It 's good instrumentally as used by Gods Spirit for good It 's disputed by some Whether the Law and the preaching of it is used as an instrument by the Spirit of God for conversion But that will be an entire Question in it self only thus much at this time The Spirit of God doth use the Law to quicken up the heart of a beleever unto his duty Psal 119. Thou hast quickened me by thy precepts And so Psal 19. The Law of the Lord enlightneth the simple and by them thy servant is fore-warn'd of sinne You will say The word Law is taken largely there for all precepts and testimonies It 's true but it 's not exclusive of the precepts of the morall Law for they were the chiefest and indeed the whole Word of God is an organ and instrument of Gods Spirit for instruction reformation and to make a man perfect to every good work It 's an unreasonable thing to separate the Law from the Spirit of God and then compare it with the Gospel for if you doe take the Gospel even that Promise Christ came to save sinners without the Spirit it worketh no more yea it 's a dead letter as well as the Law Therefore Calvin well called Lex corpus and the Spirit anima now accedat anima ad corpus Let the soul be put into the body and it 's a living reasonable man But now as when we say A man discourses A man understands this is ratione animae in respect of his soul not corporis of the body so when we say A man is quickened by the Law of God to obedience this is not by reason of the Law but of the Spirit of God But of this anon 4. It 's good in respect of the sanction of it for it 's accompanied with Promises and that not only temporall as Command 5. but also spirituall Command 2. where God is said to pardon to many generations and therefore the Law doth include Christ secondarily and occasionally though not primarily as hereafter shall be shewed It 's true the righteousnesse of the Law and that of the Gospel differ toto coelo we must place one in suprema parte coeli and the other in ima parte terrae as Luther speakes to that effect and it 's one of the hardest taskes in all divinity to give them their bounds and then to cleare how the Apostle doth oppose them and how not We know it was the cursed errour of the Manichees and Marcionites that the Law was only carnall and had only carnall promises whereas it 's evident that the Fathers had the same faith for substance as we have It 's true if we take Law and Gospel in this strict difference as some Divines doe that all the Precepts wheresoever they are must be under the Law and all the Promises be reduced to the Gospel whether in Old or New Testament in which sense Divines then say Lex jubet Gratia juvat the Law commands and Grace helps and Lex imperat the Law commands and Fides impetrat Faith obtaineth then the Law can have no sanction by Promise But where can this be shewed in Scripture When we speake of the sanction of the Law by Promise we take it as in the administration of it by Moses which was Evangelicall not as it was given to Adam with a Promise of Eternall life upon perfect obedience for the Apostle Paul's propositions To him that worketh the reward is reckoned of debt and the doers of the Law are justified were never verificable but in the state of innocency 5. In respect of the acts of it You may call them either acts or ends I shall acts And thus a law hath divers acts 1. Declarative to lay down what is the will of God 2. To command obedience to this will declared 3. Either to invite by Promises or compell by threatnings 4. To condemne the transgressors and this use the Law is acknowledged by all to have against ungodly and wicked men and some of these cannot be denyed even to the godly I wonder much at an Antinomian authour that saith It cannot be a law unlesse it also be a cursing law for besides that the same authour doth acknowledge the morall Law to be a rule to the beleever and regula hath vim praecepti as well as doctrinae what will he say to the Law given to Adam who as yet was righteous and innocent and therefore could not be cursing or condemning of him so the Angels were under a law else they could not have finned yet it was not a cursing law It 's true if we take cursing or condemning potentially so a law is alwayes condemning but for actuall cursing that is not necessary no not to a transgressour of the Law that hath a surety in his roome 6. In respect of the end of it Rom. 16. 4. Christ is the end of the Law By reason of the different use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are different conjectures some make it no more then extremitas or terminus because the ceremoniall Law ended in Christ Others make it finis complementi the fulness of the Law is Christ Others adde finis intentionis or scopi to it so that by these the meaning is The Law did intend Christ in all its ceremonialls and moralls that as there was not the least ceremony which did not lead to Christ so not the least iota or apex in the morall Law but it did also aime at him Therefore saith Calvin upon this place Habemus insignem locum quòd Lex omnibus suis partibus in Christum respiciat Imò quicquid Lex docet quicquid praecipit quicquid promittit Christum pro scopo habet We have a noble place proving that the Law in all its parts did look to Christ yea whatsoever the Law teacheth commandeth or promiseth it hath Christ for its scope What had it been for a Jew to pray to God if Christ had not been in that prayer to love God if Christ had not been in that love yet here is as great a difference between the Law and Gospel as is between direction and exhibition between a school-master and a father he is an unwise childe that will make a school-master his father Whether this be a proper intention of the Law you shall have hereafter 7. In respect of the adjuncts of it which the Scripture attributeth to it And it 's observable that even where the Apostle doth most urge against the Law as if it were so farre from bettering men that it makes them the worse yet there he praiseth it calling it good and spirituall Now I see it called spirituall in a two-fold sense 1. Effectivè because it did by Gods Spirit quicken to spirituall life even as the Apostle in the opposition calls himself carnall because the power of corruption within did work carnall and sinfull motions in him But I shall expound it spirituall 2. Formaliter formally because
