must suppose remission and grace a favourable and gracious acceptation which because it is voluntary and arbitrary in God less than his due and more than our merit no natural reason can teach us to appease God with Sacrifices It is indeed agreeable unto reason that blood should be poured forth when the life is to be paid because the blood is the life But that one life should redeem another that the blood of a Beast should be taken in exchange for the life of a man That no reason naturally can teach us Lev. 27.29 The life of the flesh is in the Blood and I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an atonement for poor souls for it is the Blood that maketh an atonement for the Soul according to which are those words of St. Paul Without shedding of blood there is no remission meaning that in the Law all expiation of sins was by Sacrifices to which Christ by the sacrifice of himself put a period But all this was by Gods appointment but no part of a Law of Nature 1. Because God confined it amongst the Jews to the family of Aaron and that only in the land of their own Inheritance the Land of promise which could no more be done in a natural Religion than the Sun can be confin'd to a Village Chappel 2. Because God did express oftentimes that he took no delight in the sacrifices of Beasts Psal 40 Ps 50 Ps 51. Is 1. Jer. 7. Hos 6. Mich. 6. 3. Because he tells us in opposition to Sacrifices and external Rites what that is which is the natural and essential Religion in which he does delight The sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving a broken and a contrite heart that we should walk in the way which he hath appointed that we should do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with our God He desires Mercy and not Sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings 4. Because Gabriel the Arch-angel foretold that the Messias should make the daily sacrifice to cease 5. Because for above 1600 years God hath suffered that Nation to whom he gave the Law of Sacrifices to be without Temple or Priest or Altar and therefore without Sacrifice But then if we enquire why God gave the Law of Sacrifices and was so long pleased with it the Reasons are evident and confess 't 1. Sacrifices were types of that great oblation which was made upon the Altar of the Cross 2. It was an Expiation which was next in kind to the real forfeiture of our own lives it was blood for blood a life for a life a less for a greater it was that which might make us confess Gods severity against sin though not feel it It was enough to make us hate the sin but not to sink under it It was sufficient for a sine but so as to preserve the state It was a Manuduction to a great Sacrifice but suppletory of the great loss and forfeiture It was enough to glorifie God and by it to save our selves It was insufficient in it self but accepted in the great Sacrifice It was enough in shadow when the substance was so certainly to succeed 3. It was given the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Author of the Apostolical Constitutions affirms L. 6. c. 18. That being loaden with expence of sacrifices to one God they might not be greedy upon the same terms to run after many And therefore the same Author affirms Before their golden Calf and other Idolatries Sacrifices were not commanded to the Jews but perswaded only recommended and left unto their liberty By which we are at last brought to this Truth That it was taught by God to Adam and by him taught to his posterity that they should in their several manners worship God by giving to him something of all that he had given us And therefore something of our time and something of our goods And as that was to be spent in praises and celebration of his name so these were to be given in consumptive offerings but the manner and measure was left to choice and taught by superadded reasons and positive Laws c. Idem ib. l. 2. c. 2. p. 321. I know it is said very commonly and the Casuists do commonly use that method That the explication of the Decalogue is the sum of all their moral Theology but how insufficiently the foregoing Instances do sufficiently demonstrate I remember that Tertullian I suppose to try his wits finds all the Decalogue in the Commandment which God gave to Adam to abstain from the forbidden fruit In hâc enim lege Adae datâ omnia praecepta recondita recognoscimus L. adv Jud. quae posteà repullulaverunt data per Mosem And just so may all the Laws of Nature and of Christ be found in the Decalogue Decalogue as the Decalogue can be found in the Precept given to Adam But then also they might be found in the first Commandment of the Decalogue and then what need had their been of Ten It is therefore more than probable that this was intended as a digest of all those Moral Laws in which God would expect and exact their obedience leaving the perfection and consummation of all unto the time of the Gospel God intending by several portions of the eternal or natural Law to bring the world to that perfection from whence Mankind by sin did fall and by Christ to enlarge this Natural Law to a similitude and conformity to God himself as far as our Infirmities can bear Id. ib. l. 2. c. 3. p. 521. That which is true to day will be true to morrow and that which is in its own nature good or necessary is good or necessary every day and therefore there is no essential duty of the Religion but is to be the work of every day To confess Gods glory to be his subject to love God to be ready to do him service to live according to nature and to the Gospel to be chast to be temperate to be just these are the employments of all the periods of a Christians life For the moral law of Religion is nothing but the moral law of Nature Those who in the Primitive Church put off their Baptism to the time of their death knew that Baptism was a profession of holiness and an undertaking to keep the Faith and live according to the Commandments of Jesus Christ and that as soon as ever they were baptized that is as soon as ever they had made profession to be Christs Disciples they were bound to keep all the laws of Christ and therefore that they deferred their Baptism was so egregious a prevarication of their duty that as in all reason it might ruine their hopes so it proclaimed their folly to all the world For as soon as ever they were convinced in their understanding they were obliged in their Consciences And although Baptism does publish the Profession Baptism and is like the forms and solemnities of law yet
