namely to leade and liue a life beseeming their Christian profession Now the Anabaptistes a contentious and stubborne kinde of men doe pause nay stand Anabaptist still and sticke vpon this last point and because they see that faith and the obedience of faith haue not as yet any place in Infants therfore they exclude them from baptisme neuer obseruing that the more principall and chiefe points take roote place in them to wit the grace of adoption washing away of sinnes by the blood of Christ Regeneration and other things that make vs heires of eternall saluation For if they did but perceiue this then would they conclude with the Apostle Peter and say Can any man forbid water but that these who are capable of the holy Act. 10. 47 Ghost should be baptized as well as they that are well growen The like is the error about the mysticall Supper of Christ The chiefest point The Lords Supper therin is the remēbrance of his death For Christ himself when he instituted it sheweth and the Apostle afterward commendeth this to be the proper ende and vse of it Now vnto this is ioyned the communion of the bodie and blood of Christ with his Church the sealing of our Redemption admonishing vs continually of our duetie that wee should not onely abstaine from strange sacrifices but also imbrace mutuall peace and loue together All which that we might truely and willingly performe Christ in a sacramentall manner of speech hath called the breade his bodie and the wine the blood of the newe Testament Now our aduersaries the Papists cleauing to the last wordes doe contende and dispute about the presence of the body of Christ and corporall eating of the same and thus haue they made an Instrument of diuision distraction of that which should be the bond of Christian concord These things then doe admonish vs that in euerie matter we should haue a respect vnto that which is the chiefest referring all the rest vnto such a scope that will not suffer vs to decline from the truth But let vs returne to the exposition of our text in the which are three things to be considered First why the lawe was added to the promise Secondly how long the lawe was to continue Thirdly and lastly by whome and how the lawe was giuen and deliuered As touching the first the Apostle saith it was added for trangressions This may bee taken two manner of waies Saint Ierome referres it to the Fathers that abode not in the couenant but being corrupted with the superstitions of Egypt and drowned in all manner of sinnes made themselues like vnto the heathen whome GOD had cast out before their eyes and therfore must be bridled and reduced into the way by a lawe From which this sentence seemes to take his beginning Ex malis moribus bonae leges natae sunt Now S. Augustine he takes this to be spoken more generally and saieth that the lawe was added to reproue transgressions and to humble the proud confident minds of the Iewes For because they bragged boasted themselues in their natiuitie as if from thence they had naturall righteousnesse it was necessarie saith he to humble them by a lawe applying vnto them the saying of the Apostle Quaecunque lex dicit Rom 3 19 ijs qui sub lege sunt dicit Whatsoeuer the lawe speakes it speakes to them that are vnder the law Which opinion of Saint Augustine comes neere vnto the minde of the Apostle who teacheth vs that by the lawe we are conuicted that we might haue our recourse vnto Christ who hath deliuered vs from the curse of the law And therfore saith Saint Ambrose in his first booke Ambros lib. 5. in Auxentium against Auxentius Iustū fides non lex facit quia non est per legem Iustitia sed per fidem Faith and not the law maketh a righteous man for righteousnes is not by the law but by faith That the lawe doth thus manifest our corruptiō the Apostle demonstrateth Rom 7. 7. 9. 10. saying I knew not sin but by the law a litte further I was once aliue without the law but when the commandement came sin reuiued and I was dead And again the Rom. 5. 20 lawe entred that the offence should abound Therefore the vse of the lawe is to manifest and reproue our sinnes that men might be brought to the knowledge of their owne guilt For because we flatter our selues in our sinne therefore wee will not willingly acknowledge sinne to bee in our selues but delite in our sinne vntill we feel our selues conuicted thereof in our consciences Therefore as the law doth not abolish the promise which is the Gospell it selfe so the Gospell doth not condemne the lawe or the doctrine thereof but rather deliuers the true vse of it For the lawe of it self is good holy finally the teacher of true righteousnes because it bringeth vs wholy vnto God and to our neighbor But by our owne corruption it comes to passe that wee doe not onely disobey the lawe but our desires are accustomed to be prouoked and set on fire by the commandements of the lawe Which wickednesse of our nature the Poet acknowledging hath said Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata Wherefore we are not to make this vse of the lawe as that by the same we should be iustified and saued for August de vera innocentia saith Saint Augustine Lex data est vt gratia quaeretur Gratia data est vt lex impleretur vitium prudentiae carnis per legem demonstrandum per gratiam sanandum fuit The lawe was giuen that grace might be sought for grace was giuen that the lawe might bee fulfilled the law demonstrated our corruption but grace tooke it away But in the law we must behold our selues as in a glasse that being conuicted of sinne we should flee vnto Christ whom the father hath made righteousnes for vs and our Mediator vnto himselfe Secondly 1. Cor 1. 