the matter of it setting aside the Ceremonial and Judicial Law it remains still obliging us in the dayes of the Gospel and the Apostle professeth to establish the Law even by the preaching of Faith 'T is true it was first of all given to the Jews that was their priviledge but now that it is given it is ours as well as theirs that therefore which seems to be peculiar to them in it was the manner of its delivery both being without promises and in that terrible manner given upon the Mount but yet still it was thus given because of transgressions to hinder transgressions they needed this terror at that time Children though they know their duty must have some terror to make them do it The Heir whilest he is a Child differeth nothing from a servant though he be Lord of all he is used like a servant harshly severely he is under Tutors and Governors till the time appointed by the Father Gal. 4.2 there is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Apostle hath in his answer to the objection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But because this particular hath some affinity with the second general end mentioned why the Law was given with respect to transgressions I shall now enter upon that and it was this 2. The Law was added because of transgressions for the heightning and aggravating of transgressions Rom. 5.20 The Law entered that the offence might abound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subingressa est irrepsit the Holy Ghost is pleased frequently to use such words as should shew that the Law came in by the by for some considerable ends indeed that the Lord had in delivering it but not as the great establisht way for Justification for certainly that could not come in by the by but the Law came in thus it stole in subingressa est it crept in by stealth irrepsit so the Original signifies But what was the end of the Law when it thus entred why it entred because of transgressions that the offences of men might abound In the 12. ver of Râ—â— 5. 〈◊〉 read that sin entered into the World and 〈◊〉 that the Law entered the Law hunted it followed it stole in afterwards to discover sin for as ver 13. hath it Before or until the Law sin was in the world that is not before the Law did oblige but before the Law was delivered in such a solemn manner as it was upon Mount Sinai before the Law sin was in the world but sin was not imputed when there was no Law yet death reigned all this while till Moses his time which was the curse of the Law Now that men might know wherefore they suffered death and the curse it was sit the Law should come into the world in a solemn manner delivered that so sin might be imputed by men to themselves as it was by God to men witness death the curse of the Law which reigned from Adam to Moses from Adam that sinned to Moses that gave the Law sin did not appear to be sin till the Law entred therefore it is said Sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good viz. the Law that sin by the Commandment might become out of measure sinfull So Rom. 3.20 the Apostle proves that the Law cannot justifie for by the Law is the knowledge of sin The Law is so far from justifying saith the Apostle that it only brings sin to light brings the knowledg of sin with it makes the offence to abound and if that be the way to justifie sinners to aggravate their sins bind on their guilts more then ever upon their consciences let any man judg therefore indeed the Law in the immediate great intent of it was a killing Letter an Administration of Death a Ministration of Condemnation a Ministration of Desperation and not of righteousness unto justification and accordingly it was delivered with thundering lightning upon Mount Sinai to shew the horrible fire darkness tempest that there was in the Law it self to all that should come near it to think to make use of it for a way of Justification as Moses put a Vail upon his face to shew the vailedness of his Dispensation so the Law was delivered with fire to shew the fieriness of the Law unto the conscience for the Law was not only terrible to the beholders of it when it was given upon Mount Sinai but this terribleness is in the Law it self to all that ever had to do with it feelingly ever since to all that ever came near it for justification Indeed for those that stand aloof off from it only play about it at a distance hope to be saved in a loose way by their works by their good doings and by their good meanings they may perhaps never feel the stinging fiery lashes of the Law but let any of these self-Justiciaries drive their Principle to an Head let them come up near to the Law let them advance toward Mount Sinai and approach it and challenge their Justification from God by the Law and they shall quickly find themselvs scorched and scalded sent away with sad hearts and affrightned consciences they'â— find the Law to be a ministration of Death and not of Righteousness I might here shew in several particulars how the Lâ—w doth discover sin it discovers habitual sin St Paul or the man personated in Rom. 7. had never found there had been such a bottomless depth such a lively body of death within him but for the Law when that came sin revived and he dyed Rom. 7.9 2. It discovers actual sin I had not known sin that is lustings to be sin except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet ver 7. But I shall not insist longer upon this particular The third end of the Law 's being â—â—ded I hasten to the third great end of the Law 's being added with respect to transgressions and that was for the finishing of transgressions and making an end of sin as the expressions are though somewhat otherwise used Dan. 9.24 What shall we think that when God had given promises to Abraham and confirmed a Covenant in Christ to him and his Seed that he now gave a law to drive all his people into despair this amounts all to one as if he had broken his promise and his covenant as I have before argued out of the Apostle Paul did the Lord only send his law that they might know their duty and be affrightned into their duty as the first particular carries it if they did not do their duty should the law aggravate their sin bind on their guilts upon their Conscience and so leave them under desparation and be a ministration of death to them Was this all the Law came for If this were all they might better have been without the law at a venture then have had it they might have done better with the promises alone This therefore was not all the end
is also called the Promise Faith then is made void the Promise made of none effect Rom. 4.14 And lastly to mention no more the Promises is the Law then against the Promises of God Gal. 3.21 the verbs To him that worketh not but believeth his Faith is counted unto him for righteousness Having given this Muster-Roll as it were of both parties I come now to some other Positions the first was this viz. 1. That there are but these two ways imaginable of fication there are but two sorts of Righteousness and so but two ways by which men do or with pretence of reason can seek Justification in else there had been more mentioned by the Apostle The second position is this 2. That these two wayes are quite opposite one to the other and inconsâ—stent one with the other that is as to the Justification of the same man at the same time nay if a man doth but seek to be justified by the one he cannot be justified by the other at the same time This opposition I have argued out for me expresly by the Apostle Rom. 11.6 If by Grace then it is no more of works otherwise Grace is no more Grace but if it be by works then it is no more of Grace oâ—herwise work is no more work Rom. 4.4 5. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt but to him that worketh not but believeth his Faith is counted for righteousness 3d. Position is this The way of works was once and still in its own nature is a way of justification Rom. 7.10 The Commandment was ordained to be unto life yea this way was the ancient and the first of the ways of God in his dealing with man and seems to be natural and necessary to the primitive Estate of mankind For God made made man upright in his own Image of knowledg righteousness and true holiness and gave him the Law though not written in Tables of stone yet in his heart which was better else it had not been sinne to have committed Murther Adultery Stealth false-witness bearing Perjury Idolatry and what not in the Estate of innocency for where there is no Law there is no transgression God gave man a Law and surnished him with ability to have hept it to a tittle so that if he would he might have had the works of the Law to shew for himself The way of Justification by the â—aw unsolded and aâ—gued to be the first natural way of juslification at what time soever the Creator should have called him to account and all the time he and others had kept themselves innocent and holy they must have been acceptable to God he would have had respect to them and their works and they would have obtained this Testimony from God that they pleased him which was all that Enoch who was too good to live in the World had to shew for his justification And this had been enough for Adam or any other man to have produced for their Justification if Satan had at any time turned Accuser And thus living according to the Will of God they should have continued in the favour of God and perhaps after some term of years have been translated to some more happy an estate Then they might have gloryed without sinning that is they might have pleased themselves with such thoughts and speeches as these Happy are we that we took heed and care to please God and kept our selves innocent for now have we obtained a glorious reward we might have ruined our selves as we see the Angels have done We had a Power to have started aside from God but we have kept our selves from that mischief Such an innocent glorying as this and no higher glorying can I imagine lawful even in such a state was not forbidden by the Law of Works it was not excluded Rom. 3.27 Thus we see Justification is a a thing feasible and attainable by works by the Law if a man have the works of it Our Saviour and the elect Augels were justified by the Law Yea our Saviour Christ had the Works of the Law and the Law justified him and the Angels that kept their first estate they were doubtless approved by the Law of their Creation and had all the Apostate Angels turned Devils and false Accusers of them as they are of the Brethren their Works would have justified them in the sight of God Not that the good Angels had no other reward but what a Covenant of Works would allow and before the world though I say not that the good Angels have no other reward but what a Covenant of works allots But I doubt not to affirm That the good Angels were justified and rewarded by a Covenant of Works in as much as there was a full trial made when the other Angels fell of their voluntary obedience So that the Law in it self hath not only a power to justifie and reward but hath actually rewarded the observers of it those that had the righteousness of it Yea all the Work of our redemption by Christ was brought about onely with the good leave of the Law Christ must make a recognition and publikely own the Authority and Majesty that was still remaining in the Law acknowledgement must be made how that that had been offended and some reparation must be made unto the glory of God which was much impaired as it is a revenue from us in the transgression of the Law And this was the onely way decreed by God that the Law must satisfie it self upon him whosoever would undertake our Redemption and then the Law must justifie him all which it did upon our Saviour Which proves the unquestionable Power and Authority that the Law had in it to justifie man had he but the works of it But now let any man or Angel but sin If the â—aw be once broken in a tittle it can justifie no longer and the Law can justifie him no longer if he have but the least failing in obedience the Law can onely condemn this person Man or Angel whoever he be but I shall limit my self to mankind For this take that Scripture Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them So that if a man hath once sinned and yet seeks to be justified he must not seek justification by the righteousness of the Law any longer there comes a necessity of Grace Pardon Mercy which the Law hath not in it the Law hath no such thing as Grace or Pardon in it The Law onely saith He that doth them shall live in them and he that doth them not is accursed Now this Grace Mercy and Pardon which a man comes to have a necessity of upon his first breach of the Law is in the way of Faith which I have proved to be the opposite way of Justification to that of the Law It is of Faith saith the Apostle
that it might be by Grace the way of Grace is the way of Faith So that is the third assertion with its explication and proof The fourth Assertion is this That every man in the World hath broken the Law Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God The Jews call the Gentiles by this Name The sinners of the Gentiles or of the Nations But what saith the Apostle speaking of the Jews of whom himself was one What then Are we better then they No in no wise For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin as it is written There is none righteous no not one v. 9 10. When the Jews brought a Woman taken in Adultery unto our Saviour to see what Judgement he would pass upon her he delivered the Woman by this sentence of stoning her Let him that hath no sin cast the first stone at her Now if there had then been but one there that durst pretend to have been without sin the Woman might perhaps have lost her life John 8.34 And we find it amongst our selves none but some brain-sick people dare pretend to be free from sin even actual sin committed in their own person either in deed word or thought at least Now if we have all thus offended the law and transgressed the law shall we dare appeal unto it or can it justifie us The fifth assertion therefore which determines the Question negatively is That the law is disabled from justifying us by reason of sin In Rom. 8.3 Justification is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that impossibility of the lavv translated thus What the Law could not do the lavv novv cannot do it according to that famous assertion of the Apostle Paul to this very purpose Gal. 3.21 For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the Law The Iavv cannot novv justifie and vvhat is the reason Why the Apostle tells us in Rom. 8.3 What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh The law became thus disabled in the matter of Justification through the flesh through sinful flesh as appears by the following words so that now it could not justifie us if it would never so fain We can conceive no way now that the Lord hath to justifie by us the law but this one first to pardon then to give us a stock of grace ability to keep his law as he gave to Adam but then mark here you see first the way of Grace Faith must be made use of before the law can do us any good or stand us in any stead therefore still the fifth assertion holds true that the law in the present