provided the food and nourishment of it And thus man the last but the choicest externall and visible piece of his workmanship is created but in a great difference from the former for his creation is brought in by way of deliberation and advice Let us make man which words denote 1. The excellency of the man to be made 2. The Mysterie of the Trinitie is here implyed for howsoever the Jewes would have it that he spoke to the Angels or the inanimate creatures or others that the word is used in the Plurall Number for dignitie sake as they shew examples in the Hebrew yet we rather joyn with those that doe think it implyed not indeed that this text of it self can prove a Trinity for the Plurall Number proveth no more three then foure or two but with other places that doe hold forth this doctrine more expresly so that in the words you have the noble and great effect Man the wise and powerfull efficient God the excellent and admirable pattern or exemplar After our image God made man after his image and so implanted it in him that that image could not be destroyed unlesse man destroyed himself not that this image was his naturall substance and essence but it was a concreated perfection in him Now for the opening of this truth let us consider these particulars 1. Whether image or likenesse doe signifie the same thing For the Papists following the Fathers make this difference That image doth relate to the naturalls that man hath his rationall soule with the naturall properties and likenesse to the gratuitalls or supernaturalls which were bestowed upon him Now the Orthodox especially the Calvinists though they deny not but that the soule of a man with the faculties thereof may be called the image of God secondarily and remotely herein differing from the Lutherans who will not acknowledge thus much so that principally and chiefly it be placed in righteousnesse and holinesse yet they say this cannot be gathered from the words for these reasons 1. Because verse 27. where there is the execution of this decree in the text there onely likenesse is named and Gen. 9. there is onely image named and Gen. 5. Adam is said to beget Seth after his image and likenesse where such a distinction cannot be made and this is so cleare that Pererius and Lapide doe confesse it Nor is that any matter because they are put down as two Substantives for that is usuall with the Hebrewes when the later is intended onely as an Adjective so Jerem. 29. 11. To give you an end and expectation that is an expected end so here image and likenesse that is an image most like 2. It 's considerable in what an image doth consist Now the Learned they speak of a four-fold image or likenesse 1. Where there is a likenesse in an absolute agreement in the same nature and thus the Son of God is the expresse image of the Father 2. By participation of some universall nature so a man and a beast are alike in their common nature of animality 3. By proportion onely as the Pilot of a ship and the Governour in the Common-wealth are alike 4. By agreement of order when one thing is a pattern for another to be made after it and this is properly to be an image for two things goe to the nature of an image 1. Likenesse and then 2. that this likenesse be made after another as a pattern Thus one egge is like another but not a pattern of another so man was made like Angels yet not after their image as the Socinians would have it So that to be made after the image of God implieth a likenesse in us to God and then that this likenesse in us is made after that pattern which is in God And howsoever man is a body and God a spirit yet this image and likenesse may well be in other considerations It was the opinion of Osiander that therefore we are said to be made after the image of God because we are made after the likenesse of that humane nature which the second Person in Trinity was to assume and this hath been preached alate as probable but that may hereafter be confuted when we come to handle that Question Whether Christ as a Mediatour was knowne and considered of in the state of innocency 3. Let us consider in what that image or likenesse doth consist Where not standing upon the rationall soule of a man which we call the remote image of God in which sense we are forbid to kill a man or to curse a man because he is made after the image of God we may take notice of the severall perfections and qualifications in Adams soul As 1. In his Understanding there was an exact knowledge of divine and naturall things Of divine because otherwise he could not have loved God if he had not known him nor could he be said to be made very good Hence some make a three-fold light 1. That of immediate knowledge which Adam had 2. The light of faith which the regenerate have 3. The light of glory which the Saints in heaven have Now how great is this perfection Even Aristotle said that a little knowledge though conjecturall about heavenly things