Law are a Law unto themselves Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their Consciences also bearing witness and amongst one another their thoughts accusing or excusing By which and other places in the following Chapter 't is plain that under the Law of Works is comprehended also the Law of Nature knowable by Reason as well as the Law given by Moses For says St. Paul Rom. III. 9. 23. we have proved both Iews and Gentiles that they are all under sin For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Which they could not do without a Law Nay whatever God requires any where to be done without making any allowance for Faith that is a part of the Law of Works So the forbidding Adam to eat of the Tree of Knowledge was part of the Law of Works Only we must take notice here That some of God's Positive Commands being for peculiar Ends and suited to particular Circumstances of Times Places and Persons have a limited and only temporary Obligation by vertue of God's positive Injunction such as was that part of Moses's Law which concerned the outward Worship or Political Constitution of the Jews and is called the Ceremonial and Judaical Law in contradistinction to the Moral part of it Which being conformable to the Eternal Law of Right is of Eternal Obligation and therefore remains in force still under the Gospel nor is abrogated by the Law of Faith as St. Paul found some ready to infer Rom. III. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Nor can it be otherwise For were there no Law of Works there could be no Law of Faith For there could be no need of Faith which should be counted to men for Righteousness if there were no Law to be the Rule and Measure of Righteousness which men failed in their Obedience to Where there is no Law there is no Sin all are Righteous equally with or without Faith The Rule therefore of Right is the same that ever it was the Obligation to observe it is also the same The difference between the Law of Works and the Law of Faith is only this that the Law of Works makes no allowance for failing on any occasion Those that obey are Righteous those that in any part disobey are unrighteous and must not expect Life the Reward of Righteousness But by the Law of Faith Faith is allowed to supply the defect of full Obedience and so the Believers are admitted to Life and Immortality as if they were Righteous Only here we must take notice that when St. Paul says that the Gospel establishes the Law he means the Moral part of the Law of Moses For that he could not mean the Ceremonial or Political part of it is evident by what I quoted out of him just now where he says The Gentiles that do by nature the things contained in the Law their Consciences bearing witness For the Gentiles neither did nor thought of the Judaical or Ceremonial Institutions of Moses 't was only the Moral part their Consciences were concerned in As for the rest St. Paul tells the Galatians Cap. IV. they are not under that part of the Law which v. 3. he calls Elements of the World and v. 9. weak and beggarly elements And our Saviour himself in his Gospel-Sermon on the Mount tells them Mat. V. 17. That whatever they might think he was not come to dissolve the Law but to make it more full and strict For that that is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is evident from the following part of that Chapter where he gives the Precepts in a stricter sense than they were received in before But they are all Precepts of the Moral Law which he reinforces What should become of the Ritual Law he tells the Woman of Samaria in these words Iohn IV. 21. 23. The hour cometh when you shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him Thus then as to the Law in short The Civil and Ritual part of the Law delivered by Moses obliges not Christians though to the Jews it were a part of the Law of Works it being a part of the Law of Nature that man ought to obey every Positive Law of God whenever he shall please to make any such addition to the Law of his Nature But the Moral part of Moses's Law or the Moral Law which is every where the same the Eternal Rule of Right obliges Christians and all men every where and is to all men the standing Law of Works But Christian Believers have the Priviledge to be under the Law of Faith too which is that Law whereby God Justifies a man for Believing though by his Works he be not Just or Righteous i. e. though he came short of Perfect Obedience to the Law of Works God alone does or can Justifie or make Just those who by their Works are not so Which he doth by counting their Faith for Righteousness i. e. for a compleat performance of the Law Rom. IV. 3. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness v. 5. To him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness v. 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works i. e. without a full measure of Works which is exact Obedience v. 7. Saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered v. 8. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin This Faith for which God justified Abraham what was it It was the believing God when he engaged his Promise in the Covenant he made with him This will be plain to any one who considers these places together Gen. XV. 6. He believed in the Lord or believed the Lord. For that the Hebrew Phrase believing in signifies no more but believing is plain from St. Paul's citation of this place Rom. IV. 3. where he repeats it thus Abraham believed God which he thus explains v. 18-22 who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations According to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be And being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred years old nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was also able to perform And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness By which it is clear that the Faith which God counted to Abraham for Righteousness was nothing but a firm belief of what God declared to him and a steadfast relying on him for the accomplishment of what he had promised Now this says
