here that looke as man standing in innocency had cause thus to returne â—rom the pleasant labours of his weekly paradise imployments as shall be shewn in due place so man fallen much more from his toilsome and wearisome labours to this his rest again And therefore as because all creatures were made for man man was therefore made in the last place after them so man being made for God and his worship thence it is that the Sabbath wherein man was to draw most neare unto God was appointed after the creation of man as Peter Martyr observes For although man is not made for the Sabbath meerly in respect of the outward rest of it as the Pharisees dreamed yet hee is made for the Sabbath in respect of God in it and the holinesse of it to both which then the soule is to have its weekly revolution back againe as into that Rest which is the end of all our lives labour and in speciall of all our weekly labour and work Thesis 8. As therefore our blessed rest in the fruition of God at the end and period of our lives is no ceremony but a glorious privilege and a morall duty it being our closing with our utmost end to which we are called so it cannot be that such a Law which cals and commands man in this life to returne to the same rest for substance every Sabbath day should bee a ceremoniall but rather a Morall and perpetuall Law unlesse it should appeare that this weekly Sabbath like the other annuall Sabbath hath been ordained and instituted principally for some ceremonious ends rather than to be a part and indeed the beginning of our rest to come there being little difference between this and that to come but onely this that here our rest is but begun there it is perfected here it is interrupted by our weekly labours there it is continued here we are led into our rest by meanes and ordinances but there we shall bee possessed with it without our need of any helpe from them our God who is our rest being then become unto us immediately All in All. Thesis 9. Were it not for mans worke and labour ordained and appointed for him in this life he should enjoy a continuall Sabbath a perpetuall Rest. And therefore wee see that when mans life is ended his sunne set and his worke done upon earth nothing else remaines for him but only to enter into his perpetuall and eternall Rest All our time should be solemne and sacred to the Lord of time if there were no common worke and labour hâ—re which necessarily occasions common time why then should any think that a weekly Sabbath is ceremoniall when were it not for this lifes labour a perpetuall and continuall Sabbath would then be undoubtedly accounted morall It s hard for any to thinke a servants awfull attendance on his Lord and Master at certaine speciall times not to bee morally due from him who but for some more private and personall occassions allowed him to attend unto should at all times continually be serving of him Thesis 10. The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and no Scripture phrase and therfore not proper fitly and fully to expresse the question in controversie to wit whether the fourth Commandment bee a morall precept The best friends of this word finde it slippery and can hardly tell what it is and what they would have to be understood by it and hence it is become a bone of much Contention a fit mist and swampe for such to fight in who desire so to contend with their Adversaries as that themselves may not bee known either where they are or on what ground they stand Yet it being a word generally taken up and commonly used it may not therefore be amisse to follow the market measure and to retaine the word with just and meet explications thereof Thesis 11. They who describe a morall law to bee such a law as is not typically ceremoniall and therefore not durable doe well and truely expresse what it is not but they doe not positively expresse what it is Thesis 12. Some describe and draw out the proportions of the morall law by the law of nature and so make it to bee that law which every man is taught by the light of nature That which is morally and universally just say some which reason when it is not mis-led and the inward law of nature dictateth by common principles of honesty or ought to dictate unto all men without any outward usher It is that say others which may be proved not only just but necessary by principles drawne from the light of nature which all reasonable men even in nature corrupted have still in their hearts which either they doe acknowledge or may at least bee convinced of without the Scriptures by principles still left in the hearts of all men But this description seems too narrow For 1. Although it be true that the law naturall is part of the law morall yet if the law morall be resolved into the law of nature only and the law of nature bee shrunke up and drawne into so narrow a compasse as what the principles left in corrupt man onely suggest and dictate then it will necessarily follow that many of those holy rules and principles are not the law of nature which were the most perfect impressions of the law of nature in mans first creation and perfection but now by mans apostacy are obliterated and blotted out unlesse any shall thinke worse than the blinde Papists either that mans minde is not now corrupted by the fall in losing any of the first impressions of innocent nature or shall maintaine with them that the Image of God of which those first impressions were a part was not naturall to man in that estate 2. It will then follow that there is no morale discipline as they call it that is nothing morall by discipline informing or positively morall but onely by nature dictating which is crosse not onely to the judgements but solid Arguments of men judicious and most indifferent 3. If that onely is to be accounted morall which is so easily knowne of all men by the light of nature corrupted then the imperfect light of mans corrupt minde must bee the principall judge of that which is morall rather than the perfect rule of morality contained in the Scripture which Assertion would not a little advance corrupt and blinde Nature and dethrone the perfection of the holy Scripture Thesis 13. They who define a morall law to be such a law as is perpetuall and universall binding all persons in all ages and times doe come somewhat nearer to the marke and are not far off from the truth and such a description is most plaine and obvious to such as are not curious and in this sense our adversaries in this cause affirme the Sabbath not to be morall meaning that it is not a Law perpetuall and universall Others on the contrary affirming that it is morall intend
infused and supernaturall vertues and graces to which therefore humane nature is not inclined are as Vasquez truly and strongly maintaines in some sense naturall and good in themselves not because humane nature is inclined to them but because they are very congruous and consentaneous thereunto and perfecting humane nature as such and consequently sutable thereunto A good is said to be utile delectabile in respect of some profit or delight which comes to man by it but bonum honestum in genere moris as Suarez and his fellowes call it consists in a kinde of decency comlinesse and sweet proportion between such an act and such a nature as acts by right reason to which nature it is exceeding comely and suitable whether any profit or delight come thereby yea or no. As now in the divine nature it 's exceeding beautifull and comely for it and therefore good in it selfe to bee bountifull and mercifull and to doe good unto the creature although no profit could come to him thereby It is Gods nature as I may so say so to doe so 't is in humane nature it 's a comely thing to honour parents reverence Gods Name to bee loving and mercifull to all men in heart word and deed to give God a fit and the most meet proportion of time for solemne service of him who allowes us many dayes to serve our owne good this is good nature and being thus seemly and suitable to it this and such like things are therefore good in themselves though perhaps neither profit or pleasure should come unto man hereby And hence it 's well observed by some of the Schoolemen that right reason doth not make a thing morall