state of things cannot justifie us except the way of grace should first pass upon us and then what need vve come to the lavv again No it is so true that the lavv cannot novv justifie us nor give life unto us that if it could have done it it should have done it and God would not have made use of any other way I might now give several Scripture-proofs of this assertion under several Heads As 1. By the Law now comes onely the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified for by the Law is the knowledge of sin Where-ever the Law comes now amongst sinners it discovers that they are guilty in such and such a particular I had not known sin saith the Apostle but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Rom. 7.7 2. The Law worketh therefore Wrath therefore it cannot justifie this is the Apostles Argument Rom. 4. ver 15. Now the Law worketh Wrath these two ways either it setteth home the Wrath of God already deserved upon the Conscience or it gives occasion to further sinning and so to a further desert of Wrath for the Law hath this strange effect now upon a sinners heart that seeks to be justified by it that it will contrary to the first design of it which was to sanctifie justifie and save it will now stir up all manner of lusts in the heart as the Sun shining on a Dunghil sends forth a stink and so not onely discovers our former illdemerits and deserving of Wrath but provokes to further sinning so lays us under more wrath stil if this be not a truth let any make sence of these Scriptures if they can Rom. 7.8 9 10 11. Sintaking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of Concupisence for without the Law sin was dead for I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed and the Commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death for sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived me and by it slew me 13. Was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the Commandment might become out of measure sinful I know several of these expressions are and may be in part interpreted of sin in the guilt that it appears by the law but it must also be understood of the power of sin that the law discovers that likewise whilest it irritates and provokes it and I would fain know if there can be any other sence of that whole context from the 1. to the 7. ver of that chap. especially the 5. ver When we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death 3. The law by both these effects discovering of sin and exciting sin as also shewing the Wrath due to sin is so far from justifying that it becomes the Ministration of Death and Condemnation to the sinner and not of justification unto life and for this we may consult the whole third Chap. of the second to the Corinthians My 6th Assertion therefore is this Faith is the way and the onely way that we have to take for Justification being sinners We must have Mercy Grace Pardon We must not think to stand upon our terms to require Justification as a due debt We must be glad to receive it as a gift and this is the way that Faith leads us in That Faith and Grace are one way I have proved before in reckoning up the several Synonymaes of those onely two wayes which the Apostle mentions Now that Faith is the onely way for us appears from what hath been already said and proved For if the law be no way and there be only these two wayes imaginable then there is no other way but this of Faith left us But I shall yet give one full Scripture-proof of this Rom. 3.21 Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no fiesh be justified in his sight but now the righteousness of God without
have had from God at times of further Discoveries This is the substance of the answer of the Apostle and this reason Because of transgressions you see was a weighty reason why the Law should be given to the Jews if God had any love for them to make them his people above all other Nations viz. to keep them from running out into these gross sins which otherwise they would and other Nations not having the Law did run out into C. 19. Ver. 19 20. He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgements unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation And as for his Judgments they have not known them for though the Work of the Law be written in every mans heart as the Apostle tells us Rom. 2.14.15 where he is speaking of the Gentiles yet men will not be at the pains to read or study what is written there neither would Israel have done it had not the Law been written for them in Tables of stone too they would not have known God's Judgements any more then other Nations had not God given his Law to them by Moses And this we see by the event for that notwithstanding this Law yet when they came amongst other Nations they ran into their abominations though they had express Laws against them what would they have done therefore if they had been wholly without this Law There was therefore a necessity at least a great requisitness of a Law to be given to Israel if God loved them and would manifest his love to them more then to any other people he could not do it in an higher instance then in giving them the Law Therefore you see the Law might be given for other reasons then this to be a way of Justification by the works of it I will shew further anon why the lavv vvas given with respect to transgression I shall onely in the mean time observe one or tvvo things further in the Apostles answer to the objection which I mentioned by the Name of cautionary circumstances in his Answer one is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was added non data sed addita est it is not said simply the Law was given but added because of transgressions Added to what Why to the Promises to the Gospel that vvas on foot before long before above 2000. years before in Adam's time 430. years before in Abraham's time it vvas added to the Covenant that vvas before confirmed of God in Christ and it vvas added not as a supplement for the Gospel vvas compleat in it self it saved thousands before ever the Lavv vvas given by Moses and it vvould have saved thousands more and might have served till the coming of Christ for all any absolute necessity that there vvas of it Onely if the Lord vvould be so gracious to his people of Israel above all Nations in the World to give them his Will in Writing at large that they might be the better contained in their obedience better then other Nations vvere This vvas the Lords Bounty and Grace to them but it is certain ' t vvas never given them to be so much as a necessary supplement to the Gospel that vvas before in the matter of Justification It vvas added onely occasionally as an useful Appendix not as a necessary supplement not vvith design to supplant but to serve the Gospel I have mentioned one of the limitations or cautionary circumstances vvhich the Apostle useth in his assigning the reason of the Lavv's being given As the law was given onely occasionally and additionally so it was but a temporary dispensation it vvas added there is another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until such time as the Seed should come As the Law was but occasionally and additionally given at first so it is but temporary in its continuance as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its beginning so there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a set-time of its continuance Here observe that though the Apostle doth allow that there was a weighty reason a great occasion of the Law 's being given yet he is afraid at the same time lest the Law should get too much advantage by this allowance of his and therefore gives these several terms of diminution whilest he speaks most for the honor of the Law Let us return now a little more to discover the mystery that is contain'd in that phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law was added because of Transgressions for you shall find that there is much of mystery in it yet besides what I have mentioned What I have mentioned lyes more obvious that which remains is much more wonderful and mysterious yet expresly asserted by the Apostle in several places The Law therefore was added because of transgression in these three respects The Law was added because of transgression in three respects 1. To hinder transgression from being committed 2. To aggravate transgressions that were or should be committed And 3. ultimately to finish transgressions and make an end of sin by driving and directing the wounded sinner to a Saviour And all those three reasons are as I may say fundamental in the occasion of the Law its being added to the promises till the time that the Seed should come 1. The Law was added because of transgressions that is to hinder transgressions from being committed and the Law was added to hinder transgressions these two ways 1. As a large plain Rule to shew them what was their duty that so they might not run into transgressions through ignorance And 2dly as a fiery Law to deter them from sin and frighten them into their duty that so they might not run into transgressions through negligence 1. As a large plain Rule to shew them their duty This particular and this onely I insisted upon ere-while when I explained what was the substance of the Apostles Answer to the Objection and I shall add no more unto it 2dly It did not onely hinder transgression by informing them in their duty lest they should run into transgression through ignorance but as a fiery Law to deter them from transgression and to frighten them into their duty that they might not transgress through negligence though this doth not so much refer to the matter of the Law as to the manner of its delivery But yet this manner of its delivery is as much taken notice of by the Apostle and was as necessary almost as the matter of the Law it self Now this manner of its delivery with dread and terror consists of two things 1. Wherein consists the terror of the Law That it was delivered with thunderings and lightnings c. 2. That it was delivered much in the form of a Covenant of Works without that mixture of promises which the Gospel abounds with and these two things make up the terror of the Law of Moses and indeed this terror made up of these two parts is almost all that which is peculiar to their dispensation For else for
is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 2dly The Law is taken in a sence all as large as this is strict and that is for the whole Old-Testament So it is likewise taken in several Scriptures Gal. 4.21 Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do ye not hear the Law For it is written that Abraham had two sons c. where the whole Book of Genesis is made a part of the Law again in Rom. 3. the Apostle makes the Psalms a part of the Law where having quoted a great part of the 14. Psalm in the 19. ver saith he Now we know that whatsoever things the Law saith c. and so in other Scriptures Now to apply the distinction in answer to the last query The Law strictly taken for a Covenant of Works did only teach Christ virtually and by consequence as it taught them that they could not be justified by its righteousness and thus for ought I know the Law in its accusations taught Christ to the Gentiles as it convinced them of the insufficiency of their own righteousness But now the Law in the second sense as taken for the Scriptures of the Old Testament taught Christ formally and directly though more obscurely then the Gospel teacheth him viz. in Types and Prophecies it were endless to reckon up all the Types Promises and Prophesies of Christ that are in the Old-Testament This way indeed the Law could not teach Christ unto the Gentiles who had not the Scriptures of the Old-Testament It is now high time and yet in this place seasonable enough to answer some other parts of the objection which I proposed at large some pages since which pleads for the Law its being a way of Justification unto the Jews at least before the coming of Christ if not to us now and something of that which remains yet unanswered Obj. 2. The Law was given to the Iews as their covnant is this If the Law was not given to be a way of Justification why is it called a Covenant the Old-Testament or Covenant 2 Cor. 3.14 and the first Covenant Heb. 7.8 expresly said to be made with the Children of Israel when the Lord took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Aegypt For whatever you have argued about Adam's estate of innocency that God made a Covenant of Works with him and that if he would he might have been justified by Works by the Law that since him all men have sinned and the Law was no way of Justification to them Whatever you have argued to this purpose say the objectors yet we find not that the Law was given to Adam but onely to the children of Israel by Moses and given to them as a Covenant therefore called the old Covenant or first Covenant in Heb. 8. out of Jer. 31.31 32.33 34. Therefore it was given them as a way of Justification for certainly the Justification that they were to seeke of God they were to seek in the way of a Covenant therefore in the way of the Law which was their Covenant To this I answer some things by way of concession A. 1. By way of concession in two particulars afterwards some things more concluding And first of all I grant that the Law is no where to my remembrance said to be given to Adam but onely to the children of Israel I am sure usually when mention is made of the giving of the law Where the law is said to be given it is to the children of Israel not to Adam Yet Adam had the Law and it was a Covenant of works to him 1. He had the Law it is likewise noted in the same place as given to the children of Israel by Moses so 2 Cor. 3 7. Heb. 8.9 1 Joh. 17. For the Law was given by Moses Gal. 3.19 Wherefore then serveth the Law It was added because of transgressions and it was ordained by Angels upon Mount Sinai in the hands of a Mediator viz. Moses Though when I make this concession that the Law is not said to be given to Adam but to the children of Israel by Moses I still think it may be easily collected from the Scriptures that Adam had the Law too and that it was to him a Covenant of Works 1. That he had the Law for 1. if Adam as a creature had not the Law written in his heart how came the Gentiles who had not the Law given them by Moses to have it written in their hearts 2. Else as I urged it before it had been no sin for man in innocency to have killed whom he pleased to have lyed forsworn himself to have defiled his own body by Adultery or other uncleanness for where there is no Law there is no transgression 3. If Adam had not the Law before his fall how came he to have it written in his heart presently after as it is certain he had for all other men have it so written and I cannot think that Adam alone wanted this excellency of all mankind neither do I think that he got this advantage by his fall to have the effect of the Law written in his heart which he had not written there before therefore he had it written in his heart before the Fall 2 It was to him a Covenant of works 2. It was a Covenant of Works to Adam in innocency For Adam then had no need of Grace or Pardon before his fall and I have proved that the Law is in its own nature a Covenant of Works and Adam had the Law therefore it was a Covenant of Works to Adam I deny not but Adam might have some positive Laws in his Covenant of Works as we find one viz. that of the forbidden fruit My second Concession is this That the Law was given to the Jews as a Covenant 2d Concession and where-ever mention is made of the Old-Covenant or First Covenant the parties covenanted withall are the people of the Jews So it is in 2 Cor. 3.6.14 in the 6. ver we have mention made of the New-Covenant which is that made by Christ in preaching the Gospel and in the 14th of the Old-Testament or Covenant which is that made with the Jews So in Heb. 8.6 7. the first Covenant is that which Moses was the Mediator of the second or better Covenant is that which Christ is the Mediator of this must not cannot be denyed and I have been often offended at persons that when they make a distinction of the Covenants a first and second old and new they make the first that with Adam in innocency the second the Covenant of grace made with the faithful ever since this though it may be true Divinity yet is not Scriptural or if it be somewhat Scriptural yet it is onely to be drawn by consequence out of the Scripture But there is another determination in this business that is more plainly
