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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41355	The marrow of modern divinity touching both the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace, with their use and end, both in the time of the Old Testament, and in the time of the New : wherein every one may cleerly see how far forth he bringeth the law into the case of justification, and so deserverh the name of legalist : and how far forth he rejecteth the law, in the case of sanctification, and so deserveth the name of Antinomist : with the middle path between them both, which by Iesus Christ leadeth to eternall life : in a dialogue, betwixt Evangelista, a minister of the Gospel, Nomista, a legalist, Antinomista, an Antinomian, and Neophytus, a young Christian / by the author, E.F. ; before the which there is prefixed the commendatory epistles of divers divines of great esteem in the citie of London ; whereunto is also added, the substance of a	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.; Hamilton, Patrick, 1504?-1528. Patricks places.	1646 (1646)	Wing F997; ESTC R1839	130,516	286

satisfied or else I will take hold on thee ●hen answer you and say O Law bee it known unto thee that I am now marryed unto Christ and so I am under cover● and therefore if thou charge me with any debt thou must enter thine action against my husband Christ for the wife is not suable at the Law but the husband But the truth is I through him am dead to thee ô Law and thou art dead to me and therefore justice hath nothing to doe with me for it judgeth according to the Law And if it yet reply and say I but good works must be done and the commandements must bee kept if thou wilt obtain salvation Then answer you and say I am already saved before thou camest therefore I have no need of thy presence for in Christ I have all things at once neither need I any thing more that is necessary to salvation hee is my righteousnesse my treasure and my work I confesse O Law that I am neither godly nor righteous but yet this am I sure of that he is godly and righteous for me and to tell thee the truth O Law I am now with him in the bride-chamber where it maketh no matter what I am or what I have done but what Christ my sweet husband is hath done and doth for me and therefore leave off Law to dispute with me for by faith I apprehend him who hath apprehended me and put me into his bosome wherefore I will be bold to bid Moses with his Tables and all Lawyers with their books and all men with their works hold their peace and give place so that I say unto thee O Law be gon and if it will not be gon then thrust it out by force And if sin offer to take hold of you as David said his did on him Psal. 40.14 then say you unto it thy strength O sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15.56 and the Law is dead to me and therefore O sin thy strength is gon and therefore be sure thou shalt never be able to prevail against me nor doe me any hurt at all And if Satan take you by the throat and by violence draw you before Gods judgement seat then call to your husband Christ and say Lord I suffer violence make answer for me and help me and by his help you shall be enabled to plead for your selfe after this manner O God the Father I am thy Sonne Christs thou gavest me unto him and thou hast given unto him all power both in heaven and in earth and hast committed all judgement to him and therefore I will-stand to his judgement who saith He came not to judge the World but to save it and therefore hee will save me according to his office and if the jury should bring in their verdict that they have found you guilty then speak to the Iudge and say in case any must be condemned for my transgressions it must needs be Christ and not I for albeit I have committed them yet hee hath undertaken and bound himselfe to answer for them and that by his consent and good will and indeed hee hath fully satisfied for them and if all this will not serve the turne to acquit you then Adde moreover and say As a woman that is conceived with childe must not suffer death because of the childe that is within her no more must I because I have conceived Christ in mine heart though I had committed all the sins in the world And if death creep upon you and attempt to devoure you then say thy sting ô death is sin and Christ my husband hath fully vanquished sin and so deprived thee of thy sting and therefore doe I not feare any hurt that thou ô death canst do unto mee And thus you may triumph with the Apostle saying Thanks be to God who hath given mee victory through my Lord Iesus Christ. And thus have I also declared unto you how Christ in the fulnesse of time performed that which God before all time purposed and in time promised touching the helping and delivering of falne mankind and so have I also done with the law of faith Nom. Then Sir I pray you proceed to speake of the law of Christ and first let us heare what the law of Christ is The law of Christ in regard of substance and matter is all one with the law of workes or covenant of workes which matter is scattered through the whole Bible and summed up in the Decalogue or ten commandements commonly called the Morall Law containing such things as are agreeable to the minde and will of God to wit piety towards God charity towards our Neighbour and sobriety towards our selves therefore was it given of God to be a true and eternall rule of righteousnes for all men of all Nations and at all times so that Evangelicall grace directs a man to no other obedience then that wherof the law of the ten commandements is to