is to be preferred above much knowledge though certain about inferiour things How glorious must Adams estate be when his Understanding was made thus perfect And then for inferiour things the creatures his knowledge appeareth in the giving of Names to all the creatures and especially unto Eve Adam indeed did not know all things yea he might grow in experimentall knowledge but all things that were necessary for him created to such an happy end to know those he did but to know that he should fall and that Christ would be a Mediatour these things he could not unlesse it were by revelation which is not supposed to be made unto him So to know those things which were of ornament and beauty to his soul cannot be denyed him Thus was Adam created excellent in intellectuall abilities for sapience knowing God for science knowing the creatures and for prudence exquisite in all things to be done 2. His Will which is the universall appetite of the whole man which is like the supreme orbe that carrieth the inferiour with the power of it this was wonderfully good furnished with severall habits of goodnesse as the firmament with stars for in it was a propensity to all good Ephes 4. 24. It 's called righteousnesse and true holinesse and Eccl. 7. 29. God made man upright His Will was not bad or not good that is indifferent but very good The imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were only good and that continually And certainly if David Job and others who have this image restored in them but in part doe yet delight in Gods will how much more must Adam who when he would doe good found no evil present with him He could not say as we must Lord I beleeve
to overcome the heart of the stoutest And in this nature we are still to suppose the Law preached to us for howsoever all that terrour be past yet the effect of it ought to abide upon every man so far forth as corruption abideth in him for what man is there whose pride lukewarmness or any sinfull corruption needs not this awakening It 's said Exod. 19. 18. God descended upon the mount Sinai in a smoak of fire and a cloud all was to shew the incomprehensible Majesty of God as also his terrour to wicked men and in this respect the dispensation of the Gospel was of greater sweetness Hence Gal 4. 24. the Apostle makes this mount Sinai to be Agar generating to bondage This I say must be granted if you speake comparatively with Gospel-dispensations but yet the Psalmist speakes of this absolutely in it selfe as a great mercy Psal 50. 2. Out of Sion the perfection of beauty God hath shined and the fire about him did signifie his glorious splendour as also his power to overthrow his enemies and consume them so Psal 96. All the earth is bid to rejoyce at the Lords reigning which is described by his solemne giving of the Law which the Church is to rejoyce at yea ver 7. it is applyed to Christ Heb. 7. though the Apostle followes the Septuagint so that if you take these things absolutely they are lookt upon as mercies yea and applyed to Christ And it is made a wonderfull mercy to them that God did thus familiarly reveale himselfe to them Deut. 4. 7. and Deut. 5. 4. yea learned men think that Christ the Son of God did in the shape of a man deliver this Law to Moses and speake familiarly with him but especially see Deut. 33. 3. where the word loving signifies imbracing by way of protection in the bosome The gifts of the holy Ghost were given with fiery tongues and a mighty rushing wind so that the Gospel is fire as well as the Law 3. Gods immediate writing of these with his own fingers in tables of stone Exod. 31. 18. Which honour was not vouchsafed to the other Lawes Now by the Finger of God howsoever some of the Fathers have understood the holy Ghost and because the Finger is of the same essence with the body infer the holy Ghost to be of the same nature with God yet this conceit is not solid although Luke 11. 20. that wich is called the finger of God Matth. 12. 28. called the Spirit of God We must therefore understand it of the power and operation of God who caused those words to be written there The matter upon which this is writen is said to be tables of stone The Rabbins conceit saying that because it is said of stone in the singular number that therefore it was but one table which sometimes did appeare as one sometimes as two is not worth the confuting That which is here to be considered and makes much to the dignity of the Law is that it was written by God upon tables of stone to shew the perpetuity and stability of it And howsoever this of it selfe be not a demonstrative argument to establish the perpetuity of the Law against any Antinomian yet it may prevaile with any reasonable man Hence Law-givers that have laboured the stability of their lawes caused them to be ingraven in Brass or Marble so Pliny lib 3◠ca. 9. speakes of brassie tables ad perpetuitatem monumentorum Plato as Rhodoginus reports lib. 25. cap. 2. thought that Lawes should be written in tabulis cupressinis quod futuras putabat aeterniores quà m aereas It is true there is also a mysticall signification which is not to be rejected because the Apostle alludes to it that hereby was signified the hardness of the Jews heart which could not easily receive that impression of the Law Hence the excellency of the Gospel doth appear in that it is by grace wrought in the hearts of men But yet this is not so to be understood as if God did not in the old Testament even then write his Law in the hearts of men Therefore that Promise of the Gospel mentioned by Jeremiah is not to be understood exclusively as if God did not at all write his Law in their