but only judgeth and discerneth what is morall for right reason doth not make a thing suitable but onely seeth whether it be so or no a thing may bee suitable before right reason see it yet when 't is presented to reason it sees it suitable as the wall is white before the eye see it yet when the eye doth see it it appeares white also It may bee a meet and comely thing to give God a seventh part of our time though no mans reason can of it selfe find out such a meet proportion yet when reason sees it it 's forced to acknowledge a comlinesse of equity and suitablenesse therein as shall hereafter appeare Thesis 22. But here let it bee observed that although all morall lawes are thus suitable to mans nature yet they are not all alike suitable thereunto and consequently not equally good in themselves for some lawes are more immediately suitable and good others mediately And as Wallaeus well observes out of Scotus that there is a double morality the first is de lege naturae strictè sumpta i. e. such laws as are so deeply engraven upon nature as that these principles cannot bee blotted out but by abolishing of nature The second is de lege naturae latè sumpta and these lawes doe much depend upon the will of the Law-giver but yet they are very congruous and suitable to humane nature even from the light of those principles of nature And hence I suppose it will follow that the law for a seventh part of time to be dedicated to God may well bee a morall law although it depends much upon the will of the Law-giver and is not so immediately written upon mans heart nor so equally suitable to humane nature as the law of love and thankfulnesse to God our Creator is For as Cameron well observes that some things which are good in themselves have more of Gods Image stamped upon them some have lesse of it and hence it is that though all morall lawes are good in themselves yet not equally so there is more unsuitablenesse to hate and curse God than to lust after another mans house or servant and yet both are evill in themselves and breaches of morall rules Thesis 23. Hence therefore it followes that because morall precepts are of such things as are good in themselves they are therefore perpetuall and unchangeable and because they are in this respect good in themselves to wit because they are suitable and comely to mans nature as rationall hence also they are universall so that perpetuity and universality seem to be the inseperable adjuncts rather than the essence of a morall law yet when they are called perpetuall and unchangeable wee must understand them in respect of Gods ordinary dispensation for hee who is the great Law-giver may and doth sometime extraordinarily dispense with morall lawes Abraham might have kill'd his Sonne by extraordinary dispensation Adams Sonnes and Daughters did marry one another by speciall Commission which now to doe ordinarily would bee incestuous and consequently against a mâ—â—â—ll Law as is evident Leviticus 18. Onely let it bee here remembred that when I call morall Lawes perpetuall and universall that I speake of such lawes as are primarily morall which doe firstly and originally suit with humane nature for lawes as are at second hand morall and as it were accidentally so may be changeable as hereafter shall appeare Thesis 24. How these things may evince the morality of a seventh part of time will be difficult to conceive unlesse further enquiry be made to wit when and by what rules may it be knowne that any law is sutable and agreeable unto humane nature and consequently good in it selfe For resolution of which doubt there is great silence generally in most Writers Bishop White endeavours it by giving three rules to cleare up this mist but pace tanti viri I much feare that he much darkens and obscures the truth herein and muds the streames For 1. Because the Sabbath is not simply morall but hath something positive in it he therefore makes it temporary as appeares in his conclusion of that discourse when as 't is evident by his own confession that some lawes positively morall are generall and universall For lawes positively morall he saith are either personall onely as was Abrahams comming out of his owne Countrey Gen. 12.1 Some are for one Nation or Republick onely Exod. 22.1 3â—7 Some are common and generall for all mankinde as the law of Polygamy 2. Hee seemes to make lawes simply and intirely morall to bee such as are in their inward nature morally good before and without any exâ—ernall imposition of the Law-giver Now if by externall imposition he meanes the externall manner of Mosaicall administration of the law there is then some truth in what he affirmes for doubtlesse before Moses time the Patriarchs had the law revealed after another manner but if by externall imposition bee meant externall Revelation whether immediately by God himselfe unto mans conscience or mediately by man then it 's most false that any thing can be morally good or evill much lesse entirely and simply so before and without some such law for though it may be good and sutable to man before a law pasâ—e upon it yet nothing can be morally good
a sevenâ—h yet let us consider of God as acting by counsell and weighing and considering with himselfe what is most meet and equall and what proportion of time is most fit for himselfe and then with leave of better thoughts when I see better reason I suppose no man can prove unlesse hee bee made privy to the unknowne secrets of the wisdome of God that any other proportion had been as meet as this now made by the actuall determination of God there was not therefore the meer and soveraigne will of God which thus determined of this seventh part of time but also the wisedome of God which considering all things saw it most meeâ— and suitable for man to give and God to receive from man and therefore being commanded and thus particularly determined becomes morall Thesis 29. If that commandment be morall which is therefore commanded because it is good then hence it followes in the second place that such lawes onely are not morall lawes which are known to all men by the light of corrupt nature For as hath been already said a law may bee holy just good suitable and meet for all men to observe whether the light of corrupt nature by awakening or sleeping principles as some call them know it or no and such a comelinesse and suitablenesse in such a law is sufficient to make it morall There were many secret morall sinnes in Paul which he never saw nor could have seene by the light of corrupt nature untill the law fell upon him with mighty efficacy and power Romans 7. for God is not bound to crook his morall lawes to what our corrupt mindes are actually able of themselves to see any more than to what our corrupt wils are actually able to doe If the light of nature be imperfect in us since the fall which no wise man doubts of then there may be many things truely morall which the light of nature now sees not because 't is imperfect which in its perfection it did see and this consideration of the great imperfection of the light of nature is alone sufficient for ever to stop their mouthes and silence their hearts who goe about to make an imperfect light and law of nature the perfect rule and onely measure of morall duties and who make so narrow a limitation of that which is morall to that which is thus imperfectly naturall 't is not now lex nata but lex data which is the rule of morall duties The holy Scriptures containe the perfect rule of all morall actions whether mans corrupted and imperfect light of nature see them or no. It is a common but a most perilous and almost groundlesse mistake of many in this controversie who when they would know what is morall and what is not so of such things as are set downe in the Scriptures they then â—lye to the light of corrupt nature making it to bee the supream Judge hereof and there fall to examining of them whether they are seen by the light of nature or no which is no lesse folly than to set up a corrupt and blinde Judge to determine and declare that which is morall to make the perfect rule of morality in Scripture to bow downe its back to the imperfection and weaknesse of nature to pull out the Sunne in heaven from giving