be the rule Nom. But yet Sir I conceive that though as you say the law of Christ in regard of substance and matter be all one with the law of works yet their forms do differ Evan. True indeed for as you have heard the law of works speaketh on this wise doe this and thou shalt live and if thou doe it not thou shalt die the death but the law of Christ speaketh on this wise And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine owne bloud I said unto thee when thou wast in thy bloud live And whosoever liveth and believeth in mee shall never die Be ye therefore followers of God as deare children and walke in love as Christ hath loved us And if ye love me keep my commandements And if they breake my statutes and keep not my commandements then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take away from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to fail Thus you see that both these laws agree in saying doe this but here is the difference The one saith doe this and live and the other saith live and doe this the one saith doe this for life the other saith do this from life the one saith If thou do it not thou shalt die the other saith If thou doe it not I will chastise thee with the rod the one is to be delivered by God as hee is a creatour out of Christ onely to such as are out of Christ the other is to be delivered by God as he is a Redeemer in Christ onely to such as are in Christ Wherefore Neighbour Neophytus seeth that you are now in Christ beware you receive not the ten commandements at the hands of God out of Christ nor yet at the hands of Moses but onely at the hands of Christ and so shall you be sure to receive them as the law of Christ. Nom. But Sir may not

thou do it not thou shalt die the death In which Covenant there was first contained 〈◊〉 precept Do this Secondly a promise joyned unto it If thou do it thou shalt live Thirdly a like threatning If thou do it not thou shalt die the death Imagine saith Musculus that God had said to Adam Lo to the intent that thou maist live I have given thee liberty to eat and have given thee abundantly to eat let all the fruits of Paradise be in thy power one tree except which see thou touch not for that I keep it to mine own authority the same is the tree of knowledge of good and evill If thou touch it the meat thereof shall not be life but death Nom. But Sir you said that the Law of the Ten Commandements or Morall Law may be said to be the matter of the Law of works and you have also said that the Law of works is as much to say as the Covenant of works whereby it seems to me you hold that the Law of the Ten Commandements was the matter of the Covenant of works which God made with all mankind in Adam before his fall Evan. That 's a truth agreed upon by all Authors and Interpreters that I know And indeed the Law of works as a learned Author saith signifies the Morall law and the Morall law strictly and properly taken signifies the Covenant of works Nom. But Sir what is the reason you call it but the matter of the covenant of works Evan. The reason why I rather chuse to call the Law of the Ten Commandements the matter of the Covenant of works then the Covenant it self is because I conceive that the matter of it cannot properly be called the covenant of works except the form be put upon it that is to say except the Lord require and man undertake to yield perfect obedience thereunto upon condition of eternall life and death And therefore till then it was not a covenant of works betwixt God and all mankinde in Adam As for example you know that although a servant have an ability to do a masters work and though a master have wages to bestow upon him for it yet is there not a covenant betwixt them till they have thereupon agreed Even so though man at the first had power to yield perfect and perpetuall obedience to all the Ten Commandements and God had an eternall life to bestow upon him yet was there not a covenant betwixt them till they were thereupon agreed Nom. But Sir you know there is no mention made in the book of Genesis of this covenant of works which you say was made with man at first Evan. Though we read not the word Covenant betwixt God and man yet have we there recorded what may amount to as much for God provided and promised to Adam eternall happinesse and called for perfect obedience which appears from Gods threatning Gen. 2.17 For if man must die if he disobeyed it implies strongly that Gods covenant was with him for life if he obeyed Nom. But Sir you know the word Covenant signifies a mutuall promise bargain and obligation betwixt two parties Now though it is implied that God promised man to give him life if he obeyed yet we read not that man promised to be obedient Evan. I pray take notice that God doth not alwayes tie man to verball expressions but doth often contract the Covenant in reall impressions in the heart and frame of the creature And this was the manner of covenanting with man at the first for God had furnished his soule with an understanding mind whereby he might discern good from evill and right from wrong and not only so but also in his will was most great uprightnesse and his instrumentall parts were orderly framed to obedience the truth is God did ingrave in mans soule wisdom and knowledge of his will and works and integrity in the whole soule and such a fitnesse in all the powers thereof that neither the mind did conceive nor the heart desire nor the body put in execution any thing but that which was acceptable to God so that man endowed with these qualities was able to serve God perfectly Nom. But Sir how could the Law of the Ten