to receive thereby to lead them on to higher instances of Obedience afterward These many Ceremonies which they were obliged to observe were not things of any Natural or Intrinsick goodness but only made use of by God for a present turn which when that was served they as to practise were of no value but became beggerly Elements But yet while they continued commanded of God their obedience in the use of them was rewardable as well as their obedience to any other Laws The other end and use of the Law as it was a Schoolmaster respected the time then to come For the high Priesthood and Sacrifices of the Law as they were Types of what Christ should be do and suffer as Mediatour were of great use to the Iews after Christ had suffered and was risen again and ascended into Heaven to facilitate both the knowledge and belief of the Mystery of Redemption by Christ. 1. To facilitate the knowledge thereof and to beget in them a right Notion of these things in Christ by which forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God is obtained on our behalf For those who had long seen and known the effect of Legal Sacrifices as how they did procure Legal impunity for offences committed God accepting the life of a Beast that had not sinned instead of the life of a Man that had might soon come to understand from that by parity of reason that God would much more accept of his own Sons offering himself in Sacrifice for us so as to excuse us from suffering eternal punishment for our sin For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 13 14. And so the High Priests entring into the Holy of Holies in the behalf of the people with the blood of the Sacrifice and burning Incense there doth greatly assist the mind in understanding the Nature of Christ's Intercession for us in Heaven in virtue of his Bloodshed for us on Earth Heb. 9. 2. The Law in the Typical Nature of it was of great use to the Iews to facilitate and strengthen their belief in Christ and so were the Predictions of the Prophets in conjunction with it for these and the accomplishment of them in Christ did so answer each other as in Water Face answereth to Face that those who believed the Law and the Prophets had a great advantage by means thereof to believe in Christ. And therefore our blessed Saviour when he would satisfie his Disciples touching himself that he was indeed the Christ and of the necessity of his death which death occasioned at first a staggering in their Faith beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he Expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself Luke 24. 27. And St. Paul when he laboured the conversion of the Iews at Rome to Christianity as the chiefest way to effect it he Expounded to them and testified the Kingdom of God perswading them concerning Iesus both out of the Law of Moses and of the Prophets from morning to evening Acts 28. 23. Had ye believed Moses Saith our Saviour to them ye would have believed me for he wrote of me But if ye believe not his Writings how shall ye believe my words Joh. 5. 46 47. And thus in both the forementioned respects the Law was a Schoolmaster indeed to bring them to Christ that they might be justified by Faith 5. The Law was given to the Jewish Nation not only for their behoof and benefit but also for a general good to the World That the Nations round about hearing of such excellent Laws perceiving how happy and prosperous those people were so long as they observed them might thereby be invited to quit their Idol Gods and to take hold of the Covenant and to joyn themselves to the people of the God of Abraham even as it came to pass in such as were Proselited And upon this account it seems to be that the Psalmist prayed
unto thy Fathers to give thee Deut. 11. 21. That your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children as the days of Heaven upon Earth A great variety of outward blessings is promised as the reward of keeping that Covenant And therefore Wisdom under that Dispensation is described as having length of days in her right hand and in her left haâ—d Riches and Honour whose ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace Prov. 3. 17. And as this Covenant was National so there were Promises of National Blessings such as was the setting them on high above all the Nations of the Earth making them the Head and not the Tail The giving them victory over â—nemies multiplying the Nation and bestowing on it Health Peace and Plenty Deut. 28. Lev. 26. When it 's said once by Moses thrice by Ezekiel and twice by St. Paul that the Man that doth them shall live in them Lev. 18. 5. Ezek. 20. 11 13 21. Rom. 10. 5. Gal. 3. 12. thereby Epitomizing the first Covenant I conceive that by living is meant a long and prosperous life in this World As on the contrary the condition of one greatly afflicted is in Scripture-Dialect a kind of Death and such an one said to be free among the Dead Psal. 88. 5. And that which inclines me so to think is not only the Reasons already given to prove that no other life was promised in the first Covenant but also the congruity of this sense with other passages in the Writings of Moses As Deut. 30. 15. See I have set before you this day Life and Good Death and Evil. If you would know what is meant by Life here the next verse will inform you That thou mayest live and multiply and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest to possess it The contrary whereunto is the death he had set before them saying I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your dayes upon the Land c. Deut. 32. 