Now this being the great means of transferring Justification from the Law to Faith I shall a little insist upon the Explication of it That which I have to say upon it will be contained in these two assertions 1. That Christ in his own person here upon earth undertook the Law and answered it in all that it had to say against us And whereas it was a killing letter he took out this condemning power of it for all believers 2. That this was done by Christ for all ages of the Church and so it was and is the great foundation of that Justification by faith which the Apostle Paul contends to have been in all ages before the Law under the Law and in the dayes of the Gospel to the end of the world so that the way of Justification by faith comes in kindly and in a comely manner without any neglect or violation of the Law I begin with the first assertion That Christ in his own person here upon earth undertook and answered the Law The first assertion That Christ undertook answered the law for us c. Now to prove and illustrate this assertion it will be usefull to us 1. To consider in what condition the Lord Christ found us when he came into the world as a Saviour We were therefore all of us Jewes and Gentiles We were all under the law when Christ came to save us prisoners to the Law I shall give the account of this in the Apostle's expressions which are somewhat mystical to which I hope I shall adde some light by laying them together and comparing them one with another Before Christ came and before faith came and so at the time when Christ came when faith came in the doctrinal discovery or at any time doth come to us in the hearty closing with it We were kept under the Law Gal. 3.23 the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law had set a guard upon us and as it follows we were shut up unto the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we were all shut up as so many prisoners unto the Law and under its guard and custody and in Rom. 7.6 speaking of the Law the Apostle saith We were held by it that being dead that is the Law wherein we were HELD or by which we were detained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For though these places in the Galatians and Romanes may referr to the different dispensations of the Old Testament and New that before the dayes of the Gospel when faith came to be preached men were under a legal dispensation they were kept under the Law and shut up to the faith that was to be revealed yet I dare affirm that there is a deeper meaning then that at least a deeper truth then that if not in those places which is this That till Christ and the way of Justification by faith be made known to the soul the soul must needs be under a legal frame â—f heart towards God under fear and bondage â—ay and a further sense then this yet and that â—s this That till the virtue of the blood of Christ â—e applyed to the soul till actual Justification â—y or upon faith every man lies under the curse â—nd threatning and wrath of the Law the Law â—ath taken hold of us all an evident signe of â—hich is this That death hath passed upon all and â—hat is the reason why for that all have sinned â—om 5.12 And if any could plead exemption from this abnoxiousness to the Law it must be either the â—â—ntiles that had not the Law as the expression is â—â—m 2.14 that is had not the Law given to â—â—em or those that lived before the Law was â—ven by Moses now neither of these can plead â—is exemption therefore all mankinde were â—ptives to the Law when Christ undertook the â—ork of Redemption or rather until the desigâ—ation of Christ by the Father to this work For the first viz. the Gentiles the Apostle tells us that he had proved them under sin which is the transgression of the Law therefore under the Law and their thoughts within them did accuse for their breach of the Law which was written in their hearts Rom. 2.14 Neither were they free from this arrest of the Law who lived before the delivery of the Law by Moses for the Apostle tells us plainly Rom. 5.13 That untill the Law sin was in the world that is from Adam till the time that the Law was solemnly given by Moses sin was in the world now sin is the transgression of the Law and accordingly as sin was in the world all that space of time from Adam to Moses so Death reigned from Adam to Moses Now we know that death 〈◊〉 the wages of sin and the strength of sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15.56 Sin could never have brought in death but by the Law which bindes sin upon the sinner and with sin the punishment due to it therefore all that space of time from Adaâ— to Moses sin and death being in the world 〈◊〉 they were to be sure there was the Law in its power energy it was there in effect as sure 〈◊〉 it was in the hearts consciences of Heathens and the Grave was the Law 's Prison Death it's Arrest Sin it 's great Charge and Accusation by and upon which Death entred Sin entred in the world and death by sin upon the threatningâ— the Law Rom. 5.12 This was the state and condition therefore that Christ found us in wâ— were all under the Law as Prisoners and Captives therefore when the Father sent fort Christ upon the work of Redemption it is saâ— Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a woman mâ—â— under the Law to redeem them that were under 〈◊〉 Law This was written to the Galatians who were Gentiles That we putting himself and the Galatians together might receive the adoption of Sons therefore the Gentiles were under the Law when Christ was sent forth for their redemption And our Saviour tells us what he was commissionated to by his Father Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES and recovering of sight to the blinde to set at liberty them that are bruised or bound as it is in Isai 61.1 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord that is the Year of Jubilee when all servants were set free thus Christ's coming was to proclaim a Year of Jubilee to the whole world that the Law 's Captives should be delivered and those that served God under the tyranny of the Law might receive a spirit of Adoption So now thus farr we are gone in our proof of the first assertion that when Christ came as a Saviour and Redeemer of his people he found them all under the Law as the lawfull Captives and Prisoners unto it by reason of their sins which were
the Cross and Christ nailed the Law to the Cross and all this without violence or affront offered to the Law it being but naturally consequent upon what the Law did first to Christ for if the Law set upon Christ as our Surety and do the utmost to him that it can it must needs follow that it hath no strength left against those for whom he undertook and so must die and expire by the same death that our Saviour dyed it being nailed to the Cross which is but a sigurative expression And yet I shall carry the Allegory a little further herein still following the Apostle Paul Is it any wonder now is it any unreasonable thing now that the Law is dead and taken out of the way that we should be married to another husband that we should reckon our selves to be no longer under the Law The woman which hath an husband saith the Apostle Rom. 7.23 is bound by the Law to her husband so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the Law of her husband So then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead she is free from that Law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man ver 4. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the Law or the Law is become dead to you BY THE BODY OF CHRIST that ye should be warried to another even to him that is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God The Law is every soul's first Husband since the fall so every one's actual sin the Law is an intolerable husband there is no living with it it so sets on guilt presseth the soul w th terrors nay instead of producing good works the natural fruit of this Marriage-relation of the Soul to the Law whilest in innocency it now produceth all manner of lusts according to the 5. ver of that 7. chap. When we were in the flesh the MOTIONS OF SINS WHICH WERE BY THE LAW did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Now God in much mercy to mankinde finding that if the Law and the conscience or soul of man keep together his creature will be lost and himself lose those fruits of good works which the soul was first created for he provides another husband for the soul which is Jesus Christ only Christ must redeem his Spouse from that tyrannical Husband which now it lives with else the Soul shall be but an Adulteress to pretend marriage to Christ that is the way of grace whilest the Law can make a just claim to her as a wife which it might have done as long as it lived The manner of the rescue I have before declared it was by suffering and yielding to the Law yet so as in it the Law destroyed it self and then is it lawfull for the Soul that was before wife to the Law to be married to another husband and who so fit as he that redeemed her Now the Soul shall have it's forbearance under failings which the Law would not endure and God shall have a kindly and ingenuous Service there will be fruits unto God and this is the passage from Works to Faith from the Law to Grace I though the Law saith the Apostle am dead to the Law that I might live to God Gal. 2.19 that is through what the Law hath done to Christ it hath nothing to do with me But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Rom. 7.6 One Scripture more to this purpose it is Rom. 8.1 23.4 There is therefore now no condemnation to ohem which are in Christ Jesus who are married to Christ and have accepted the terms of the Gospel who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit for the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death this chiefly relates to sanctification that the inward law or power of corruption which was occasionally and accidentally strenghtned by the Law of God was now broken by that inward power spirit and life which is conveyed by the Gospel of Christ and is called the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus ver 3. for what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh that is it could neither justifie nor sanctifie both these did God bring to pass by sending his Son in the likeness of sinfull flesh when for sin that is Christ's making himself a Sin-offering so answering the Law God condemned Christ in the flesh that is destroyed it both in the guilt and power of it out of us that were sinners so it follows that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit that is that the Law might no longer accuse us being answered by our Saviour and that we might attain to that which is the chief designe of the Law to wit righteousness and holiness which if we had continued under the Law we could never have attained unto What so common now with the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romanes as to tell them that now they are not under the Law but under grace by this means namely the BODY OF CHRIST offered and that therefore there shall be no condemnation and that therefore sin shall not have dominion over them which are the two great effects of the death of Christ though the first chiefly belongs to that subject which I am upon viz. Justification Having given now all these things in an allegorical and mystical dress yet herein only following the Apostle I shall deliver the same thing somewhat plainly and so conclude this first particular The summe of all this is Man was made holy had a Law to live by to which there was a threatning annexed In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death or shalt surely die * This threatning I take it is due by the Law to intended against all sins according to that of the Apostle The wages of sin is death Ro. 6.23 speaking of sin indefinitly besides wise Adam might have committed any other sin and not have dyed Man did eat and so was to die death accordingly entred by this sin into the world that is a natural death and for eternal death hereafter and the spiritual death of the soul here which consist's in alienations from God both which all men at age are obnoxious unto being sinners as for children I neither affirm nor deny any thing the Lord in mercy designing to deliver men from provided a Saviour who should first live a perfect life that so he might be the more acceptable Sacrifice and his terms of saving men must be these that he must freely offer himself up to