hearts but comparatively 4. The sad breaking of this Law by the people of Israel As the Law given by God to Adam was immediately broken so this Law given in such a powerfull manner to keep the Israelites in an holy fear and reverence yet how soon was it forgotten by them For upon Moses his delay they presently fell into idolatry Some think they thought Moses was dead and therefore they desired some visible god among them as the Egyptians had and because they worshiped Apis an Oxe hence they made a Calfe wherein their wickedness was exceeding great though against the truth some Rabbins excuse them from idolatry because they did immediately upon the promulgation of the Law when they had so solemnly promised obedience fall into this sin and not only so but worshipped it and gave the glory of all the benefits they injoyed unto this not as if they were so simple as to think this a god but to worship the true God by this And this confuteth all those distinctions that Idolaters use especially Papists about their false worship We are not to follow our own hearts but the Word As the childe in the womb liveth by fetching nourishment by the navell only from the mother so doth the Church by fetching instruction and direction from Christ 5. The time of Moses his abode on the Mount This also is observable in the story for hereby God did not only procure great ground of Authority for Moses among the people but also unto the Law And therefore as some compare the time of giving the Law with the effusion of the gifts of the holy Ghost in the Gospel making the former to be the fiftieth day of their egresse out of Egypt called Pentecost so at the same time the holy Ghost was given to the Church Thus also they compare Moses forty dayes upon the Mount with our Saviours forty days in the wilderness when he was tempted It was certainly a miraculous preservation of Moses that he should be there so long and neither eat nor drink But this example of Moses with that of our Saviours is very vainly and unwarrantably brought for fasting in Lent 6. Moses his zeal against this their idolatry and breaking of the Tables When Moses came down he saw how the people had transgressed the Law of God which so moved him that in his zeal he brake the Tables that were first made This certainly was by the immediate ordering of God to signifie that this could not be a way of justification for them and indeed to hold that the Law can justifie is so great an errour that we are all Antinomians in this sense One hath said that the Law was like the tree of knowledge of
as Moses because the people could not endure the glorious light of his face put a vail upon it that so the people might converse with him thus the Minister whose parts and scholarship is far above the people should put on a vail by condescending to the people But the Apostle maketh another mysticall meaning wherein the hard things shall in time God willing be opened 10. The custody and preservation of the Law in the Ark. And this shall be the last Observation that will tend to the excellency of the Law As this one was witten by the immediate hand of God so was it only commanded to be preserved in the Ark. Now here is a great dispute in matter of History for 1 Kin. 8. 9. it's expresly said that in the Ark there was nothing save the tables of stone but Hebr. 9. 4. there is joyned Aarons rod and the pot of manna Those that for this respect would reject the Epistle to the Hebrews as of no authority are too bold and insolent Some think we cannot reconcile them yet the Scripture is true onely our understandings are weak Some think that at first God commanded those two to be laid with the tables of the Covenant but when the Temple was built by Solomon then all were laid aside by themselves and therefore say they that the History of the Kings speaketh of it as a new thing Some as Piscator make in to be as much as coram before or hard by and so they say the pot and rod were by the Ark. But I shall close with that of Junius who observes that the relative is in the feminine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so doth not relate to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ark the word immediatly going before but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tabernacle In which tabernacle And this is frequent in the Scripture to do so And this though it may be capable of some objection yet doth excellently reconcile the truth of the history with Paul Now how long these Tables of stone were kept and what became of them at last we have no certainty This proveth the great glory God did put upon the Law above any thing else which I intended in all these historicall observations Vse 1. Of Instruction How willing God was to put marks of glory and perpetuity upon the Law and therefore we are to take heed of disparaging it For how necessary is it to have this Law promulged if it were possible as terribly in our congregations as it was on Mount Sinai This would make the very Antinomians finde the power of the Law and be afraid to reject it Certainly as the Physitian doth not purge the bodies till he hath made them fluid and prepared so may not the Ministers of Christ apply grace and the promises thereof to men of Epicurean or pharisaicall spirits till they be humbled by the discovery of sin which is made by the Law And I doubt it may fall out with an Antinomian who accounts sin nothing in the beleever because of justification as with one Dionysius a Stoick as I take it who held that pain was nothing but being once sick and tortured with the stone in the kidnies cried out that all that he had writ about pain was false for now he found it was something So it may fall out that a man who hath writ and preached that God seeth no sin in a believer may sometime or other be so awed and troubled by God that he shall cry out All that he preached about this he now findes to be false Therefore let those that have disparaged or despised it see their sin and give it its due dignity They report of Stesichorus that when in some words he had disparaged Helena's beauty he was struck blinde but afterwards when he praised her again he obtained the use of seeing It may be because thou hast not set forth the due excellency of the Law God hath taken away thy eye-sight not to see the beauty of it but begin with David to set forth the excellent benefits of it and then thou mayest see more glory in it then ever An additionall LECTVRE GAL. 3. 