fond of any Arminian Opinions we must take the whole System of them together and assert roundly as they do without mincing the Matter what hath an inseparable Connexion with a false Proposition for there are Consequences among Errors as well as Truths and as the one are chain'd the other are link'd together We may then be certain that these Expressions in Scripture He that believeth shall be sav'd but he that believeth not shall be damn'd Mark 16. 16. And whoever believeth on Christ shall receive remission of Sins Acts 10. 43. And except you repent you shall all likewise perish Luke 13. 5. which are urg'd by my Reverend Brother do not signify that God passeth his Word to all Men by a new Law establish'd among them that if they obey it and believe and repent they shall assuredly be saved for God always speaks the Purposes of his Mind and none of his Words contradict his Heart but he never decreed either absolutely or conditionally that all Men should be eternally happy for if he had he would have taken effectual Care that they should be so since the Intents of his Mind and Will always obtain infallibly their desir'd Effect If we also understand that Expression He who believes shall be sav'd that it is promis'd to all that on the performance of this Condition they shall be thus eternally bless'd then by the same Rule we must say that eternal Death and Ruin is threaten'd to them on condition they do not believe But the Threatnings of this Wo are not denounc'd against Men for not believing but as due to them for not perfectly obeying the Law of Works and their Unbelief only leaves them in that perishing Condition wherein they were born as I have prov'd before tho as I said their Unbelief aggravates the Misery and inflames the Anguish of it But what meaning then must we apprehend these Scriptures to bear Why truly they have the same Sense as that Text in Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. What! is Holiness the Condition of obtaining the Beatifical Vision No tho it doth naturally dispose the Soul and make it meet for and capable of this blissful Enjoyment No more therefore is meant than that Holiness and this Vision of God are inseparably join'd together and that no unholy Soul can possibly come to his Presence and Sight Thus it is also true that he who believes shall be sav'd which imports no more than this that all Believers are sav'd and none but they and that there is such an unchangeable Connexion between the Blessings of the Gospel that Faith Repentance and Holiness are indissolubly fasten'd with Pardon Justification and Eternal Life in the same Person or in a Word that God justifies and saves no Man but whom at his own due appointed Time he makes a Believer brings him to Repentance I speak in this of Adult Persons and sanctifies his Nature and whoever asserts this is no Antinomian nor so much as like to such an execrable Monster however invidious Names are flung about as thick as Stones in the Streets I might insist more largely on this Argument but I begin to think that the Consideration of it will more properly belong to another Discourse wherein I design with the Assistance of my Lord Jesus Christ who hath help'd me in this beyond the natural Abilities of my own Mind to him be all the Glory to prove that the Covenant of Grace doth not promise nor confer the Blessings on condition of performing Duties requir'd CHAP. VIII Those Texts of Scripture which are urg'd by the Apologist as expresly giving the Name of a New Law to the Gospel recover'd to their right Sense His Testimonies out of the Fathers and Protestant Writers evinc'd to be useless to serve his Design I Shall now examine those Texts alledg'd by my Dear Brother wherein the Gospel is call'd a Law and the Citations produc'd by him wherein the Fathers and Protestant Authors give to it the same Name I shall do it but briefly for I need not be large since any Reader who hath with any intention of Mind perus'd my poor Writing may resolve them all at first sight The first Text produc'd is that known one in Rom. 3. 27. Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Without looking on the Context we may be satisfied by what the Apostle saith in the same Verse that by the Law of Faith he means no more than that Doctrine of Grace which declares a believing Sinner to be justified by the Righteousness of Christ which by Faith he receiveth for it is such a Law of Faith that excludes all boasting Now then if it commanded Faith and promis'd Justification on condition that this its Precept was obey'd Boasting would not be excluded but rather a great Occasion would be given to promote it For why should not a Man glory in his Faith if it be an Act of Obedience to this new Law which by the Statute of it makes his Justification to depend on this his Performance He may then as well plead that he hath done what was requir'd and so he may as well claim Life and Happiness on the Account of having done all that this new Law made necessary to Salvation as Adam if continuing in his Primitive State might have form'd a Plea of his Right to Life for having discharg'd all that Duty which the Law of Works commanded and propos'd as the Condition of his being eternally Blessed If he might have boasted for having faithfully observ'd the Covenant of Works the Believer too may assume some Glory to himself for having acted his Duty punctually to the Law of Faith if the Constitution of this Law be such that it makes the promis'd Salvation dependant upon this his Obedience in believing It will signify nothing to say that the Law by which Adam was to have been justified enjoin'd Works as the Terms of his being so but that this new Law insists only on two Acts of Obedience Faith and Repentance as all that it requires for our Justification For these two are Works done by us and so we might boast that we have done something tho not arising to that height of Duty incumbent on our first Father by which according to the Tenor of this new Law we are justified By the Opposition which the Apostle makes of the Law of Faith to a Law of Works it is also manifest that by the first he intends a pure Doctrine of Grace and by the other a Law commanding something to be done For if the Law of Faith requires any Works and constituted them to be Conditions of our obtaining the Blessings make these Works as few as you will and call them by what Names you please Faith and Repentance yet this will result from it that both are Laws of Works only with this difference that the one rigorously insists on
