believe is represented in the words of the Apostle He doth therefore use his utmost endeavor to wrest and deprave them And yet although most of his Artifices are since traduced into the Annotations of others upon the place he himself produceth nothing material but what is taken out of Origen and the Comment of Pelagius on this Epistle which is extant in the Works of Jerome and was urged before him by Erasmus The substance of what he pleads for is That the actual transgression of Adam is not imputed unto his posterity nor a depraved nature from thence communicated unto them Only whereas he had incurred the penalty of death all that derive their nature from him in that condition are rendred subject unto death also And as for that corruption of nature which is in us or a proneness unto sin it is not derived from Adam but is an habit contracted by many continued acts of our own So also on the other hand that the Obedience or Righteousness of Christ is not imputed unto us Only when we make our selves to become his Children by our obedience unto him he having obtained eternal life for himself by his obedience unto God we are made partakers of the benefits thereof This is the substance of his long Disputation on this subject De Servator lib. 4. cap. 6. But this is not to expound the words of the Apostle but expresly to contradict them as we shall see in the insuing consideration of them I intend not an Exposition of the whole discourse of the Apostle but only of those passages in it which evidently declare the way and manner of our Justification before God A comparison is here proposed and pursued between the First Adam by whom sin was brought into the World and the Second Adam by whom it is taken away And a comparison it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things contrary wherein there is a similitude in some things and a dissimilitude in others both sorts illustrating the truth declared in it The general Proposition of it is contained in Ver. 12. As by one Man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed on all Men for that all have sinned The entrance of sin and punishment into the World was by one Man and that by one sin as he afterward declares Yet were they not confined unto the person of that one Man but belonged equally unto all This the Apostle expresseth inverting the order of the Effect and Cause In the entrance of it he first mentions the cause or sin and then the effect or punishment By one Man sin entred into the World and Death by sin But in the Application of it unto all Men he expresseth first the effect and then the cause Death passed on all Men for that all had sinned Death on the first entrance of sin passed on all that is all Men became liable and obnoxious unto it as the punishment due to sin All Men that ever were are or shall be were not then existent in their own persons But yet were they all of them then upon the first entrance of sin made subject to death or liable unto punishment They were so by vertue of Divine Constitution upon their foederal existence in the one Man that sinned And actually they became obnoxious in their own persons unto the sentence of it upon their first natural existence being born children of wrath It is hence manifest what sin it is that the Apostle intends namely The actual sin of Adam the one sin of that one common person whilest he was so For although the corruption and depravation of our nature doth necessarily insue thereon in every one that is brought forth actually in the World by Natural Generation yet is it the guilt of Adams actual sin alone that rendred them all obnoxious unto death upon the First entrance of sin into the World So death entred by sin the guilt of it obnoxiousness unto it and that with respect unto all Men universally Death here compriseth the whole punishment due unto sin be it what it will concerning which we need not here to dispute The wages of sin is death Rom. 6.23 and nothing else Whatever sin deserves in the Justice of God whatever punishment God at any time appointed or threatned unto it it is comprised in death In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death This therefore the Apostle lays down as the foundation of his discourse and of the comparison which he intends namely that in and by the actual sin of Adam all Men are made liable unto death or unto the whole punishment due unto sin That is the guilt of that sin is imputed unto them For nothing is intended by the imputation of sin unto any but the rendring them justly obnoxious unto the punishment due unto that sin As the not imputing of sin is the freeing of Men from being subject or liable unto punishment And this sufficiently evidenceth the vanity of the Pelagian Gloss that Death passed upon all meerly by vertue of natural propagation from him who had deserved it without any imputation of the guilt of sin unto them which is a contradiction unto the plain words of the Apostle For it is the guilt of sin and not natural propagation that he affirms to be the cause of Death Having mentioned sin and death the one as the only cause of the other the guilt of sin of the punishment of death sin deserving nothing but death and death being due unto nothing but sin he declares how all Men universally became liable unto this punishment or guilty of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quo omnes peccaverunt in whom all have sinned For it relates unto the one Man that sinned in whom all sinned which is evident from the effect thereof in as much as in him all died 1 Cor. 15.22 Or as it is here on his sin Death passed on all Men. And this is the evident sense of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is not unusual in the Scripture See Matth. 