light and to walke by the light of a dim candle and a stinking snuffe in the socket almost gone out to make the horne-book of naturall light the perfection of learning of the deepest matters in morall duties to make Aristotles Ethicks as compleat a teacher of true morality as Adams heart in innocency and in a word to make man fallen and in a manner perfectly corrupt and miserable to bee as sufficiently furnished with knowledge of morall duties as man standing when he was perfectly holy and happy Imagine therefore that the light of nature could never have found out one day in seven to bee comely and most meet for man to give unto God yet if such a proportion of time be most meet for man to give to God and it appeares so to be when God reveales it it may and should then be accounted a morall law although the light of nature left in all men could never discerne it The Schoolmen and most of the popish generation not considering these things which notwithstanding are some of their owne principles have digged pits for themselves and made snares for some of their followers in abolishing the fourth Commandment from being in the true sense of it morall because they could not see how such a speciall part of time viz. a seventh part could be naturall or by the light of corrupt nature discernable which things so discernable they sometimes conclude to be onely morall But how farre the light of corrupt nature may discerne this proportion shall be spoken to in its proper place Thesis 30. If lastly those things which are thus commanded because they are good be morall then the whole Decalogue may hence appeare to be the morall law of God because there is no one law in it which is therefore good onely because 't is commanded but is therefore commanded because it is good and suitable to humane nature When I say suitable to humane nature I doe not meane humane nature considered absolutely but relatively either in relation to God or relation unto man for not onely the light of nature but of common sense also beare witnesse that every precept of the second Table wherein man is considered in relation to man is thus farre good for how comely and good is it to honour Parents to be tender of other mens lives and comforts to preserve ones selfe and others from filthy pollutions to doe no wrong but all the good we can to other mens estates c. Nor doe I thinke that any will question any one Commandment of this Table to bee good and suitable to humane nature unlesse it be some Nimrod or Brennus that professed he knew no greater justice than for the stronger like the bigger fishes of the Sea to swallow up the lesser in case they bee hungry or some Turkish Tartar or Caniball or some surfetted Professor transformed into some licentious opinionist and so growne Master of his owne Conscience and that can audaciously out-face the very light of nature and common sense through the righteous judgement of God blinding and hardning his heart And if the Commandments of the second Table be thus farre good in themselves are not those of the first Table much more Is love to man when drawne out into all the six streames of the second Table good in it selfe and shall not love to God drawn out in the foure precepts of the first Table as the Spring from whence all our love to man should flow much more Are the streams morally sweet and is not the spring it self of the same nature Love to God and love to man are the common principles saith Aquinas truely of the law of nature and all
being shusted into the Decalogue and so might ceremonialls also Thesis 38. There were three sorts of laws which are commonly knowne and which were most eminently appearing among the Jewes 1. Morall 2. Ceremoniall 3. Judiciall Thesis 39. The morall respected their manners as they were men and are therefore called morall The ceremoniall respected them as a Church and as such a kinde of Church The judicial as a Common wealth and as that particular Common-wealth Morall laws were to govern them as an human society Ceremoniall as a sacred society Judiciall as a civill society Thus the Learned speak and being candidly understood are true Thesis 40. The morall law contained in the Decalogue is nothing else but the law of nature revived or a second edition and impression of that primitive and perfect law of nature which in the state of innocency was engraven upon mans heart but now againe written upon Tables of stone by the finger of God For man being made in the Image of God he had therefore the law of holines and righteousnes in which Gods Image consisted written in his heart but having by his fall broken this Table and lost this Image neither knowing or doing the will of God through the law of sinne now engraven on it Hence the Lord hath in much pitty made knowne his law again and given us a faire copy of it in the two Tables of stone which are the copy of that which was writ upon mans heart at first because the first Table containes Love to God in holinesse the second Love to man in righteousnesse which holinesse and righteousnesse are the two parts of Gods Image which was once engraven upon mans soule in his primitive and perfect estate Ephes. 4.24 Nor indeed doe I see how that popish Argument will be otherwise answered pleading for a possibility in man to keep the law perfectly in his lapsed and fallen estate in this life for say they God makes no lawes of impossible things it being unjust for God to require and exact that of a man which hee is not able to doe to which it is commonly and truely answered That man had once power to keep the law in his innocent estate and hence though man be not able to keep it now yet God may require it because hee once gave him power to keep it and that therefore it is no more unjust to exact such obedience which hee cannot performe than for a creditor to require his money of his broken debtor or spend-thrift who is now failed as they say and not able to repay Man therefore having once power to keep the law and now having no power this argues strongly that the law of the Decalogue contains nothing but what was once written as a law of life upon his heart in his innocent estate for I see not how Gods justice can be cleared if he exacts such obedience in the Decalogue which is impossible for man to give unlesse the very same law and power of obedience was written upon his heart at first and therefore it is a wilde notion of theirs who thinke that the Covenant of works which God made with Adam is not the same for matter with the Covenant of works exprest in the morall law for wee see that there is the same Image of holinesse and righteousnesse required in the Tables of stone as the condition of this Covenant which was once written upon mans heart and required in the same manner of him Now this law thus revived and reprinted is the Decalogue because most naturall and suitable to humane nature when it was made most perfect therefore it is universall and perpetuall the substance also of this law being love to God and man holinesse toward God and righteousnesse toward man Matt. 22.37 39. Luke 1. Hence also this law must needs bee morall universall and perpetuall unlesse any should bee so wicked as to imagine it to be no duty of universall or perpetuall equity either to love God or to love man to performe duties of holinesse toward the one or duties of righteousnesse toward the other Hence again the things commanded in this law are therefore commanded because they are good and are therefore morall unlesse any shall think that it is not good in it selfe to love God or man to be holy or righteous and which is still observable there is such a love required herein and such a lovelinesse put upon these lawes as that by vertue of these all our obedience in other things which are not moral becomes lovely for there were many ceremoniall observances in which and by which the people of God exprest their love to God as Mr. Primrose truely concludes from Deut. 6.1 2 3 4 5 6. and Matth. 