made These are Subtleties and true as to matter of outward action of Positive Law that cannot be intended by a man against himself or a Subject against his Prince in foro humano But nevertheless in plain truth and equity a man may be bound firmly to himself and a Prince to his Subjects by the Law of Nature and the action hold good in foro divino and God may require the obligation of his Creature and punish the neglect Because a Man by promising to take care of himself in tying up himself to any good is obliged to do it as he is the Servant of God and a Member of humane Society and be punishable by God and Men for not doing it As that Servant that shall disable himself from doing his Lords service or that Member of a Society that hath lamed himself or otherwise from doing his Country service is justly punishable by them both As was the Souldier that cut off his finger because he would serve no longer in War c. But to wave all niceties still this is evident and plain That in all Covenants to make them perfect there is required the Will of the Promisee and the Will of him to whom the Promise is made for where this is wanting and that this Party refuseth to accept of the thing promised though the other Party hath confirmed his Promise by an Oath yet the right of the thing so promised and sworn remains entirely with the Promiser because no man can be willing to obtrude his own Goods upon a Person that is unwilling to receive them it being alwaies a condition necessarily supposed That any man gives a thing no otherwise than if the Party for whom he intends it shall accept thereof Neither can any man be imagined so void of reason as simply to renounce his own Right and to leave those things pro derelictis at random for any body which he hath laid at the foot of the Refuser but they are his still as fully as ever The Third BOOK OF THE LAW OR Old Testament The CONTENTS Definition of Law TITLE I. Of the Nature of the Law A LAW is a publick Will Of the Nature of the Law universal and perpetual for all Persons to all Ages except necessity cause a change Definition of Law Laws and Ordinances of Men are often changed but Wills and Testaments of God or Man are never changed As a Testament is a private Will particular and temporal for one Person for his own time i. e. for the Executor so a Law is a publick Will for all Persons for all Ages As the Laws of England are the publick Will of the State for all Persons for all Ages for if the Will be not publick and perpetual it is a Testament and not a Law if not universal it is but a Decree if not perpetual it is but an Ordinance but God's Laws are publick universal and perpetual for all Men and all Ages God's Will is sometimes private concerning a single person as that Abraham should offer up his Son Isaac No Law God's Will is sometimes publick universal and perpetual concerning a whole Nation for all Ages as that of Circumcision for the Israelites God's Will is sometimes publick universal and perpetual concerning all Nations as the Law of Nature to all Mankind From this general and perpetual Law of Nature to all Mankind flow those particular Laws to some Nations but to all in those Nations intended to be perpetual but as emergencies may fall out changeable but still those Laws that succeed must be as the former agreeable to the universal Law of Nature to all Mankind which is the common fountain The Law of Moses was for the Moral part a draught of the lowest Laws of Nature which were in great part obliterated and forgotten by constant habits and examples of sin And for the Ceremonial and Judicial part sitted for that Nation at that place and time for signification of higher Rites and Rules of Perfection that were to come The Law of Christ is the perfection of the Law of Nature never revealed so fully before being the compleat and last Will of God for all to walk by for ever This new and royal Law of Christ did refine the Moral abolish the Ceremonial and Judicial Law of Moses for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof The Moral part was weak because it consisted of the meanest and lowest Laws of all and had no Spirit to give strength against the committing of sin but only to declare it and punish it without mercy And as for the Ceremonial part it was unprofitable because no part of Natures Law and only for the state of the Jews minority and was of its own nature to vanish as a shadow when Christ the great Law-giver came who was the substance of them all It is therefore called a New Commandment because it gave forth more spiritual and Coelestial Precepts and was established upon better Promises and endeared by new instances of infinite Love and gave more excellent graces and assistances by the gift of the Holy Ghost not abolishing the old matter of the Law of Nature by Moses but superadding thereunto and spiritualizing the same to the highest systeme of regularity and conformity with Christ The CONTENTS Letter Spirit Promises Precepts Judgments Works Contract Revelation of eternal life reserved Temporals prepare for Eternals Outward Obedience Sufficient means under Law Love of God Love of Neighbour Life Christ expounded the Law TITLE II. Of Moses Law AS therefore concerning the Law of Moses Of Moses Law the Subject now in hand That Law strictly taken is the whole body of Orders and Rules for life given to the Children of Israel containing 1. Promises of Blessings peculiar to that Nation 2. Precepts of Duties 1. Moral in nature as the Decalogue 2. Ceremonial in Gods pleasure 3. Judicial for their Polity or Government 4. Judgments and Punishments to the Transgressours The Law of Moses is taken at large for the Pentateuch and for all the Moral Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament The Law of Moses was established by the death of Beasts because there must be blood in the case for all such Sanctions of Covenants and Testaments compare Exod. 24.5 6 7 8. with Hebrews 9.18 19 20. 2 Cor. 3.14 The Law because of the Precepts and Judgments thereof is called a Covenant of God for the observation of those Precepts and Judgments For unto Gods will to command was joyned the Peoples will to obey All that the Lord hath spoken we will observe and do Exod. 19. Exod. 24. Which agreement of Wills made up a Covenant This Law was Gods old and first Testament ordained to stand in force till the time of Reformation by the Gospel the second and everlasting Testament In this Law there is a Letter and a Spirit Ro. 2.29 the one is oldness and the other newness Ro. 7.6 the one is killing the other giving life 2 Cor. 3.6 I. The Letter