19. And it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator THe service and Ministery of the Angels about the promulgation of the Law will much make to the honour of the Law for we never read of Laws enacted by so sacred and August a Senate as the Moral Law was where Jesus Christ accompanied with thousands of Angels gave these precepts to the people of Israel We read of three solemn services of the Angels the first was their singing at the Creation of the world Job 38. 7. for by the morning stars are meant the Angels The second was at Christs birth when they cried Glory be to God c. and the third may be this in the promulgation of the Law For the unfolding of the words know that the Apostle in the former part of the chapter brings many arguments to prove that we are not justified by the Law and that the promise and eternall life could not come by it Now lest this discourse should seem derogatory to the Law he doth here as in other places upon the like occasion make an objection To what use then is the Law and v. 21. Is that Law against the promises Which he answers with great indignation God forbid and to the former objection he answereth in my Text showing the end of the Law that is not the end of the Law absolutely in it self but of the delivery at that time it was added because of transgressions to convince the proud and hypocriticall Iews of their wickedness and thereby to seal that righteousness of Christ He doth not here take all the manifold uses of the Law but that which was accomodate to his present scope This use he doth illustrate from the circumstance of duration It was to be till the coming of Christ whereby you see that the Apostle meaneth not the Morall Law as a rule of life for that is eternall as is to be shewed but the Regiment or Mosaicall Administrations in the Ceremoniall part thereof and there is nothing more ordinary with Paul then to take the Law Synecdochically for one part of the Law which rule if observed would Antidote against Antinomianisme In the next place he commends this Law by a seasonable and fit digression from a two-fold Ministerial cause one proxime and immediate the Angels the other remote by the hand of a Mediator some indeed think this is added for the debasement of the Law and to difference it from the Gospel because the Law was given by Angels but the Gospel immediatly by Christ but I rather take it for a commendation lest he should have been thought to have condemned it for you know his adversaries charged this upon him Act. 21. 21. That he spake against the Law Now though the Apostle doth extoll the Gospel infinitely above the Law yet he always gives the Law
howsoever I have already delivered many things that do confirme the perpetuall obligation of it yet I did it not then so directly and professedly as now I shall The Text I have chosen being a very fit foundation to build such a structure upon I will therefore open the words and proceed as time shall suffer The Apostle Paul having laid down in verses preceding the nature of justification so exactly that we may finde all the causes efficient meritorious formall instrumentall and finall described as also the consequent of this truth which is the excluding of all self-confidence and boasting in what we do he draweth a conclusion or inference ver 26. And this conclusion is laid down first affirmatively and positively A man is justified by faith the Phrases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all equivalent with the Apostle And then to prevent all errours and cavils he doth secondly lay it down exclusively without works And this proposition he doth extend to the Jews and Gentiles also from the unity or onenesse of God which is not to be understood of the unity of his Essence but Will and Promise Now when all this is asserted he maketh an objection which is usuall with him in this Epistle and he doth it for this end to take away the calumny and reproach cast upon him by his adversaries as one that would destroy the Law The objection then is this propounded by way of interrogation to affect the more Do we make voyd the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle used this word in this Chapter ver 3. and it fignifieth to make empty and voide so that The Law shall be of no use or operation Now to this the Apostle answereth negatively by words of defiance and detestation God forbid So that by this expression you see how intolerable that doctrine ought to be unto the people of God that would take away the Law And the Apostle doth not only defie this objection but addeth we establish the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Metaphor from those that do corroborate and make firm a pillar or any such thing that was falling It hath much troubled Interpreters how Paul could say he established the Law especially