15.5 Rom. 4.18 Chap. 5.2 Phil. 1.3 Heb. 9.17 And it is so often used by the best Writers in the Greek Tongue So Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 modus in omnibus rebus optimus So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in vobis situm est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc in me situm est And this reading of the words is contended for by Austine against the Pelagians rejecting their eo quod or propterea But I shall not contend about the reading of the words It is the artifice of our adversaries to perswade Men that the force of our Argument to prove from hence the imputation of the sin of Adam unto his posterity doth depend solely upon this interpretation of these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by in whom We shall therefore grant them their desire that they are better rendred by eo quod propterea or quatenus
application of them unto all that do believe which may be justly pleaded unto the same purpose with those passages of the Context which we have insisted on But if every Testimony should be pleaded which the Holy Ghost hath given unto this Truth there would be no end of writing One thing more I shall observe and put an end unto our discourse on this Chapter Vers. 6 7 8. The Apostle pursues his Argument to prove the freedom of our Justification by Faith without respect unto Works through the Imputation of Righteousness in the instance of pardon of Sin which essentially belongeth thereunto And this he doth by the Testimony of the Psalmist who placeth the blessedness of a man in the Remission of Sins His design is not thereby to declare the full nature of Justification which he had done before but only to prove the freedom of it from any respect unto Works in the instance of that essential part of it Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works which was the only thing he designed to prove by this Testimony saying Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven He describes their blessedness by it not that their whole blessedness doth consist therein but this concurs unto it wherein no respect can possibly be had unto any Works whatever And he may justly from hence describe the blessedness of a man in that the Imputation of Righteousness and the Non-Tmputation of Sin both which the Apostle mentioneth distinctly wherein his whole blessedness as unto justification doth consist are inseparable And because Remission of Sin is the first part of Justification and the principal part of it and hath the Imputation of Righteousness always accompanying it the blessedness of a man may be well described thereby Yea whereas all Spiritual Blessings go together in Christ Eph. 1.3 A mans blessedness may be described by any of them But yet the Imputation of Righteousness and the Remission of Sin are not the same no more than Righteousness imputed and Sin remitted are the same Nor doth the Apostle propose them as the same but mentioneth them distinctly both being equally necessary unto our compleat Justification as hath been proved Chap. 5. Vers. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. Wherefore as by one man Sin entred into the world and death by Sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned For until the Law Sin was in the world But Sin is not imputed when there is no Law Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression who is the figure of him that was to come But not as the offence so also is the free gift For if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by Grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift For the Judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all men to condemnation Even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto Justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made Sinners So by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Moreover the Law entred that the offence might abound But where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound That as Sin hath reigned unto death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The Apostle Chap. 3.27 affirms That in this matter of Justification all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or boasting is excluded But here in the Verse foregoing he grants a boasting or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And not only so but we also glory in God he excludes boasting in our selves because there is nothing in us to procure or promote our own Justification He allows it us in God because of the eminency and excellency of the way and means of our Justification which in his Grace he hath provided And the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or boasting in God here allowed us hath a peculiar respect unto what the Apostle had in prospect further to discourse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not only so includes what he had principally treated of before concerning our Justification so far as it consists in the pardon of sin For although he doth suppose yea and mention the imputation of Righteousness also unto us yet principally he declares our Justification by the pardon of sin and our freedom from condemnation whereby all boasting in our selves is excluded But here he designs a further progress as unto that whereon our glorying in God on a right and title freely given us unto eternal life doth depend And this is the Imputation of the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ unto the Justification of life or the reign of Grace through Righteousness unto eternal Life Great complaints have been