the Son hath above the Servant not to be ejected or punished for every fault as the Servant may doth give the Son this priviledge in faults only such as are ignorances and infirmities but excuseth him not in crimes such as are malignities and wilful presumptions from being disinherited As a Malefactor relapseth into the same crimes or worse after pardon destroies himself As a Slave after liberty sells himself again to bondage is the author of his own ruin My unthankfulness therefore is the cause of the forfeiture of my right by Faith Not that I have no Faith for then I could not be justified but my Faith for want of works becomes dead It had life enough to accept of the promises and legacies of God's Will and Testament but not of the precepts and conditions So my Faith not working by Love dies and looses the right to Blessedness except it revive again by Resipiscence SECT II. Reason Breach of one party disobligeth the other Because God promiseth me a present Right to a future Blessing I accept the Promise and thereupon have right unto it and by this acceptance I do tacitly re-promise unto God that duty which as a beneficiary I owe unto my Lord by the Law of Nature and Equity Now if I for my part perform not this my promise God for his part is disobliged from the performance of his promise of which my unfaithfulness is the cause who have broken the Covenant betwixt God and my Soul My ungraciousness is also the cause of the forfeiture of my right by Faith This is a high degree of unthankfulness 1. To God so High a Person 2. For so Great a Grace as to be his Son and Heir 3. For so Free Grace without any desert desire or motion of mine or any other only my Faith to accept it If therefore to this Great God for so great Grace so freely bestowed upon me I do not return that love honour and obedience with all my heart and with all my Soul as is due from me a Son to such a Father then this extream unthankfulness and ungraciousness of mine deprives me of that benefit which I should have received from it SECT III. From hence will flow these Consequences Mutability of Justification 1. That my state of Justification is mutable It is in it self stable and permanent it may and should be perpetual but during my Natural Life and before I die it may be defeated and destroyed I do not say It must be defeated and destroyed for the mutability of it is not necessary as is the mortality of the Body which must die But the mutability thereof is possible for as it may so it may not be defeated It may not be defeated 1. It may not be defeated For when I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven this state was intended to continue to me for ever For when I am dead and dissolved into dust God still remaineth my Father and my God and Christ my Elder Brother and Co-Heir and from the dead I shall be raised to the possession of my Father's Blessing for God is not the God of the dead but of the living For as Marriages so rights of Inheritances are not temporary for term of years but of perpetuity for ever Hence the Son is said to differ from the Servant because The Servant abideth not in the House for ever John 8.35 i. e. hath no right to abide for ever but the Son abideth for ever i. e. hath right to abide for ever 2. It may be defeated It may be not defeated Gal. 2.18 Else how could I build again my first state of sinfulness which once I destroyed If therefore my state may be not destroyed it may be destroyed I find by good history and sad experience that states of perpetuity have been defeated and destroyed that many a Man which had a good Estate in Fee-simple to him and to his Heirs for ever yet by making himself a transgressor against his Lord and King hath forfeited that his Estate to him and his Heirs for ever That many a Woman who was married for life till death should depart her and her Husband yet by making her self a transgressor against her Husband hath been divorced from her Husband and lost her Husband and her Dower That many a Son who was Heir apparent to his Father's Estate yet by making himself a transgressor against his Father hath been disinherited and lost his Estate And the like is possible concerning my Estate of Justification see the Scriptures Joh. 5.14 Rom. 11.20 1 Cor. 10.12 1 Tim. 1.19 Heb. 3.12 1 Pet. 2.11 Math. 12.43 44. Heb. 6.4 Heb. 10.26 27. 2 Pet. 2.20 As also consider the examples of Aaron David Solomon c. which exhortations and examples do necessarily demonstrate the mutability of my Justification Because to a thing that is impossible there needs no Exhortation Reason or Dehortation And Because of a thing impossible it is impossible that there should be any Example The Grand Reason that my state of Justification may be defeated is because it is Conditional for though God's donation of my present right to be his Son and Heir is absolute without any condition or preceeding act on my part except it be the passive act of my Faith to accept thereof yet my future possession of that inheritance whereto I have now a present right is conditional and that condition runs upon my good behaviour of deporting my self as becomes the Son of God for this condition is sufficiently expressed in God's last Will and Testament Or supposing but not granting that in God's Testament there is no mention made of any such condition yet such a condition must be understood because the very Nature and Equity of the thing requires it And the state of a Son and Heir wherein I stand doth necessarily draw this duty along with it and so bind me thereto that for non-performance thereof my state may be destroyed Yet every trespass will not destroy it neither because God will forgive me a thousand faults upon my repentance and commands me to pray unto him therefore and promises to forgive my trespasses and commands me to forgive my Brother that repenteth though he sin against me seven times in a day nay seventy times seven times Therefore certainly he being my Father will upon my repentance forgive me more times for all the daies of my life For because I am his Son therefore I am not so much under his Law as under his Grace i. e. God will not deal rigorously and strictly with me according to Law to reject or punish me for every trespass like a Slave who is under the will and pleasure of his Lord but he will use me mercifully and kindly to correct me in measure or to forgive me like a Son who is under the love and grace of his Father But if I rise up in open rebellion against my