22.37 38 40. but yet this love did arise by vertue of a morall rule for therefore it was love to worship God in ceremoniall duties because it was lovely to worship God with his own worship of which these were parts which is the moral rule of the second Commandment And hence Master Primrose may see his grosse mistake in making one law of the Decalogue ceremoniall because the summary of the Decalogue being love to God and love to man and our love to God being shewne in ceremoniall as well as in morall duties because our love is seen shewn in our obedience to all the Commandments of God ceremonial as well as moral For though there be love in ceremonial dutys it is not so much in respect of themselves as in respect of some morall rule by vertue of which such duties are attended Thesis 41. The ceremoniall law consisting chiefly of types and shadowes of things to come Heb. 8.5 and therefore being to cease when the body was come Col. 2.17 was not therefore perpetuall as the law morall but temporary and of binding power onely to the nation of the Jewes and their proselytes and not putting any tie upon all Nations as the morall law did Every ceremoniall law was temporary but every temporary law was not ceremoniall as some say as is demonstrable from sundry judicials which in their determinations were proper to that Nation while that Jewish polity continued and are not therefore now to be observed Thesis 42. The Iudiciall lawes some of them being hedges and fences to safeguard both morall and ceremoniall precepts their binding power was therefore mixt and various for those which did safeguard any morall law which is perpetuall whether by just punishments or otherwise doe still morally binde all Nations For as Piscator argues a morall law is as good and as precious now in these times as then and there is as much need of the preservation of these fences to preserve these lawes in these times and at all times as well as then there being as much danger of the treading downe of those lawes by the wilde beasts of the world and brutish men sometimes even in Churches now as then and hence God would have all Nations preserve these fences for
from our consciences as a covenant of life not to see or feare any condemnation for sinne or any sinne able to take away life But will it hence follow that a justified person must see no sinne by the eye of faith nor any law as his rule to walke by to discover sinne and is this the end and fruit of Christs death too Surely this doctrine if it be not blasphemous yet it may be knowne to be very false and pernicious by the old rule of judging false Doctrines viz. if either they tend to extenuate sinne in man or to vilifie the precious grace of Jesus Christ as this Doctrine doth Thesis 83. If sinne be the transgression of the law which is a truth written by the Apostle with the beams of the Sunne 1 Iohn 3.4 then of necessity a Beleever is bound to attend the law as his rule that so he may not sinne or transgresse that rule Psalme 119.11 for whoever makes conscience of sinne cannot but make conscience of observing the rule that so he may not sinne and consequently whoever make no conscience of observing the rule doe openly professe thereby that they make no conscience of committing any sinne which is palpable and downe-right Atheisme and prophanesse nay it is such prophanesse by some mens principles which Christ hath purchased for them by his bloud for they make the death of Christ the foundation of this liberty and freedome from the law as their rule the very thought of which abominable doctrine may smite a heart who hath the least tendernesse with horrour and trembling Porquius therefore a great Libertine and the Beelzebub of those flies in Calvins time shuts his sore eyes against this definition of sinne delivered by the Apostle and makes this onely to be a sinne viz. to see know or feele sinne and that the great sinne of man is to thinke that he doth sinne and that this is to put off the old man viz. Non cernendo amplius peccatum i. by not seeing sinne So that when the Apostle tels us that sinne is the trangression of the law Porquius tels us That sinne is the seeing and taking notice of any such transgression surely if they that confesse sinne shall finde mercy then they that will not so much as see sinne shall finde none at all A Beleever indeed is to dye unto the Law and to see no sinne in himselfe in point of imputation for so he sees the truth there being no condemnation to them in Christ Jesus but thus to dye unto the law so as to see no sinne inherent in himselfe against the law this is impious for so to see no sinne and die unto the law is an untruth if the Apostle may be believed 1 Iohn 1.10 Those that so annihilate a Christian and make him nothing and God all so that a Christian must neither scire velle or sentire any thing of himselfe but he must be melted into God and dye to these for then they say he is out of the flesh and live in God and God must bee himselfe and such like language which in truth is nothing else but the swelling leaven of the devout and proud Monks laid up of late in that little peck of meale of Theologia Germanica out of which some risen up of late have made their cakes for the ordinary food of their deluded hearers I say these men had need take heed how they stand upon this precipice and that they deliver their judgements warlly for although a Christian is to bee nothing by seeing and loathing himselfe for sinne that so Christ may bee all in all to him yet so to bee made nothing as to see know thinke feele will desire nothing in respect of ones selfe doth inevitably lead to see no sinne in ones selfe by seeing which the soule is most of all humbled and so God and Jesus Christ is most of all exalted and yet such a kind of annihilation the old Monks have pleaded for and preached also as I could shew abundantly from out of their own writings insomuch that sometime they counsell men not to pray because they must be so farre annihilated as nihil velle and sometimes they would feigne themselves unable to beare the burthen of the species of their own pitchers in their cels from one end of them unto another because forsooth they were so farre annihilated as neither to velâ—â— so neither to scire or know any thing beside God whom they pretended to be all unto them and themselves nothing when God knowes these things were but braine bubbles and themselves in these things as arrand hypocrites as the earth bore and the most subtle underminers of the grace of Christ and the salvation of mens soules Thesis 84. A true Beleever though he cannot keep the law perfectly as his rule yet he loves it dearely he blames his owne heart when he cannot keep it but doth not find fauâ—l with the law as too hard but cries out with Paul The law is holy and good but I am carnall hee loves this Coppy though hee can but scribble after it when therefore the question is made viz. Whether a Beleever be bound to the law as his rule the meaning is not whether he hath power to keep it exactly as his rule or by what meanes hee is to seek power to keep it but the question is whether it bee in its self a Beleevers rule for to be a rule is one thing but to be able to keep it and by what meanes we should keep it whether by our own strength or no or by power from on high is another Thesis 85. If the Apowle had thought that all Beleevers were free from this directive power of the law he would never have perswaded them to love upon this ground viz. because all the law is fulfilled in love Gal. 5.13 14. for they might then have câ—st off this argument as weak and feeble and have truely said if this principle were true what have wee to with the law Thesis 86. There is the inward law written on the heart called the law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8.2 and there is the outward law revealed and written in the holy Scriptures now the externall and outward law is properly the rule of a Christian life and not the internall and inward law as some conceive for to outward law is perfect in that it perfectly declares what is Gods will and what not but the inward Law as received and writ in our hearts is imperfect in this life and therefore unfit to bee our rule The inward law is our actuall yet imperfect conformity to the rule of the law without it is not therfore the rule it selfe The law within is the thing to bee ruled Psal. 17.4 Psalme 119.4.5 The outward law therefore is the rule The law of the Spirit of life which is the internall law is called a law not in respect of perfect direction which is essentiall to the rule but in