made by some concerning the obscurity of the discourse of the Apostle in this place by reason of sundry Ellipses Antapodota Hyperbata and other Figures of Speech which either are or are feigned to be therein Howbeit I cannot but think that if Men acquainted with the common principles of Christian Religion and sensible in themselves of the nature and guilt of our original apostasie from God would without prejudice read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this place of the Scripture they will grant that the design of the Apostle is to prove that as the sin of Adam was imputed unto all Men unto condemnation so the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ is imputed unto all that believe unto the Justification of life The sum of it is given by Theodoret Dial. 3. Vide quomodo quae Christi sunt cum iis quae sunt Adami conferantur cum morbo medicina cum vulnere emplastrum cum Peccato justitia cum execratione benedictio cum condemnatione remissio cum transgressione obedientia cum morte vita cum inferis regnum Christus cum Adam homo cum homine The differences that are among Interpreters about the Exposition of these words relate unto the use of some Particles Prepositions and the dependance of one passage upon another on none of which the confirmation of the truth pleaded for doth depend But the plain design of the Apostle and his express Propositions are such as if Men could but acquiesce in them might put an end unto this controversie Socinus acknowledgeth that this place of Scripture doth give as he speaks the greatest occasion unto our opinion in this matter For he cannot deny but at least a great appearance of what we
in as much because Only we must say that here is a reason given Why Death passed on all Men in as much as all have sinned that is in that sin whereby death entred into the World It is true Death by vertue of the original constitution of the Law is due unto every sin when ever it is committed But the present inquiry is how Death passed at once on all Men how they came liable and obnoxious unto it upon its first entrance by the actual sin of Adam which cannot be by their own actual sin Yea the Apostle in the next Verses affirms That death passed on them also who never sinned actually or as Adam did whose sin was actual And if the actual sins of Men in imitation of Adams sin were intended then should Men be made liable to Death before they had sinned For Death upon its first entrance into the World passed on all Men before any one Man had actually sinned but Adam only But that Men should be liable unto Death which is nothing but the punishment of sin when they have not sinned is an open contradiction For although God by his sovereign Power might inflict Death on an innocent Creature yet that an innocent Creature should be guilty of death is impossible For to be guilty of death is to have sinned Wherefore this expression In as much as all have sinned expressing the desert and guilt of death then when sin and death first entred into the World no sin can be intended in it but the sin of Adam and our interest therein Eramus enim omnes ille unus homo And this can be no otherwise but by the imputation of the guilt of that sin unto us For the act of Adam not being ours inherently and subjectively we cannot be concerned in its Effect but by the imputation of its guilt For the communication of that unto us which is not inherent in us is that which we intend by imputation This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the intended collation which I have insisted the longer on because the Apostle lays in it the foundation of all that he afterwards infers and asserts in in the whole comparison And here some say there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his discourse that is he layeth down the Proposition on the part of Adam but doth not shew what answereth to it on the contrary in Christ. And Origen gives the reason of the silence of the Apostle herein namely Lest what is to be said therein should be abused by any unto sloth and negligence For whereas he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as which is a note of similitude By one Man sin entred into the World and Death by sin so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reddition should be So by one Righteousness entred into the World and Life by Righteousness This he acknowledgeth to be the genuine filling up of the comparison but was not expressed by the Apostle Lest Men should abuse it unto negligence or security supposing that to be done already which should be done afterwards But as this plainly contradicts and everts most of what he further asserts in the Exposition of the place so the Apostle concealed not any Truth upon such considerations And as he plainly expresseth that which is here intimated Ver. 19. So he shews how foolish and wicked any such imaginations are as suppose that any countenance is given hereby unto any to indulge themselves in their sins Some grant therefore that the Apostle doth conceal the Expression of what is ascribed unto Christ in opposition unto what he had affirmed of Adam and his sin unto Ver. 19. But the truth is it is sufficiently included in the close of Ver. 14. where he affirms of Adam that in those things whereof he treats He was the Figure of him that was to come For the way and manner whereby he introduced Righteousness and Life and communicated them unto Men answered the way and manner whereby Adam introduced sin and death which passed on all the World Adam being the Figure of Christ look how it was with him with respect unto his Natural Posterity as unto sin and death so it is with the Lord