Justification but Faith with works doth conserve Justification And so Paul and James do full well agree and James's Doctrine will be a consequence from Paul's principles For because my Faith only without works doth create my Justification and because evil works do destroy the state of it and do build again my state of Sin therefore it followeth That good works do continue my state of Justification and keep it from ruin For in case I should fall my Faith alone cannot restore me but if I recover working my works of repentance must be the means of my recovery 1 Cor. 13.2 And because as Paul saith Though I have all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing Therefore as James teacheth Faith without works is dead And lastly because as Paul teacheth In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith that worketh by Love Therefore as James teaches Faith working with works is by works made perfect For the farther clearing of this seeming contradiction of St. Paul and St. James note That as faith sworn by the Vassal to his Lord justifies the Vassal to his Fee or benefice to have right thereto so the Homage it self is the life of his faith and justifies him to the same benefice that he may hold his right so obtained by his Faith In like manner faith made to God justifies his Creature to the Estate of Blessedness to have right thereto and the Homage it self which is the life of his faith justifies him to the same Estate that he may hold his right so obtained by his faith For faith without homage or works doth not justifie fully nor homage or works without Faith So true it is that Faith though it doth justifie alone to have right yet works also do justifie to hold it so both Faith and Works do justifie compleatly and not one without the other And this distinction rightly weighed and compared may easily put an end to this Controversy SECT I. The works that are the Tenure of my Justification are works of Love Works of Love 1. The Right of Justification under the Law was Faith of the promise to Abraham and his carnal Seed for the Land of Canaan 2. The Tenure of Justification under the Law was by the works of the Law of Rites and Ceremonies Thou shalt walk in all the waies which the Lord your God hath commanded you Deut. 6.24 that ye may prolong your daies in the Land which ye shall possess i. e. you shall continue your possession in the Land whereto you have a right The Law it self speaketh thus Lev. 18.5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments which if a Man do he shall live in them i. e. shall prolong his life from violent death inflicted by the Law The Just shall live by his Faith He that hath walked in my Statutes to deal truly he is just he shall surely live The doers of the Law shall be justified i. e. continue to be justified For default of this Tenure of works the Ten Tribes forfeited their right to Canaan for ever and the other Two Tribes were sequestred for seventy years in Babylon 3. The right of Justification under the Gospel is Faith in the promise to Abraham and his Spiritual Seed for Heaven 4. The Tenure of Justification under the Gospel is by the works of Grace which are acts of Love exercising equity mercy and kindness above the works of the Law 1. Because the works of Love are super-legal above and beyond the Law of Moses as to feed the hungry and to cloth the naked to entertain Strangers visit the Sick relieve the Prisoners pray for Persecutors c. 2. The works of Love are supernatural above and beyond the Law of Nature as not to be angry and not to resist and revenge evil to suffer persecution gladly for Righteousness sake to rejoyce in temptations to lay down our life for the Brethren c. therefore much more for God To love our Enemies and comparatively to hate our Friends Luc. 14.26 as our Father and Mother Wife and Children Brothers and Sisters these and the like works of Love are not commanded in the Law but they are the commands of Grace Hence Christ calls Love a New Commandment Joh. 13.34 A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another And Christ calleth it his Commandment That ye love one another as I have loved you And this Love is the fulfilling of the Law He that loves his Brother abideth in the Light 1 Joh. 4.16 He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him These are the works of Love not of Law which St. James saith do justifie Was not Abraham our Father justified by works Jam. 2.21 when he had offered Isaak his Son upon the Altar That work was not a duty of the Law but a service of Love by God's immediat command to try Abraham's love for no Law did command a Father to sacrifice his Son His love therefore was superlegal beyond any Law of mercy And not only so but supernatural beyond any Law of Nature when his love to God to whom he had Alliance only by Faith surpassed his love to his only Son to whom he had Alliance only by Nature and in whose behalf he had received the promises Jam. 2.25 Likewise also Rahab the harlot was justified by works when she received the Messengers and had sent them out another way Those works were not duties of any Law Josh 2.12 but the Offices of Love or as she called it A shewing of kindness in entertaining lodging and protecting of Strangers Her love was therefore superlegal above and beyond the Law for no Law commanded to entertain Spies to the destruction of a City And her love was supernatural above and beyond the Law of Nature when she shew'd kindness to her Enemies in housing hiding and sending them away safely The Ceremonious works of the Ritual Law are carnal in themselves and could justifie to nothing but a carnal purity and a security from a carnal punishment of Death All these Rites of Sacrificing Washing Feasting Fasting Circumcising c. are extinct The Moralities of Moses Law as to be no idolater no forswearer no murderer adulterer thief lyar nor deceiver c. are the bare negative duties for the most part and according to the letter are themselves dead and I am dead to that dead Letter which killed those that are under it with a curse and it is a part of my Justification to be free from the Law for I am not under the Law but under Grace nor under the Letter but under the Spirit And therefore the works of the Gospel are works of the Spirit which gives life by faith and maintaineth it by Love the works whereof are purely Spiritual inward and lively free from all carnal and outward shew
