Learned Brother did not appeal to other Authorities than that of the Holy Scriptures which is the greatest But since he leads me into the numerous Volumes of the Fathers I will follow him too there And if I shew that those Antient Writers of the Church who wrote in the Greek Language as for the Latin Fathers I shall afterward consider them us'd the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos Law to signify a Doctrine by it then the uncertainty of Citations from those Authors for his Purpose will be abundantly demonstrated Clemens Alexandrinus calls the Law the Light of our Way and the Gospel as a pure Doctrine of Grace is such beyond all dispute He also defines a Law to be a true and good Opinion of a Thing whereby any Doctrine of Truth and Goodness may be signified Eusebius who lived above an hundred Years after him having occasion to mention those Texts of the Old Testament which speak of Christ as the Great Author of the Gospel and particularly explaining that Text in Isa 2. 3. speaks in these words What Law is that going out of Zion and differing from that coming from the Desart promulgated by Moses in Mount Sinai but the Evangelical Word going forth out of Zion by the Ministry of our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles and passing through all Nations For it is manifest that from Jerusalem and Mount Sion adjacent to that City where our Lord and Saviour delivered most of his Discourses and Doctrines the Law of the new Covenant beginning its Progress and going from thence to all Men shin'd with the greatest brightness Which very well agrees to the Doctrine of the Gospel that so swiftly spread and with such diffusive Beams that in a few Years after Christ's Death it illuminated the whole Earth Chrysostom also who calls the Gospel a Law very often and particularly in his Sermon on Gal. 2. 19. which I have before cited if we may think as we ought to do of the greatest Preacher in the Primitive Church that he speaks consistently with himself means no more by this Phrase than a Doctrine of Grace For when in his Sermon on Psal 49. he draws the dividing Lines between the Law of Works and the Gospel he in these Words gives his Judgment That the Law of Works was the Rudiments of Children and an Introduction and also the Ministry of Condemnation and Death But this says he speaking of the Gospel is Grace and Peace There is nothing can be more plain than his meaning that the Law requiring Works denounc'd nothing but Death to a Sinner unable to perform them but the Gospel as a Doctrine of Grace reliev'd him by proclaiming Peace To evince that among the Fathers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomos Law did not always signify a System of Precepts and Commands I may also introduce Origen who as a competent Judg in the Case declares that he very well knew the Psalms to be called a Law as also the Prophecy of Esa And to prove it he brings in those Texts of Scripture John 15. 25. Psal 35. 19. 1 Cor. 14. 21. And his Authority is to be the more regarded as to the Decision of the Question in present Debate because as he complains in the beginning of this his 9th Chapter cited by me of the Confusion which the ambiguousness of the Word Law did breed in Mens Minds which is the Case now too so he employs this whole Chapter to clear its various Significations But I need give no other Instances than from what Theodoret writes in his short Exposition on Isa 2. It is says he therefore very well manifest that he intends the New Testament from thence that is Sion of which the Prophet speaks delivered by the first Apostles and by the same afterward exhibited to all Nations He doth not therefore only prophesy that the Law but that the Word should go out from thence giving this Name to the preaching of the Gospel For this also blessed Luke teacheth us Luke 1. 2. Even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word By the Word then in that place he doth not name God the Word but the Doctrine of God's Word For God the Word did not go out of Sion but he taught the Truth in Zion Photius who lived in the 9th Century was not more famous for his Learning than for that firm Resistance he made against the Usurpations of Antichrist who design'd and strongly endeavour'd to have spread his Wings as far over the Eastern as he had over the Western World By what this Patriarch of Constantinople writes it appears that however in the Course of so many Ages very great Corruptions had wrought for themselves an entrance into the Grecian Churches yet the Doctrine of Grace not as establishing a Law of Works but displacing it was preserv'd among them Or at least we may know what his own Belief was from his own Words which are these He first tells Sergius in an Epistle wrote to him that the