that it condemns and dooms us to Death not to seek Life by it any more and no longer to have the least Commerce with it in the Affairs of our Justification or to be dead to the Law is no more to be obnoxious to its condemning Sentence in that it cannot exact from thee its threaten'd Punishments tho indeed as a Rule of Duty it always unalterably requires Obedience To be dead to the Law is no longer to be under its Dominion and Reign as it is a Covenant of Works Thus a King hath no Authority over a Subject whom Death hath transported out of his Territories into the Regions of another World nor can the Power of the Greatest reach beyond the Confines of the Grave In all these Meanings the Apostle asserts himself to be dead to the Law And what was it made him so What! but the Law or Doctrine of Grace revealed in the Gospel which so happily instructed him in the knowledg of free and compleat Justification by Christ This Sun no sooner riseth but all those little wandering Stars which as false Lights had before so wretchedly misled him do set presently and all his natural and rooted Inclinations to seek Justification by the Works of the Law lessen and at last wholly vanish and disappear at the glorious Appearance of the Sun of Righteousness who comes with healing in his Wings All those treacherous Hopes which he repos'd before in his Obedience to the Law in the severe Observance of its Precepts and strict Performances of Duties are utterly extinguished and all the Sparks of them being quite dead do not scatter any longer the least Glimmerings in his Soul Thus the Law or Doctrine of the Gospel teaching him how that Christ his Surety being made under the Law for him hath redeem'd him from its Curse answered all its Demands and silenced every Accusation hath stopp'd its Mouth and taken away its Strength and not only so but depriv'd it of Life as well as Voice the Apostle's Mind being thus illuminated with the Light of his new Law or Heavenly Doctrine to know more than ever he did before that Christ hath slain the Law as it is a Covenant of Works as well as the Enmity which Sin had caused between God and miserable Sinners he accordingly looks on the Law as a dead Thing which can neither hurt in respect to Condemnation nor do him any good as to Salvation and Life He answerably regards it with other Eyes than before and his former Zeal and Affection he had to it for the Purposes of Justification are not only abated but extirpated out of his Heart not meerly cool'd and damp'd but perfectly quench'd and dead Now then that the Gospel is called a Law by the Apostle not in the strict Sense as importing Works of any kind but as a meer Doctrine of Grace is evident from all these Effects which it produc'd It perfectly mortified him to a Law of Works and therefore could not be one it self unless we can imagine that the Apostle became dead as to seeking Justification by the Works of any Law whatever and that no otherwise than by giving entertainment to and putting himself under the Conduct of a new Law of Works which things do not seem very well to agree And that by Law when the Gospel is so nam'd in this Gal. 2. 19. the Apostle means a pure Doctrine of Grace and not a more moderated Law of Works appears from ver 21. I do not frustrate the Grace of God for if Righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain It is as if he should have said However others despise the Grace of God and think it too mean and ignoble to owe their Life to it it shall be my great Zeal to magnify it to illustrate its Glory and to pay unto it the highest Honour However others are Obstacles to its Progress and endeavour to put a stop to its Victories and Triumphs or attempt to render all its Power and Force vain and ineffectual yet for my part I will neither say nor do any thing to frustrate it and none of my Actions nor any Article of Doctrine which I teach shall in the least degree have such a Tendency I will not let fall a Word which may but seem to lessen or disparage the Favours of my blessed Redeemer who loved me and gave himself for me And can there be a greater Slight than when he hath done and suffered so much to save me not to rest satisfied with his Undertaking and Work as compleat but to be solicitously endeavouring how to supply the Deficiencies and to perfect it my self To esteem Christ as insufficient is certainly to despise him in the highest measure and he doth not suffice me if I join my own Righteousness to his or add Works done by me in Obedience to any Law unto his great Performances Nay if I should assert Righteousness to come by any Law whether New or Old I should dishonour Christ so much as to insinuate that he died very unwisely or unadvisedly For what could be more unadvised than to come and suffer all sorts of Miseries and at last to expire in Torments and that only to the Purpose of effecting what might have been done very well without such expence of his inestimable Blood For if by my Obedience to some Law I may be justified and the Works of that can be my Righteousness why should Christ die or to what purpose was he obedient since no other Ends of his Death and Obedience are assigned but the Justification of a Sinner And if this Business can be effected by this Sinner's own Works of what Nature soever the Blood and Righteousness of Christ comes in uncalled for and when there is no great or urgent need of them But far be it from me to defeat the Designs of the God of all Grace to misprize the greatest Favours which can be bestowed upon a Creature or to darken and obscure the Glory of the Grace it self and therefore I am firm to it and will unmoveably maintain it that Righteousness comes by no Law whatever nor are Sinners justified by the performance of any Conditions in obedience to it And therefore when I before ver 19. call'd the Gospel a Law you must by no means understand it to be a soften'd and milder Law of Works but a Doctrine of Grace in which Sense I also us'd the word Law in my Epistle to the Romans where I call the Gospel a Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. Thus I have endeavour'd to give briefly the Apostle's Sense in this Text which proves his Meaning in the other where he calls the Gospel a Law that he understands only a Doctrine of Grace by that Word CHAP. IV. That the Fathers of the Primitive Church when they call'd the Gospel a Law meant only a Doctrine by it proved by a few Instances out of Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Theodoret Origen and Chrysostom THIS might be enough if my