considering those many places in his Epistles which seem to abrogate it Some understand it thus That the righteousnesse of faith hath it's witnesse from the Law and Prophets as ver 21. in this Chapter so that in this sense they make the Law established because that which was witnessed therein doth now come to passe Even as our Saviour said Moses did bear witnesse of him But this interpretation doth not come up to the Apostles meaning Those that limit this speech to the Ceremoniall Law do easily interpret it thus That the ceremonies and types were fulfilled in Christ who being the substance and body they are all now fulfilled in him But the Apostle comprehends the Morall Law under the word Law The Papists they make the Gospel a new Law and they compare it with the old Law having the Spirit as two things differing only gradually so that they say the old Law is established by the new as the childhood is established by elder age which is not by abolition but perfection That which I see the Orthodox pitch upon is that the Law is established three wayes by the Gospel First whereas the Law did threaten death to every transgressor this is established in Christ who satisfied the justice of God Secondly in that the Law requireth perfect obedience this is also fulfilled in Christ Now this is a matter worth discussion Whether the righteousnesse we are yet justified by be the righteousness of the Law For those learned men that are against the imputation of Christs active obedience they urge this argument which seemeth to carry much strength with it That if Christs active obedience be made ours and we justified by that then are we still justified by the works of the Law and so the righteousnesse of faith and works is all one faith in us and works in Christ If therefore active obedience be made ours as I conceive the truth to be in that doctrine then we may easily see the Law is established Thirdly but lastly which I take to be the truth and Austin heretofore interpreteth it so the Law is established because by the Gospel we obtain Grace in some measure to fulfill the Law so that we still keep the Law in the preceptive and informative part of it and do obtain by faith in Christ obedience in some degree to it which obedience also though it be not the Covenant of grace yet is the way to Salvation LECTVRE XXII ROM 3. 31. Do we then make void the Law THis Text is already explained and there are two Observations do naturally arise from it as first That it is an hard thing so to set up Christ grace as not thereby be thought to destroy the Law Thus was Paul misunderstood by some and so the Antinomians not rightly understanding in what latitude the Orthodox in their disputations against Popery did oppose the Law to the Gospel were thereby plunged into a dangerous errour But on this point I will not insist The second doctrine is that which I intend namely That the doctrine of Christ and grace in the highest and fullest manner doth not overthrow but establish the Law And this doctrine will directly lead us to lay our hands on the chiefe pillars of that house which the Antinomians have built The Question then at this time to be discussed is Whether the Law be abrogated or no by Christ to the beleevers under the Gospel And this Question I will answer by severall propositions that may conduce to the clearing of the the truth for it would seem as if the Scripture held out contradictions in this point In my Text it 's denyed that the Apostles do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make void the Law yet 2 Cor. 3. 11. The Apostle speaking of the Law hath this passage If that which be done away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the word is expresly used that yet here is denied so Ephes 2 14. Christ is described 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that maketh voyd the hand-writing against us And in that place the Apostle useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when yet Mat. 5. he denied that he came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dissolve the Law Grave therefore and serious is Chemnitius his admonition In all other things generall words beget confusion and obscurity but in the doctrine of the abrogation of the Law they are very dangerous unless it be distinctly explained how it is abrogated In the first place therefore consider That about a Law there are these affections if I may call them so There is an Interpretation a dispensation or relaxation and these differ from an abrogation for the former do suppose the Law still standing in force though
necessarily by way of consequence inforce the abrogation of the Law And thus though some Antinomians do expresly and boldly assert the abolishing of it at least to beleevers yet those that have more learning and wariness do disclaime it and account it a calumny but even at the same time while they do disclaime it as it is to be shewed presently they hold such assertions as do necessarily inferr the abrogation of it 3. The Law may be doctrinally dissolved by pressing such duties upon men whereby they will be necessitated to breake the commandments of God Thus when the Pharisees taught that whatsoever vow was made concerning any gift they were bound to do it though thereby they were disinabled to honour their parents And this is most remarkably seen in the Church of Rome who by the multitude and necessity of observation of their Church precepts and constitutions make men to break the plain commandments of God Now I shall briefly instance generally about those errours that dissolve Gods Law and then more particularly about the Antinomian doctrine