Commandements be the matter of this Covenant of works when they were not written as you know till the time of Moses Evan. Though they were not written in tables of stone untill the time of Moses yet were they written in the tables of mans heart in the time of Adam for we read that man was created in the image or likenesse of God Gen. 1.27 And the ten Commandements are a doctrine agreeing with the eternall wisdome and justice that is in God wherein he hath so painted out his own nature that it doth in a manner expresse the very image of God And doth not the Apostle say that the image of God consists in knowledge righteousnesse and true holinesse and is not knowledge righteousnes true holines the perfections of both the tables of the law And indeed saith M. Rollock it could not wel stand with the justice of God to make a Covenant with man under the condition of holy good works perfect obedience to his Law except he had first created man holy pure and ingraven his law in his hart whence those good works should proceed Nom. But yet I cannot but marvell that God in making the covenant with man did make mention of no other commandement then that of the forbidden fruit Evan. Do not marvell at it for by that one species of sin the whole genus or kind is shewn as the same Law being more clearly unfolded Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 doth expresse And indeed in that one Commandement the whole worship of God did consist as obedience honour love confidence and religious feare together with the outward abstinence from sin and reverent respect to the voice of God Yea herein also consisted his love and so his whole duty to his neighbour so that as a learned writer saith Adam heard as much in the garden as Israel did at Sinai but only in fewer words and without thunder Nom. But sir ought not man to have yielded perfect obedience to God though this Covenant had not been made betwixt them Evan. Yea indeed perfect and perpetuall obedience was due from man unto God though God had made no promise to man for when God created man at first he put forth an excellencie from himself into him and therefore it was the bond and tie that lay upon man to return that again unto God so that man being Gods creature by the law of creation he owed all obedience and subjection to God his creator Nom. Why then was it needfull that the Lord should make a covenant with him by promising him life and threatning him with death Evan. For answer hereunto in the first place I pray you understand that man was a reasonable creature

the Citie and wee shall die there and if we sit still here we die also n●w therefore come and let us fall into the hands of the Assyrians if they save us we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die even so say I in mine heart if I goe back to the covenant of works to seek justification thereby I shall die there and if I sit still and seek it no way I shall die also now therefore though I be somewhat fearfull yet am I resolved to go unto Christ and if I perish I perish Evan. Why now I tell you truly the match is made Christ is yours and you are his this day is salvation come to your house your soul I mean for what though you have not that power to come so fast unto Christ and to lay such firme hold on him as you desire yet comming with such a resolution to Christ to take him you need take no care for doing it you may be sure that Christ will enable you to do it for is it not said John 1.12 But as many as received him to them hee gave power to become the sonnes of God even to them that believe on his name O then I beseech you stand no longer disputing but be peremptory and resolute in your faith and in casting your selfe upon God in Christ for mercy and let the issue be what it will yet let me tell you to your comfort that such a resolution shall never go to hell nay I will say more if any soule have a roome in Heaven such a soul shall for God cannot finde in his heart to damne such a one I might then with as much true confidence say unto you as John Careless said unto John Bradford Hearken ô ye Heavens and thou ô earth give eare and beare me witnesse at the great day that I do here faithfully and truly the Lords message unto his deare servant and singularly beloved John Bradford saying John Bradford thou man so specially beloved of God I doe pronounce and testifie unto thee in the word and name of the Lord Jehovah that all thy sins whatsoever they be though never so many grievous or great be fully and freely pardoned released and forgiven thee by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ thy onely Lord and sweet Saviour in whom thou dost undoubtedly believe as truly as the Lord liveth he will not have thee die the death but hath verily purposed determined and decreed that thou shalt live with him for ever Neo. O Sir If I have as good warrant to apply this saying to my self as Mr. Bradford had to apply it to himself I am a happy man Evan. I tell you from Christ and under the hand of his spirit that your person is accepted your sins are done away and you shall be saved and if an Angell from Heaven should tell you otherwise let him be accursed therefore you may without doubt conclude that you are a happy man For by means of this your matching with Christ you are become one with him and one in him you dwell in him and he in you Hee is your welbeloved and you are his so that the mariage union betwixt Christ and you is more then a bare notion or apprehension of your mind for it is a spirituall reall union it is an union betwixt the nature of Christ God and man and you it is a knitting and