the Old Testament is expressed by this Name John 12. 34. The People answered him We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever and how saist thou The Son of Man must be lift up Who is this Son of Man Where not the Decalogue or Levitical Book of Statutes is intended but the Doctrine concerning the Redeemer to come as appears from those Texts in Psal 110. 4 5. Isa 9. 6. to which John 12. 34. hath a manifest regard It is then plain from this Place of the Evangelist that among the Jewish People when our Saviour lived on Earth not only Exodus and Leviticus but the Instructions which they had concerning their so much desir'd and expected Messiah and Salvation by him in any of the Books of the Old Testament were call'd and known by the Name of a Law And to this common Notion of the People according to which they nam'd the whole Doctrine reveal'd by God whether it were Precepts or Promises a Law the Apostle Paul accommodates his way of writing in stiling the Gospel a Law in Rom. 3. 27. which I shall afterwards more fully vindicate from my Reverend Brother 's imposed meaning and in Gal. 2. 19. which I now shall consider These are the Apostle's Words Gal. 2. 19. For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God He writes to the Galatians among whom it was a prevailing Opinion that tho Christ had abated the too rigorous observation of the Law of Works yet Justification was to be obtain'd by some lower degrees of Obedience To shew them how opposite this Doctrine was to the Gospel preach'd by him the Apostle tells them what were the Experiences of his own Soul I am dead says he to the Law of Works and have not the least Heart to seek Justification by it And how was he thus mortified to the Law of Works What by a new Law of Works lower'd to more moderate Conditions No for such an one would rather have cherished and encouraged the Life of his Hopes in his own Obedience By the Law then that is by the pure Doctrine of Grace in the Gospel revealing Christ's Righteousness as that alone by which a Sinner can be justified the Apostle is quite deaden'd as to any hopes of Justification by his own Righteousness and hath not the least motion in his Soul to seek it in that manner What very much weighs with me is That Luther who so excellently hath wrote on this Epistle and who successfully prevailed against the Errors of Antichrist about Merit of Works by subverting the great Foundation of them which is this Assertion of the Gospel's being a milder Law of Works interprets the Apostle to mean by that Law which had such a mortifying Efficacy upon him the pure Doctrine of Grace in the Gospel The Law of the Decalogue says he did bind me against it I have now another Law viz. of Grace which is not a Law to me neither binds me but frees me But it is a Law against the damning LAW THIS it binds that it may no longer bind me If Luther thus calls the Gospel a Law signifying no more by that Name than a pure Doctrine of Grace it is no wonder that others of the Reformed Religion cited by my Reverend Brother call it so too tho not in his Sense but designing Luther's Meaning who ruin'd the greatest Strength of Popery by denying the Gospel to be a new Law of Works and by asserting it on all Occasions to be meerly a Doctrine of Grace But it is not the Authority of this Great Man which solely prevails with me the Design and Scope of the Apostle in this second Chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians hath the greatest Force to perswade me that by the Law which made him dead to the Law of Works he intends the sincere and unmuddied Doctrine of free Justification by Christ's Righteousness alone His Design is plainly to refute an Error prevailing among the Galatians who tho professing the Gospel and to be justified by Faith in Christ yet would make this Gospel to be a new Law exacting Works as necessary to Justification He answerably disclaims every Law of Works whether the old Jewish or that new Evangelical One so lately invented among these Christians and made to look with the polish'd and smooth Face of the Gospel He excludes the Observances of any Duties or any Act of Obedience from having an Interest in our Justification assigning the whole Business of it to Faith alone ver 16. Knowing that a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified It is thus he demonstrates this Proposition That we are not justified by the Works of any Law That they who were Jews to whom the Law was more especially given yet they having been instructed by the Doctrine of Grace that they could not be justified by Obedience to the Law and having by the Gospel which brings in a better Righteousness been convinc'd of the Defects of their own and therefore knowing that God had not appointed any Law whereby he would justify a Sinner they answerably had believed on Christ that so according to the Doctrine of the Gospel they might be justified by his Righteousness alone This is undoubted that we must be justified by some Righteousness or other not by our own for then Justification would be by the Works of a Law and so our Faith in another's Righteousness would be insignificant and to little or no purpose For why should we entirely trust in another Person for that which we could so well accomplish our selves If then not our own it must be Christ's Righteousness only that can have this desir'd Effect and knowing this by the Law or Doctrine of the Gospel we have says the Apostle for this very purpose believ'd on Jesus This without any Shuffles or intricate Windings is the plain Sense of this 16th Verse And among other Causes which mortified in him and the other Believers any Inclinations to seek Justification by the Law Pareus numbers the Doctrine of the Gospel as that which had the strongest and most efficacious Influence It is now then very agreeably that the Apostle says of himself That this Law or Doctrine of Grace had made him dead to the Law of Works but alive unto God What is it to be dead to the Law To renounce it in the Matter of our Justification to be freed from its galling Yoke of Servitude and Bondage whereby it keeps guilty unbelieving Sinners perpetually under the Tortures of slavish Fears and amazing Terrors To be dead to the Law is to disclaim our Justification by Works of our own and not to trust in any Obedience which we can perform to it and being convinced