The first Hereticks that opposed it were the Marcionites and Manichees Marcion whom Tertullian calls Mus potincus because of his arroding and gnawing the Scripture to make it serviceable to his errours he among other errours broacheth this That the old Law as he calls it was evill and that it came from an evill god To him in this opinion succeeded Manes who truly might be so called because of his madness although his followers to take away that reproach called him Mannichaeus as much as one that poured forth Manna as some affirme This mans errours though they were very gross yet so propagated that it was two hundred yeares ere they were quieted These and their followers all agreed in this to reject this Law of God There were also Hereticks called Anomi as it were sine lege but their errour was to think that they could by their knowledge comprehend the divine nature And they gave somuch to this their faith that they held Whosoever should imy brace it though he committed hainous and atrocious sins yet thes should do him no hurt Epiphan lib. 3. Haeres 36. But to let pasthese we may say Popery is in a great part Antinomianisme And Antichrist he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lawless One for is not their doctrine that the Pope may dispense with the Laws of God and that the Pope and Christ have the same Consistory Antinomianisme and in particular we may instance in their taking away the second Commandement out of some Carechismes because it forbiddeth the worshipping of Images Hence Vasquez one of their Goliahs doth expresly maintain that the second Commandement did belong only to the Jews and so not obliging us Christians thinking it impossible to answer our arguments against their Image-worship if that be acknowledged still in force Is there not also a generation of men who do by doctrine deny the fourth Commandement How many late books and practises have been for that opinion But hath it not fallen out according to the later exposition of my Text that they are the least in the Kingdome of heaven men of little account now in the Church while reforming I might likewise speak of some Anabaptists for there are of that sect that disclaim the opinion who overthrow the fifth Commandement by denying Magistracy lawfull for Christians But I will range no further The Antinomians do more fall against this Text then any in that they do not only by doctrine teach the dis-obligation of the least commandement but of all even of the whole Law This doth appeare true in the first Antinomians in Luthers time of whom Islebius was the captain he was a School-master and also professor of Divinity at Islebia It seemeth he was a man like a reed shaken with every winde for first he defended with the Orthodox the Saxon Confession of Faith but afterwards was one of those that compiled the Book called the Interim When Luther admonished him of his errour he promised amendment but for all that secretly scattered his errour which made Luther set forth publikely six solemn disputations against the Antinomians that are to be seen in his works which argueth the impudency of those that would make Luther on their side By these disputations of Luthers he was convinced and revoked his errour publishing his recantation in print yet when Luther was dead this Euripus did fall into his old errour and publikely defended it Now how justly they might be called Antinomists or as Luther sometimes Nomomachists appeareth by these Propositions which they publikely scattered about in their papers as 1. That the Law is not Worthy to be called the word of God 2. To heare the word of God and so to live is a consequence of the Law 3. Repentance is not to be taught out of the Decalogue or any Law of Moses but from the violation of the Son of God in the Gospel 4. We are with all our might to resist those who teach the Gospel is not to be preached but to those whose hearts are first made contrite by the Law These are Propositions of theirs set downe by Luther against which he had his disputations Vol. 1. Sousselberge lib. contra Antin pag. 38. relateth more as 1. The Law doth not shew good works neither is it to be preached that we may do them 2. The Law is not given to Christians therefore they are not to be reproved by the Law 3. The Preachers under the Gospel are onely to preach the Gospel not the Law because Christ did not say Preach the Law but Gospel to every creature 4. The legall Sermons of the Prophets doe not at all belong to us 5. To say that the Law is a rule of good works is blasphemy in Divinity Thus you see how directly these oppose the Law and therefore come under our Saviours condemnation in the Text yet at other times the proper state of the Question between the Orthodox Antinomists seemeth to be not Whether a godly man do not delight in the Law and do the works of the Law but Whether he doth it Lege docente urgente mandante the Law teaching urging and commanding As for the latter Antinomians Doctor Taylor and Mr. Burton who preached and wrote against them do record the same opinions of them Doctor Taylor in his Preface to his Book against them saith One preached that the whole Law since Christs death is wholly abrogated and abolished Another that to teach obedience to the Law is Popery Another That to do any thing because God commands us or to forbeare any sin because God forbids us is a signe of a morall man and of a dead and unsound Christian Others deliver That the Law is not to be preached and they that do so are Legall Preachers Master Burton also in his Book against them affirmeth they divided all that made up the body of the Church of England into Hogs or