of the Law The law Iustifies none we must therefore be either freed from the law or not at all Iustified For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things in the book of the Law to doe them Gal. 3.10 Deut. 27.26 But here is our freedome Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Hee became a curse for us and was made for our sakes as the greatest sinner he stood in place as David the Adulterer as Peter the Denyer as Paul the Persecutor Wee must see our Christ wrapped as well in our Sinnes as in our flesh He was numbred with the Transgressors and he bare the sinne of many Esa 53.12 He was made sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Thus is hee pleased to call our sinnes his and he speakes in David his Type Psal 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon mee so that I am not able to looke up they are more than the hayres of my head Christ standing thus a sinner the law accused him and after accusation kild him But hee hath satisfied and the Law is overcome we have learned to triumph O death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes be to God which giveth us the victory through Iesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. When the Law curseth sends out Writs sues out Attachements wee plead Immunity and send the law to Christ by whom we aree freed 2. From the power of sinne the other evill of servitude Yeeld your selves unto God Ante legem non pugnamus sub â—ege pugnamus sed vintimur sub gratia pugnamus vincimus in pace ne pugnamus quidem Aug. in Rom. 6. for Sinne shal not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under grace Rom. 6.14 They are incouraged to the Combat by a double motive the goodnesse of their cause the easinesse of their conquest When wee are freed from the Law which onely commands but gives no strength to obey rather takes away our strength addes strength to sinne then are we under grace which beside that it forgiveth that which is past Quae praeterquam prioradimittit ad futura quoque cavenda animat Chrys it doth arme us to take heed of that which is to come as Chrysostome sweetly expounds the Romans To whom the holy Apostle glorieth Rom. 8.2 The Law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made mee free from the Law of Sinne. From the a Osiander accusing the b Calvin power the c Lyranus bond the d Erasmus right the e Chrysost guilt of sinne the f P. Mart. law of the members 2. We are freed not only from the evils but from the burdens of servitude 1. From the Coaction of the Law for the Law doth burden a man and hinder the alacrity of his obedience A precept of the Law is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind with all thy strength To bee empty of all other loves to set the sole affection upon God Here the most perfect faile for though our love unto God be sincere yet we are many times drawne off with other lusts But the Law tels us He is cursed that continues not in all Now we see what ever we endevor we are still under the Curse our workes are Mala quia imperfecta therefore evill because not perfectly good This dulleth the heart and discourageth it from any offer The peevish eye of a froward Master makes the servant heartlesse What should I do any thing seeing whatsoever I doe I cannot please This is the burden of the Legally righteous the taske it set they must either doe it or smart for neglect The Israelites are beaten iâ— they bring not in their tale of bticke Exod. 5.14 But here is our Liberty God spareth us as a man spares his owne sonne that serveth him Mal. 3.17 The Command is given Let not sinne reigne in your mortall Body and the Promise is added with the Command Sinne shall not have dominion over you The Law cannot coact us but grace unloads us removes our burthens and sweetens our labours 2. Wee are freed from Indifferents when they prove burdens 1. Things The Iewes were bound to use and refuse many things the Vsing and Refusing of which had else beene Indifferent They must abstaine from Swine from things strangled and the like We have liberty of a freer use of Gods creatures being not subject to ordinances Touch not Taste not Handle not Col. 2.20.21 2. Men. We are not subjected to such commands as whereby they would bind the conscience Now the constitutions of men are either 1. Civill and politicall These wee have a rule for that wee must obey them though in 1 Cor. 7.23 hee seeme to give exemption Yee are bought with a price be yee not the servants of men yet Rom. 13.1.5 we have that other expounded Let every soule bee subiect to the higher powers for the powers that bee are ordained of God Who resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God Wherefore yee must needs bee subiect for conscience sake 2. Ecclesiasticall These concerne either 1 The matter of Gods worship then we renounce them as great presumptions for Divine worship