Joh. 37.10 Rom. 8.1 Besides the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans where he is more large in the vindication of his Doctrine concerning Justification by Faith then elsewhere in any place speaketh expresly of the constituting i. e. of the actual making of men just or righteous c. 5.19 that is the investing men with the state of Justification but no where mentioneth any thing concerning the manifestation of such a state And the truth is that the contest about Justification wherein be ingaged against the Jews with so much zeal so much ardencie of desire to convince them with such variety of exquisite and ponderous arguing to bring the truth to light against which they contended with him the contest I say had hardly been worth all this oleum opera all this solemnitie and height of ingagement by such a man had it been onely about the manifestation and not about the way and means of procuring a justified estate An account of this assertion might be given if need were Another thing worthy consideration about the great Subject of the Treatise is whether if so why justification or Forgiveness of sins is ascribed as well to such acts of Faith which do not at least directly or immediately relate unto Christ or unto the death of Christ as unto these which do Thou wilt sinde here more produced from the Scriptures to prove the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of such an ascription then as farr as my reading and memory can inform me is to be met with elsewhere and as much said upon a rational and probable account for clearing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reason of it as may be sufficient to quiet the thoughts of men in the case For it doth not bear hard at all either upon the Wisedom of God or upon any of his words in the Scripture to conceive that any act from a believing frame or disposition of soul in man towards God should reduce him under the Divine Decree of Justification and so interesse him in the benefit or blessing hereof considering that every such act doth arguitive as the School-men speak that is virtually and consequentially comprehend in it such an act of believing also which is directly and immediately acted upon Christ or his death It is a rule in the Civil Law â—avores sunt ampliandi the meaning is that such passages or clauses in the Law which were intended in way of favour or benefit unto men ought to be interpreted in the largest and most comprehensive sense that the words will any way bear as on the other hand there is this rule In odiosis stricte facienda est interpretatio Such sayings in the Law which concern the punishment of persons in one kind or other are to be understood in as narrow and restrained a sense as the words will permit Doubtless these notions for the expounding of Laws both in the one case and the other are equitable agreeable to reason and the light of nature and consequently are to be found in the nature of God himself who as the Scripture informeth us made man in his own image or likeness and vested the same or the like principles or impressions of Reason Equity and Understanding in him with those that were in himself So that it need be no great matter of wonder that God should be very indulgent and large in interpreting such clauses in the Gospel which relate unto the justification and salvation of men and consequently should finde justifying Faith in such acts of believing which may any waies even by the most abstruse subtile or profound way of arguing be conceived to evince or comprehend it Whether upon every reiterated or repeated act of believing the believer is justified afresh if so what doth a supervenient act of Justification profit him that is perfectly justified already or how is there place for the effect of such an act as that of Justification in him all whose sins by means of his being in Christ are already pardoned by God or if not what should be the reason why one act of the same Faith should not justifie as well as another Are problemes worthy the consideration and inquiry of an ingenuous Student in the mysterious science of Justification These also or some of them are ingeniously discussed and endeavoured to be resolved in this Treatise Doubtless every new act of believing doth not procure or bring unto him that so acteth a new justification properly so called and which consisteth in remission of sins Nor is this any disparagement to an after-act of believing in comparison of any former or the first act in this kinde by which Justification in this sense was obtained nor doth it argue any whit less acceptance of it with God For as the saying in natural Philosophy is Quiequid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis the qualification or condition of the Subject doth often if not alwaies modifie the effect of the act that is exercised or acted upon it So he who by virtue of a former act of believing remains and is in a complete state of Justification all his sins being forgiven him by God is not capable of receiving the forgiveness of them at least in the same sense or kind the second time because he needeth iâ— not For it being unpossible for God in respect of the infinity of his Wisedom to do any thing superstuous no creature can be in a regular capacity of receiving any matter of grace or favour from him unless in one respect or other it standeth in need of it Every repeated act of Faith doth indeed obtain from God another kind of Justification I mean Approbation which is oft in Scripture expressed and this without any great acyrology or impropriety of speech by the word Justification For though men were approved of him before as well as justified yet Approbation being susceptive of magis and minus or of degrees which Justification strictly taken is not they may be oft approved yet not often in that sense justified their former justification remaining That forgiveness of sins which Christ teacheth us to ask of God dayly either imports the continuation of the first act whereby he justified us which it is meet we should ask of him in respect of our new and dayly transgressions or which I rather conceive yet with submission Gods forbearing to punish us with temporal punishments for our dayly sins being at liberty we know thus to punish us notwithstanding our justified estate if he be not intreated by us in this respect to forgive us Other great and high concernments the care of repeated acts of belicoing which are not proper to be mentioned here 〈…〉 in Christ or in God by means of Christ for the Scripture useth both expressions indifferently qualifieth and inricheth the soul with all principles of righteousness and goodness and so constitutes a person inherently just and righteous some of late have conceived that in this notion or consideration it justifieth and that God
looking upon man as inwardly just and righteous by the worthy operation of Faith in and upon his heart and soul pronounceth him accordingly to be a just and righteous person With this conceit thou will â—ade the Author of the Treatise cast into somewhat a like passion with Paul at Athens when he beheld the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given to Idolatry the Text saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his spirit was sharply-provoked or stirred within him Act. 17.16 I found him not so warm at any other work in all his Book as in his wrestlings against this Opinion His zeal in the case is very pardonable if not commendable rather the matter being exceeding weighty For if that be all the Justification we receive from God to be pronounced just or righteous by him according to that righteousness which he seeth truly and really inherent in us and for the same what becomes of our sins Are these still reteined and unforgiven Or if they be forgiven is the forgiveness of them nothing no part of our Justification And if they be forgiven are they forgiven for the sake of that inherent righteousness for and according unto which saith the Opinion God pronounceth us righteous that is justifieth us Doth not this notion wholly evacuate the first-born inter Magnalia Dei the most adorable Vouchsasement that ever the Grace and Love or Bounty of God issued forth unto the world I mean the propitiatory Sucrifice of Christ Besides if God shall pronounce us righteous onely for and according to that righteousness which he seeth and knoweth to be in us and this be our Justification the Grace of God will have but a saint and feeble hand in our Justification For it is but a kinde of debt for him that certainly knoweth another man to be righteous to give testimory unto him accordingly and to pronounce him such upon occasion But for the further eviction of this so Anti-Evangelical a notion I referr thee to the Treatise it self Onely if thou pleasest bear me a few words about what I conceive may be the occasion at least in part of the sad mistake When God in the Scripture calleth or pronounceth men righteous for and according to that righteousness which is really and truly vested in them 1. He speaketh not of an absolute district and perfect righteousness or such which without any more ade giveth them a right of claim to Heaven but first of such a righteousness which is inchoate only and wants many degrees of its perfect growth and stature admitting no small mixture of unrighteousness with it according to these and many like Scriptures In many things we offend all Jam. 3.2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves c. 1 Joh. 1.8.10 Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from secret faults Psal 19.12 There is not a just man on earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 There is no man that sinneth not 1 King 8.46 Secondly He speaketh of a comparative righteousness pronouncing the Saints righteous viz. in respect of the world which as John saith lyeth in wickedness Again 2. When God pronounceth Believers righteous for and according to that good and righteous frame of heart which he seeth in them he doth not justifie them in the sense of the word Justifie in the Questions and Controversies about the justification of a sinner namely sensu forensi as persons are said to be justified from Crimes laid to their charge by a Judge but sensu morali as when persons that are approved by whomsoever for any thing either done by them or known or supposed to he in them are said to be justified by them The word Justifie is frequently used in this sense in the Scriptures Job 27.5 33.32 11.2 Prov. 17.15 compared with Ch. 24.34 28.4 Matt. 11.19 Luke 7.35 Matth. 12.37 with many others Whereas when God is said to justifie those that believe with that Justification which is said to be of or unto life i.e. unto salvation Rom. 5.18 he is said to forgive their iniquities to cover their sins not to impute sin unto them c. Rom. 4.5 compared with 6.7 8. Acts 13.38 with 39 See also Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Luke 1.77 Rom. 3.25 with 8.26 The forgiveness of sins is indeed a most absolute district compleat righteousness in its kind having no mixture or tincture of any weakness or imperfection in it and as to the benefit and comfort of all that receive it comprehending in it the constant observation of the whole Law of God to every the least iota or tittle of it In respect of this most exquisite absolute and divine perfection of it as well as in others it may well be term'd as it is Rom. 3.21 22. twice together THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF God It is like the non-advertency of these particulars might render the Judgements of some learned men the more obnoxious to the error now impleaded Yet further he that desires to understand himself like a Christian in so material a piece of his profession as Justification had need be able and expert to distinguish the terms and phrases which frequently occur in the Scriptures relating to it out of their ambiguities and diversities of significations and imports and so likewise to know when different words or expressions are the same in sence and import either expressly or implicitly and by consequence otherwise they will never sit easia and light some in their judgment about many particulars belonging to it I must not stand to instance in particulars I have already exceeded the intended proportion of my Advertisement But in this concernment also thou wilt find the Treatise at hand a good Benefactor unto thee This will inform thee that the word Righteousness doth not always signifie the principle or virtue of righteousness inherent in the soul but sometimes that which we may call an adherent or a relative righteousness viz. a non-imputation of sin or the forgiveness of sin called also as we lately shewed the Righteousness of God and sometimes the Righteousness of Faith that is which is obtained by Faith So again it will acquaint thee with different significations of the words Just Justifie Justification and some others by the knowledge whereof the rough wayes of the study of Justification will be made smooth But the carriages or passages of the Treatise hitherto pointed at are in the eye of my comparing faculty but as Pictures of Silver the Apple of Gold amongst them and which to me is vena basilica the Master-Vein of the Discourse is that quarter of it in which the Evangelical purity and simplicity of Justification is asserted against the importune yet subtile and close insinuations of a legal spirit For as I know no Doctrine greater then that of Justification within the whole Hemisphere of Christian Profession as before was hinted so neither do I apprehend any thing more threatning the world with the loss of the great benefit and blessing of this great
external or partial performance of the duties of the Moral Law of which I have made two sorts a lower and an higher and I free both from being necessarily superstitious or that their chief danger should arise from thence And for the first sort I ask Art thou careless of getting divine knowledge in the Scriptures Art thou at no pains with thy heart in Religion Dost thou find no difficulties in it Art not thou put to struglings wrestlings sightings yet expectest thou to get to Heaven Why then thou art one of the common sort that perish by resting upon an outward conformity to the Moral Law Again for the higher but unsincere Moralist Dost thou find a difficulty in Religion Is it ready to break thine heart almost with the trouble that it puts thee to Thou art fain to be constant in duties morning and evening and it may be oftner thou art just between man and man it may be thou bestowest much of thine Estate upon the poor and many other good things thou dost perhaps thou hast some time or other parted with some very beloved sin that was to thee as a right eye or a right hand thou hast found Religion costly and troublesome to thee and now thou expectest when ever thou diest to go to Heaven But stay man art thou humble Dost thou see no imperfections in thy self notwithstanding thy superlative holiness beyond thy neighbours Art not thou made sometimes to confess before the Lord and that with great brokenness of heart that thou art an unprofitable servant Art not thou made to admire at the rich Grace of God that he should take pity on thee when thou wast in thy blood That he should have thoughts of love to thee should send his good Spirit into thine heart to move thee and turn thee to himself c If thou hast experience of none of these things be thou as strict as thou wilt so that hone can accuse thee so strict that thine own Conscience doth not loudly accuse thee I tell thee whether thou be superstitious and ceremonious yea orno for it seldom happens but such an one as thou art is so thou art one of those that are indeed not far from the Kingdom of God but yet not in it nor ever shall be whilest thou continuest so thou art a Legal self-justitiary that restest in an external unsincere obedience to the Law of God I have perfectly done with the Character as it is given to discover predominant Legality Yet here I shal enter two cautions one concerning the Moralist the other concerning the Papist A caution concerning the term Moralist For the term Moralist which I use I fear it may give offence to some ingenuous and worthy persons and therefore I thus explain my self that I do not oppose Moral to Spiritual as if the most spiritual Commands of the Gospel were not Moral or as if the most spiritual Saint were not the highest Morallist or as if Morality were a low Principle I know not but I may reduce all the duties of the Gospel to Morality and I think no sober man wil deny them to be Moral Duties But I make use of it as part of that common distinction made betwixt those two kinds of Laws which