Christ to be beholding to any of the light upon Moses face It seemes then that the law written is not to be a Christians rule but onely so farre as it is written in the heart a most accursed assertion for how and why did Christ Jesus himselfe resist temptation to sinne was it not by cleaving to the written word Matth. 44.10 and was not this done for our imitation why did David and Christ Iesus delight to doe Gods will was it not this because it was written of them that so they should doe Psa. 40.7 8. Did not the law in their hearts make them thus cleave to the written law without Why did Paul perswade Children to honour their parents was it not because this was the first Commandment with promise Ephes. 6.2 had it not been more Evangelically spoken to perswade them rather to look to the law of Moses written on their hearts within to direct them hereunto rather than to be beholding for any light upon Moses face to direct them herein how comes it to passe that Paul preacheth no other thing but what was in the old Testament of Moses and the Prophets who were onely the Interpreters of Moses Acts 22.20 How is it that Christ himselfe borrowes light from Moses Psalmes and all the Prophets to cleare up his resurrection and suffering Luke 24.27 32 if no light must bee borrowed from the face of Moses if indeed wee were perfect in this life as wee shall bee in heaven there would then bee no need of the writings of the Apostles Prophets or Moses of Law or Gospell but we being but imperfectly enlightned it 's no lesse than extreame ingratitude and unthankfulnesse to preferre our owne imperfect and impure light before that perfect spotlesse and heavenly Law and counsels of God without us which when the most perfect beleever doth see he may cry out with Paul The Law is holy but I am carnall what is this but painted Popery to make the spirit within to be the supreame Iudge and superiour to the Spirit of God in the written word without onely they shrine it up in the Popes private Conclave and Kitchin or somewhat worse but these in a company of poore imperfect deluded and perhaps corrupted men it 's true the Covenant of grace strictly taken in the Gospel needs not to borrow any light from the Covenant of works in the Law but yet for all this the grace of God appearing in the Gospel will have us to walk worthy of God unto all well pleasing according to the Law Tit. 2.12 13. and to mourne bitterly that we are so unlike the will and image of God revealed in the Law Rom. 7.23 24. Thesis 105. The Apostle Paul as he sometimes condemnes works and sometime commends them so he sometimes rejects the Law and sometimes commends the Law sometime hee would have Beleevers dye to the law and sometime hee exhorts them to live in all holy obedience to it the Apostle therefore must speak of the Law under various considerations or else must speake Daggers and flat contradictions and therefore of necessity wee are to consider the Law not alway under one respect but variously for consider the law as a Covenant of workes or as the way unto or matter of our justification and so works are condemned and the Law is rejected and abrogated and so we are to die to the Law but consider the Law as a rule of life to a person justified already and so the Law is to be received and works are to bee commended and we are to live thereunto Thesis 106. When the Gospel nakedly urgeth Beleevers to good workes and obedience to the Law it is then considered onely as a rule of life but when wee meet with such Scriptures as set the Law and Christ the Law and grace the Law and promise the Law and faith c. at opposition one against another then the Law in such places is ever considered as a Covenant of life from which we are wholly freed and unto which we should be wholly dead that weâ— may be married unto Christ Rom. 7.4 hence therefore their arguings are feeble and weak who would prove a Christian to be wholly free from the directive power of the Law because a Christian is said not to be under the law but under grace Rom. 6.14 and because the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Iohn 1.17 and because the inheritance is not by the law but by promise and by faith Gal. 3.12.18 for these and such like Scriptures speake of the law as standing in opposition to Christ and therefore speake of it as of a Covenant of life by which men seek to be justified from which we grant a Beleever is wholly freed and unto which hee is not bound nay hee is bound to renounce it and cast out this bond-woman but all this doth not prove that he is free from it as his rule of life Thesis 107. The Law and mans sinfull heart are quite opposite one to another Rom. 7.9 10 11 13. but when through the grace of Christ the heart is changed so as there is a new nature or new man in a beleever then there is a sweet agreement between this new nature and the Law for saith Paul I delight in the Law of God in my inner man it is therefore a most false assertion to say that the old man of a Beleever is to be kept under the law but the new man or new nature is above all Law for though the new nature bee above it as a legall covenant yet it never comes to be willingly under it as a rule untill now an imperfect new nature is infinitely glad of the guidance of a holy and most perfect law Psalme 119.140 Thesis 108. It is very evident that the children and sonnes of God under the new Testament are not so under the Law as the children and sonnes of God were under the old Testament for the Apostle expressely tels Gal. 3.23 that before the faith came we i. the children of the Old Testament were shut up and kept under the Law and were under it as under a Schoolmaster verse 24. and these of whom the Apostle thus speaks are not onely wicked and carnall Jewes but the deare children of God and heires of eternall life in those times as is evident from Gal. 4 1 2 3. but the Apostle speaking of the sonnes of God in Gospel-times since faith is come and revealed speakes as expresly that we are now no longer under the law as under a Schoolmaster Gal. 3 25. and that now when the fulnesse of time is come God sent his sonne to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the Adoption of Sonnes Gal. 4.3 4 5. which though it bee true of all men by nature viz. that they are under the law yet an impartiall cleare eye will easâ—ly discerne that the Apostles dispute is not of our being under the Law by nature meerely
be set to do the same work and have the same rule given them to act by but the motives to this their work and the stripes and punishments for neglect of their work may be various and divers a son may be bound to it because he is a son and beloved a servant may be bound to do the same work because he is hired and shall have wages if the son neglect his work his punishment is only the chastisement of a father for his good if a servant be faulty he is turned quite out of doors So although Beleevers in Christ and those that are out of Christ haue divers and various motives to the obedience of the law of God yet these do not vary the rule the law of God is the rule to them both although they that be out of Christ have nothing but fear and hope of wages to urge them and those that are in Christ should have nothing but the love of a Father and the heart-bloud mercy of a tender Saviour and Redeemer to compell them the one may be bound to do that so they may live the other may be bound to do because they do live the one may be bound to do or else they shall be justly plagued the other may be bound to do the same or else they shall be mercifully corrected It is therefore a meer feeblenesse to think as some do that the law or rule is changed because the motives to the obedience of it and punishment for the breach of it are now unto a beleever changed and aâ—tâ—ed for the Commandment urged from Châ—ists love may binde strongly yea most strongly to doe the same thing which the same Commandment propounded and received in way of hiâ—e may binde also unto Thesis 112. Some think that there is no sin but unbelief which is a sin against the Gospel only and therefore