in their Duties and bring them to do them than by Reasoning with them from general Notions and Principles of Humane Reason And were all the Duties of Humane Life clearly demonstrated yet I conclude when well considered that Method of teaching men their Duties would be thought proper only for a few who had much Leisure improved Understandings and were used to abstract Reasonings But the Instruction of the People were best still to be left to the Precepts and Principles of the Gospel The healing of the Sick the restoring sight to the Blind by a word the raising and being raised from the Dead are matters of Fact which they can without difficulty conceive And that he who does such things must do them by the assistance of a Divine Power These things lye level to the ordinariest Apprehension He that can distinguish between sick and well Lame and sound dead and alive is capable of this Doctrine To one who is once perswaded that Jesus Christ was sent by God to be a King and a Saviour of those who do believe in him All his Commands become Principles There needs no other Proof for the truth of what he says but that he said it And then there needs no more but to read the inspired Books to be instructed All the Duties of Morality lye there clear and plain and easy to be understood And here I appeal whether this be not the surest the safest and most effectual way of teaching Especially if we add this farther consideration That as it suits the lowest Capacities of Reasonable Creatures so it reaches and satisfies Nay enlightens the highest And the most elevated Understandings cannot but submit to the Authority of this Doctrine as Divine Which coming from the mouths of a company of illiterate men hath not only the attestation of Miracles but reason to confirm it Since they delivered no Precepts but such as though Reason of it self had not clearly made out Yet it could not but assent to when thus discovered And think itself indebted for the Discovery The Credit and Authority our Saviour and his Apostles had over the minds of Men by the Miracles they did Tempted them not to mix as we find in that of all the Sects of Philosophers and other Religions any Conceits any wrong Rules any thing tending to their own by-interest or that of a Party in their Morality No tang of prepossession or phansy No footsteps of Pride or Vanity Ostentation or Ambition appears to have a hand in it It is all pure all sincere Nothing too much nothing wanting But such a compleat Rule of Life as the wisest Men must acknowledge tends entirely to the good of Mankind And that all would be happy if all would practise it 3. The outward forms of Worshipping the Deity wanted a Reformation Stately Buildings costly Ornaments peculiar and uncouth Habits And a numerous huddle of pompous phantastical cumbersome Ceremonies every where attended Divine Worship This as it had the peculiar Name so it was thought the principal part if not the whole of Religion Nor could this possibly be amended whilst the Jewish Ritual stood And there was so much of it mixed with the Worship of the True God To this also our Saviour with the knowledge of the infinite invisible supream Spirit brought a Remedy in a plain spiritual and suitable Worship Iesus says to the Woman of Samaria The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the True Worshippers shall worship the Father both in Spirit and in Truth For the Father seeketh such to worship To be Worshipped in Spirit and in Truth With application of Mind and sincerity of Heart was what God henceforth only required Magnificent Temples and confinement to certain Places were now no longer necessary for his Worship Which by a Pure Heart might be performed any where The splendor and distinction of Habits and pomp of Ceremonies and all outside Performances might now be spared God who was a Spirit and made known to be so required none of those but the Spirit only And that in publick Assemblies where some Actions must lie open to the view of the World All that could appear and be seen should be done decently and in order and to Edification Decency Order and Edification were to regulate all their publick Acts of Worship And beyond what these required the outward appearance which was of little value in the Eyes of God was not to go Having shut out indecency and confusions out of their Assemblies they need not be solicitous about useless Ceremonies Praises and Prayer humbly offered up to the Deity was the Worship he now demanded And in these every one was to look after his own Heart And know that it was that alone which God had regard to and accepted 4. Another great advantage received by our Saviour is the great incouragement he brought to a virtuous and pious Life Great enough to surmount the difficulties and obstacles that lie in the way to it And reward the pains and hardships of those who stuck firm to their Duties and suffered for the Testimony of a good Conscience The Portion of the Righteous has been in all Ages taken notice of to be pretty scanty in this World Virtue and Prosperity do not often accompany one another And therefore Virtue seldom had many Followers And 't is no wonder She prevailed not much in a State where the Inconveniencies that attended her were visible and at hand And the Rewards doubtful and at a distance Mankind who are and must be allowed to pursue their Happiness Nay cannot be hindred Could not but think themselves excused from a strict observation of Rules which appeared so little to consist with their chief End Happiness Whilst they kept them from the enjoyments of this Life And they had little evidence and security of another 'T is true they might have argued the other way and concluded That Because the Good were most of them ill treated here There was another place where they should meet with better usage But 't is plain they did not Their thoughts of another Life were at best obscure And their expectations uncertain Of Manes and Ghosts and the shades of departed Men There was some talk But little certain and less minded They had the Names of Styx and Acheron Of Elisian fields and seats of the Blessed But they had them generally from their Poets mixed with their Fables And so they looked more like the Inventions of Wit and Ornaments of Poetry than the serious perswasions of the grave and the sober They came to them bundled up amongst their tales And for tales they took them And that which rendred them more suspected and less useful to virtue was that the Philosophers seldom set on their Rules on Men's Minds and Practises by consideration of another Life The chief of their Arguments were from the excellency of Virtue And the highest they generally went was the exalting of humane