Moses delivered of which some were only ceremonial and typical and to last but for a time the other Moral that is to say according to the common understanding of it Perpetual though as to the Etymological signification of the Word Moral signifies as much as that which concerns Manners So Moral Philosophy is opposed to all other Philosophy as Practical is opposed to Speculative and in this signification of the Word Moral all the ceremonial Laws whilst they were in use might have been called Moral but because use swayes Language more then the Etymology of Words I here understand the Word Moral purely in opposition to ceremonial or superstitious so as it signifies those duties that are to be performed by us as having a more substantial goodness in their own nature such as Justice Mercy and Prayer c. Now those men that depend for a righteousness upon the imperfect unsincere performance of these duties I call Legal Morallists of which there are evidently two sorts A caution concerning the Papists an higher and a lower there being another sort of Legallists which I have spoken of namely the ceremonious Legallist Now I shall likewise enter a caution concerning the Papists in whom I have instanced often in the matter of Ceremonies and Superstitions and their placing a confidence in them And to shew that I do not delight to disparage so much as any one man much less an whole party of men but that my onely aim is to make true proof of my assertions I shall to do them right quote an Author of their own whereby it wil appear plainly that some of them at least are sensible of the insufficiency of these things viz. Ceremonious and superstitiou Observances yea conformities unto some duties of the moral Law whilst their conformities do not proceed from an universal Charity The Author is Francis de Sales once Bâ—shop and Prince of Geneva who in his Introduction to a devout life in the very first Chapter hath thâ—se Expressions Every one saith he painteth Devotion according to his own passion and fancy He that is given to fasting thinks himself very devout if he fast often be his his heart never so ful of rancour And not daring to moisten his tongue in Wine or Water for sobriety's sake yet makes no difficulty to drink deep of the blood of his neighbor by slander and calumny Another will account himself sull of Devotion for HUDLING OVER A MULTITUDE OF PRAYERS EVERY MORNING though afterwards he give his tongue a liberty to utter offensive arrogant and reproachful speeches amongst his Neighbours and Family One willingly draws an Alms out of his purse to give to the poor but cannot draw Clemency out of his heart to pardon his Enemies Another forgiveth his Enemies yet cares not to satisfie his Creditors but by constraint All these people are devout in the vote of the vulgar yet indeed they are not so at all And then he gives us an handsome allusion The servants of King Saul saith he sought David in his House but Michol having laid a Statue in his bed and covering it with Davids Apparel made them believe it was David himself sick in bed So many persons cover themselves with certain EXTERNAL ACTIONS BELONGING TO DEVOTION and the World believes them truly devout and SPIRITUAL whereas indeed they are but statues and apparitions of Devotion Now God forbid that I should judge such a man as this if he but follow his own directions to be in a way destructive to his soul when he professeth to aim at true SPIRITUALWORSHIP not contenting himself with EXTERNAL ACTIONS onely in the service of God Though still I must needs say notwithstanding such an Author as this amongst them that I
will not like this neither and it is because it is the duty of the Creature to serve its Creator whether he promiseth any reward or no. Now this will not look neither like a Gospel-principle being the very Law of Creation Well then what principles will they suggest for Gospel-principles Why such as these Love and Ingenuity and Gratitude and apprehending an excellency in the wayes of God Now I confess these are good principles and these are right Gospel-principles the fruit of the Spirit is love And we love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 which is gratitude Shall we continue in sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace and that so Grace may abound God forbid This were highly disingenuons Rom. 6.1.15 And in keeping thy Commandments there is great reward Psal 19.11 There is a sight of the excellency of the precept But pray observe that where nobleness and ingenuity is the onely Principle of Actions there is no necessity for any thing to be done at all for actions of nobleness and ingenuity and gratitude come under no Law but are left free to the Agent to do or not to do only that hereby as he doth them or not the Agent will discover whether he be of an unworthy Spirit or no. And thus these men have brought things to a fair pass that God is to be served under the Gospel onely upon courtesie so that any that will may slip their neck out of Christs yoke and their back from under his burthen or else they must acknowledge that men ought to serve God because there is a MUST upon it 't is our duty as Creatures if we will not there is an Hell to punish but to encourage you in it if you will there is an Heaven to reward And what if a Legal Spirit go to work with these principles ONELY as indeed I think he hath no other and that he may have all these in a degree viz. the sense of his Obligation as a Creature the fear of Hell and some general hope of Heaven I say What if he may have all these principles are they evertheless good or unsuitable to the Gospel because he useth them If he used them to good ends or used them aright they would do him good as well as they do others good the reason why these do him no good is for that in the use of the same principles in the general which a good man may use A Legallist hath always these three gross defects that undo him Three ruining defects in the service of a Legallist First though the hope of Heaven in general as a place of happiness may somewhat quicken him in what he doth yet he hath no true notion or apprehension of Heaven that the happiness of it consists chiefly in likeness to God in holiness which if it were his notion of Heaven he could not find in his heart to desire it much less to endeavour after it The second gross defect is this All the endeavours that he makes to please God in one thing or in another as I have instanced in several wayes never reach to a thorough heart-work whereas that is the chief thing that God looks after because he is a Spirit the Father of Spirits And the lastthing is this That yet for all this slightiness hypocrifie of a Legal Spirit the very rule that he proceeds by in his expectations of his Reward is That God is bound to give it him as having well deserved it at his hands Now what though a Legallist may make use of the same principles that an Evangelical Spirit doth unsuccessfully yet what should hinder but the Evangelical Worshipper may use the same principles rightly and with acceptation from God May not a good thing be abused or not rightly used And doth this destroy the nature of it Let us now a little examine the word Mercenary because indeed it sounds harshly as if it were a low principle for a Christran to act towards God by and then we will see briefly what other Principles there are in conjunction with it in every true Saint of God The word Mercenary founds so ill meerly from the common usage of it not so much from the Etymology or native signification the Natural signification of it is when any one acts for wages or for a reward the use of it is when a man that is engaged to do courtifies or at least stands not in any need to receive courtesies will yet do no good turns for any without a good reward in his hand or well assured to him nay perhaps will do any mischief if he may be well rewarded so that Mercenariness is a Vice alwaies contrary to Nobleness that is more free to do than receive courtesies and often contrary to justice but now this Mercenariness especially as contrary to nobleness is a Vice onely or chiefly amongst equals and those that stand not in need of one another as for those that are far inferiour it is pride with them to be unwilling to receive courresies or rewards for wherefore are any advanced in place but that they may do good to those that are below them 'T is no dishonour at all for a poor man that wants bread to hire our his labour for a reward nor for a child that is bound to do what his facher commands to be encouraged by any reward that his father proposeth to any action Now let us apply these things to the bufiness before us and we shall see how ill or how well Mercenariness becomes us in our service of God First of all we are not here to consider the Saints as doing evill things for a reward that is the worst Mercenariness of all no but they serve God for a reward Now wherein can the sordidness of this Spirit lye is it that we need not to receive courtesies at the hands of God or that we cannot endure to receive a courtesie which we know we are not able to requite Such a struin of nobleness there is sometimes found amongst men out if we should aim at such a strain of nobleness with God How will such men ever offer to receive heaven especially when they did not work for it which makes it far more obliging Truely in my minde it is very high pride for a poor creature that is poor and blind and naked and in want of all things that when God offers to supply his poverty to cure his blindness to cover his nakedness he shall not be exceedingly over-joyed at it and seeing that these supplies are of this nature that they cannot be compleatly obtained till we come to heaven nor yet certainly obtained except we persevere whilest we are here to labour after them it seems a strange wantonness to me that men should not labor and own it that they do labour for them as the command is No fault in labouring for the reward except it be for the reward of a debt Labour for
principle shall be onely an humble love and gratitude and the action shall be a true useful and ingenious action wherein some real service shall be done for God I shall give an instance in the Apostle Paul in that place last mentioned 1 Cor. 9.17 18. a place where you have the Apostle doing two things one of necessity that had a wo upon it if he did it not so that whether he did it willingly or unwillingly he must do it and that was the preaching the Gospel the other purely voluntary and so free lest him that he might have done the contrary to what he did and not have sinned at all and that was as to his maintenance for preaching he might have expected from them that they should maintain him but he would not he would maintain himself and this he took such comfort in that he calls this his glorying as I take it and he would rather dye then that any man should make this his glorying void Now the principle of this his action was not Legal as if he thought by this to lay some obligation upon God or his Lord Christ Jesus for he knew that he was so far obliged to the Lord for his mercies that he could never lay an obligation upon God The principle therefore was onely this of gratitude and nobleness he had such a good Master that he could never do enough for and therefore when he had sent him to preach the Gospel which he must unavoidably do the Apostle spyed out an opportunity of doing his duty herein more effectually and that was if he would preach the Gospel upon free-cost though he was allowed by his Master to have demanded a reward and now spying out this how he might do an eminent service which yet was a free-will offering he catches at it and will rather dye then let go this opportunity Ver. 5. It were better for me to dye then that any man should make my glorying void upon which take this paraphrase of a learned Commentator I have preached the Gospel on free-cost and would rather choose to famish by doing so then be deprived of this way of advancing the Gospel and I would not for all the world lose this comfors and joy that I have preached to you without receiving any thing from you Here you see at the same time the Apostle can act from a principle of necessity and also of voluntariness or nobleness he preaches the Gospel from the consideration of a necessity and he takes nothing for his preaching out of a principle of nobleness and yet this second service is a real service and advantage to the Gospel not such a foolish thing as for men to whip themselves or to offer to the shrine of some Saint or to say such a tale of Pater nosters c. That therefore is another Christian Principle in acting for God viz. Gratitude and Nobleness I shall onely mention one more and it is this When one hath been used to serve God The last and highest principle of action is from the excellency of the work it self the wayes of God are so good in themselves that a man will find a great sweetness and satisfaction in them that they are the onely ways that perfect a mans nature they are the only ways that are rational he shall more and more see every sin to be a gross absurdity according to that Scriptuture Heb. 5.14 Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their sences exercised to discern good and evil And believe it this is an high attainment to have a sense of what is good and excellent and of what is evil and base and to love the first and hate the latter for it self this is certainly the very love and hatred that God himself hath Now though I have allowed that there are these three Gospel-principles of Love and Gratitude Nobleness and Generosity loving and hating things for their own desert which men may arrive at yet I dare not speak a light word of the three first principles mentioned especially of that first viz. of serving God as our Creator which I think wil be an everlasting principle of service after we have received the fullest reward And for those principles of acting in hope of the reward and to avoid Hell I say first as before that they are good and warrantable nay Evangelical principles of action and therefore cannot simply considered be reckoned for legal principles yet perhaps I might say this in agreement with those that make them characters of a legal spirit that if they could be discovered in any person to be the onely principle of action as in Ahab and Pharoah the avoiding the Judgements that they were sensible of to hang over them were visibly the onely motives of their religious acts that person might be adjudged legal But of this more when I come to speak of a Spirit of Bondage which is the next Scripture-Character that I shall give of a Legal Spirit Onely in the mean time I reckon that I have evinced that taking it in the general without that distinctness in which we are to proceed so it is not a sufficient argument nor any argument at all of a Legal Spirit to act towards God for fear of punishment or in hope of the reward I come now to a third Character of a Legal Spirit The third Character of a Legal Spirit and it is this To be under a Spirit of Bondage is an argument of a Legal Spirit That this is an Argument or Character of a Legal Spirit first let us see some Scripture-proof and then I shall come to shew what a Spirit of Bondage is Now for Scripture-proof I think there is no Character of a Legal Spirit plainer in the Scripture then this I reckon indeed that the first viz. That it is external and fleshly in the serâ—ice of God was a plain Scripture-Character but I think this is rather plainer in Gal. 4.22 23. For it is written that Abraham had two sons the one by a bond-maid the other by a free-woman but he who was of the bond-woman was born after the FLESH but he of the free-woman was by promise which things are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants The one from Mount Sinai which gendreth to bondage which is Hagar This is the Law-Covenant Ergo Legalists are under a spirit of Bondage and they that are predominantly or properly said to be under a spirit of Bondage are Legalists the Proposition is convertible by reason that a spirit of Bondage is a property of a Legal spirit Again for a little more Scripture-proof 1. 'T is proved from its contrary the spirit which is contrary to a spirit of Bondage is a spirit of Adoption or Son-ship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now this Spirit of Adoption is a peculiar priviledge of the Gospel therefore the spirit of Bondage must belong to the Law Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the