a man is bound to live the life of a Christian as soon as ever he believes the doctrines and commandments of Christianity for indeed he is obliged as soon as he can use reason or hear reason The first things a man can learn are some parts of Christianity Not to hurt any one to do all that he can understand to be good that is as soon as ever he begins to live like a rational Creature so soon he begins to live like as Christ commanded And since Baptism as to this relation and intention of it is nothing else but the publication of our undertaking to do that which in our very nature and by the first and universal laws of God to Mankind we are obliged To refuse to be baptized or to defer it is nothing but a refusing or deferring to own our natural obligation a denying or not accepting the duty of living according to the law of Nature Which deferring as it must needs be the Argument of an evil man and an indication of unwillingness to live worthily so it can serve really no prudent ends to which it can fallaciously pretend Natural Law For Christianity being in its moral part nothing but the perfection of the natural Law binds no more upon us than God does by the very reason of our Nature By the Natural law we are bound to live in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our life and so we are by the Christian law as appears in the Song of Zachary and in very many other places And therefore although when some of our time is elapsed and lost in carelesness and folly the goodness of God will admit us to second counsels and the Death of Christ and his Intercession will make them acceptable yet Christianity obliges us to obedience as soon as the law of Nature does and we must profess to live according to Christianity as soon as we can live by the measures of the Natural law and that is even in the very infancy of our Reason And therefore Baptism is not to be deferred longer it may be sooner because some little images of choice and reason which must be conducted by the measures of Nature appear even in infancy but it must not be deferred longer there is no excuse for that because there can be no reason for so doing unless where there is a necessity and it can be no otherwise c. Idem Great Exemplar p. 275. The Blessed Master began his office with a Sermon of Repentance as his predecessor John the Baptist did in his ministration to tell the world that the New Covenant which was to be established by the Mediation and office of the Holy Jesus was a Covenant of Grace and Favour not established upon Works but upon Promises and remission of right on Gods part and remission of sins on our part The Law was a Covenant of Works and whoever prevaricated any of its sanctions in a considerable degree he stood sentenced by it without any hopes of restitution supplied by the Law And therefore it was the Covenant of Works not because good works were then required more than now Law and Gospel or because they had more efficacy than now but because all our hopes did rely upon the perfection of Works and innocence without the suppletories of Grace pardon and repentance But the Gospel is therefore a Covenant of Grace not that works are excluded from our duty or from co-operating to heaven but because there is in it so much mercy that the imperfections of the works are made up by the grace of Jesus and the defects of innocence are supplied by the substitution of Repentance Abatements are made for the infirmities and miseries of humanity and if we do our endeavour now after the manner of men the faith of Jesus Christ that is conformity to his laws and submission to his doctrines entitles us to the grace he hath purchased for us that is our sins for his sake shall be pardoned So that the Law and the Gospel are not opposed barely upon the title of Faith and Works but as the Covenant of Faith and the Covenant of Works In the faith of a Christian works are the great Ingredient and the chief of the constitution but the Gospel is not a Covenant of works that is it is not an agreement upon the stock of Innocence without allowances of Repentance requiring obedience in rigour and strictest estimate But the Gospel requires the holiness of a Christian and yet after the manner of a man for alwaies provided that we do not allow to our selves a liberty but endeavour with all our strength and love with all our soul that which if it were upon our allowance would be required at our hands now that it is against our will and highly contested against is put upon the stock of Christ and allowed unto us by God in the accounts of pardon by the merits of Jesus by the Covenant of the Gospel v. Eundem ib. of Repentance p. 280 c. H. Grot. Matth. 5. Et haec quidem docendi ratio apud populum crassior limatior apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obtinuisse videtur ad ea tempora quae Babylonium exilium sunt secuta Tum verò gravi periculo imminente nè populus solitus ea tantum audire quae in sensum caderent ablato splendore Judaici Imperii gemens sub externo Dominatu damni cruciatûs mortis denique metu solicitus deficeret à Judaismo Primus omnium Daniel de Resurrectione egit apertiùs confirmans Populum spe restitutionis in statum meliorem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resurrectio ut loquitur scriptor ad Hebraeos Danielem secutus Ezekiel Et quos respiciens scriptor Paraeneseos ad Graecos inter opera Justini quae de Judicio post hanc vitam habet Plato ait de Prophetis hausta Hinc incipiunt Sapientes quos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant qui humanitùs non divinitùs eruditi Prophetis sed impart auctoritate successerunt Hi quoque necessarium judicarent ex Dan populum adversus tentamenta praemunire Quod fieri satis non poterat nisi palam Dei Causa morientibus proposita spes vitae melioris Itaque ea tùm doctrina velut è latebris educta certis vocibus obsignata est Hinc illud Taciti de Judaeis Animas Praelio aut suppliciis peremptorum aeternas putant Hinc moriendi contemptus Quibus addendi loci illustres duo ex historiâ Maccabaica l. 2. c. 7. quorum prior sic habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alter verò ita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. H. Grot. in Rom. c. 3. p. 213. Apostolus hinc infert legem Mosis in quâ Judaei plus aequo fiduciae collocabant ut vidimus suprà 11. 17. per se spectatam i. e. seorsim ab iis quae antè legem fuerant non eas habuisse vires ut homines ad veram ac Deo placentem Justitiam perduceret Quippe cum Abrahamus sine