46 47. Set your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you this day for it is not a vain thing for you because it is your life and through this thing ye shall prolong your dayes in the Land wherein ye go The latter words are exegetical of the former Through this thing ye shall prolong your dayes is the interpretation of those it is your Life And it may be considered also whether this Particle in which if a man do he shall even live in them may not determine the nature and kind of that reward which was promised in the first Covenant as it was a present reward a reward which was received even while the work was doing according to that Psal. 19. 11. In keeping them there is great reward And this is agreeable to what fell out in the event The Lord was with them to prosper them while they were with him but when they forsook him presently troubles overtook them The pouring out of God's fury on them to consume them in the Wilderness being put in Ezek. 20. 13 21. as the direct contrary to those words which if a man do he shall even live in them seems greatly to favour this Nation But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the Wilderness They walked not in my Statutes and they dâ—spised my Iudgments which if a man do he shall even live in them Then I said I would pour out my fury upon them to consume them in the Wilderness And indeed one main difference between the two Covenants which I would have here observed lies in this to wit the presentness of the reward promised in the first and the futurity of that promised in the second St. Paul in his Allegorical description of the two Covenants Gal. 4. 24 c. represents those that adhered to the first Covenant by the children of Bond-servant to whom Abraham gave gifts in present and sent them away as in Gen. 25. 5. and those that adhered to the second by the Son of the Free-woman Isaac who was Abrahams Heir to whom he gave the whole Inheritance at last And the Adoption of Sons as the Priviledge of the New Covenant is opposed to the condition of Servants under the Old Gal. 4. 7. And what are they adopted to but to an Inheritance for the future for by Adoption they are made Heirs If a Son then an Heir of God through Christ an Heir of what of an Inheritance for the future an Inheritance Incorruptible undefiled and which fadeth not away reserved in Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 4. And therefore they are said to wait for the Adoption to wit the redemption of their Bodies at the resurrection Rom. 8. 23. Sons and Heirs serve their Father with a free and ingenuous Spirit though they have but little for the present in confidence of what he will do for thâ—m hereafter in another world when they shall come to age But those under the Old Covenant were like Servants who serve with a servile Spirit because they do it with expectation of present pay The one walk by Faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen the other were influenced in their obedience by the expectation of present reward because that was it which the first Covenant promised to the observers of it These Promises now insisted on were promises of reward to the observers of this first Covenant But besides these there was another sort of Promises exhibited in the first Covenant and they were Promises of pardon in many cases when the Laws of that Covenant were broken There were as I have shewed Laws of Indemnity which made many of the breaches of the Laws of duty pardonable upon certain conditions And such were all sins of Ignorance and Inadvertency and some of those also which were committed wittingly But presumptuous sins and such as carried in them a kind of contempt of the Law these were exempted from pardon Heb. 10. 28. He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses But for the other there were promises of pardon upon certain conditions which conditions were not always the same In some cases the offering of a Sin-offering or Trespass-offering was the Condition In other Cases that with confession of Sin was the Condition And in some other Cases Sacrificing Restitution and Satisfaction were the Condition And afflicting of the Soul as well a the Sacrifice for Atonement on the day of general Expiation was always a Condition of forgiveness These things in the particularities of them you have in the 4 5 6 16 and 23d Chapters of Levit. And then the Condition of the Promises of Purgation of Legal Uncleannesses and the penal effects of them was the observing the Rules prescribed for purifying the Unclean Now the forgiveness promised by these Laws of Indemnity did not free the Conscience from all Obligation to Eternal punishment but only freed the
those Sacrifices the same atoning virtue and purging efficacy as is proper only to the Blood of Christ. In opposition to this Opinion it is maintain'd 1. That those Legal Sacrifices were but Figures of the great Sacrifice Christ Jesus Heb. 9. 10 11 12. and 10. 1. 2. It was argued that it was impossible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away Sin because these were offered year after year over and over in the day of general Atonement for the same sins And that if the former Sacrifices which were first offered had taken away sin the latter could not have been necessary to the same purpose Heb. 10. 1 2 3 11. The often repetition of Sacrifices for the same sins argues that the Worshippers had a secret sense in their Conscience that those Sacrifices were not of a competent value nor a sufficient price to redeem their Souls from Sin as it exposeth to Eternal punishment however they might sanctifie as to the purifying of the flesh yet they could not make any perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 9. 