of their true Sense and Meaning I will not multiply Citations one or two are enough and indeed Luther and Calvin are an Army alone Luther tells us That all Justiciaries esteem Christ to be a new Legislator and judg the Gospel to be no other than a Book which contains new Laws concerning Works as the Turks dream about their Alcoran But there are Laws enough in Moses The Gospel therefore is a preaching concerning Christ that he forgives Sins gives Grace justifies and saves Sinners But now that Precepts are found in the Gospel those are not the Gospel but Expositions of the Law and Appendixes of the Gospel Now any one would think that this Luther would never call the Gospel a Law and yet so he doth expounding a little after the 19th Verse and is before cited by me And in what Sense he means the Gospel to have that Name he informs us plainly in his Comment on Isa 2. 3. Out of Zion shall go forth the Law This is the Cause says he of the Multiplication of the Church and of the Amplification of Christ's Kingdom viz. the Preaching of the Gospel For he here promiseth a new Word For unless he signified a new Doctrine what need was there at length to promise a Law which had been made so many Years before And he manifestly signifies the difference in that he adds out of Zion As if he should say I first gave a Law in Sinai I will now give another in Mount Zion which shall not be a Doctrine of Works but of Faith not of Laws but of Grace not accusing but bestowing pardon of Sins c. Calvin also agrees with Luther in this And indeed those two Holy Men tho they differed in some things yet they very well accorded in the main Substance of the Gospel They believed on the same Jesus and lov'd the Truth of his Grace Calvin likewise says that when the Gospel is called Law a Doctrine of Salvation is only meant by it For says he explaining Isa 2. 3. since the Rule of Holiness is to be fetch'd from the Law by a Synecdoche they were accustomed to comprehend the whole Doctrine of God under that Name as also the Worship of God under the Name of an Altar Now as it would be absurd to infer that the Ministers of Christ are Levitical Priests because the Apostle says that they ought to be partakers with the Altar and live by the Gospel or to endeavour to prove that the old Jewish Worship is yet standing and that Sacrifices should be offer'd under the New Testament because the Apostle speaks of an Altar too to which Believers came and of which they have right to eat Heb. 13. 10. So the way of arguing would be equally impertinent to conclude from the Gospel's being nam'd a Law that it is a Doctrine of Works Musculus also tells us how we must apprehend the word Law when made use of to signify the Gospel The Prophet says he understands no other by the Law than the Word of the Lord nor by Zion than Jerusalem Nor can it be understood of any other Doctrine than what is Evangelical And Rodolphus Gualther explaining what the Apostle means when he calls the Gospel a Law After the manner of the Jews says he he speaking of a Doctrine useth the word Law and he calls the Law of Works that Doctrine which asserts that we are justified by Works but the Law of Faith that Doctrine which shews Righteousness in the Merit of Christ who is apprehended by Faith alone When the Holy Ghost himself who inspir'd the Minds and guided the Pens both of the Prophets and Apostles and not only suggested things to their Thoughts but the fittest Words too by which to express them If this holy infallible Spirit calling the Gospel a Law means no other than a Doctrine of Grace any one would think that we could not be at a loss how to understand the Word I need not therefore multiply Instances a few more may suffice Zacharias Vrsinus when he calleth the Gospel a new Form of Law takes care to direct us to his right Sense and punctually tells us that he means no more by it than a new Doctrine of Grace The Prophet says he expounding Isa 2. 3. signifies that a new Manifestation of God and a new Form of Law and Worship is to be expected out of Zion that is to say Christ being reveal'd and the Ceremonies abolish'd But when he says that the Law shall go forth out of Zion it is queried Whether by this and the like Places the Opinion of the Papists is established who will have it that Christ came that he might be a new Law-giver who should publish a better and more perfect Law than had been before delivered by Moses that Men for the future living according to that Law might by this their Obedience please God and obtain Eternal Life The Answer is easy from this most usual Phrase in Scripture by which under the Name Law the whole Doctrine is understood c. Therefore that Monkish Opinion is to be avoided as the Plague and Subversion of all Christianity and an obscuring of the Offices and Benefits of Christ and as not differing from the Opinions of Heathens Jews Turks and other Sects concerning our Justification before God Chemnitius also gives direction how to understand the word Law when employ'd to denote the Gospel That also says he is a general signification of the Word when under the name of a Law the universal Doctrine divinely revealed is understood as Psal 19. 8 9. and Psal 119. where the Law is said to comfort and edify Hearts So Esa speaks of the Gospel Chap. 2. v. 3. The Law shall go forth out of Zion Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 3. 27. The Law of Faith Gal. 2. 19. I by the Law am dead to the Law But it is a Hebrew Phrase in which Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah hath its name from Instructing and Teaching To these Antient Worthies I might add the concurrent Testimonies of Modern Divines who are Orthodox in the Faith But whereas I might produce many I will content my self to alledg one which is that of Whittichius the present Learned Professor of Divinity if not lately dead in the University of Leyden and who tho he espous'd the New Philosophy yet it had no Malignant Influences to infect him with any new-contrived Schemes to solve the Phenomena's in Divinity He in his short but full and clear Exposition on the Romans explaining Chap. 3. ver 27. tells us what the Apostle intends by that Phrase a Law of Faith The exclusion of Boasting says he is made by the Law of Faith which here denotes by way of Eminency the Doctrine of Faith as it is taught in the New Testament without Obligation to any Works as the Cause of Justification as the Works of the Moral Law perfectly and constantly perform'd by Adam would