the Magistrate Thus it becometh us to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and not to quarrel about such matters but to fulfil all Righteousness I have said all this to satisfie if it might be all Parties concerning the spiritual service and perfection of the Gospel and especially to convince the Fanaticks that the Church of England is neither Jewish nor Heathenish nor Popish but the purest Reformed Church in the world for the Antiquity of its Doctrine and Discipline for the paucity easiness significancy and decency of its Ceremonies avoiding all Superstition as much as possibly she can as you have an account given in the Prefaces before the last book of Common Prayer to the intent that all Separatists might be perswaded to conform having no just cause of scandal given them to crie out against us as they do for Carnal Preaching and Worship We call Heaven and Earth to witness we have done all we can but still they are not pleased If we pipe unto them they will not dance and if we mourn unto them they will not weep We must leave them till they be of a better mind As for us and our Churches we will strive to worship God with our Spirits and with our Bodies also We will pray with the Spirit and we will pray with a Form also we will sing with the lifting up of the Spirit and we will sing with the lifting up of our voices also Eph. 5.19 Speaking to our selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. We desire to be filled with the knowledg of his Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Col. 1.9 that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and encreasing in the knowledg of God That our hearts might be comforted Col. 2.2 3. being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg The last Reason for spiritual Service Prayer and other duties are Relativi Juris which I shall conclude withal to Reas V rivet all the rest is this Prayer Praise Hearing Fasting Meditating Alms are no Ceremonies but are clothed with them as Offices But yet even these Holy Duties are but Relativi Juris much more are their Rites that is Duties not to conclude upon but to use for a farther end But Self-denial Crucifying the Flesh Putting on the New Man Cutting of the Right Arm Plucking out the Right Eye Sincerity Love Dying to Sin Rising to Righteousness these are done for themselves and have no other end So that when we are come thus far we have no farther to go in the way of Holiness I mean These Duties have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks of Sapience they have their end in themselves And other Duties together with their Rites attending them are Means Spiritual for the Spiritual Ends of Sanctification to the Heavenly Ends of Eternal Glory Amen The End of the First Volume The NATURE of the Two Testaments OR The DISPOSITION of the WILL and ESTATE Of God to Mankind For HOLINESS and HAPPINESS By JESUS CHRIST Concerning things to be done by Men AND Concerning things to be had of God Contained in his two great Testaments The LAW and the GOSPEL Demonstrating the high Spirit and State of the GOSPEL above the LAW The Second Volume Of the ESTATE of GOD Concerning things to be had of God By ROBERT DIXON D. D. Prebendary of Rochester LONDON Printed by T. R. for the Author MDCLXXVI TO THE READER I Have travelled through the large Field of the Disposition of God's Will by way of Testament and Covenant in the Law and Gospel dispensed by the Mediation of Moses and Christ concerning his Laws and Commandments I am now coming to treat of the Disposition of the Estate and Inheritance of God by way of Testament and Covenant in the Law and the Gospel dispensed by the same Mediation of Moses and Christ concerning Blessedness and the Rights Titles and Tenures thereof This will be the ground of Future Enlargements upon Faith and Justification Liberty and Assurance of this Divine Estate thereby In which if as before I use many Jural Notions according to the State of Law I hope the Learned will not take offence I am sure the best learned in the Laws will not I may not of right be denied my liberty of expressing my self as well as others and if they like not my Notions I may be even with them and not like theirs But some body may like them and if the wiser sort do it sufficeth But let not the Newness prejudice the Trueness of my Rational Sentiments Discovery Here is no New Truth but a new way of Discovery of the Old Truth and it may be hereafter found to be a better way for peace and quietness than hitherto hath been used no disparagement to the improvements of our Learned Antecessors Enlargements there are in all Arts and Sciences in Ages far remote from the first which is no disrespect at all to the first Inventors and Founders of them It is pleaded by some that nothing can be said but what hath been said already I would gladly understand upon what sober and rational account such a saying can proceed from any wise considering man or who can say unto the Almighty with reverence to the unsearchable riches either of his Wisdom or Grace hitherto thou hast glorified thy self in giving wisdom and understanding unto the Sons of Men but farther thou canst not or wilt not go thy Treasures are exhausted or thou wilt not open them any further God's wisdom is inexhaustible and his Grace is not sparing to communicate it more and more It may be that some New Veins of Golden Oar are found out which ancient and learned Indagators could not come at and our new men being too confident that all was done to their hand and lazy withal never looked after And this is the cause why so many excellent men have raised the Line of Evangelical knowledg among us so little above what was delivered unto us by our first Reformers Such are become guilty of doing little else with that talent of Gospel-light which God gave them at first as a stock to set up and trade withal for him but only to put it in a Napkin not adding a hair's breadth to their Stature in the knowledg of Christ Hereby falling into that ignoble Principle to believe as the Church believes and take all upon Trust Is there any greater Slavery than that of the Mind Slavery to be imposed upon to believe and do all that is magisterially dictated Must I have no Judgment nor Will left for my self but another perhaps more ignorant and wicked must understand and choose for me