3 the Apostle teacheth vs how long the lawe was to continue namely vntill the seede came vnto which the promise was made By the seede properly is vnderstood Christ in whome all Nations are blessed The continuance of the lawe But in this place the Apostle cōprehends with Christ the whole body of Christ that is to say the Church gathered both of Iewes and Gentiles vnto which properly this promise doth belong which is twofold the first part appertaines vnto Christ himself to whose kingdom all Nations of the world were to be subiect according to the saying of Dauid Aske of me and I shal giue thee the heathen for thine inheritance Psal 2. 8. and the ends of the earth for thy possession The secōd part belongs vnto the Church because that in Christ all were blessed that out of euery Nation did come vnto it That therefore which the Apostle doth in this place obscurely and briefly touch hee afterward in the
them that whilst they vrged the righteousnesse of the lawe they did as much as in them lay frustrate and make voyde the couenāt and promise of God in which all their dignitie did consist As this was an errour in the Iewes so is it no lesse in the Papists who would be accounted the onely worshippers of the Saints and the maintainers of their glorie For whilest that they enuiously contend against vs for the same they doe euert and confound their doctrine and doe very farre vary from the example of faith and life wherein the Saints went before vs. But if they will maintaine the cause of the Saints why doe they not heare the Apostles who knewe no other thing but Iesus Christ and him crucified 1. Cor. 2. 2 Act. 4. 12 affirming no name to bee giuen vnto men vnder heauen wherein wee must bee saued but onely the name of Iesus Why doe they not obey the Virging Ioh. 2. 5. Marie speaking of CHRIST and saying Whatsoeuer hee sayeth vnto you doe it Hee himselfe commaundes Mat 1. 28 Ioh. 14. 6. all that doe labour and are heauie loaden to come vnto him testifying himselfe onely to be the way whereby we must come vnto the Father All this truely considered then I conclude thus that our iustification and saluation is by the Apostles so ascribed vnto the free mercie of GOD performed to vs-warde in Christ that from thence is excluded the whole lawe with all the merit of our owne workes But our aduersaries will obiect and say If the lawe doe not iustifie and that we must not hope for saluation by the law why hath God giuen a lawe Againe if faith onely iustifie and Why the law was giuen that our auntient fathers were iustified and saued by faith what necessitie was there that there should be a law giuen to posterities afterward For what hinderance was there but that wee as well as they might be saued without a lawe Againe if we be now saued without a law forsaking the lawe vpon necessitie must come vnto Christ then vainely hath God giuen and deliuered a lawe afterwarde For thus the naturall and carnall man if hee doe abuse any thing and therefore be accused is alwayes accustomed to condemne the same and cast it away as a matter hurtfull and vnprofitable Neither doth hee make any other vse of good and necessarie things then drunken men doe of their wine For if thou accuse a drunken man for the immoderate and excessiue abuse of wine hee presently will make answere and say If it be not lawfull for me to drinke why hath God giuen wine vnto vs why doe wee receiue so plentifull a vintage from him as if there were no other vse of wine but for their drunkennesse Note The same doe our aduersaries in thinges belonging to Religion For reprooue them that doe binde Christs corporall presence to the sacrament and they will presently make answere and say If Christ be not corporally presēt to what purpose were sacraments giuen wherefore hath God spoken after such a manner Might hee not haue spoken more simplie and plainely that we should haue taken his words otherwise shall we now reproue God of a lye or affirme him to be a deceiuer such a one as is willing to beguile with magnificall words Againe they doe the like that binde saluation to the merite of their workes For accuse them of error presently they will affirme that wee altogether denie and tread vnder foote good workes