more Works than the other which how this may consist with that Opposition the Apostle forms between them I cannot very well apprehend We must therefore by the Law of Faith understand not a Law in the strict and proper Sense prescribing Works of any sort as Conditions but only the Doctrine of Faith and of the Believer's Justification by Christ's Righteousness which Faith receives It is thus all the right Protestant Divines who have commented on this Epistle interpret the Apostle's meaning tho the Popish Annotators wrest it to the same Purpose for which it is brought in by my Reverend Brother as I shall prove by many Instances It would be tedious to multiply Citations of the hundredth part of Protestant Expositors on this Epistle Calvin and Beza may alone suffice The Name of Law indeed says Calvin is improperly attributed to Faith By what Law that is says Beza by what Doctrine The Popish Commentators indeed universally interpret this Rom. 3. 27. to design the Gospel to be a new Gracious Law Thus Aquinas and the Cardinal Cajetan Arias Montanus Ambrosius Catharinus Bishop of Minori Cornelius Mussus Bishop of Bitonto the four Jesuits Benedictus Justinianus Cornelius a Lapide Estius and Adamus Contzen This last orders his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans in a way of Disputation to refute the Hereticks as he calls all those who believe the pure Truths of the Gospel One great Doctrine of these No-Hereticks is that the Gospel is no Law This suppos'd Error the Jesuit applies himself to confute and in resolving that Question What is the Law of Works and what the Law of Faith he first propounds Bellarmine's Decision of it the Sum whereof is that the Gospel is a Law of Works too but accompanied with Grace But there is an Objection of Paraeus in the way That if the Gospel be a Law as containing in it Precepts and Commands then the Distinction which the Apostle makes between the Law of Faith and Law of Works cannot be preserv'd for both of them will agree in commanding Works however different those Works may be which they enjoin and therefore they both of them must necessarily be Laws of Works unless any one will be so accurate a Disputant as to deny a Law to be a Law or Works to be Works To remove this Objection Contzen who being a Jesuit was very well skill'd in all the Arts of Shuffling as well as any Man and knew the necessary Doubles and Turnings when he was hunted like a Politician in Divinity makes this evasive Answer That both Laws command and yet the Law of Faith is not a Law of Works though it commands Works because it hath the Aids of Grace by which the Works are perform'd Therefore the Law of Faith is a Law of Grace the Law of Works is without Grace This is strange indeed What! the Gospel commands and yet is not a Law of Works that is the Gospel commands without bidding us to do any thing or to do is not to work but I know not what without a Name Ay but it is not a Law of Works because it contains in it Grace as a supply of Succour to enable us to perform them But this only proves the Works of their new Gospel to be easier not that they are none at all The best which can be made of it amounts to no more than this that their Gospel is a gracious Law of Works a Law whose Exactions are not so hard and cruel as those of the Tyrannical Egyptians to require Brick without Straw a Law whose Commands are moderated and its lesser degrees of Duty accommodated to the weakness of our present State and therefore it is not all Work bu there is an Alloy of a great mixture of Grace This seems to be fairly offer'd to compound the Business but what if the Apostle refuseth the Composition And indeed in my poor Judgment if a Man may know his Meaning by his Words it will not be admitted by him for he opposeth the Gospel or Law of Faith to any Law of Works whatever and however named gracious or rendred attractive by any other amiable Titles But in the Close of the Dispute this Jesuit Contzen joyfully cries out Victory And what animated his Courage Really it was only this that he thought any more of his Learned Labours in this Affair were wholly superseded by a great many of the Protestants owning the same Assertion which he endeavoured to prove of the Gospel's being a new Law But what are the Trophies of Conquest which he shews to this purpose only Bertius the Arminian who afterward turn'd Papist and was advanc'd by the French King to be Professor of History at Paris I wish that my Reverend Brother had not offer'd that place in Gal. 6. 2. not only on the account of its perfect refusal to serve his Design but because the Papists and Arminians press it to the same purpose of proving from it the Gospel to be a new Law and Christ a new Law-giver and I would not have him to be seen in such Company the entire words of the Verse are these Gal. 6. 2. Bear ye one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ There needs no more than to read them to be satisfied that they signify nothing to the Intent for which they are introduc'd For the Law of Christ doth not import the Gospel but as all Commentators agree only that particular Precept of the Moral Law urg'd by Christ Joh. 13. 34. A new Commandment I give unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another And we may as well prove from hence that there are Eleven Commandments as that the Gospel is a new Law The Arminian Vorstius and the Jesuit Estius the better of the two infer the same Error from this Gal. 6. 2. as my Learned Brother doth From all it is manifest says Estius that Christ is not only given to Men as a Redeemer to whom they may trust as the Hereticks will have it but also as a Legislator whom they may obey Christ is to be acknowledg'd says Vorstius not only as a Saviour but also as a Law-giver inasmuch as his chiefest Law is Love which as a new Law he hath commanded to us in a new manner and hath confirm'd it by a new Example This is that Vorstius who denied the Omnipresence of the Infinite God and who advanc'd a wicked Opinion not only to imprison him in Heaven but to bind the immense Divinity in Chains to his Throne there and who asserted God to be mutable and to change his Mind and Will as often as a fickle inconstant Man The other place of Scripture Isa 42. 4. cited by my Learned Brother is no more effectual to prove his Assertion than any of the former The whole Verse is thus Isa 42. 4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