closing not onely of your apprehension with a Saviour but also of your soule with a Saviour whence it must needs follow that you cannot be damned except Christ be damned with you neyther can Christ be saved except you be saved with him And as by means of corporall marriage all things become common betwixt man and wife even so by means of this spirituall marriage all things become common betwixt Christ and you for when Christ hath married his spouse unto himselfe hee passeth over all his estate unto her so that whatsoever Christ is or hath you may boldly challenge as your own He is made unto you of God wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption and surely by vertue of this neer union it is that as Christ is called the Lord our righteousnesse Jer. 23.6 so is the Church called the Lord our righteousnesse Jer. 35.16 You may by vertue of this union confidently take unto your selfe as your own Christ watching abstinence travails prayers persecution slanders his tears his sweat his bloud and all that ever he did and suffered in three and thirty years with his Passion Death Resurrection and Ascention for they are all yours and as Christ passeth over all his estate unto his spouse so doth he require that shee should passe over all unto him wherefore you being now married unto Christ you must give all that you have of your own unto him and truly you have nothing of your own but sin and therefore you must give him that say thou unto Christ without fear I give to thee my dear husband my unbelief my mistrust my pride my arrogancie my ambition my wrath my anger my envie my covetousnesse my evill thoughts affections and desires I make a bundle of these and all my other offences and give them unto thee thus was Christ made sin for us which knew no sin that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him now then saith Luther let us compare these things together and we shall finde inestimable treasure Christ is full of all grace life and saving health and the soule is fraught full of all sin death and damnation but let faith come betwixt these two and it shall come to passe that Christ shall bee loaden with sin death and hell and unto the soule shall be imputed grace life and salvation who then saith he is able to value the royalty of this marriage accordingly who is able to comprehend the glorious riches of this grace where this rich and righteous husband Christ doth take unto wife this poore and wicked harlot redeeming her from all evils and garnishing her with all his own jewels so that you as the same Luther saith through the assurednesse of your faith in Christ your husband are delivered from all sins made safe from death guarded from hell and endowed with the everlasting righteousnesse life and saving health of your husband Christ and therefore you are now under the covenant of grace and freed from the Law as it is the covenant of works for as M. ball truly saith at one and the same time a man cannot be under the covenant of works and the covenant of grace Neo. Sir I doe not yet well know how to conceive of this freedome from the Law as it is the covenant of works and therefore I pray you make it as plain to me as you can Evan. For the true and cleer understanding of this point you are to consider that when Jesus Christ the second Adam had in the

tidings that is to say that God to whose eternall knowledge all things are present and nothing past or to come foreseeing mans fall before all time purposed and in time promised and in the fulnesse of time performed the sending of his sonne Jesus Christ into the world to help and deliver fallen mankind Ant. I beseech you Sir let us heare more of these things and first of all shew how we are to conceive of Gods eternall purpose in sending of Jesus Christ. Evan. Why here the Learned frame a kind of conflict in Gods holy attributes and by a liberty which the Holy Ghost from the language of holy Scripture alloweth them they speak of God after the manner of men as if he were reduced to some straits and difficulties by the crosse demands of his severall Attributes for Truth and Justice stood up and said that man had sinned and therefore man must die and so called for the condemnation of a sinfull and therefore worthily accursed creature or else they must be violated for thou saidst say they to God in what day that thou eatest of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shalt die the death Mercy on the other side pleaded for favour and appeales to the great Court in Heaven and there it pleads saying Wisdome and power and goodnesse have been all manifest in the Creation and Anger and Justice they have been magnified in mans misery that he is now plunged into by his fall but I have not yet been manifested O let favour and compassion be shewed towards man wofully seduced and overthrown by Sathan O said they unto God it is a royall thing to relieve the distressed and the greater any one is the more placable and gentle he ought to be But Justice replied If I be offended I must be satisfied and have my right And therefore I require that man who hath lost himself by his disobedience should for remedy set obedience against it and so satisfie the judgement of God Therefore the wisdome of God became an umpire and devised a way to reconcile them concluding that before there could be reconciliation made there must be two things effected first a satisfaction of Gods justice secondly a reparation of mans nature which two things must needs be effected by such a middle and common person that had both zeal toward God that he might be satisfied and compassion toward man