Christ the Second Adam and his Spiritual Posterity with respect unto Righteousness and Life Hence we argue If the actual sin of Adam was so imputed unto all his posterity as to be accounted their own sin unto condemnation then is the actual obedience of Christ the Second Adam imputed unto all his Spiritual Seed that is unto all Believers unto Justification I shall not here further press this Argument because the ground of it will occur unto us afterwards The two next Verses containing an Objection and an Answer returned unto them wherein we have no immediate concernment I shall pass by Vers. 15 16. The Apostle proceeds to explain his Comparison in those things wherein there is a dissimilitude between the comparates But not as the offence so is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the Grace of God and the gift by Grace by one Man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many The opposition is between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the one hand and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the other between which a dissimilitude is asserted not as unto their opposite effects of Death and Life but only as unto the degrees of their efficacy with respect unto those effects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the offence the fall the sin the transgression that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disobedience of one Ver. 19. Hence the first sin of Adam is generally called the fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is opposed hereunto is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Donum Donum gratuitum Beneficium id quod Deus gratificatur that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is immediately explained The grace of God and the free gift by grace through Jesus Christ. Wherefore although this word in the next verse doth precisely signifie the Righteousness of Christ yet here it comprehends all the causes of our Justification in opposition unto the fall of Adam and the entrance of sin thereby The consequent and effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the offence the fall is that many be dead No more is here intended by many but only that the effects of that one offence were not confined unto one And if we inquire who or how many those many are the Apostle tells us that they are all Men universally that is all the posterity of Adam By this one offence because they all sinned therein they are all dead that is rendered obnoxious and liable unto death as the punishment due unto that one offence And hence also it appears how vain it is to wrest those words of Ver. 12. In as much as all have sinned unto any other sin but the first sin in Adam seeing it is given as the reason why death passed on them it being here plainly affirmed That they
God Wherefore the Covenant of Grace could not be procured by any means or cause but that which was the cause of this Covenant of the Mediator or of God the Father with the Son as undertaking the work of Mediation And as this is no where ascribed unto the Death of Christ in the Scripture so to assert it is contrary unto all spiritual Reason and Understanding Who can conceive that Christ by his death should procure the Agreement between God and him that he should dye 3. With respect unto the Declaration of it by especial Revelation This we may call Gods making or establishing of it if we please though making of the Covenant in Scripture is applied principally if not only unto its execution or actual Application unto Persons 2 Sam. 23.5 Jerem. 32.40 This Declaration of the Grace of God and the provision in the Covenant of the Mediator for the making of it effectual unto his Glory is most usually called the Covenant of Grace And this is twofold 1. In the way of a singular and absolute Promise so was it first declared unto and established with Adam and afterwards with Abraham The Promise is the Declaration of the Purpose of God before declared or the free Determination and Counsel of his Will as to his dealing with sinners on the supposition of the Fall and their forfeiture of their first Covenant state Hereof the Grace and Will of God was the only cause Heb. 8.8 And the Death of Christ could not be the means of its procurement For he himself and all that he was to do for us was the substance of that Promise And this Promise as it is declarative of the Purpose or Counsel of the Will of God for the Communication of Grace and Glory unto sinners in and by the mediation of Christ according to the Ways and on the Terms prepared and disposed in his Soveraign Wisdom and Pleasure is formally the New Covenant though something yet is to be added to compleat its Application unto us Now the substance of the first Promise wherein the whole Covenant of Grace was virtually comprized directly respected and expressed the giving of him for the Recovery of Mankind from sin and misery by his death Gen. 3.15 Wherefore if he and all the Benefits of his Mediation his Death and all the Effects of it be contained in the Promise of the Covenant that is in the Covenant it self then was not his death the procuring cause of that Covenant nor do we owe it thereunto 2. In the additional prescription of the way and means whereby it is the Will of God that we shall enter into a Covenant state with him or be interessed in the Benefits of it This being virtually comprized in the absolute Promise for every Promise of God doth tacitly require Faith and Obedience in us is expressed in other places by the way of the Condition required on our part This is not the Covenant but the Constitution of the Terms on our part whereon we are made