the Work for which he hath sent me To confirm them in this Faith and to enable them to do such Works as he had done he promises them the Holy Ghost Iohn XIV 25 26. These things I have said unto you being yet present with you But when I am gone the Holy Ghost the Paraclet which may signifie Monitor as well as Comfortor or Advocate which the Father shall send you in my Name he shall shew you all things and bring to your remembrance all things which I have said So that considering all that I have said and laying it together and comparing it with what you shall see come to pass you may be more abundantly assured that I am the Messiah and fully comprehend that I have done and suffered all things foretold of the Messiah and that were to be accomplished and fulfilled by him according to the Scriptures But be not filled with grief that I leave you Iohn XVI 7. It is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Paraclet will not come unto you One Reason why if he went not away the Holy Ghost could not come we may gather from what has been observed concerning the Prudent and wary carriage of our Saviour all through his Ministry that he might not incur Death with the least suspicion of a Malefactor And therefore though his Disciples believed him to be the Messiah yet they neither understood it so well nor were so well confirmed in the belief of it as after that he being crucified and risen again they had received the Holy Ghost And with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit a fuller and clearer Evidence and Knowledge that he was the Messiah And were enlightned to see how his Kingdom was such as the Scriptures foretold though not such as they till then had expected And now this Knowledge and Assurance received from the Holy Ghost was of use to them after his Resurrection when they could then boldly go about and openly Preach as they did that Iesus was the Messiah confirming that Doctrine by the Miracles which the Holy Ghost impowered them to do But till he was dead and gone they could not do this Their going about openly Preaching as they did after his Resurrection that Iesus was the Messiah and doing Miracles every where to make it good would not have consisted with that Character of Humility Peace and Innocence which the Messiah was to sustain if they had done it before his Crucifixion For this would have drawn upon him the Condemnation of a Malefactor either as a stirrer of Sedition against the Publick Peace or as a Pretender to the Kingdom of Israel And hence we see that they who before his Death preached only the Gospel of the Kingdom that the Kingdom of God was at hand As soon as they had received the Holy Ghost after his Resurrection changed their stile and every where in express words declare that Iesus is the Messiah that King which was to come This the following words here in St. Iohn XVI 8-14 confirm Where he goes on to tell them And when he is come he will convince the World of Sin Because they believed not on me Your Preaching then accompanied with Miracles by the assistance of the Holy Ghost shall be a Conviction to the World that the Iews sinned in not believing me to be the Messiah Of Righteousness or Justice Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more By the same Preaching and Miracles you shall confirm the Doctrine of my Ascension and thereby convince the World that I was that Iust One who am therefore ascended to the Father into Heaven where no unjust Person shall enter Of Iudgment Because the Prince of this World is judged And by the same assistance of the Holy Ghost ye shall convince the World that the Devil is judged or condemned by your casting of him out and destroying his Kingdom and his Worship where ever you Preach Our Saviour adds I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now They were yet so full of a Temporal Kingdom that they could not bear the discovery of what a kind of Kingdom his was nor what a King he was to be And therefore he leaves them to the coming of the Holy Ghost for a farther and fuller discovery of himself and the Kingdom of the Messiah For fear they should be scandalized in him and give up the hopes they had now in him and forsake him This he tells them v. 1. of this XVI Chapter These things I have said unto you that you may not be scandalized The last thing he had told them before his saying this to them we find in the last Verses of the precedent Chapter When the Paraclet is come the Spirit of Truth he shall witness concerning me He shall shew you who I am and witness it to the World And then Ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning He shall call to your mind what I have said and done that ye may understand it and know and bear Witness concerning me And again here Iohn XVI after he had told them they could not bear what he had more to say he adds v. 13. Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me By the Spirit when he comes ye shall be fully instructed concerning me And though you cannot yet from what I have said to you clearly comprehend my Kingdom and Glory yet he shall make it known to you wherein it consists And though I am now in a mean state and ready to be given up to Contempt Torment and Death So that ye know not what to think of it Yet the Spirit when he comes shall glorifie me and fully satisfie you of my Power and Kingdom And that I sit on the right hand of God to order all things for the good and increase of it till I come again at the last day in fulness of Glory Accordingly the Apostles had a full and clear sight and perswasion of this after they had received the Holy Ghost And they preached it every where boldly and openly without the least remainder of doubt or uncertainty But that they understood him not yet even so far as his Death and Resurrection is evident from v. 17 18. Then said some of the Disciples among themselves What is this that he saith unto us A little while and ye shall not see me And again a little while and ye shall see me and because I go to the Father They said therefore what is this that he saith a little while We know not what he saith Upon which he goes on to Discourse to them of his Death and Resurrection and of the Power they should have of doing Miracles But all this he declares to them in a Mystical and involved way of speaking as he tells them himself v. 25. These things