that he might be repaired Such a person as having mans guilt and punishment translated on him might satisfie the justice of God and as having a fulnesse of Gods spirit and holinesse in him might sanctifie and repaire the nature of man And this could be none other but Jesus Christ one of the three persons of the blessed Trinity And therefore he by his Fathers ordinacion his own voluntary susception and the holy Spirits sanctification was fitted for the businesse whereupon there was a speciall covenant or mutuall agreement made between God and Christ as is expressed Isa. 53. vers 10. That if Christ would make himselfe a sacrifice sacrifice for him then he should see his seed he should prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper by him So in Psal. 89.19 the mercy of this Covenant between God and Christ under the type of Gods covenant with David are set forth Thou spakest in vision to thy Holy one and saidst I have laid help upon one that is mighty or as the Chaldee expoundeth one mighty in the Law As if God had said concerning his elect I know that these will break and never be able to satisfie me but you are a mighty and substantiall person able to pay me therefore I will look for my debt of you as Paraeus well observes God did as it were say to Christ What they owe me I require it all at your hands Then said Christ Lo I come to do thy will In the volume of thy book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is in my heart Thus Christ assented and from everlasting stroke hands with God to put upon him mans person and to take upon him his name and to enter in his stead in obeying his father and to do all for man that he should require and to yield in mans flesh the price of the satisfaction of the just judgment of God and in the same flesh to suffer the punishment that man had deserved And this he undertook under the penalty that lay upon man to have undergone and thus was Justice satisfied and Mercy magnified by the Lord Jesus Christ and so God took Christs single bond whence Christ is not only called the Surety of the Covenant for us Heb. 7 22. but the Covenant it self Isa. 49 8. And God laid all upon him that he might be sure of satisfaction protesting that he would not deale with us nor so much as expect any payment from us such was his grace And thus did our Lord Jesus Christ enter into the same covenant of works that Adam did to deliver believers from it he was contented to be under all that commanding revenging authority which that Covenant had over them to free them from the penalty of it and in that respect Adam is said to be a type of Christ as you have it Rom. 5.14 Who was the type of him that was to come Unto which purpose the 〈◊〉 which the Apostle gives these two Ch●ist and Adam are exceeding observable he cals Adam the fi●st man and Christ our Lord the second man speaking of them as if there never had been any more men in the world besides these two thereby making them the head and root of all mankind they having as it were the rest of the sons of men included in them the first man is called the earthly man the second man Christ is called the Lord from heaven The earthly man had all the sons of men born into the world included in him and is so called in conformity unto them The second man Christ is called the Lord from heaven who had all the elect included in him who are said to be the first-borne and to have their names written in heaven Heb. 12.13 and therefore are oppositely called heavenly men so that these two in Gods account stood for all the rest And thus you see that the Lord willing to shew mercy to the creature fallen and withall to maintain the authority of his Law took such a course as might best manifest his clemencie and severity Christ entred into covenant and became surety for man and so became liable to many ingagements for he that answers as a surety must pay the same sum of money that the debtor oweth And thus have I endeavoured to shew you how we are to conceive of Gods eternall purpose in sending of Jesus Christ to help and deliver fallen mankind Ant. I beseech you Sir proceed also to the

father as touching his manhood and without mother as touching his Godhead Whereby we are given to understand that it was the purpose of God that Melchisedec should in these particulars resemble the person and office of Jesus Christ the son of God and so by Gods own appointment be a type of him to Abraham to ratifie and confirm the promise made to him and his seed in respect of the eternall covenant to wit That he and his believing seed should be so blessed in Christ as Melchisedec had blessed him Nay let me tell you more some have thought it most probable yea and have said If we search out this truth without partiality we shall find that this Melchisedec which appeared unto Abraham was none other then the son of God manifest by a speciall dispensation and priviledge unto Abraham in the flesh who is therefore said to have seen his day and rejoiced Joh. 8.56 Moreover in Gen. 15. we read that the Lord did again confirm this covenant with Abraham for when Abraham had divided the beasts God came between the parts like a smoking furnace and a burning lamp which as some have thought did primarily typifie the torment and rending of Christ and the furnace and fiery lamp did typifie the wrath of God running between and yet did not consume the rent and torne nature and the blood of circumcision did typifie the blood of Christ And the resolved sacrificing of Isaac on mount Moria by Gods appointment did prefigure and foreshew that by the offering up of Christ the promised seed in the