Partakers of it Nor is the Constitution of these Terms an effect of the death of Christ or procured thereby It is a meer effect of the Soveraign Grace and Wisdom of God The things themselves as bestowed on us communicated unto us wrought in us by Grace are all of them effects of the death of Christ but the Constitution of them to be the Terms and Conditions of the Covenant is an Act of meer Soveraign Wisdom and Grace God so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son to dye not that Faith and Repentance might be the means of Salvation but that all his Elect might believe and that all that believe might not perish but have Life Everlasting But yet it is granted that the Constitution of these Terms of the Covenant doth respect the foederal Transaction between the Father and the Son wherein they were ordered to the praise of the Glory of Gods Grace and so although their constitution was not the procurement of his Death yet without respect unto it it had not been Wherefore the sole cause of Gods making the New Covenant was the same with that of giving Christ himself to be our Mediator namely the Purpose Counsel Goodness Grace and Love of God as it is every where expressed in the Scripture 4 thly The Covenant may be considered as unto the actual Application of the Grace Benefit and Priviledges of it unto any persons whereby they are made real partakers of them or are taken into Covenant with God And this alone in the Scripture is intended by Gods making a Covenant with any It is not a general Revelation or Declaration of the Terms and Nature of the Covenant which some call an universal conditional Covenant on what Grounds they know best seeing the very formal nature of making a Covenant with any includes the actual Acceptation of it and Participation of the Benefits of it by them but a Communication of the Grace of it accompanied with a prescription of Obedience that is Gods making his Covenant with any as all Instances of it in the Scripture do declare It may be therefore enquired what respect the Covenant of Grace hath unto the Death of Christ or what Influence it hath thereunto I answer supposing what is spoken of his being a surety thereof it hath a threefold respect thereunto 1. In that the Covenant as the Grace and Glory of it were prepared in the Counsel of God as the Terms of it was fixed in the Covenant of the Mediator and as it was declared in the Promise was confirmed ratified and made irrevocable thereby This our Apostle insists upon at large Heb. 9.15 16 17 18 19 20. And he compares his Blood in his Death and Sacrifice of himself unto the Sacrifices and their Blood whereby the Old Covenant was confirmed purified dedicated or established ver 18 19. Now these Sacrifices did not procure that Covenant or prevail with God to enter into it but only ratified and confirmed it and this was done in the New Covenant by the Blood of Christ. 2. He thereby underwent and performed all that which in the Righteousness and Wisdom of God was required that the Effects Fruits Benefits and Grace intended designed and prepared in the New Covenant might be effectually accomplished and communicated unto sinners Hence although he procured not the Covenant for us by his death yet he was in his Person Mediation Life and Death the only cause and means whereby the whole Grace of the Covenant is made effectual unto us For 3. All the Benefits of it were procured by him that is all the Grace Mercy Priviledges and Glory that God hath prepared in the Counsel of his Will that were fixed as unto the way of this communication in the Covenant of the Mediator and proposed in the Promises of it are purchased merited and procured by his Death and effectually communicated or applied unto all the Covenanters by virtue thereof with others of his Mediatory Acts. And this
is much more an eminent procuring of the New Covenant than what is pretended about the procurement of its Terms and Conditions For if he should have procured no more but this if we owe this only unto his Mediation that God would thereon or did grant and establish this Rule Law and Promise that whoever ever believed should be saved it were possible that no one should be saved thereby yea if he did no more considering our state and condition it was impossible that any one should so be To give the sum of these things it is inquired with respect unto which of these considerations of the new Covenant it is affirmed that it was procured by the Death of Christ. If it be said that it is with respect unto the actual communication of all the Grace and Glory prepared in the Covenant and proposed unto us in the Promises of it it is most true All the Grace and Glory promised in the Covenant was purchased for the Church by Jesus Christ. In this sense by his Death he procured the new Covenant This the whole Scripture from the Beginning of it in the first Promise unto the end of it doth bear witness unto For it is in him alone that God blesseth us with all spiritual Blessings in Heavenly things Let all the good things that are mentioned or promised in the Covenant expresly or by just consequence be summed up and it will be no hard matter to demonstrate concerning them all and that both joyntly and severally that they were all procured for us by the Obedience and Death of Christ. But this is not that which is intended For most of this Opinion do deny that the Grace of the Covenant in Conversion unto God the Remission of sins Sanctification Justification Adoption and the like are the effects or procurements of the Death of Christ. And they do on the other hand declare that it is Gods making of the Covenant which they do intend that is the