there being no sin against any law Christ having by his death abolished all them the law cannot be a rule to them An adulterous and an evill generation made drunk with the cup of the wine of the wrath of God and strong delusion do thus argue Are drunkenesse whoredom lying cheating witchcraft oppression theft buggery no sins and consequently not to be repented of nor watcht against but only unbelief Is there no day of judgement wherein the Lord will judge men not only for unbelief but the secrets of all hearts and whatever hath been done in the body whether good or evil according to Pauls Gospel Rom. 2.16 2 Cor. 5.10 How comes the wrath of God to be revealed from heaven not only against unbelief but against all unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse of man Rom. 1.18 If there was no sin but unbelief how can all flesh Jews and Gentiles become guilty before God that so they may beleeve in the Gospel as 't is Rom. 3 21 12 â—3 24 if they are all guiltlesse untill unbelief comes in There is no sin indeed which shall condemn a man in case he shall beleeve but will it follow from hence that there is no sin in a man but only unbelief A sick man shall not die in case he receive the Physick which will recover him but doth it follow from hence that there is no sicknesse in him or no such sicknesse which is able to kill him but only his wilfull refusing of the Physick surely his refusing of the Physick is not the cause of his sicknesse which was before not the naturall for that his sicknesse is but only the morall cause of his death Sin is before unbelief comes a sick sinner before a healing Saviour can be rejected sin kils the soul as it were naturally unbelief morally no sin shall kill or condemn us if we beleeve but doth it follow from hence that there is no sin before or after faith because there is no condemning sin unlesse we fall by unbelief No such matter and yet such is the madnesse of some prophets in these times who to abandon not only the directive use of the law but also all preparing and humbling work of the law and to make mens sinning the first foundation and ground of their beleeving do therefore either abolish all the being of any sin beside unbelief or the condemned estate of a man for sin yea for any sin untill he refuse Christ by unbelief for publishing which pernicious doctrines it had been well for them if they had never been born Thesis 113. One would wonder how any Christians should fall into this pit of perdition to deny the directive use of the law to one in Christ if either they read Ps. 119. with any savour or the Epistles of Iohn Iames with any faith in which the law is highly commended and obedience thereto urged as the happinesse and chief evidence of the happinesse of man but that certainly the root of this accursed doctrine is either a loose heart which is grown blind and bold and secretly glad of a liberty not so much from the law of sin as from the law God or if the heart be sincere in the main yet it slights the holy Scriptures at present and makes little conscience of judging in the matters of God according unto them for if it did it could hardly fall into â—his dirty ditch out of which the good Lord deliver and out of which I am perswaded he will deliver in time all those that are his own for I much question the salvation of that man who lives and dies with this opinion and as every errour is fruitfull so this is in speciall for from this darkning the directive use of the morall law arise amidst many others these ensuing evils which are almost if not altogether deadly to the souls men they are principally these three Thesis 114. The first is a shamefull neglect in some affecting foolishly the name of new Testament Ministers of a wise and powerfull preaching of the law to make way by the humbling work of it for the glorious Gospel and the affectionate entertainment thereof for through the righteous judgement of God when men once begin to abandon this use of the law as a rule they abolish much more readily this use of the law to prepare men thereby for the receiving of Christ I know there are some who acknowledge this use of the law to be our rule but not to prepare but how long they may be orthodox in the one who are heterodox in the other the Lord only knows for I finde that the chief arguments against the one do strike strongly against the other also It 's an easie thing to cast blocks before the blinde and to cast mists before the face of the clearest truth and to make many specious shews of new Testament Ministry free-grace and Covenant against this supposed legall way and preparing work but assuredly they that have found and felt the fruit and comfort of this humbling way for which I doubt not but that thousands and thousands are blessing God in heaven that ever they
the Law but the hardnesse of their stony hearts which the Law writ upon them was not able to overcome and t is true that the stony Tables did signifie stony hearts but its false that the writing on stone did not signifie continuance also according to Scripture phrase For all the children of God have stony hearts by nature now God hath promised to write his Law upon such hearts as are by nature stony and his writing of them there implies the continuance of them there so that both these may stand together and the similitude is fully thus viz. The whole Law of God was writ on Tables of stone to continue there so the whole Law of God is writ on stony hearts by nature to continue thereon Thesis 144. Only morall Laws and all morall Laws are thus summarily and generally honoured by God the ten Commandements being Christian pandects and common heads of all morall duties toward God and men Under which generals all the particular morall duties in the Commentaries of the Prophets and Apostles are virtually comprehended and contained and therefore Mr. Primrose's argument is weake who thinks that this honour put upon the Decalogue doth not argue it to be morall Because then many other particular morall Laws set down in Scripture not in Tables of stone but in parchments of the Prophets and Apostles should not be morall For we doe not say that all morall Laws particularly were thus specially honoured but that all and only morall Laws summarily were thus honoured in which summaries all the particulars are contained and in that respect equally honoured It may affect ones heart with great mourning to see the many inventions of mens hearts to blot out this remembrance of the Sabbath day they first cast it out of Paradise and shut it out of the world untill Moses time when in Moses time it s published as a Law and crowned with the same honour as all other morall Laws yet then they make it to be but a ceremoniall Law continuing onely until the comming of Christ after which time it ceaseth to be any Law at all unlesse the Churches constitution shall please to make it so which is worst of all Thesis 145. Every thing indeed which was published by Gods immediate voyce in promulgating of the Law is not morall and common to all but some things so spoken may be peculiar and proper to the Jews because some things thus spoken were promises or motives only annexed to the Law to perswade to the obedience thereof but they were not Laws for the question is whether all Laws spoken and writ thus immediately were not morall but the argument which some produce against this is From the promise annexed to the fifth Command concerning long life and from the motive of redemption out of the house of bondage in the preface to the Commandments both which they say were spoken immediatly but yet were both of them proper unto the Iews But suppose the promise annexed to the fifth Commandement be proper to the Jews and ceremoniall as Master Primrose pleads which yet many strong reasons from Eph. 6.2 may induce one to deny what is this to the question which is not concerning Promises but Commandements and Laws Suppose also that the motive in the Preface of the Commandments literally understood is proper to the Jews yet this is also evident that such reasons and motives as are proper to some and perhaps ceremoniall may be annexed to morall laws which are common to all nor wil it follow that laws are therefore