very same place all Nations should be saved Now this Covenant thus made and confirmed with Abraham was renued with Isaac Gen. 26.4 and made known unto Jacob by Jesus Christ himself for that man which wrestled with Jacob was none other but the man Christ Jesus for himself said that Jacob should be called Israel a wrestler and prevailer with God and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel because he had seen God face to face And Iacob left it by his last will unto his children in these words The scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a law giver from between his feet till Shilo come That is to say Of Judah shall Kings come one after another and many in number till at last the Lord Jesus come who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Or as the Thargum of Jerusalem and the Onkelos do translate it until Christ the ano●nted come Nom. But Sir are you sure that this promised seed was meant of Christ Evan. The Apostle puts that out of doubt Gal. 3.16 saying Now unto Abraham and to his seed were the promises made He saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ and so no doubt but these godly Patriarks did understand it Ant. But Sir the great promise that was made unto them as I conceive and which they seemed to have most regard unto was the land of Canaan Evan. There is no doubt but that these godly Patriarks did see their heavenly inheritance by Christ through the promise of the land of Canaan as the Apostle testifieth of Abraham Heb. 11. saying He sojourned in a strange country and looked for a city having a foundation whose builder and maker is God Whereby it is evident saith Calvin that the height and eminency of Abrahams faith was the looking for an everlasting life in heaven The like testimony he gives of Sarah Isaac and Jacob saying All these dyed in the faith Implying that they did not expect to receive the fruit of the promise till after death And therefore in all their travels they had before their eyes the blessednesse of the life to come which caused old Jacob to say at his death Lord I have waited for thy salvation The which speech the Chaldee paraphrases expound thus Our father Jacob said not I expect the salvation of Gideon son of Joash which is a temporall salvation nor the salvation of Sampson son of Manoah which is a transitory salvation but the salvation of Christ the son of David who shall come and bring unto himself the sons of Israel whose salvation my soule desireth And so you see that this Covenant made with Abraham in Christ was the comfort and support of these and the rest of the godly fathers untill their departure out of Egypt Ant. And what followed then Evan. Why then Christ Jesus was most clearly manifested unto them in the Passeover lamb for as that lamb was to be without spot or blemish Exod. 12.5 even so was Christ 1 Pet. 1.19 And as that lamb was taken up the tenth day of the first new moon in March even so on the very same day of the same moneth came Christ to Jerusalem to suffer his passion And as that lamb was killed on the fourteenth day at even just then on the same day and at the same houre did Christ give up the ghost And as the blood of that lambe was to be sprinkled on the Israelites doores Exod. 12.7 Even so is the blood of Christ sprinkled on believers hearts by faith 1 Pet. 1.2 And their deliverance out of Egypt was a figure of their redemption by Christ their passing through the Red sea was a type of Baptisme when Christ should come in the flesh And their manna in the wildernesse and water out of the rock did resemble the sacrament of the Lords supper and hence it is that the Apostle saith they did all eat the same spirituall meat and did all drink the same spirituall drink for they drank of that spirituall rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. And when they were come to mount Sinai the Lord delivered the Ten Commandements unto them Ant. And were the Ten Commandements as they were delivered to them on mount Sinai the Covenant of works Evan. Yea indeed were they Nom But by your favour Sir you know that these people were the posterity of Abraham and therefore under that covenant of grace which God made with their father And therefore I do not think that they were delivered to them as the covenant of works For Sir you know the Lord never delivers the covenant of works to any that are under the covenant of grace Evan. Indeed 't is true the Lord did manifest so much love to the body of this nation that all the naturall seed of Abraham were externally and by profession under the covenant of grace made with their father Abraham though 't is to be feared many of them were still under the covenant of works made with their father Adam Nom. But Sir you know in the preface to the Commandements the Lord cals himself by the name of their God in generall and therefore it should seem that they were all of them the people of God Evan. That is nothing to the purpose for many wicked and ungodly men being in the visible