next brings me without encouraging his Presumption in the general Notions which even wicked Men have of God's being merciful and Christ's dying for Sinners or throwing him into the Convulsions of Despair If I should tell him just dying of a new Law which must be obey'd by him before he can entertain any hopes that this new Law requires Obedience from him and till he hath done it he must look for nothing but Condemnation from its severe Sentence If I tell him that one Condition of this Law is that he reform the Course of a Life of which he is come within a point of the Period and that unless he live better he cannot be saved when he hath but a few Moments longer to live He would certainly look very ghastly upon me and think that I made his Mittimus to Hell But if I tell him that the Blessings of the Covenant are inseparable and where God gives one they are followed with all the other That where God confers his Favour he plants Grace too and works Faith in the Heart of those whom he hath decreed to save That this Faith if true is accompanied with Love and the natural Product of that is a sincere Resolution to please Christ and obey him and if he can lay his Hand on his Heart and find these Blessings there he may be assured of his Interest in the other and that believing he is justified by the Obedience of Christ to the Law performed for him This Declaration of the Gospel to a startled Sinner who hath not one Minute longer to promise to his affrighted Spirit may God making it the Power of God unto Salvation revive and give new Life unto-him in the Agonies of Death But to amaze him with a Discourse of new Laws and Commands and Threatnings would be to stab him to the Soul and to murder him more cruelly than his Disease CHAP. IX That this Opinion of the Gospel's being a New Law too much agrees with the Popish and Arminian Doctrines proved by several Instances out of their Authors SINCE Popery and Arminianism under various Names and in pursuit of different Ends make the same stated Opposition to the Design of the Gospel every Opinion which agrees with their Errors deserves to be suspiciously regarded and is unworthy of any favourable reception If it then doth appear that this Doctrine of the Gospel's being a new Law hath been strongly maintain'd by the Romish Church in several Ages as that which lays the surest Foundation for that dear Article of their Faith the Merit of Works and hath all been zealously espoused by the Arminians and Socinians as a most effectual Engine to overthrow Justification by the imputed Righteousness of Christ Then all who love Jesus the Redeemer or are careful of their own Salvation by him will be very wary of giving a welcome Entertainment to this new Law That the Doctors of the Romish Church have all along asserted the Gospel to be a new Law will be evident from a few Instances Petrus Lombardus the Master of the Sentences who flourish'd An. Dom. 1141. explaining the Difference between the Old Law and the New Law the Gospel The Precepts of them says he are different as to Ceremonials For as to Morals they are the same but are more fully contain'd in the Gospel Alexander Alensis who liv'd Anno Dom. 1230. resolving that Question Whether the Observance of the Old or New Law be the most burdensome says That the Precepts of the Gospel simply and absolutely are more difficult and of a greater Burden than the Precepts of the Mosaical Law Gulielmus Altissiodorensis who flourish'd Anno Dom. 1240. resolves the same Question with this Distinction The Difficulty or Weight is twofold one Carnal the other Spiritual As to the Carnal Burdensomness the old Law was heavier than the Gospel but as to the Spiritual Difficulty the new Law is more difficult Albertus Magnus who lived Anno Dom. 1260. clearing how tho the Letter of the Law kills yet the Spirit makes alive The Spirit says he is the Grace of the Spirit in which the Holy Ghost is given and this is given in the making of the new Law not in that of the Old Thomas Aquinas who lived Anno Dom. 1265. in resolving that Question Whether the new Law can justify a Man positively affirms That the Evangelical Law since it is the Grace it self of the Holy Spirit doth necessarily justify a Man Joannes Dunscotus who flourish'd Anno Dom. 1300. explaining how the new Law is easier to be obey'd than the old One tho it hath all the Moral Precepts of that with the superaddition of new Ones But says he on the Part of the new Law the Multitude and Efficacy of the Aids doth more alleviate the Difficulty of its Moral Precepts Raynerius de Pisis who also flourish'd Anno Dom. 1300. discourseth largely about this new Law and its Excellence and eminent Prerogative above the old One Which new Law says he hath four notable and excellent Conditions for it is a Law of Charity of Liberty Facility and Necessity and with a tedious prolixness he insists on all those Particulars The Cardinal Petrus Aureolus who flourish'd Anno Dom. 1317. gives eight Differences between the new Law and the Old and among the rest assigns this That the old Law commanded but afforded no Aid it was intent on the Letter which kills but the New gives Spirit and Grace which quickens That the new Law frees us from the Burdens of the old Law is true says Durandus à S. Porciano who liv'd Anno Dom. 1320. both because it imposeth on us fewer Burdens and also lighter and which belong to the Cure of the Disease of Sin and to the preservation of Spiritual Health There are two Parts of the Divine Law both the Old and the New says Dionysius Carthusianus who lived Anno Dom. 1450. viz. Testimonies and Precepts Testimonies concern things to be believ'd Precepts those which are to be done Dominicus Soto who was Father Confessor to the French King Francis I. Anno Dom. 1535. disputes largely about the New Law or the Evangelical Law and among other things he tells us That it is a Law proper to Christians when the Moral Law written on the Hearts of Men belongs to all Nations That this Law is the Gospel it self And then determining that Question Whether this new Evangelical Law hath the Virtue of justifying a Man he decides it in these two Propositions 1. The Evangelical Law if its pure Instructions and Commands and Substance of its Works be considered doth no more in it self justify than the old Law or the Law of Nature it self 2. The Evangelical Law if its internal Virtue is consider'd justifies a Man Albertus Pighius who lived at the same Time speaking of the Cup in the Sacrament This is the Cup says he not of that old Testament which was then presently to be