because they knowe no other ende nor vse thereof but that which they haue inuēted in their owne brainesicke humour Like vnto all these was the confidence of the Iewes of such as by them were deceiued in the time of the Apostle from whom were often heard these words Hath not GOD giuen vs a lawe Then what is the vse of the lawe if faith onely iustifie and if the lawe bee nothing auaileable to saluation wherefore as sayeth my text then serueth the lawe Is it not altogether vnprofitable and superfluous To this question and so to all the rest that are ioyned to it the Apostle in fewe words making answere saith It was added for transgression till the seede came vnto the which the promise was made Heere the Apostle expoundeth that which before he had spoken Namely that the couenant of God was not able to bee frustrated by the lawe that followed 400. and 30 yeares after for hee sayth that the lawe was added vnto the promise or couenant Now that which is added vnto a thing is added not to abolish it but to confirme it And therefore the Apostle writing to the Romanes affirmeth that the lawe entred for this purpose that Rom. 7. 7 the fault of our sinne might bee apparent vnto vs and that we better knowing the horror thereof might flee vnto the promise of the free mercie of God made vnto vs in Christ Againe when hee saieth that the lawe was added vnto the promise hee manifestly thereby teacheth vs that in the action of our saluation the chiefest part thereof is due to the free promise or couenant of GOD vnto which the lawe was added not to abolish or take it away but to be seruiceable vnto it more to confirme it And thus the Apostle doth reproue the ignoraunce of the Iewes who did not distinguish betweene the lawe and the promise and therefore attributed vnto the lawe that which indeede was due and belonging vnto the promise of God Note Heere then obserue that this confusion is the occasion of all errors in the matter or cause of our eternall saluation For wee are all by nature sinners subiect to condemnation but God pitying vs in his eternall decree appointed Christ Iesus to be our Sauiour in whome hee hath elected vs before the world was made or created promised him vnto our first parents after that to Abraham and other Fathers that thereby hee might shew vs that saluation comes vnto men from the free mercie of God Afterwarde hee gaue a lawe not because the promise and couenant was defectiue or imperfect or that hee would abolish the same but onely to admonish them of their dutie who already were heires of these promises and of free saluation But as the Iewes in times past not obseruing the order of God supposed that this inheritance came from and by the lawe altogether neglecting the promise Note So in like sort doe the Papistes who doe impute saluation vnto the merit of their owne workes which is all one as if a sonne shuld auouch himselfe to bee his fathers heire by the merite and desert of Obedience and should denie himselfe to bee an heire borne The same error is committed by many in the Sacraments The chiefest points of the Sacrament of Baptisme are Baptisme these The grace of Adoption Washing away of our sinnes Regeneration and Renouation of the whole man The duetie of the commer is this faith is required of the baptized and they are admonished of their duetie
23 verse of this Chapter doth more apparently set downe saying that the Iewes before faith came were kept vnder the lawe and shut vp vnto that faith which should afterwarde bee reuealed And in the Ephesians it is said Ephe 2. 13. 13. â—4 that the partition wall of the law is taken away from the Gentiles that hitherto had been strangers from the Common-wealth of Israell and now called vnto the faith that of Iewes and Gentiles there might be one Church of Christ Iesus For which cause afterward it was called a Catholicke Church by reason it was extended to the elect of all ages and places Now as touching the doctrine and vse hereof the Apostle doth teach vs that they doe offend and sinne that extend the law beyond the bound of it now seeing the true seede Christ Iesus is already come are stil willing to thrust the law vpoÌ„ Gods children For as S. Augustine saith Qui dedit 1. Cap. in Episto Galat. seipsum pro peccatis nostris apertè c. That is He that gaue himselfe for our sinnes doth plainely shewe that the law did profit nothing seeing it saith that Christ gaue himself that he might suffer for vs that he might Iustifie vs whom the law made guilty that being deliuered froÌ„ the lawe by the faith of Christ wee should bee no longer sinners but righteous by our second birth the children of God Obiect But some obiect against this and say that Christ whilst hee liued vppon the earth kept the lawe and therfore contrarie to the example of Christ they bring in a damnable libertie of sinne who doe affirme the lawe to bee abrogated But to Christ fulfilled the law this I aunswere that Christ indeede