contrivance of the terms and conditions of it with their proposal unto mankind for their Recovery But herein there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For 1. The Lord Christ himself and the whole work of his Mediation as the Ordinance of God for the Recovery and Salvation of lost Sinners is the first and principal promise of the Covenant So his Exhibition in the flesh his work of Mediation therein with our deliverance thereby was the subject of that first Promise which virtually contained this whole Covenant So he was of the Renovation of it unto Abraham when it was solemnly confirmed by the Oath of God Gal. 3.16 17. And Christ did not by his Death procure the promise of his Death nor of his Exhibition in the flesh or his coming into the World that he might dye 2. The making of this Covenant is every where in the Scripture ascribed as is also the sending of Christ himself to dye unto the Love Grace and Wisdom of God alone no where unto the Death of Christ as the actual Communication of all Grace and Glory are Let all the places be considered where either the giving of the Promise the sending of Christ or the making of the Covenant are mentioned either expresly or virtually and in none of them are they assigned unto any other cause but the Grace Love and Wisdom of God alone all to be made effectual unto us by the Mediation of Christ. 3. The assignation of the sole end of the Death of Christ to be the procurement of the new Covenant in the sense contended for doth indeed evacuate all the vertue of the Death of Christ and of the Covenant it self For 1 the Covenant which they intend is nothing but the Constitution and proposal of new Terms and Conditions for life and salvation unto all men Now whereas the acceptance and accomplishment of these conditions depend upon the Wills of men no way determined by effectual Grace it was possible that notwithstanding all Christ did by his Death yet no one Sinner might be saved thereby but that the whole end and design of God therein might be frustrate 2 Whereas the substantial advantage of these conditions lieth herein that God will now for the sake of Christ accept of an Obedience inferior unto that required in the Law and so as that the Grace of Christ doth not raise up all things unto a Conformity and compliance with the Holiness and Will of God declared therein but accommodate all things unto our present condition nothing can be invented more dishonourable to Christ and the Gospel For what doth it else but make Christ the Minister of sin in disanulling the Holiness that the Law requires or the Obligation of the Law unto it without any provision of what might answer or come into the Room of it but that which is incomparably less worthy Nor is it consistent with Divine Wisdom Goodness and Immutability to appoint unto mankind a Law of Obedience and cast them all under the severest penalty upon the Transgression of it when he could in Justice and Honour have given them such a Law of Obedience whose observance might consist with many failings and sins For if he have done that now he could have done so before which how far it reflects on the Glory of the Divine Properties might be easily manifested Neither doth this fond Imagination comply with those Testimonies of Scripture that the Lord Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it that he is the end of the Law and that by Faith the Law is not disanulled but established Lastly the Lord Christ was the Mediator and Surety of the new Covenant in and by whom it was ratified confirmed and established and therefore by him the Constitution of it was not procured For all the Acts of his Office belong unto that Mediation And it cannot be well apprehended how any Act of Mediation for the Establishment of the Covenant and rendring it effectual should procure it But to return from this Digression That wherein all the precedent causes of the Vnion between Christ and Believers whence they become one mystical person do center and whereby they are rendred a compleat foundation of the Imputation of their sins unto him and of his Righteousness unto them is the Communication of his Spirit the same Spirit that dwelleth in him unto them to abide in to animate and guide the whole mystical Body and all its Members But this hath of late been so much spoken unto as that I shall do no more but mention it On the considerations insisted on whereby the Lord Christ became one mystical Person with the Church or bare the Person of the Church in what he did as Mediator in the Holy Wise disposal of God as the Authour of the Law the supreme Rector or Governour of all mankind as unto their Temporal and Eternal concernments and by his own consent the sins of all the Elect were imputed unto him This having been the Faith and Language of the Church
essence of it whereunto alone respect is had in this Law by any thing that can fall out And although God might superadd unto the original Obligations of this Law what Arbitrary commands he pleased such as did not necessarily proceed or arise from the Relation between him and us which might be and be continued without them yet would they be resolved into that Principle of this Law that God in all things was absolutely to be trusted and obeyed 7. Known unto God are all his Works from the foundation of the World In the constitution of this order of things he made it possible and foresaw it would be future that man would rebell against the preceptive power of this Law and disturb that order of things wherein he was placed under his moral Rule This gave occasion unto that effect of infinite Divine Righteousness in constituting the punishment that