Law was not contrary to Grace as he surmis'd it was and then shews its use in subserviency to Grace That it was a Preparation and made way for the discovery of Grace and leads us to it But when Grace comes the Law says he departs as the Stars when the Sun appears or as the Night the Day shining And having illustrated it with many other Similitudes Thus says he Grace having an Existence the Law is vacated tho not perfectly dissolv'd It ceaseth but is not disannulled Christ fulfilled it not violating the least Tittle of it and performing it entirely remov'd it It is against my Inclination that I thus summon Men tho of deserved Repute to bear Witness for the Truth of the Gospel The Testimony of the Holy Ghost in his own Word is infinitely greater than ten thousand such Evidences It was therefore to him that I first appeal'd but since my Reverend Brother brings the Cause into a lower Court I am very willing that it should there also be tried The Proofs which I gave out of God's Word have as I think sufficiently demonstrated that this new Law of Works is not the Everlasting Gospel and these Testimonies from Humane Writings may evince that it is not only far distant from Eternity but neither so venerable for Age as he fancies it for it was a Doctrine unknown in the first Years of Christ's Church and had its Original only with the Birth of Antichrist and I am very well assur'd will end with the Period of that Man of Sin CHAP. V. How uncertain an Argument is fram'd from the sound of the word Law to prove the Gospel to be such evinc'd from the various significations of that Word as us'd by Roman Authors That the Latin Fathers nam'd the Gospel a Law as it is the Doctrine of Christ I Now should heartily rejoice to be excus'd from searching any other Records but
of their true Sense and Meaning I will not multiply Citations one or two are enough and indeed Luther and Calvin are an Army alone Luther tells us That all Justiciaries esteem Christ to be a new Legislator and judg the Gospel to be no other than a Book which contains new Laws concerning Works as the Turks dream about their Alcoran But there are Laws enough in Moses The Gospel therefore is a preaching concerning Christ that he forgives Sins gives Grace justifies and saves Sinners But now that Precepts are found in the Gospel those are not the Gospel but Expositions of the Law and Appendixes of the Gospel Now any one would think that this Luther would never call the Gospel a Law and yet so he doth expounding a little after the 19th Verse and is before cited by me And in what Sense he means the Gospel to have that Name he informs us plainly in his Comment on Isa 2. 3. Out of Zion shall go forth the Law This is the Cause says he of the Multiplication of the Church and of the Amplification of Christ's Kingdom viz. the Preaching of the Gospel For he here promiseth a new Word For unless he signified a new Doctrine what need was there at length to promise a Law which had been made so many Years before And he manifestly signifies the difference in that he adds out of Zion As if he should say I first gave a Law in Sinai I will now give another in Mount Zion which shall not be a Doctrine of Works but of Faith not of Laws but of Grace not accusing but bestowing pardon of Sins c. Calvin also agrees with Luther in this And indeed those two Holy Men tho they differed in some things yet they very well accorded in the main Substance of the Gospel They believed on the same Jesus and lov'd the Truth of his Grace Calvin likewise says that when the Gospel is called Law a Doctrine of Salvation is only meant by it For says he explaining Isa 2. 3. since the Rule of Holiness is to be fetch'd from the Law by a Synecdoche they were accustomed to comprehend the whole Doctrine of God under that Name as also the Worship of God under the Name of an Altar Now as it would be absurd to infer that the Ministers of Christ are Levitical Priests because the Apostle says that they ought to be partakers with the Altar and live by the Gospel or to endeavour to prove that the old Jewish Worship is yet standing and that Sacrifices should be offer'd under the New Testament because the Apostle speaks of an Altar too to which Believers came and of which they have right to eat Heb. 13. 