not common because the motives thereto are proper We that dwel in America may be perswaded to love and feare God which are morall duties in regard of our redemption and deliverances from out of the vast sea storms we once had and the tumults in Europe which now are which motives are proper to our selves Promises and motives annexed to the Commandements come in as means to a higher end viz. obedience to the Laws themselves and hence the Laws themselves may be morall and these not so though immediatly spoken because they be not chiefly nor lastly intended herein I know Wallaeus makes the preface to the Commandments a part of the first Commandment and therefore he would hence infer that some part at least of a Commandment is proper to the Jews but if these words contain a motive pressing to the obedience of the whole how is it possible that they should be a part of the law or of any one law For what force of a law can there be in that which only declares unto us who it is that redeemed them out of Egypts bondage For it cannot be true which the same Author affirms that in these words is set forth only who that God is whom we are to have to be our God in the first Commandement but they are of larger extent shewing us who that God is whom we are to worship according to the first Commandement and that with his own worship according to the second and that reverently according to the third and whose day we are to sanctifie according to the fourth and whose wil we are to doe in all duties of love toward man according to the severall duties of the second Table and therefore this declaration of God is no more a part of the first then of any other Commandment and every other Commandement may challenge it as a part of themselves as well as the first Thesis 146. It is a truth as immovable as the pillars of Heaven That God hath given to all men universally a rule of life to conduct them to their end Now if the whole Decalogue be not it what shall The Gospel is the rule of our faith but not of our spirituall life which flows from faith Gal. 2.20 Ioh. 5.24 The law therefore is the rule of our life now if nine of these be a compleat rule without a tenth exclude that one and then who sees not an open gap made for all the rest to goe out at also For where wil any man stop if once this principle be laid viz. That the whole law is not the rule of life May not Papists blot out the second also as some of Cassanders followers have done all but two and as the Antinomians at this day do all and have they not a good ground laid for it who may hence safely say that the Decalogue is not a rule of life for all Mr. Primrose that he might keep himselfe from a broken head here sends us for salve to the light of nature and the testimony of tbe Gospel both which saith he maintain and confirm the morality of all the other Commandements except this one of the Sabbath But as it shall appeare that the Law of the Sabbath hath confirmation from both if this direction was sufficient and good so it may be in the mean time considered why the Gentiles who were universall Idolaters and therefore blotted out the light of nature as Mr. Primrose confesseth
if speciall light in them they shall then have more speciall and saving light Thesis 194. As it is no argument that that Law is according to the light of nature which the Gentiles generally practised for then Polytheisme and Sacrificing of beasts yea wil-worship should be according to the light of nature because these sins were generally practised so it is no argument that that Law is not according to the light of nature which they generally neglected and therefore suppose the Gentiles never observed a Sabbath yet this is no argument that it is therefore no morall Law I know M. Primrose thinks that the Sacrifices were by an instinct of nature Because it dictates that all sinnes whereof mortall men are guilty are to be expiated by Sacrifice and Offerings to God offended Which assertion hath some truth in it if those words By Sacrifices and Offerings be left out for what light of nature could make men think that an infinite Deity offended could be pacified by such carnall observances as the Sacrifices of brute beasts and their blood which never offended This custome the Gentiles might retain as a Relique of former instruction and institution by their first Fathers after the flood which being matters meerly ceremonious might be retained more firmly then other morall duties of great consequence however we see that the practice of the Gentiles is no fit guide to direct that which is according to the law and light of nature Thesis 195. If more narrow enquiry be made what the Law of nature is these distinctions must be observed 1. The Law of nature is either of pure or corrupt nature The Law of pure nature was the Law of God writ on Adams heart in innocency which was nothing else but that holy bent and inclination of the heart within to act according to the holy Law of God revealed or Covenant made with him without and thus Aquinas places the law of nature in this inclination The Law of corrupt nature is that dimme light left in the minde and morall inclination left in the will in respect of some things contained in the Law of God which the Apostle cals Conscience Rom. 2.15 which naturall conscience is nothing but the remnants and generall principles of the law of pure nature left in all men since the fall which may be increased by more knowledge of the Law of God or more diminished and defaced by the wickednesse of man Titus 1.15 2. The Law of corrupt nature is taken either more largely or strictly As it is taken more largely so it comprehends all that which is agreeable and sutable to naturall reason and that from a naturall innate equity in the thing when it is made known either by divine instruction or humane wisdom although it be not immediatly known by the light of nature and thus many judiciall laws are naturall and morall though positive and of binding nature unto this day As it is taken strictly so it comprehends no more but what nature immediatly knows or may know without externall instruction as parents to be honoured mans life to be preserved 3. The Law of nature strictly taken are either principles of nature or conclusions from such principles The principles of the law of nature are in some respect many yet may be reduced to this one head viz. That good is to be followed evill to be avoided Conclusions are deductions from those principles like severall streames from the same spring which though lesse evident then the principles yet may be readily found out by discourse and sad search 4. Conclusions arising from these principles are more immediate or mediate Immediate are made by Aquinas to be two 1. Love God with all thy heart 2. Love thy neighbour as thy selfe Mediate are such as arise from the former principles by means of those two more immediate conclusions and of this kinde are some as he thinks yea all the laws of the Decalogue if right reason may be judge Now to apply these Thesis 196. If the question be whether the Sabbath be known by the light of pure nature the answer is yea for Adams minde knew of it and his heart was inclined and bent to the keeping of it although it be true that now this light in corrupt nature as in many other morall duties is almost wholly extinct and worn out as hath been formerly shewn And to speak plainly this great and first impression left on mans heart in pure nature is the first rule according to which we are now to judge of what is the law of nature and it serves to dash to peeces and grinde to powder and dust most effectually and strongly the dreams and devices of such as would make the Sabbath not morall because not naturall or not easily known by the present light of corrupt nature when as corrupt nature is no perfect copy but a blotted discovery of some part of the light of nature which was fully imprinted at large in pure nature and therefore it is no wonder if our adversaries so much oppose the Commandment of the Sabbath in the state of innocency such therefore as are otherwise Orthodox in this point and yet make this description of the Law of nature viz. which was written on mans heart in his first first Creation