drowning himself under the water a sign of dying unto sin being buried with Christ and rising again out of the water a sign of rising with Christ unto newness of Life So that if thy Faith oblige thee to the duty of a Son it will oblige God to the Blessings of a Father and he will not only by Nature and Grace adopt thee to be his Son but by Covenant and Pact institute thee to be his Heir and if thy faith oblige thee not to the duty of a Son it will disoblige God from the Blessings of a Father and he may disinherit thee having broken the Covenant for thy treachery and rebellion The Faithful have a promise I will be to thee a Father 2 Cor. 6.18 and thou shalt be to me a Son So they believing and accepting God for their Father he accounts their Faith to them for their right to be his Sons and gives them the Spirit of his Son to cry Abba Father imputing a present right to a future inheritance of Sons and Heirs and Joynt-heirs with Christ Ro. 8.17 Gal. 3.29 Gal. 4.7 Hebr. 1.14 Heb. 6.17 James 1.5 Heirs of God according to the promise Heirs of God through Christ Heirs of salvation Heirs of promise Heirs of the Kingdom which God hath promised to those that love him Now an Heir is a Person justified to a future Estate so that to be justified by Faith and to be made an Heir of God are things either all one in effect or the later is but the property or consequent of the former as the Apostle saith That being justified by his Grace we should be made Heirs according to the hope of Eternal Life SECT III. The Faith we have hitherto described to be Faith in God or of God Faith in Christ Mar. 11.22 Acts 3.16 John 14.1 is also Faith in Christ or of Christ Have Faith in God or of God through Faith in his Name or of his Name i. e. Christ Ye believe in God believe also in me Ye have been taught to believe in God as the Creator and Conservator of the World Psal 78.7 so do ye also believe in me the Son of God the Author and preserver of the Church 29. Joh. 6.27 the Prince of Life whom God the Father hath sealed This is the work of God that we believe in him whom he hath sent 1. Faith in God is an high esteem of God's Existence Goodness and Greatness and an acceptation of his will and kindness So 2. Faith in Christ is an high esteem of Christ's Person the Son of God and the Son of Man the Mediator between God and Man and an acceptation of his promises Hebr. 9.15 For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that they which are called might receive the promise of his eternal inheritance The Devils have an Estimatory Faith Thou art the Holy one of God Mar. 3.11 Mar. 1.20 22. A Preceptory Faith also to obey Christ as when he cast them out of the herd of Swine and at other times A Judicatory Faith Math. 8.29 that Christ is their Judg Art thou come to torment us before the time Luc. 8.28 But they have no Promissary Faith in God or in Christ Not that they want a will but they have no Promises but altogether threatnings and instead of being justified to a present right to a future Blessing they are condemned to a present right to a future curse which is everlasting fire Math. 25.14 prepared for the Devil and his angels Reserved in everlasting chains of darkness Jude 6. unto the judgment of the great day For to Mankind only are the promises made by God in Christ by the Will of God to be justified by Faith because Christ only took upon him our Nature and not the Nature of Angels Faith in the Patriarks was immediate in God Faith in the Jews was mediate by Moses Faith in Christians is mediate by Christ called therefore the Faith of Jesus Christ SECT IV. Christ the conveyer of Faith 1. Because Christ is the Conveyer of it through whom we believe in God For that our Faith may meet with God aright it must pass unto him the same way whereby his promises are conveyed unto us Now his promises are conveyed unto us 1. immediately and so our Faith passes immediatly unto God 2. mediately in Christ therefore our Faith must pass by Christ unto God Thus God did immediatly declare his promises to Noah for the saving of himself and others in the Ark. Gen. 6.18 Gen. 15.4 And to Abraham for a Son and Heir of his own Body Thus God did mediatly declare his promises to the Israelites by Moses for their deliverance out of Egypt Exod. 3.16 2 Sam. 7.4 Jer. 29.10 As also to David by Nathan for the everlasting establishment of his Kingdom to his Seed As to the Jews by Jeremiah for their return out of Captivity As to Zacharias by Gabriel That his Wife Elizabeth should have a Son Luc. 1.13 And as all God's promises in the Gospel are by Jesus Christ whose Ministery is most excellent therefore by him our Faith must pass unto God Hebr. 1.1 Heb. 8.6 Who in these last daies hath spoken unto us by his Son who is the Mediator of a better Covenant established upon better promises Therefore as God's promises arrive at us immediatly or mediatly so our Faith arriveth at God immediatly or mediatly Joh. 13.20 For Faith in God's Messenger is Faith in God who sent him He that receiveth whosoever I send receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me i. e. believeth And on the contrary He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me i. e. diffideth So God punished the Jews for not believing by the means of a Messenger with the Sword and Famine because they did not hearken to his words Jer. 29.18 which he spake unto them by his Servants the Prophets rising up early and sending them but they would not hear So Zacharias was stricken dumb for not believing the Angel Gabriel that came to him from God Such a mediate Faith had the Israelites who believed in Moses but their faith terminated in God Loe I come to thee in a thick cloud that the People may hear when I speak unto them Ex. 19.9 and believe thee for ever In the Original it is Believe in thee Christ said the Israelites trusted in Moses yet God was the ultimate end where their Faith rested and Moses the means through whom it passed Faith mediates in Christ Joh. 5.45 but terminates in God The trust we have to God-ward is through Christ 2 Cor. 3.4 Through him both Jews and Gentiles have an access by one Spirit unto the Father By Christ we do believe in God Eph. 2.18 1 Pet. 1.21 that our Faith and Hope in Christ might be Faith and Hope in God Christ saith He that believeth