cannot have institution from humane command 2. Or the manner of worship tending to decency Here Constitutions may order not bind order the carriage not binde the conscience But concerning both these and those Constitutions I meane both Ecclesiasticall and Civill I would deliver my selfe a little more fully and to that end wil present a few conclusions touching Indifferents their nature and extent 1. An Adiaphoron or Indifferent is Res media a middle thing which stands so to two extremes that it may alike incline to both And in the ordinary though not proper use of the word Medium Abnegationis Medium Participationis Aquin. it is a Medium betweene morall good and evill Now such a Medium is either of meere Abnegation so all Substances whether naturall or artificiall are Res mediae Indifferent things or of some participation which so farre agrees with either extreme as the extremes agree between themselves so no Substances are properly Indifferents but Actions only Actions therefore which are neither commanded nor forbidden and which in their intrinsicke nature have neither obedience nor disobedience are indifferent 2. Indifferent Actions in their owne intrinsicall nature nothing differ among themselves but are all equally far from good and evill But there are some which for the most part have evill circumstances accompanying them and therfore sound in the worse sense as if they did incline to evill as to be an accuser may be indifferently good or
bad yet we ill interpret that name On the contrary some Actions commonly accompanied with good circumstances as to be studious sound wel and are conceived to tend to good though a mans study may as well be evill and corrupt 3. Indifferents cease to be Indifferents when by Authority they are commanded or forbidden Nothing ought to bee commanded but onely good nor any thing but evil prohibited What is indifferent in the nature cannot simply absolutely and perpetually be forbidden or commanded but commanded as it comes nearer to good and as nearer to evill forbidden From these grounds wee may draw Rules for our freedome from or obedience to for changed Indifferences and the Constitutions of men 2. Wee have the nature of our freedome described now the Ends both of it and of the doctrine of it are 1. To pacifie the conscience that that great Director may not be left floting but may know what ground it hath and how it may proceed 2. To remove away superstition that the minde may know it is not tyed to a throng of needlesse observances and discouraging feares 3. To direct us in our worke in the comfort and readinesse of our set working 3. There remaines the third proposed The Consequents from the former 1. The freedome is spirituall therefore 1. Not Civill Then are the Anabaptists mad who would reject all law and make the whole world levell denying obedience to Lawes and lawfull Magistrates a disease begun in the distempered heads of Iohn of Leiden and the mad men of Munster opposed among others chiefly by the holy zeale of Luther whose doctrine of Reformation was dangerously mistaken by those fanatickes which I â—he rather note because some halfe issues of that monstrous Birth call that blessed Apostle of our later times to patronize their conceits and errours about the morall Law 2. Not Carnall whence then are our ordinary excesses in the use of good things our surfetting tables and variety of delicates doe sufficiently witnesse our carnall licenciousnesse that I need not instance the pride of our fashions the immoderatenesse of our pleasures But these are Indifferents True if they bee used indifferently but Excesses are not What may bee lawfully used by an inordinate desire to it and delight in it is made uncleane Such Inordinates are defiled and by the witnesse of the Apostle Titus 1.15 To them that are defiled nothing is pure Our Saviour hath shewed a difference Luke 6.2 Woe unto you that are rich for yee have received your Consolation Woe unto you that are full 'T is lawfull to enioy an estate Why then is the Woe against them They are immoderate when being Rich they receive their Consolation and are Full It argues they have made their state their Happinesse This is the peoples sinne Amos 6.1.6 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion that drink wine in Bowles and annoynt themselves with chiefe oyntments When wee come to be at ease in our enioyments we abuse our Liberty But these things are then truly Indifferent when wee are come to Pauls Resolve Philip. 