to be both uncertain and impertinent doe unwarily pull down one of the strongest bulwarks and the first that ever God made to defend the morality of the Sabbath there is indeed no expresse Scripture which makes this description of the Law of nature as they object and so it is of many other things which are virtually and for substance contained in the Scripture although there be no formall description set down of the same and the like I say of this description here Thesis 197. If we speak of the Law of nature strictly taken for that which is immediatly and readily known by the common light of nature in all men then it may be safely affirmed that although the Sabbath should not be in this sence naturall yet it will not follow that it is not therefore morall for the moral law once writ on mans heart in pure nature is almost blotted out only some rudera and old rubbish is left of it in a perverse minde and a corrupt heart Eph. 4.18 we see the wisest of the heathens making those things to be morall vertues Iunius instanceth in the Law of private revenge and we know they magnified will-worship which the Scripture condemns as morall vices and sins God would have common-wealths preserved in all places of the world from the inundation and deluge of mans wickednesse and therefore he hath generally printed the notions of the second Table upon mens hearts to set bounds as by sea-banks unto the overflowings thereof and hence it is that they are generally known but he would not have Churches every where and therefore there is but little known concerning matters of the first Table and consequently about this Law of the Sabbath
and which wee ought not to imitate viz. his omnipotency But suppose it did flow from his omnipotency and that wee ought not to imitate his omnipotency and that wee who are weaknesse it selfe cannot imitate omnipotent actions yet its obvious to common sense that such acts which arise from such attributes as cannot be imitated of us in respect of the particular effects which are produced by them yet in the actings of such attributes there may be something morally good which is imitable of us As for example though wee are not to imitate God in his miraculous works as in the burning of Sodome and such like yet there may bee that justice and wisedome of God shining therein which wee ought to imitate for wee ought to see before we censure and condemne as God did in proceeding against Sodome So 't is in this extraordinary worke of making the Word wherein although we are not to goe about to make another world within that time as God did yet therein the labour and rest of God was seene which is imitable of man which labour and rest as they are morall duties so they are confirmed by a morall example and therefore most seemly and comely for man to imitate from such an example And whereas hee affirmes that this example was not morall because it was not it self imitable being grounded onely upon Gods free will The reason is weake for to labour in ones Calling is without controversie a morall duty as idlenesse is a morall sin yet if one would aske why man is to labour here and not rather to lead a contemplative life in the vision and fruition of God immediately I suppose no reason can be given but the good pleasure of God who in his deepe wisdome saw it most meet for man to spend some proportionable time in labour for himselfe and some in rest for God whereunto he gave man such an eminent example from the beginning of the world Master Primrose cannot deny but that a convenient time for labour and rest in generall is morall But saith he if God had not declared his will by a Commandment particularly to labour six dayes and rest the seventh the Jewes would not have thought themselves bound to this observation from Gods example onely which shewes that there is no morality in it to bind the conscience for ever But it may be as well doubted whether acts of bounty and mercy to which hee thinks wee are bound meerely from Gods example in respect of the particular application of these acts to enemies of God and of our selves as well as to friends be of binding vertue meerly by Gods example unlesse we had a commandment thereunto for in morall precepts as the thing is commanded because it is good so 't is not morally good unlesse it be commanded but suppose that Gods example of labour six dayes and rest the seventh should not have been binding as other examples unlesse there had been a commandment for so doing yet this is no argument that this example is not morall at all but onely that it is not so equally morall and knowne to be so as some other duties bee for man may spend too much time in labour and give God too short or too little time for rest if therefore hee wants the light of a commandment or rule to direct and guide him to the fittest and most meet proportion of time for both is hee not apt hereby to break the rule of morality which consists as hath been shewne in that which is most suitable comely and convenient for man to give to God or man The commandment therefore in this case measuring out and declaring such a proportion and what time is most convenient and comely for man to take to himselfe for labour or to give to God for rest it doth not abolish the morality of the example but doth rather establish and make it It sets out the most comely and meet proportion of time for labour and rest and therefore such a time as is most good in it selfe because most comely and proportionable which being therefore commanded is a morall duty in man and the example hereof morally binding in God 3. Such lawes which mans reason may see either by innate light or by any other externall helpe and light to bee just and good and fit for man to observe such lawes are congruous and suitable to humane nature I say by any external helpe as well as by innate light for neither internall nor externall light doe make a thing just and suitable to man no more than the light of the Sun or the light of a Lanthorne doe make the Kings high-way to the City but they onely declare and manifest the way or that which was so in it selfe before Hence it comes to passe that although mans reason cannot see the equity of some lawes antecedenter by innate light before it bee illuminated by some externall light yet if by this externall light the minde sees the equity justice and holinesse of such a law this may sufficiently argue the morality of such a law which was just and good before any light discovered it and is now discovered onely not made to be so whether by internall or externall light And hence Aquinas well observes that morall lawes which hee makes to be such as are congruous to right reason sometimes are such as not onely command such things which reason doth readily see to bee comely and meet but also such lawes about which mans reason may readily and easily erre and go astray from that which is comely and meet And hence it is that although no reason or wit of man could ever have found out the most just and equall proportion of time or what proportion is most comely and suitable or that a seventh part of time should have been universally observed as holy to God yet if any externall light and teaching from above shall reveale this time and the equity and suitableness of it so that reason shall acknowledge it equall and good that if we have sixe dayes for our selves God should have one for himselfe this is a strong argument that such a command is morall because reason thus illuminated cannot but acknowledge it most meet and equall For though reason may not by any naturall or innate light readily see that such a division of time is most suitable and yet may readily erre and misconceive the most suitable and convenient proportion and division of time it 's then a sufficient proof of the morality of such a command if the congruity and equity of it be discerned consequenter only as we lay and by externall light 4. What ever law was once writ upon mans heart in pure nature is still suitable and congruous and convenient to humane nature and consequently good in it selfe and morall For whatever was so writ upon Adams heart was not writ there as upon a private person but as a common person having the common nature of man