my body lest after I have preached the Gospel to others I myself should be a cast-away But the Apostle Paul had other principles in conjunction with it The love of Christ constraineth us saith he 2 Cor. 5.14 I shewed before that fear of Hell acting for the reward or from a principle of natural conscience these are not Legal principles in themselves and in their own nature so that he that acts by them should be far judged to be Legal but onely they are such as may want the company of other principles not to make themselves pass for Evangelical but to make the person that acts by them enough Evangelical they are a lower sort of good principles which let them have as great influence as they will can do no hurt onely there must be somewhat more ask shewed above and indeed here is the proper place to shew the necessity of some further principle and I accordingly promised in that particular to shew it in this Now I suppose this is is the great reason why there is need of a further principle besides those three for that a man may act by all those three principles and yet be under a Spirit of Bondage Now there must be some principle to free the soul from this bondage or else the soul can never serve God acceptably This Principle must be Love Perfect love casteth out fear first all slavish fear of God then the fear of men he that feareth is not made perfect in love Look to what degree the love of God is in the soul to such degree is the slavish fear of God and the cowardly fear of men abated But yet take two cautions in examining thy self by this Character as to predominant Legality 1. Be not too rash in concluding thou hast no love to God 2. If thou thinkest thou hast reason to conclude that hitherto thou hast no other principle of action towards God but those three which do not necessarily exclude a spirit of Bondage yet be not discouraged as to the future thou mayest have a further principle thou art in the fairest way towards it that any other is A spirit of Bondage is far better than a prophane spirit Many Divines hold and I think rightly that the Lord in the work of Conversion doth usually lead men through a spirit of bondage into a spirit of adoption though thou shouldst be at present as to thy state under the Law yet the Law is a School-Master unto Christ And Mr. Smith in that so often quoted Discourse of Superstition tells us after having quoted that very place in Isa 33. The sinners in Zion are afraid who shall dwell with the devouring fire as an argument of men under the power of Superstition though I should not dislike saith he these dreadful and astonishing thoughts of future torment which I doubt GOOD MEN may have cause to press home upon their own spirits whilst they find INGENUITY less active Thou seest there may be good use of such principles even in good men therefore they are not bad in thee But I come to the discovery of partial Legaity or the mixtures of Legality which may be found in the service and spirits of good men from this Character And this is indeed the Character by which the Legality of good men is usually discovered There are many Saints as I have intimated already several times who though they walk very exactly are not conscious to themselves of living in any known sin nay it is known by all that know them intimately that they are very strict in their lives yet these are still in doubts and fears touching their condition they are sorely affraid that the Lord is angry and displeased with them though they have no reason from the Scriptures or from the judgment of other Christians and Ministers nor from any revelation within them but onely through Satans temptations Now these men cannot gather their fears from any other occasion or reason then from their unreasonable conceptions their over-timorous and dreadful apprehensions of God They have some secret fears and doubts of his goodness that he will never be pleased though they make their way never so perfect before him though they humble themselves though they acknowledge their vileness in never so great debasements and abhorrencies of themselves The truth is they are secretly afraid and it must be so or else their jealousies must be without so much as the least shew of reason that they shall never please God unless they keep the Law to a tittle and what is Legality if this be not that is they think so at some times and this occasions their fears and doubts not that they think so always for if they should think so alwayes they were perfect Legallists Or else if they do not think so high as this that they must keep the whole law yet they think at least that they must do some very great thing which is beyond their strength And so accordingly for instance they think they must do so many duties in a day let what business come that can come and they must do it so well be they in never so ill a temper or frame of heart not as if our ill temper excuseth the ill performance of an action where that distemper is brought upon us by ourselves and that they perhaps must do as much when they are sick as when they are well that though they be weak in grace or weak in parts that yet they must do as much as those that are strong in both All this now together with the fears and troubles that attend these thoughts I call Legality and it proceeds from a false and over-timorous apprehension of the Deity And they are not enough sensible that the condition of man is altered from perfect to imperfect nor that the terms betwixt the great God and his creature Man are altered from Legal to Evangelical And I say once for all he that thinks God requires any thing of the Creature above its strength nay beyond what the creature can through the grace of God well and comfortably perform is a Legallist and under the spirit of bondage so far That is certainly a general Gospel-maxime though made use of upon a particular occasion of contribution to the necessity of the Saints which we have 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not And nothing is plainer in the Scripture then this That the Lord will proceed in his taking account of us according to the proportion of Talents that he put into our hands As many as have sinned without Law shal also perish without Law and as many as have sinned in the Law shal be judged by the Law Rom. 2.12 The Lord wil not expect more then four talents from him to whom he gave but two nor more then two from him to whom he gave but one Matth. 25. ver 14 15 20 21 22.
we see that faith is not perfect without some kinde of works That is the first reason Faith it self would be an imperfect thing without works and so could not justifie The second reason why works are taken into the condition of Justification is Reason 2. For that it were neither comely no nor possible for divine approbation which I have often affirmed to be contained in Justification to pass upon any man without them I put these two into one 1. It were not comely What a strange thing would it be in the apprehensions of men if the great and holy God should own a company of persons in the world for his for certainly whom he justifies he will own for his that should only be though they really were believers but never do any service for him Neither plead for his honour when he is blasphemed nor own his servants when they are in reproach and distressed Not to mention their negative holiness which lyes in avoiding the corruptions of the world without which negative holiness if God should own them he would be thought the Patron of all Vice c. but I dare not express the uncomly consequences that would follow Now besides the impossibility that ariseth from this uncomliness there is also an impossibility that ariseth from the nature of the thing and that was the second thing I intended in this reason I say therefore it is impossible that God should approve of any person as just or take him into his favor and delights all which the Lord doth in the great business of Justification that is not a good and a righteous man God cannot justifie the ungodly whilest he remains ungodly he cannot love him nor delight in him nor approve of him because then he should approve of and delight in that which were contrary to his own nature viz. in a sinfull wicked person being himself an holy God 3. Reason 3. Good works do not justifie only negatively as without which faith would not be perfect and without which the object could not be beloved but good works do help justifie as that which after the intervention of mercy and pardon do render the object lovely to the holy God and do naturally conciliate the divine love and approbation 'T is true all our obedience while it is any way defective cannot constrain approbation and love from God nay our defects must needs bring a guilt upon our best actions if we are considered as under the law of our creation But now after that the good and mercifull God hath found out a comely way how he may shew favour to sinners it is certain that all their good actions though they are not immediate acts of Faith but of Love or Patience Justice or Temperance must needs be exceeding pleasing to him Gal. 5.22 23. The fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meckness Temperance against such there is no law that is against such graces and actions or persons adorned with them there is no law This is but a meiosis for indeed such graces and gracious persons though but imperfectly furnished with them are yet for these things sake through his gracious acceptance of them highly pleasing to God For this see Heb. 13.16 Acts 10.4 And this is that wâ—â—â—â— Mr John Goodwin acknowledgeth who yâ—â— denyes that works procure Justification as Justification signifies remission of sins in the Fanner of Justification displayed pag. 48. 49. When Abraham is said to have been justified by works when he had offered c. the meaning is that upon this great testimony given by Abraham of the truth and effectualness of his faith God highly APPROVED of him and DEALâ— BY HIM AS BY A PERSON RIGHTEOUS AND JUST and CALLED HIM HIS FRIEND with much more to the same purpose by this you see how good works do highly please God so as to justifie us with an high approbation at least and I should think too even unto remission of sins so that if such a man that doth these works thus highly pleasing to God have sins upon him lately committed they should be forgiven him according to these Scriptures Dan. 4.27 Break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Iam 5.15 If he have committed sâ—â—s they shall be forgiven him if it may be a lengthning of thy tranquillity or an healing of thine error as the margin hath it So Acts 3.19 Repent yee therefore and be converted that your iniquities may be blotted out Isai 1.16 17 18. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seck iudgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as whiâ—e asnow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool So lizek 18 21 22. Here you see that part of Justification which consists in the remission of sins is promised to good works as the Gospel reward of them and indeed I do not see how these two parts of Justification can be separated viz. Approbation and Pardon so as Faith should obtain the one and Good Works the other though indeed they may well be conceived as distinct parts of Justification I crave the pardon of that reverend person mentioned in that I take this liberty to express my self I shall conclude this Question with those words of Mr Baxter in his Aphorismes Thesis 73. pag. 289. 290. Faith ONLY doth not justifie in opposition to the works of the Gospel but those works do also justifie as the secoadary less-principal parts of the condition of the New Covenant I come now to the last Question which is this How comes faith thus eminently to intitule us to justification I have asserted Quest 6. that though works do justifie yet faith doth it so eminently as that gets the chiefest name of righteousness and works are never called our righteousness much less are they the righteousness of faith though it must be allowed as a good consequence that if we are said to be justified by works in a sense works are our righteousness because all Justification is by a righteousness But to let pass that that works are a partial secondary less principal righteousness The Question remains How comes faith to be so eminently our righteousness as to bear away the name so that our righteousness by which we are now said to be justified should be called the righteousness of faith in opposition to works that is legal works Now to this I answer in the general that the great reason of this must be the divine ordination and appointment It could not be meerly from the nature of the thing nothing in its own nature can justifie a rational creature but perfect righteousness unerring obedience Now the highest faith in the world can never deserve to be accounted