4.11 12. I have learned to be content I know how to bee abased and how to abound to be full and to be hungry 2. Though Spirituall it is an immunity Then if wee have a Charter from heaven how dare any deny it or with-hold it Those miserable men that are under the Popish yoake have many heavy loads laid on their Consciences the Pontificials dealing with the Abused as Pharaohs Taskemasters with the afflicted Israelites they load them hard and then beat them when they are loaden 3. The ends are 1. To quiet the Conscience therefore not to afflict the Consciences of others They abuse their Liberty that use it unseasonably to the hindering of the weake Some young Christians of Corinth would eate Idolothyts meats offered to Idols to that end onely to shew their Liberty but they are answered by the Apostle Licent quae expediunt 1 Cor. 10.24 Theod. reads with Interrogative Omnia mibi licent Sed non expediunt Chrysost Ambros read without All things are lawfull for mee but all things are not expedient And in another place hee applyes it more directly Brethren yee have beene called unto liberty onely use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another Gal. 5.13 Christ hath loosed the yoake not that wee should bee more wanton but more chearefull as S. Chrysostome hath well followed the minde of the Apostle who Non monet ut illegitima fiat vitae ratio sed ut legem transcendat Philosophia soluta enim sunt legit vincula non ut dejiciamur sed ut erigamur ad altiora Etenimtam is quiscortatur quam is qui in Virginitate persevâ—rat legis terminos excessit verum non eodem mâ—do sed hic quidem in deteriora prolapsus ille â—ero ad meliora provectus sic ut alter praetergrâ— sus sit legem alter super-gressus Hoc itaque dic Paulus Christus Iugum vobis relaxavit noÌ„ ut exilati aut calcitretis sed ut absque jugo compositè incedatis Chr. in loc Qui per charitatem servit libere seruit Aug. 1 Cor. 8.11 strongly argues against this abuse from the great danger of it to the perverting of a weake brothers soule If thou hast knowledge and eatest Idolothyts another shall be encouraged to doe it ignorantly and therfore sinfully Through thy knowledge shall thy weake brother perish for whom Christ dyed Wilt thou suffer thy brother to perish for so small a cause he taking occasion to doc as a Tuo actu illum occidis quando a te fieri videt quod ille aliter inteligit tu eris occasio mortis fratri quem Christus ut redimeret crucisigi se permissit Amb. in 1. Cor. cap. 8. Ambrose speakes what he understands not or as b Christus pro fratre mori non recusavit tu autem ne in anima quidem inducis â—adâ—â—â—tis â—â—becillitaâ— te deâ—tas â—mmoâ— Chrys Chrysostome Christ dyed for him and wilt not thou deny thy selft for him But the danger is not more to the weak brother then to the wilfull offender for it followes in the next verse c 〈◊〉 â—â—hrys Aug de verb. Dom. Serm. 16. But when yee sinne so against the brethren ye sinne against Christ 2. A second end is to remove superstition therefore it doth plainely condemne such as use their liberty to superstition They dare venture upon any observations unwarranted by any thing but blinde Custome plead All is lawfull 3. A third end is to direct us in our walke wee therefore have liberty and are made acquainted with our liberty that we might know how unconstrainedly to frame our obedience making use of the Law but not in servitude unto it which therefore condemnes such as quite cast away the Law as if of no use and prove themselves of lawlesse and ungoverned humours true Libertines Give me leave to make a double application
we wil heare but let not God speak lest we dye And to what Moses concerning himselfe witnesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deu. 5.5 I stood betweene the Lord and you at that time to sâ—ew you the word of the Lord. Neither doth this interpretâ—tion wanâ— Antiquity for we have found it in Epipâ—â—â—â—â— and in Gennadius Gennad apud Gr. Scholia Epiphan Haeres 66. Contra Manich Theodor. among the Greeke Scholiasts in the workes of Epiphanius The Papists doe uniustly inferre from hence That the Angels or Saints may bee a Pet Aur. parad 85. Richeomus de Sanctis cap. 18. Salmero in 1 Tim. d sp 17. Lind. Pan. l. 3. c. 30. Mediatours because Moses was for 1. Moses was ordained to be a Mediator they never had commission 2. He was present with whom he was a Mediator these have no fellowship with us 3. He was but once and in one thing These are pretended such at al times and in all things 4. He was a Mediator to the people from God these are imploied to God from the people In all of which they faile in their ground derogate much from the sole Mediatourship of Christ How farre is such a Doctrine from the least shadow of reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At h de Tri. dial 5 Constit Ap. l. 2 â— 28. Chrys â—e paenâ—t 5. Homil Ignatius ep ad philad et ep ad Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Must not a Mediatour bee Medius betweene God and man But so an Angel or a man cannot And Christ himselfe if hee had beene onely God or onely man could not have been a Mediator It followes in the Text Now a Mediator is not of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that interpret Christ to