disannull'd but of the New and Eternal Covenant of the new Law promulgated in a new manner If we go to the more Modern Doctors of the Church of Rome who liv'd in this present Age we shall find that they all write in the same Strain But the Law says Estius shewing the Difference between the two Laws accompanied with Grace such as the new Law is understood to be doth not only shew what is to be done but doth administer Spirit and Virtue by which what is given in Precept may be fulfill'd Suarez who for strength of Mind and clearness of Thought is the best of all the Schoolmen spends the whole tenth Book of his large Volume about Laws to explain the Nature of this new Evangelical Law He at the very first lays down these two Assertions 1. That Christ was not only a Redeemer but a true and proper Legislator 2. That the Law of Christ or the new Law is a true and most proper preceptive Law And then afterward assoiling that Difficulty How this his new Law can justify since it consists in Precepts as well as the Old and so could have no more justifying Virtue in it than that But to this Difficulty says he there is also a common Answer That Grace doth agree to the new Law in it self and as proper to it but it was not join'd to the old preceding Laws from their own force and Virtue and as proper to them but with respect to the Law of Grace And therefore Justification is simply attributed to the Law of Grace but not to the former Laws For this Reason therefore the Spirit of Grace is said to be proper to the new Law because this new Law was given in which the Author of Grace was now come and consummated the Redemption of Men and merited Grace for all Yes he himself is the Author both of this Law and of Grace I will name one more the Cardinal Bellarmine who as he fiercely oppos'd the Doctrine of Grace reviv'd by the first Reformers he earnestly sat himself to assert the Gospel to be a new Law And as he knew very well that he could not maintain the Merit of Works and Justification by them without this Assertion of the Gospel's being a new Law he begins his fourth Book of Justification which is concerning the Righteousness of Works with eager Endeavours to vindicate this Assertion against the Protestants Among other things too long here to relate he tells us That indeed if we speak of the Grace of the New Testament the Law is not distinguish'd from the Gospel in this that the Law requires Works but the Gospel doth not require Works But in that the Law teacheth what is to be done the Gospel affords Strength to do it So that according to him the new Law tho requiring Works is yet a Law of Grace because accompanied with Grace Thus it is evident that for many past Ages down to our own this Opinion of the Gospel's being a new Law was the constant Doctrine of the Anti-christian Church and eagerly maintain'd to support the Merit of Works The Socinians and Arminians as they join'd with the Church of Rome in denying the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness so they readily embrac'd this Figment of the new Law under the covert of which they introduc'd an Evangelical Righteousness of our own in conformity to it by which we are to be justified I shall not be large in prosecuting this Business because my Revernd and Learned Brother Mr. Stephen Lobb will do it sufficiently I will only offer two fair Evidences the one of Socinus himself the other of Episcopius Tho Christ saith Socinus hath his Law and promulgated it in the Name of God to the World yet is he not call'd simply a Law-giver since his Law was nothing else but a Complement and Perfection of the Mosaical Law nor indeed did he chiefly come into the World for that End that he might make Laws and be our Legislator but that he might save us for which End also he gave to us his Law The Remonstrants confess says Episcopius that they are delighted with that Manner of Speaking viz. that Christ is a certain new Law-giver not because it savours of this or that Author much less because they borrowed it from Socinus but because it is the Phrase of God and of Scripture and because it is the Heart and Marrow of all Religion and they believe nothing to be more necessary than that it should be believ'd that Christ is the Maker of a new Law It is plain then that this Assertion of the Gospel's being a new Law is a Popish and Socinian and Arminian Doctrine What then shall I brand my Reverend Brother with any of these hated Names No I am so far from doing it that I do not so much as think him to be on the Side of any of the three Parties tho he is so liberal in bestowing Titles of Dishonour upon those who differ from him as to call them Antinomians and so by virtue of an hard Word to name them the greatest Villains which can live upon Earth I know very well that the Papists together with asserting the Gospel to be a Law assert the Merit of Works which is disclaim'd by my Brother and yet is really included in his Hypothesis For what is Merit but when the Reward is due to some Work done And now if the Gospel be in that respect a Law that it requires Duties as Conditions of having a Claim to its Blessings and promises them to the Performance of those Conditions then to them perform'd tho of never so little Consideration the Blessings must be given not as the Fruits of meer Grace but as the Results of a just Debt However tho the Opinion is not professedly so rank as Popery and Arminianism yet in the least Nearness to those destructive Errors there is Danger and within the very Confines dwell Plagues and Death The People cannot then with too much Zeal be warned of the hazardous Approaches which lead them on to be betray'd into the Enemies Camp They understand not the Niceties of Controversy and of Errors so refin'd that they escape their discerning they are not afraid and yet all the while the Venom works more desperately for being subtiliz'd and the invisible Spirits of it mortally seize their Brains when they startled at the sight of the Poison offer'd in its grosser Bulk I hope then my Reverend Brother and all others will pardon me if my Love to the Truth hath stirr'd me with some just Indignation against the Opinions which favour those dangerous Errors concerning Justification by Works and if I have been moved to represent them in their own exact Shape and natural Colours For tho I will not avow these newly advanc'd Doctrines to be rank Popery and Arminianism yet I must say that they want but little of taking that Degree and that even in this respect they are the more hurtful For