M. Gray junior H Bishop Hall M. Thomas Hooker L Doctor Luther M. Lightfoot M Wolfangius Musculus Peter Martyr Doctor Mayor M. Marshall O Barnardine Ochine P M. Perkins Doctor Preston R M. Rollock M. Reynolds M. Rouse S Doctor Smith Doctor Sibbs M. Slater T M. Tyndall M. Robert Towne V Doctor Vrban Regius Doctor Vrsinus M. Vaughan W Doctor Willet Doctor Williams M. Wilson M. Ward THE MARROVV OF Modern Divinity Interlocutors EVANGELISTA a Minister of the Gospel NOMISTA a Legalist ANTINOMISTA an Antinomian NEOPHYTUS a young Christian. Nomista SIR My neighbour Neophytus and I having lately had some conference with this our friend and acquaintance Antinomista about some points of Religi●n wherein he differing from us both at last ●id he would be contented to be judged by ●ou our Minister therefore have we made bold to come unto you all three of us to pray you to heare us and judge of our differences Evan. You are all of you very welcome to me and if you please to let me heare what your differences are I will tell you what I think Nom. The truth is Sir he and I differ in very many things but more especially about the Law for I say the Law ought to be a rule of life to a believer and he saith it ought not Neo. And surely Sir the greatest difference betwixt him and I is this He would perswade me to believe in Christ and bids me rejoyce in the Lord and live merrily though I feel never so many corruptions in my heart yea though I be never so sinfull in my life the which I cannot do nor I think ought not to do but rather to feare and sorrow and lament for my sins Anti. The truth is Sir the greatest difference is betwixt my feiend Nomista and I about the Law and therefore that is the greatest matter we come unto you about Evan. I remember the Apostle Paul willeth Titus to avoyd contentions and strivings about the Law because they are unprofitable and vain and so I feare me yours have been Nom. Sir for mine own part I hold it very meet that every true Christian should be very zealous for the holy Law of God especially now when a company of these Antinomians do set themselves against it and do what they can quite to abolish it and utterly to root it out of the Church surely Sir I think it not meet they should ●ive in a Christian Common-wealth Evan. I pray you neighbour Nomista be not so hot neither let us have such unchristianlike expressions amongst us and let us reason together in love and with the spirit of meeknesse as Christians ought to do I confesse with the Apostle it is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good thing But yet as the same Apostle said of the Jews so I feare me I may say of some Christians that they are zealous of the Law yea some would be Doctors of the Law and yet neither understand what they say nor whereof they affirm Nom. Sir I make no doubt but that I both know what I say and whereof I affirm when I say and affirm that the holy Law of God ought to be a rule of life to a believer For I dare pawn my soule of the ●ruth of it Evan. But what Law do you mean Nom. Why Sir what Law do you think I mean Is there any more Lawes then one Evan. Yea in the New Testament the● is mention made of a three-fold Law 〈◊〉 wit the law of works the law of faith an● the law of Christ and therefore I pray yo● tell me when you say the Law ought to b● a rule of life to a believer which of their three Lawes you mean Nom. Sir I know not the difference betwixt them but this I know that the Law of the Ten Commandements commonly called the Morall Law ought to be a rule of life to a believer Evan. But the Law of the Ten Commandements or Morall Law may be either said to be the matter of the law of works or the matter of the law of Christ and therefore I pray you tell me in whether o● these senses you conceive it ought to be ● rule of life to a believer Nom. Sir I must confesse I do not know what you mean by this distinction but thi● I know that God requires that every Christian should frame and lead his life according to the rule of the Ten Commandements the which if he do then may he expect the blessing of God both upon his soule and body and if he do not then can he expect nothing else but his wrath and curse upon them both Evan. The truth is neighbour Nomista ●he Law of the Ten Commandements as it 〈◊〉 the matter of the Law of Works ought not to be a rule of life to a believer but in thus saying you have affirmed that it ought and therefore therein you have erred from the truth And now friend Antinomista that I may also know your judgement when you say the Law ought not to be a rule of life to a believer I pray you tell me what Law you mean Ant. Why I mean the Law of the Ten Commandements Evan. But whether do you mean that Law as it is the matter of the law of works or as it is the matter of the Law of Christ Ant. Surely Sir I do conceive that the Ten Commandements are no way to be a rule of life to a believer for Christ hath delivered him from them Evan. But the truth is the law of the Ten Commandements as it is the matter of the law of Christ ought to be a rule of life to a believer and therefore you having affirmed the contrary have therein also er●ed from the truth Nom. The truth is Sir I must confesse 〈◊〉 never took any notice of this three-fold ●aw which it seems is mentioned in the New Testament Ant. And I must confesse if I took any notice of them I never understood them Evan. Well give me leave to tell you that so far forth as any man comes short of the true knowledge of this threefold Law so far forth he comes short both of the true knowledge of God and of himself And therefore I wish you both to consider of it Nom. Sir if it be so you may do well to be a means to inform us and help us to the true knowledge of this threefold Law and therefore I pray you first tell us what is meant by the law of works Evan. The law of works opposed to the law of faith Rom. 3.27 holds forth as much as the covenant of works for it is manifest saith Musculus that the word which signifieth covenant or bargain is put for law so that you see the Law of works is as much to say as the Covenant of works the which Covenant the Lord made with all mankinde in Adam before his fall the summe whereof was Do this and thou shalt live And If