kept by their Forefathers they only are really guilty for themselves and are a shame to their Predecessors who are no less honourable nor vertuous really nor quasily for their degenerating Progeny In like manner if the heirs to these Publick persons keep the Covenant which their Forefathers observed they are all alike rewardable and an honour to each other SECT IX Obligation free If I stipulate for my self and for my heirs I consent but they may choose whether they will consent or no and if they consent not as they should do they are not bound as they should be and if there be a penalty for not consenting they suffer it but sin not because they broke not the law of the Covenant but they sin in refusing what they ought to have chosen and justly suffer for their omission If I stipulate for my self and my heirs and they consent and break it when they have done they sin actually and suffer the just penalty for their commission But still they are not really bound to understand what I understand nor to consent to what I consent nor to do what I do by my obligation but for the reasonableness of the thing and the example of their Head who meant them honour and benefit which they were capable of but unthankfully refused And more could not be done for them that would do nothing for themselves But if they do understand what I understand and do consent to what I consent and do what I do if it be good they do well and shall be well rewarded but if they do not understand what I understand nor consent to what I consent nor do what I do if it be good they do ill and shall be ill rewarded My Goodness is an example and pattern for them to follow not so much an obligation of mine as of goodness it self and for the benefit that might redound to them thereby My Badness is an example and pattern for them to forsake not so much an obligation of mine as of Badness it self and for the loss that must redound to them thereby So an Heir or Successor is bound to follow the good example and Covenant of his Antecessor who kept his Covenant which he made for himself and for his Successors if they would for themselves but he is not obliged by that Personal covenanting in his own Name but by his own Personal Covenant which he may or may not make in his own Name If he make it he is bound if he make it not he is free For the Action of bare Covenanting is not cannot properly and truly be transient to Successors but immanent and lodged in themselves Unusquisque habet judicium voluntatem pro semetipso Every one hath a judgment and will for himself and no body else I may fare the better for another Man's Goodness but I am never the better for his Goodness I may fare the worse for another Man's Badness but I am never the worse for his Badness Another Man 's keeping of Covenants is none of mine and another Man'ss breaches of Covenants are none of mine If any Man will bind me by a penalty to covenant with him I may for the penalties sake yield for fear and the Covenant is my own Act but not Noble because not for love or if I will not yield I can but lose all the World cannot force me against my Will I may bind my Heir to do such a thing or else to forfeit his Estate he may do or not do this if he will If it be a good duty he is bound to it for Goodness sake and for the kindness of the Donor not for any obligation he could put upon his Will but for the obligation which his own Will puts upon him If he do it not he suffers the Will of the Testator to be done upon him and he must suffer it whether he will or no not naturally but morally and by Act of Law so ordering it Acts of Nature are common to all Acts of Law to none but those that have free and rational Wills who being under a Law are bound to obey but may refuse but must suffer After this Excursion to which I was transported I remember where I left and come to the second Reason why the Covenant of Grace was made with all Men. SECT X. 2. Because the Conditions of a Covenant must be certain Conditions of Covenants must be certainly known and certainly known which could not be if not made with all Men and published to all Men. If the Conditions be not known who shall know what to embrace and if they do embrace them then they are known to themselves and may be known to others that they are the true Parties and then they may lay true claim and challenge an Interest in the covenant and the benefits thereby Else if the Trumpet give an uncertain sound 1 Cor. 14.8 who shall prepare himself to the Battle Who can take hold of a Covenant that knows not that he may be one of the Parties because it is not offer'd unto him and he cannot take it if he would And who can be a Party unless he knows with whom and upon what conditions he is to be a Party SECT XI All Covenants are conditional 3. Because if there be no Condition there can be no Covenant for all Covenants are upon some Conditions 1. For something to be had 2. For something to be done Do ut des do ut facias stipulas stipulo If the things be done that are to be done then the things are had that are to be had But if the things be not done that are to be done then the things are not had that are to be had Why should we cheat poor Souls and tell them of Salvation to be had without holiness to be done and all for Christ's sake If so who should claim their due or of whom should they claim it or for what Absolute Decree 4. Because if there were an Absolute Decree from eternity for some only to be covenanted with in time then a Covenant made after such a Decree would prove as unsavoury and superfluous a thing as if I should covenant with You conditionally to do so or so for a thing which I have absolutely determined to give You without any condition long before Let us not put out our own eyes and others too take some pity 5. Because if there be no Covenant of Grace with all but only a Decree for some why are the Promises offer'd to all What shall poor wretches do that mean well and pray well and do well and after all this as Reprobates must be tumbled into Hell The Promises were made and preached to all and the most shall never have them though they were made believe God would have all Men to be saved and that Christ died for all Men yet God and Christ never intended any such thing Who can think or speak or hear such things and believe