have been or as the necessary Prerequisite of Justification Well then when we meet with the word Law if we would not be impos'd on by the meer Sound of a Word we must carefully view the Text on all sides and survey and consider all its Circumstances When what is proper to the Gospel is attributed to the Law the word Law is not to be apprehended in the strict Sense as signifying a Rule of Duty and threatning Penalties to the Disobedient or as importing a Doctrine of Works but a Doctrine of Grace Thus when the Law is said to turn the Soul and to rejoice the Heart Psal 19. 8 9. since these are not the Effects of the Law as a Doctrine of Works for that rather effects a Sense of Wrath than any hope in the Heart of a guilty condemned Sinner and its Efficacy is more suted to wound him with anxious Fears or tormenting Despair rather than to comfort him Rom. 4. 15. we must by no means conceive a proper Law consisting of Precepts and Menaces to be meant but the Doctrine of the Mercies of God in Christ which only can have those Virtues and Influences And so when the Apostle too calls the Gospel a Law of Faith since he makes the Righteousness of the Law opposite to the Righteousness which is of Faith Rom. 10. 4 5 6. and Rom. 3. 20 21 22. he must consequently mean not a Law in the strict Sense not a Doctrine of Works but of pure Grace And by this Rule we are to proceed when we find the Gospel call'd a Law we are not to understand it in the strict meaning as a Rule of Duty with a Sanction which is the proper and peculiar Nature of the Moral Law but as a revealed Instruction to us what the Mind of God is concerning our Recovery and Salvation by Christ And when we hear of the Precepts and Threatnings of the Gospel and read them in that part of the Bible which we call the New Testament whether in the Sermons of our Saviour or in the Writings of the Apostles we are not to surmise presently that these are any Parts of the Gospel properly so titled as it is a Word of Grace and the Doctrine of our Redemption by Jesus tho they are contain'd in that Book to which we commonly give that Name For this would be to perplex our Notions of Things which are entirely distinct in their Natures and Idea's and to jumble them so confusedly together that we should not be able upon sight to discern and know one from the other For by the same Method of proceeding I might frame an Imagination to my self and strive to impose it on other Men that the Moral Law is the Gospel because there are so many Declarations of God's Love to Sinners of his Mercies to pardon them and so many Promises of Grace interspers'd in the Psalms and Prophets and other Books of the Old Testament all which tho so much of the Gospel be contain'd in it is so frequently call'd the Law both by Christ and his Apostles the Primitive Fathers and Protestant Divines So that in a Word as the Promises of the Gospel spread through the Books of Moses and the Prophets is no Argument to prove the Law to be the Gospel So it is as false a Demonstration that the Gospel is a Law because there are so many Precepts and Threatnings repeated in the Evangelists and Epistles All that can be concluded is that as there are Promises in one Volume of the Bible so there are Commands and Menaces in the other But yet as it is the Gospel which promises Grace in the First so it is the Law which commands and threatens in the Second And to clear the Equation it is only needful to bring all the Precepts in both to one side and the Promises to another and then we have distinct Law and Gospel CHAP. VII The Arguments us'd by the Apologist to prove the Gospel to be a new Law examin'd That from the Precepts Commands urg'd and Threatnings denounc'd in the New Testament nothing can be concluded to this Purpose IT is now very easy to answer my Reverend Brother's Arguments and with one gentle Stroke to wipe off all his Citations since they all are establish'd meerly upon the Ambiguities of the word Law Such reasoning is very fallacious to endeavour to prove the Gospel to be a new Rule of Duty fortified with a Sanction because we find it to be nam'd a Law both in the Scriptures and Humane Writings for the Sum of the whole Demonstration amounts to no more than this a Law is a Law the Gospel is a Law therefore the Gospel is a Law which is a pretty way of arguing and without doubt unanswerable But the clearing the Sense of the Terms answers all without any more to do which I think I have done and the more largely because I would do all the Justice to a bad Cause as could reasonably be ask'd and allow to it the fullest Scope and Play possible I have therefore offer'd Arguments for it my self I have consider'd what might be alledg'd I have produced those Scriptures which with any colour may be urg'd to prove the Gospel to be a new Law omitted by my Learned Brother and yet as aware that they might be summon'd I have brought them in and endeavour'd to clear their Words from that false Meaning which might be fasten'd on them to so ill a Purpose I shall now particularly consider those which he brings and shew that they do not prove the Matter in Dispute His first set of Scriptures are such as express the Gospel to be either giving Precepts and issuing out Commands and prescribing what is our Duty or reproving the Negligent or threatning the stubborn Offenders or promising Blessings on the Condition of such Duties perform'd as are requir'd It would make this Discourse too large which is I know not how grown under my Hands to a greater Bulk than I first design'd if I should particularly examine every Text it will be enough to shew that however there are Precepts and Commands in the Books of the New Testament yet these are not properly the Gospel but parts of the Law only employ'd in its Service that the Threatnings denounc'd do not properly belong to the Covenant of Grace for what hath Love and Mercy and Favour to do with Wrath and Justice and Expressions of Vengeance but it useth the Ministry only of a violated Law whose proper Office it is to threaten the Disobedient to condemn the Unbelieving and Impenitent Sinner and to demand Justice against him If I also shew at last that those places of Scripture which look like Promises of Blessings to us on condition that we perform the commanded Duties viewed nearly prove to be no more than so many Declarations of the Connexion of the Blessings of Grace and that as Faith is the first bestow'd it goes not alone but is attended with a numerous Off-spring When all this is