transgressions of the Law Now therefore what remains but this that if Jesus will save his people from their sins if he will deliver the Law 's Captives he must make satisfaction to the Law The Law was such a thing as must not be dealt with in a way of violence 't is true when our Saviour came to redeem us from the power of Satan he did that by an holy violence he fought with all the powers of hell upon his Cross and conquered them by force of arms as I may speak and triumphed over them in himself or in his Cross but now the Law must be taken off in a more honourable way for the Law had an authority in it the Law was nothing but the will of God revealed for mans life with a reward and threatnings annexed so that the great God himself stood up in vindication of his own Law that if the Prisoners of it were rescued it must be upon such terms as these which appear what they were by the event That he that is the Saviour of the Law 's Captives must first be made under the Law himself The terms upon which the Law 's captives be delivered God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law And secondly That he must pass thorough a legal Justification himself before he can take others off from the Laws condemnation for being made under it the Law must either justifie him or condemne him which latter it did not for any personal breach that he made of it therefore it must and did acquit him But then for us who were under the curse of the Law if he will deliver us from it he must be made a curse Gal. 3.13 if he will save us from our sins which were invigorated by the Law with a sentence of condemnation all the strength of sin for condemnation being in the Law he himself must be made sin that is as much as an immaculate Lamb could be viz. a sin-offering 2 Cor. 5.21 he was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is that we might be made righteous by Gods accepting Gospel conditions instead of legal for our Justification If Christ will redeem us from the wrath of the Law which is the wrath of God the Law worketh wrath Rom. 4 15. truely he must come under that wrath so farr as it was possible for such an innocent person to be under it and we know that he was under as horrible a desertion as ever any that trusted in God was under and that at such a time when he needed the greatest supports even when he hung upon the Cross crying My God My God words of an high saith why hast thou forsaken mee words expressing a most dreadfull desertion Math. 27 46. Not to mention his agony in the Garden which was but a fore-taste of that Cup which he was afterwards to drink off And methinks there is an eminent place for this in Zech. chap. 13. ver 7. saith the Lord there as it were stirring up his wrath against Christ Awake O Sword against my Shepherd and against the man that is my Fellow saith the Lord of Hosts As much as to say there is a man upon earth that is my Fellow and he hath undertaken to rescue the Law 's Captives to redeem them from under the Law Curse and Wrath now awake my Sword against him Here the great God the Lord of Hosts doth as it were set himself in battel array against Christ but what doth Christ now Doth he make resistance doth he redeem his Captives from the Law by forceâ— No though he were equal with God though he were God's Fellow as here the Lord calls him yet he made it not a prey or a robbery to be equal with God so as to hold it fast and stand it out but gave way he knew what he had undertaken to redeem Captives indeed but it was from under the Law the righteous and holy and pure law of God and this must not be violated this must not be resisted He had to do with his Father and there must be no resisting him The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it John 18.11 Though he were God's Fellow though he were equal to God as it is Phil. 2.6 7 8. Yet he made himself of no reputation he laid aside his equality took upon him the form of a Servant and humâ—â—ed himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross And this was the utmost that the Law could do to him here the Law ended it's rage the Law brought Christ to the Cross and when he ascended the Cross he bare our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2.24 and being as yet under the Law for the Law pressed him with our sins he carried up the Law as Sampson did the gates of the City upon his shoulders Judges 16.3 he carried up the Law upon the Cross he nailed the Law to the Cross both Moral and Ceremonial as to all it's condemning power as to all that wherein it was a gainst us wherein it was contrary unto us he answerit fully cancelled it and left it behinde him upon the Cross to this very day Christ came down again but the Law could never come down since Col 2.14 Blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was AGAINST US THAT WAS CONTRARY UNTO US and took it out of the way â—ailing it to his Cross Now this was the manner of Christ's enervating the Law and leaving it without strength or obligation upon us to punishment as the expression is Rom 76. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law is made of no strength against us so it might be rendred though the Translation is this we are delivered fram the Law the Law can hold us captives no longer it is made a weak and a vain thing to us having spent all it's rage fury upon Christ for the Law could do no more then it did upon Christ what can the Law do more to a debtor nay to any malefactor then arrest him bring him to trial and execution and all this the Law did upon Christ as our surety and so left no strength or vigour in it self against those whose Surety he was The Law when it fell upon us it left us without strength Rom. 5.6 When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly but when Christ comes to deal with the Law he leaves the Law without strength nay though he offered no affront or violence to the Law yet he left it for dead as it is Rom. 7 6. Now we are delivered from the Law THAT BEING DEAD WHEREIN WE WERE HELD The Law that fell upon us when we were weak was taken by the Captain of our salvation and left for dead nay he made it suffer the same death that it put him to The Law nailed Christ to
the sins of the ages past I think there is this allusion in the words once in the end of the world for that the High-Priest offered but once in the year ver 7 of this chap. ours once in all and their once was in the end of the year nay about the same distance of time from the years end as our Saviour from the worlds end as is to be seen Lev. 16.29 it was in the seventh moneth seven bearing the same proportion to 12 or very near it that 4 doth to 7. taking it for granted that the world should last but about 7000 years therefore I would infer this allusion to be in the words that as theirs want c. Besides there is that in this Scripture which will enforce this Analogy of the end of the year to the fore-past year and the end of the world to the fore-past ages and it is this That if our Saviour through the excellency of his person and offering had not had this high honor from God that his once offering should serve instead of offering a hundred times over which the Priests under the law were fain to do and yet could never hereby purge away sin as to the Conscience I say if this once offering of our Saviour had not bin so highly acceptable to God as it was he must as the High-Priests did offer often have suffered often since the foundation of the world if he would have obtained pardon of sins for those for whom he obtained it he must have come into the World and suffered once a year or once in an age or else at the end of some certain term of years prefixed to him by his Father This is the argumentation of the holy Pen-man of the Epistle to the Heb. ch 9 25. * Dr Hammond in his Par. upon these words For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world hath it thus For then he should from time to time ever since the BEGINNING the world have dyed many times Now upon what ground doth this argumentation proceed other then this That when he suffered and offered himself it was as a propitiation to God for the sins of all the ages since the Foundation of the World For else whence would it follow at all though our Saviour should have been ranked by his Father amongst the common High-Priests his offering of himself no more accepted for pardon than their offering the blood of Buls Goats was I say whence would it follow that he must have offered himself often since the foundation of the World which certainly respects the ages past if he was not at all to make attonement for the sins of those past ages The Author of that Epistle would rather have said if he had not gone upon this supposition that Christ offered for the sins of the ages past before his suffering but had onely thought that he offered for the ages to come after his suffering I say he would rather have expressed himself thus If out High-Priest Jesus Christ had not been accepted for us under the Gospel more highly than the legal High-Priests were for their people under the law he must often offer as they did SINCE his first offering he must come and suffer death once in the year and then be raised to offer himself to God or at least once in an age or some set-period of time and this he must do to the end of the World he would never have expressed himself thus then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world But whereas now the Apostle looâ—ing upon the world as it were at an end or drawing towards its end for suppose the World last 70 oâ— years yet after 4000. years the Skale of Time is turned and Time in its declining he speaks of the world and the continuance of it as you would do of a year and the continuance of it faith he as the High Priest amongst the Jews did enter into the Holy of Holies once in the end of the year for to make an atonement for the sins of the year past so hath our Saviour once in the end of the world appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Again for I have somewhat yet further which this phrase now once in the end of the world will afford us and that is this That indeed though it be true and I think I have sufficiently proved it above that this death offering of Christ frees US from sin that live after it as well as THOSE that went afore it yet I verily believe that his death hath a more obvious respect to them that lived in the ages before he suffered than to us who came into the world after he suffered though it hath indeed an influence upon us too and the reason is this for that the use of a Sacrifice is to make atonement for sin after it is committed When did you ever read of a Sacrifice for sins slain and offered before the sin was committed The Sacrifices that should be made thus would rather look like a bribing the Deity to get liberty to sin then to make atonement for sin Therefore all the particular Sacrifices that were appointed they were appointed to be used after the legal uncleanness was contracted and accordingly the High Priest that went but once into the Holy of Holyes it was at the end of the year not at the beginning of the year And thus our Saviour being to take away the sins of the world John 1.29 he came once in the end of the world to take away sin so that his appearing thus in the end of the world seems more plainly to respect the ages past than the ages which were to come and I verily believe if Christ had dyed only for the sins of those ages that have been since his death or shall be yet to the end of the world he would have forborn his death till the end of the world or the times that were near it from this very reason of decency That it is not proper to offer Sacrifice for sin till the sin be committed it rather looks like the dispensation to sin than making atonement for sin But now that Christ was to dye for the sins of all the Saints in all ages before him and that he stayed till the fulness of time even till the declining of time towards its end there being so many transgressions already committed that were to be removed out of the way it was no uncomely thing at all that our Saviour should come and die and offer himself to God when he did though the value of the same Sacrifice was to reach all ages after to the world's end and that especially for that there were many other ends of his coming besides the offering himself thus to God he was to take upon him the Mediatorial Kingdome Several other ends of Christs coming besides offering himself a Sacrifice for sin to set up a
these words I finde it only this That the sins that are past should be meant of the sins of a man's life past before he comes to believe which is a good honest sense for it is very true That when a man comes to believe in Christ and in his blood all the sins of his past life shall be forgiven him but that this is not meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sins that are past seems clear to me from that term of opposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at this time which is certainly meant of the times of the Gospel in opposition to a former time in which those sins past were committed and therefore that former time was the time before the Gospel-dayes which observation is strengthened by that parallel place in the Acts where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed in the very same case to the times of Ignorance and Forbearance which God winked at I have now finished my proof of the second Assertion and so I have done with what I thought necessary to adde by way of Appendix to the former treatise the designe of which was to shew how the great business of Justification came to be transferred from Works to Grace from the Law to Faith in which I must needs say I reckon is contained the most considerable piece of Gospel-mystery in the whole Book of God The Lord give Me thee Reader a spirit of Illumination rightly to understand it and rellish it I come now to the Uses of the whole Discourse fore-going and here I need not be so large as otherwise I might be having inserted applications in several places of the body of the Discourse for that the very Discourse it self is altogether practical but most especially for that the chief end of the Discourse was the discovery of Legality and this I have so done my endeavour unto in the characters and their applications that I shall have nothing at all of that to do in the Uses Yet something I shall adde by way of application And first of all Is it so as I have above evinced that the Law was our natural way of Justification which we were born under 1 Use of Inso mation that we had all made our selves obnoxious to the wrath and curse of it that that had seised of us as Prisoners and Mâ—lefactors and that yet notvvithstanding all this we are all of us now either under the tender of Grace or in the state of Grace Favour vvith God all this in a comly and honourable vvay for the Lavv. Then this gives us matter of Information of or rather Admiration at the several Attributes of Goodness Wisedom and Holiness in God I shall be as brief as I may be in this Use because these things are obvious But here is certainly eminent goodness and grace to mankinde shevvn in this vvonderfull change of Justification from Works to Faith 1 Of the grace and goodness of God in this Gospel-way What that vvhen vve had undone our selves as to the Law had not only weakened our ovvn strengths when we were weak Christ died for the ungodly but weakened the Law it self for the Law was made weak through our Flesh so as it could not justifie us that then the Lord should not only seek out a vvay to support us from falling and sinking but set us into a better a more easie and more glorious vvay of salvation than we vvere in before this is a wonder of Grace and Mercy 1. For the glory of this way When an earthly Adam had betrayed all his trust for his posterity and undone us that then vve should have a second Adam who is the Lord from heaven and vvho is infinitely to be preferred before the first vve have a glorious representation of him in his similitude unto and dissimilitude from the first Adam in Rom. 5. from the 14. ver to the end 2. For the easiness of this way That vvhen we had made not found the Lavv not only difficult but impossible to be kept by us so that the going about to fulfill that novv would be like climbing up to heaven descending dovvn to hell and getting up again nay raising a Saviour thence or like compassing the vvhole world that instead of this novv vve should have a vvay set before us so plain That wayfaring men though fooles shall not erre therein Esay 38.5 so near us that vve need not go out of our selves for it if I may so express it the word is nigh thee even in thine heart and in thy mouth that thou mayest do it even the word of Faith Rom. 10.8 so easie that vve may run in it I will run the way of thy Commandements Psal 119.32 His Commandements are not grievous 1 John 5.3 My yoke is easie and my bur-then is light Math. 11.29 30. This way of salvation is so easie to every honest soul that it is but Ask and have seek and finde knock and it shall be opened Math. 7.7 And Rom. 10.13 Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved though this easiness be not found by wicked men Knowledge is easie TO HIM THAT UNDERST ANDETH and to him only Prov. 14.6 Neither is it easie to us without the assistances of the Spirit but these assistances are at hand to good men and therefore the way of Gospel-Justification and Salvation is wonderfull easie and delightsom and this is a very great argument of the goodness of God If God had proposed the highest difficulties imaginable and made it our duty to overcome them if we would obtain the Crown of Glory proposed to us we should have had no reason to complain but when he hath taken us off from a difficult nay an impossible way though once the true way that we were upon and set us upon an easier way that that is pleasant and delightsom and still proposeth the same or a greater reward this is grace and mercy indeed here are riches of Mercies Mic. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord REQUIRE of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God What canst thou do less What wouldst thou do else Thy very work is reward enough and yet thou shalt have a reward infinitely more glorious than thy work deserves Besides in this way the holiness of God 2 Of the Holiness of God that is his hatred of and displeasure against sin is made very illustrious in that his Law must be taken off honourably before the way of Grace must enter I am sure this is so for us under the Gospel and if under the Old Testament men were saved another way I should think it very strange but of this above Lastly 3 Of the Wisedom of God not to mention the power of God discovered in this way in the Miracles of Christ his Apostles raising Christ from the dead c. The Wisedom of God is exceedingly manifested
that hath wrought and can work wonderfull things Witness but these three verses quoted Heb. 11.33 34.35 It was faith made the walls of Jericho fall down by faith in prayer Elijah that was otherwise a weak frail man as we are stopped the bottles of heaven for three years and six moneths that it rained not and by faith again he opened these bottles and the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit Jam. 5.17 18. Faith enabled the Apostles to do miracles when the Disciples could not cast out a devil of one that was possest our Saviour tells them the reason was from their unâ—elief and that if they had faith but as a grain of mustard seed they should be able to say unto a mountain Be removed hence into yonder place and it shall remove and nothing should be impossible to them Mat. 17.19 20. What then would a strong faith do if a small faith would do so much It was by faith that persons obtained miracles to be done for themselves and others Math. 9.29 30. Then touched he their eyes saying According to your faith â—e it unto you and their eyes were opened and in Math. 15.28 Jesus answered and said unto her the woman of Canaan O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt a large grant indeed and her daughter its said was made whole from that very hour This is commonly known by this name the Faith of Miracles and is plainly exprest what it is Mark 11.23 For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that these things which he saith shall come to pass he shall have whatsoever he saith So again 1 Cor. 13.2 If I had all faith so as to remove mountains Now if Faith will remove mountains even all mountains of difficulties and procure any thing from heaven that we need who would not endeavour to be strong in faith to be rich in faith as the several expressions are Rom. 4.20 Jam. 2 5. 2ly Faith will serve all occasions whatsoever 2 Motive and no wonder if it will work all miraculous effects therefore be rich in faith In famine it will feed thee as it did Elijah and the Widdow of Zareptha 1 King 17. and our Saviour in the Wilderness who lived not by bread but by the word of God for 40 dayes together Math. 4.4 In prison it will enlarge thee as it did Peter Acts 12. or at least enlarge thy heart as it did the hearts of Paul and Silas Acts 16.25 If thy children servants friends are sick it will heal them Mat. 15.28 Mat. 8.6 Jam. 5.14 15. There is no case but faith will reach it We may oppose this shield to all the fiery darts of Satan Eph 6.16 ABOVE ALL taking the shield of Faith whereby we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked This I have spoken largely to above and therefore shall not enlarge here Faith and that alone will free thy minde of all cares and burthens 3 Motive Cast thy burthen upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee Psal 55.22 casting all your care upon him for he careth for you 1 Pet. 5 7. Now this is to be done onely by faith who would not have a minde quiet and free from cares and who can be carefull when he really believes that the only wise and omnipotent Jehovah takes all his cares upon himself This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith 1 John 5.4 4. This will quicken all thy graces 4 Motive this you may see likewise above upon the last Question There is no thriving Christian but a believing Christian This is the highest way of honouring God that can be taken 5 Motive Abraham was strong in faith and so gave glory to God if thou doest not make it thy chiefest design in the world to honour God thou art no Saint of God now if thou wouldst study all the wayes imaginable to honour God thou canst not do it so effectually as by this one onely way of believing How is God known in the world in any way with such an honourable reflection as by men's trusting in him To trust our own wit and coÌ„ntrivance and endeavours only in what we do is as much as in us lyes to put God out of the world I am sure it is a living without God in the world whereas trusting in him for all is the only advancing the Lord upon his Throne of Sovereignty Goodness This is the only way of pleasing God 6 Motive Without faith it is impossible to please God for he that comes unto God must believe that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him Men cannot more highly displease God than to believe that he is not good yea that he is not good to ALL that diligently seek him let them look to it that confine and set limits to his Goodness yea God is so highly pleased that men should trust in him that he hath made this the principal condition of the pardon of all our sins and receiving us into his special love and favour Abraham was therefore called the FRIEND OF GOD which is the highest honour in the whole world by this Enoch obtained this testimony taat he PLEASED GOD Heb. 11.5 which was an honourable testimony indeed Yea to conclude this Motive and all the Motives in this Use that the Lord might give us a testimony how highly he is pleased that we should trust in him and how fain he would have us rely upon him he hath at this time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in these blessed dayes of the Gospel set forth Christ a propitiation to shew how ready he is to be reconciled to all the world in a word one of the greatest ends of the oeconomy by Christ seems to be this that in him representing his Father being the express Image of his Pâ—rson yet partaking of Flesh and Blood like us we might have a fit instrument and help or mediate object for our faith to work upon first upon him and by him upon God himself according to that place once already mentioned 1 Pet. 1.21 Who by him that is Christ do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God I come now to the matter of the Exhortation it self Be exhorted therefore to be strong in faith that is in the acts of assent and the acts of affiance for these as I take it are the two chief proper acts of faith though after I have ended the Exhortation unto these two I shall give one notion of faith more under which we are to be exhorted to exercise faith 1. For Assent so faith is taken Isai 53.1 Who hath believed our report and Mark 1.15 Repent and believe the Gospel that is the doctrine
of the Gospel and to mention but one place more Rom. 14.23 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin This notion of faith viz. dogmatical faith where the word faith signifies an act is the most common notion of faith in the New Testament that is as the former part of the verse he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith carrieth it whatsoever a man doth without a sound perswasion in his minde that it is lawfull to do it he sinneth in that action This is the first notion therefore of faith namely the assent to any Proposition though more accurately the assent to a testimony but yet you see the Scripture-notion of faith is somewhat larger than that of the Schools namely the perswasion of or assent unto the truth of a Proposition First therefore if thou wilt be rich in faith be thou rich in truth in thy assent unto truths that is truths in Religion for though it be faith to believe there is such a place as Rome or Constantinople yet my designe confines me here to truths in Religion Be thou rich therefore in assent to divine truths and that whether they be clear by the light of nature or revelation for assent to truths that are clear even by the light of Nature is called Faith by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 11.6 where to believe that God is which certainly is clear by the light of Nature is called Faith as I have shewn above pag. 291. I say be rich in thy assent unto all truths as near as thou canst whether they be clear by the light of Nature or only by Revelation Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisedom Col. 3.16 So Christ shall dwell in your hearts by faith for according to thy light and knowledge and assent unto truths so will be thy heart affections and conversation he that hath a large light may have a large heart whereas those that have but a narrow light and a scanty knowledge can have but a lower and a more limited sphear and compass to act in for God And if it happen as often it doth that they that know little yet do more than many that know a great deal this comes not from any advantage of the honest man's ignorance but from the folly and carelesness of those persons that are knowing and their want of firm assent to the notions of truth which float in their brains I am but a little carefull here of distinguishing betwixt Knowledge Assent being confined with in the narrow limits of an Use Enlarge thy minde with knowledge and thou gettest a larger field of action and service than otherwise thou canst possibly have for thou must first know thy duty before thou canst do it rightly for he that doth the best actions in the world not knowing that they are good pleaseth neither God nor man they are only the actions of the man they are not humane or manly actions as the Schools distinguish Yea though thou dost a good action yet if thou doubtest whether it be good or no thou sinnest in doing this good action because whatsoever is not of faith is sin For this largeness of faith by assent see that last character where I shew how we should endeavour to know much of Christ 2. But then withall take this advice too in thy faith of assent do not only endeavour to get a true light and perswasion of the truth and goodness of things or actions but get it as firmly rooted and as clear as ever thou canst this will be a mighty advantage to thee for if thou hast only a glimmering light a little cloud will soon darken it if thou gettest but a faint perswasion a small objection will quickly turn it into doubting therefore get thy faith firmly built that thou maist be firm and stable in thy faith and perswasion Be not like children tossed to and fro with every winde of doctrine Eph. 4.14 Be not children in understanding in malice be ye children but in understanding be ye men 1 Cor. 14.20 I think we have sufficient experience in these times of of the sore evil of a weak perswasion about matters of Religion by the running up and down of so many from one party to another till at last they have made shipwrack of their faith that is saith doctrinal as well as of their consciences 1 Tim. 1.19 3ly As to this part of faith which lyes in assent as we ought to endeavour that it be large and strong so we must especially be wary that we fail not in our assent and that a firm assent to those truths that are most important Though it were to be wished yet it cannot be expected that all Saints should be so well acquainted with all truths even those of less weight as it may be justly expected their guid◠should be yet all must look to it that they be well establisht in foundation-truths such as the Death of Christ and his Expiation of sins the Resurrection of the body and the last Judgment we must be sure to continue in this faith grounded and settled and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Col. 1.23 Rooted and built up in him that is Christ and stablished in the faith as we have been taught that is Faith doctrinal especially in that great Foundation of Jesus Christ Col. 2.7 And truly I think there hath been no greater weakening of our faith in foundation-truths than the multiplying of Fundamentals for taking off that weight and stress which we should lay upon those few fundamentals of the Faith of Christ that are really so and laying it upon things non-funnamental must needs make us unsettled from the foundation So much for the first part of Faith which lyes in assent and the directions about it 2ly For that part of Faith which lyes in Affiance I need not quote many Scriptures to evince this notion of Faith I shall give but one or two John 14.1 Let not your heart be troubled yee believe in God believe also in mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is a credere Deo which is to believe what the Lord sayes to be truth and a credere in Deum which is a resting and relying upon God committing all my cares and concernments to him He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life John 3.36 So that phrase of Scripture to cite no more places of faith in the blood of Christ Rom. 3.25 can be understood of no other than some kinde of affiance such as this that for that blood sake the Lord is ready to be propitious to me if I have the Gospel-conditions of Justification and in this sense namely of affiance I have generally taken faith throughout this Treatise and the reason is this For that this is the end of a dogmatical faith or a faith of assent and cannot be conceived without it as that may without this not that I think there can be