kept the whole lawe because hee became subiect vnto it when he was made man of the Virgin and the lawe had not as yet attained to his full end which followed onely in the death of Christ by whose merite and power the vaile of the Temple rent asunder that all men might knowe that the legall worship was now abolished Secondly Christ kept the law not by constraint but willingly not for himselfe but for vs that he might both free vs from the intolerable yoake burden of the law also might abrogate that sorrowful sentence of condemnation which the lawe denounced against vs because so long as the same endured blessing and saluation whereof he is the meane for vs could take no root in vs. Nether by this is there opened any window for the libertie of sin For although they that are in Christ are to feare no more condemnation from the law yet is there remaining a dutie of obedience wherunto we must alwayes be subiect which they onely truely hartily performe that are endued with a true and liuely faith Now we come vnto the third part of this place wherein is showed by whom how the law was giuen of which the Apostle doth in such sort speake that therby we may vnderstand how far more excellent the Gospell is then the law that therby it may be manifest how much they are deceiued that secke for righteousnesse and saluation in the law Of this point the Apostle auerreth two things first that it was ordained and giuen by Angels or as Steuen speakes by the disposition and ministrie of Angels And being thus giuen vpon necessitie it must bee glorious But much more glorious is the Gospel because it was preached by the onely son of God Christ Iesus by the which argument the Apostle commends the doctrine of Christ vnto vs in the beginning of his Epistle to the Hebrews Therfore as much as Christ Heb. 1. 1. 2. doth excell the Angels so far doth the Gospell excell the law Neither is this any hinderance vnto the comparison That God when hee gaue the lawe did speake For in holy scripture ofteÌ„times doth God speak to men by the ministry of Angels Obiecti But some will obiect say why might not the Gospel be preached by an Angel but vpon necessitie the Son of God must come into the world to be the preacher of it To this I answere In the law are contained precepts with promises threatnings al which might haue been proposed by an Angel But the Gospel hath in it not onely precepts of faith and promises of eternall saluation but it bestowes life and saluation itselfe vpon vs. For it is the power of God Rom. 1. 16 to saluation to euery one that beleeueth It is the word of reconciliation and of eternall 2. Cor. 5. 18. Act. 10. 6. life So that truly hath the Angell spoken of Peter the teacher of Cornelius He shall speake vnto thee words wherby thou and all thy house shall be saued Finally with the Gospel is ioyned the enheritance of saluation and of the kingdom of God Now these things are of such sort that they cannot be giuen vnto vs by the benefitte of an Angell or any other creature whatsoeuer For how can he make them the heires and sonnes of God who is neither sonne nor heire himselfe but adopted by grace Therefore that the authoritie of the Gospel might be firme and certaine it was necessarie to bee preached by the eternall sonne of God Cirillus makes Cirillus an excellent difference betweene the lawe and the Gospell First saith he the lawe condemned the world and subdued all men rightly iustly to cursing But the Sauiour freed the world for he came not to iudge but to saue the world Secondly although the law graue grace to the know ledge of the true God recalling men from the worship of Idols and teaching to discerne good from euill yet it did not effect this perfectly indeede but onely in part But the grace and truth of the onely begotten sonne doth giue vs good things not in figures and shadowes but openly manifestly by his doctrin brought vs to the perfect knowledge of faith Thirdly the law gaue vs the spirit of bondage to feare But Christ the spirit of adoptioÌ„ vnto liberty Fourthly the law established the circumcision of the flesh which as saith our Apostle is nothing but Christ brought in the circumcision of the heart and the spirit by faith Fiftly the law baptizeth theÌ„ that are washed in water but Christ baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire Sixtly the law broght vs into a tabernacle which was a figure of true things to come But Christ hath brought vs into heauen into a tabernacle which not man but God hath created Seuenthly the law brought no perfectioÌ„ of good things but the doctrine of the Gospel bringeth full and absolute blessing And lastly Moses by the law condemnes the whole world but the Son deliuers the world froÌ„ the curse of the law with the multitude of his mercy heals cures the sicknes maladie of the world Like as Moses brought the children of Israell Theodoret out of Egypt but Iosua into the Land of promise so the law brings