9. 10. 1 2. 3. It was argued from a Prophetical passage in Psal. 40. in which Christ is brought in speaking thus Sacrifice and Offering thou would ' st not but a Body hast thou prepared me In burnt Offerings and Sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure Then said I Lo I come to do thy will O God From whence he infers that the first sort of Sacrifices were taken away as insufficient that the second might be established By the which will saith he we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Iesus once for all Heb. 10. 5. 10. This Opinion of theirs that Legal Sacrifices did expiate all their Sins did keep up in them a hope of impunity here and hereafter under many immoralities and great transgressions in the course of their lives Though they multiplyed transgression yet if they multiplyed Sacrifices too they thought they should escape well enough Amos 4. 4 5. Come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal multiply transgression and bring your Sacrifice every morning and your Tythes after three years and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with Leaven and proclaim and publish your free-Offerings for this liketh you O Children of Israel saith the Lord God And much after this rate do carnal Christians bear up themselves in hopes that all their sins are done away by the Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World though they live from day to day in ungodliness Only indeed they sin at a cheaper rate for the present than the wicked Iews did The Iewish sinners were at the cost of many a Sacrifice to stop the mouth of Conscience but these are at cost only in making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof and depend upon Christ to pay all their scores 4. Another of their Errors as consequent upon the former was this That without Circumcision and observing of the Law of Moses the Gentiles could not be saved This Opinion the Judaizing Christians retained after their Conversion to the Christian Profession Acts 15. 1 5 24. Certain men which came down from Iudea taught the brethren saying Except ye be Circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved There rose up certain of the Sect of the Pharisees which believed saying that it was needful to Circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses In opposition to which Opinion St. Paul taught that the Righteousness of God by Faith without the Law is manifested unto all and upon all that believe whether Iews or Gentiles and that there is no difference Rom. 3. 21 22. And that a Man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law though never Circumcised And that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Iews and that he doth justifie the uncircumcision and the circumcision those that had observed the Law of Moses and those that had not upon the same terms viz. of Evangelical Faith Rom. 3. 28 29 30. Whereunto agrees the words of St. Peter Acts 15. 9 11. He put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by Faith i. e. us Iews and they Gentiles But we believe that through the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ we shall be saved even as they and upon no other terms though we have observed the Law and they have not Gal. 2. 15 16. Upon the same account St. Paul again affirms Rom. 4. 5. That to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness That is the Idolatrous Gentiles that never had observed the Law but lived without God in the World should yet have their practical belief of the Gospel imputed even to them for Righteousness And he further exemplifies this in Abraham Ver. 9 10 11 12. whose Faith was reckoned to him for Righteousness before he was Circumcised that he might be the Patern and great Example of Gods justifying the Heathen upon their believing and obeying as Abraham did in leaving his Idolatry and his Countrey upon God's Promise and Command though he never had been Circumcised And upon the like account he saith again Gal. 3. 8 9. That the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed And from thence he concludes that those Gentiles that be of Faith that believe as Abraham did are blessed as Abraham was are blessed with faithful Abraham 5. Another Error which was held by some Judaizing Christians was this That Faith in Christ and Literal Circumcision with a Literal observation of the Law of Moses joyntly were the Condition of Justification Though they were such as believed yet they taught that except men were Circumcised and kept the Law of Moses they could not be saved Acts 15. 1 5. They seem to have retained the same false Opinion of Justification by the Law as the unbelieving Iews did but held the Death of Christ necessary to be superadded To convince them of which Error St. Paul sets before them the bad consequence of it in two respects 1. In that they hereby rendered the death of Christ needless in it self Gal. 2. 21. If righteousness come by the Law than Christ is dead in vain There would then have been no need of Christ's death to accomplish it as the unbelieving Iews indeed did hold 2. In that this Opinion of their's made Christ and his death useless unto them and cut them off from receiving any benefit by him Gal. 5. 2 4. Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace And hereto agrees that in Hebr. 13. 10. We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle Those