man should fall under upon his Transgression of this Law Neither was this an effect of Arbitrary will and pleasure any more than the Law it self was Upon the supposition of the Creation of man the Law mentioned was necessary from all the Divine Properties of the nature of God And upon a supposition that man would Transgress that Law God being now considered as his Ruler and Governour the Constitution of the punishment due unto his Sin and Transgression of it was a necessary effect of Divine Righteousness This it would not have been had the Law it self been Arbitrary But that being necessary so was the penalty of this Transgression Wherefore the constitution of this penalty is liable to no more change alteration or abrogation then the Law it self without an alteration in the state and relation between God and man 8. This is that Law which our Lord Jesus Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil that he might be the end of it for Righteousness unto them that do believe This Law he abrogated not nor could do so without a Destruction of the Relation that is between God and man arising from or ensuing necessarily on their distinct Beings and Properties But as this cannot be destroyed so the Lord Christ came unto a contrary end namely to repair and restore it where it was weakned Wherefore 9. This Law the Law of Sinless perfect Obedience with its sentence of the punishment of Death on all Transgressors doth and must abide in force for ever in this World For there is no more required hereunto but that God be God and Man be Man Yet shall this be farther proved 1. There is nothing not one word in the Scripture intimating any alteration in or Abrogation of this Law so as that any thing should not be duty which it makes to be duty or any thing not be sin which it makes to be sin either as unto matter or degrees or that the thing which it makes to be sin or which is sin by the Rule of it should not merit and deserve that punishment which is declared in the sanction of it or threatned by it The wages of sin is Death If any Testimony of Scripture can be produced unto either of these purposes namely that either any thing is not sin in the way of Omission or Commission in the matter or manner of its performance which is made to be so by this Law or that any such sin or any thing that would have been sin by this Law is exempted from the punishment threatned by it as unto merit or desert it shall be attended unto It is therefore in universal force towards all mankind There is no Relief in this case But behold the Lamb of God In exception hereunto it is pleaded that when it was first given unto Adam it was the Rule and Instrument of a Covenant between God and man a Covenant of Works and perfect Obedience But upon the entrance of sin it ceased to have the nature of a Covenant unto any And it is so ceased that on an impossible supposition that any man should fulfil the perfect Righteousness of it yet should he not be justified or obtain the benefit of the Covenant thereby It is not therefore only become ineffectual unto us as a Covenant by reason of our weakness and disability to perform it but it is ceased in its own nature so to be But these things as they are not unto our present purpose so are they wholly unproved For 1. Our Discourse is not about the Foederal adjunct of the Law but about its moral nature only It is enough that as a Law it continueth to oblige all mankind unto perfect Obedience under its Original penalty For hence it will unavoidably follow that unless the commands of it be complied withal and fulfilled the penalty will fall on all that Transgress it And those who grant that this Law is still in force as unto its being a Rule of Obedience or as unto its requiring Duties of us do grant all that we desire For it requires no Obedience but what it did in its Original constitution that is sinless and perfect and it requires no Duty nor prohibits any sin but under the Penalty of Death upon disobedience 2. It is true that he who is once a sinner if he should afterwards yield all that perfect Obedience unto God that the Law requires he could not thereby obtain the Benefit of the Promise of the Covenant But the sole Reason of it is because he is antecedently a sinner and so obnoxious unto the Curse of the Law And no man can be obnoxious unto its Curse and have a right unto its Promise at the same time But so to lay the supposition that the same person is by any means free from the Curse due unto sin and then to deny that upon the performance of that perfect sinless Obedience which the Law requires that he should not have right unto the Promise of Life thereby is to deny the Truth of God and to reflect the highest dishonour upon his Justice Jesus Christ himself was justified by this Law And it is immutably true that he who doth the things of it shall live therein 3. It is granted that man continued not in the Observation of this Law as it was the Rule of the Covenant between God and him The Covenant it was not but the Rule of it which that it should be was superadded unto its Being as a Law For the Covenant comprized things that were not any part of a Result from the necessary Relation of God and Man Wherefore man by his sin as unto Demerit may be said to break this Covenant and as unto any Benefit unto themselves to disannul it It is also true that God did never formally and absolutely renew or give again this Law as a Covenant a second time Nor was there any need that so he should do unless it were declaratively only for so it was renewed at Sinai For the whole of it being an Emanation of Eternal Right and Truth it abides and must abide in full force for