be the Mediator are disquieted for a fit sense Some give this If Christ bee a Mediator he cannot bee of one but must needs bee of two at least but God is one but one Therefore he must bee Mediator as of God so of men also But what is this either to the place or the mind of Paul Others please themselves in this A Mediator is not of one but of two at the least if then Christ bee a Mediator as indeed he is It is of God and men yet so that Christ the Mediator being true God it followes not that there are two Gods of which one gives satisfaction to the other But Christ is one and the same God with the Father and the holy Spirit But for what reason should they imagine the Apostle here to insert the doctrine of the Trinity That of Ambrose Mediator non est unius tantum a populi sed duorum id est Gentilis ac Iudaici quos Christus tum inter se copulavit sublata di stinctionis ratione tum utrumque Deo conciliavit interim tamen Christus est unus ac verus Deus Ambros of the two people and that other of some others of the two natures are more subtile yet of as little agreement to S. Pauls intent as the former They have intangled themselves in their owne conceptions But understanding it of Moses wee may finde a more open passage from among these difficulties in this more genuine exposition A Mediator is betweene two or more parties that are at difference Now the Cause of a Difference is some transgression done either by both against each other or onely by one of the parties against the other Now the transgression or offence cannot be in God for God is one hee is alwayes the same ever iust Thus it appeares how this belongs to the former Argument The Law was added for transgressions The people were at oddes with God Moses is the Mediatour or Minister of that Law which shewes transgressions and makes the people to Iustifie God and condemne themselves as transgressours against him Before I leave this let mee make a double application from the main thing intended in the Obiection and the Answer namely the Observation 1. Of the use of the Law Ie was added for Transgressions 2. Of the continuance of that use Added till the Seed came 1. Concerning the use of the Law The same phrase noteth it to be 1. Civill 2. Spirituall 1. The Civill use is for Transgressions to restraine sinne yet by this we may presse the Apostolike Argument That Righteousnes cannot be by the Law for when the Law restraines us from being sinfull it doth not therefore make us not sinfull or truly righteous but rather sheweth us to bee unrighteous and for that cause wee need a Law of restraint A man that abstaines from murder or theft for feare of the halter or the racke is not therefore lesse murderous or theevish in his disposition but Cares not venture upon the strictnesse of the Law A Beare is a ravenous and devouring creature when it is tyed in a Chain it cannot devoure Is it therefore not a Beare or lesse ravenous because tyed nay the chaine rather argues it to be cruell So we we see fierce Mastiffs musled and tyed up not that they are gentle but the chaine is an argument of their fiercenesse If man had not beene sinfull there had not needed a Law Now restraint by the Law is not righteousnesse but a proofe of our unrighteousnesse and shewes that wee would be evill if we either could or durst 2. The Spirituall use is for transgressions to increase sinne to our sight to discover unto us the nature of it and of misery consequent The Law as another strong Hercules sets upon and subdues the Monster of the presumption of our owne Righteousnesse It is an ordinary and most dangerous disease to bee strong in the opinion of our owne Something Men that are not notoriously evill thinke themselves holy Such was the Pharisies vaunt I thanke God I am not as other men nor as this Publican because hee was no extortioner no drunkard hee thought himselfe exactly what hee should bee The Law is to remove us from such boastings to melt our swellings to destroy our strengths Is not my word like a fire saith the Lord and like an hammer that breaketh the Roches in pieces Ier. 23.29 Our hearts are those Rockes we stand high and exalted against God till the hammer batter us and bring us into shivers Wee are proud in our standings and therefore the Law is in its right place when it speaks Command and Terror and saith to the amazement of the conscience See what thou hast done and what thou art like to suffer Wee may consider this somwhat better in the observation and application of that story of the manner how the Law was given The people of Israel were an holy people they had according to the precept sanctified themselves washed their cloathes abstained from their wives Their fault was they were but too holy they had it too much in their thoughts tongues We are an holy people the people of God They must bee driven from this if ever they bee fit for an humble