10. So the way of arguing would be equally impertinent to conclude from the Gospel's being nam'd a Law that it is a Doctrine of Works Musculus also tells us how we must apprehend the word Law when made use of to signify the Gospel The Prophet says he understands no other by the Law than the Word of the Lord nor by Zion than Jerusalem Nor can it be understood of any other Doctrine than what is Evangelical And Rodolphus Gualther explaining what the Apostle means when he calls the Gospel a Law After the manner of the Jews says he he speaking of a Doctrine useth the word Law and he calls the Law of Works that Doctrine which asserts that we are justified by Works but the Law of Faith that Doctrine which shews Righteousness in the Merit of Christ who is apprehended by Faith alone When the Holy Ghost himself who inspir'd the Minds and guided the Pens both of the Prophets and Apostles and not only suggested things to their Thoughts but the fittest Words too by which to express them If this holy infallible Spirit calling the Gospel a Law means no other than a Doctrine of Grace any one would think that we could not be at a loss how to understand the Word I need not therefore multiply Instances a few more may suffice Zacharias Vrsinus when he calleth the Gospel a new Form of Law takes care to direct us to his right Sense and punctually tells us that he means no more by it than a new Doctrine of Grace The Prophet says he expounding Isa 2. 3. signifies that a new Manifestation of God and a new Form of Law and Worship is to be expected out of Zion that is to say Christ being reveal'd and the Ceremonies abolish'd But when he says that the Law shall go forth out of Zion it is queried Whether by this and the like Places the Opinion of the Papists is established who will have it that Christ came that he might be a new Law-giver who should publish a better and more perfect Law than had been before delivered by Moses that Men for the future living according to that Law might by this their Obedience please God and obtain Eternal Life The Answer is easy from this most usual Phrase in Scripture by which under the Name Law the whole Doctrine is understood c. Therefore that Monkish Opinion is to be avoided as the Plague and Subversion of all Christianity and an obscuring of the Offices and Benefits of Christ and as not differing from the Opinions of Heathens Jews Turks and other Sects concerning our Justification before God Chemnitius also gives direction how to understand the word Law when employ'd to denote the Gospel That also says he is a general signification of the Word when under the name of a Law the universal Doctrine divinely revealed is understood as Psal 19. 8 9. and Psal 119. where the Law is said to comfort and edify Hearts So Esa speaks of the Gospel Chap. 2. v. 3. The Law shall go forth out of Zion Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 3. 27. The Law of Faith Gal. 2. 19. I by the Law am dead to the Law But it is a Hebrew Phrase in which Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah hath its name from Instructing and Teaching To these Antient Worthies I might add the concurrent Testimonies of Modern Divines who are Orthodox in the Faith But whereas I might produce many I will content my self to alledg one which is that of Whittichius the present Learned Professor of Divinity if not lately dead in the University of Leyden and who tho he espous'd the New Philosophy yet it had no Malignant Influences to infect him with any new-contrived Schemes to solve the Phenomena's in Divinity He in his short but full and clear Exposition on the Romans explaining Chap. 3. ver 27. tells us what the Apostle intends by that Phrase a Law of Faith The exclusion of Boasting says he is made by the Law of Faith which here denotes by way of Eminency the Doctrine of Faith as it is taught in the New Testament without Obligation to any Works as the Cause of Justification as the Works of the Moral Law perfectly and constantly perform'd by Adam would
as explanatory of the former undeniably prove If we look next on that place of Scripture in Micah 4. 2. which is not meerly parallel to the forecited in Esa but perfectly agreeing with it we shall see it imports Christ not as a new Legislator to have given a new Law of Works on more moderate Terms but to have taught a pure Doctrine of Grace The words of Micah 4. 2. are these And many Nations shall come and say Come and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths for the Law shall go forth of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah in our English Version translated Law is by Junius and Tremellius as well as by Piscator rendred Doctrine Out of Zion goes forth the Doctrine And Piscator in his short Notes on the Text critically observes that however the word Torah is rendred by others Law yet it will not accord with the genuine meaning of this Text because it speaks of the Gospel And in his brief Exposition on the next Words And the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem This says he is the Word of Grace i. e. concerning the Grace toward those who believe on Christ Which way of explaining of the former Expression Law to be the Doctrine of the Gospel by the following Words the Word of the Lord as exegetical of those other Calvin that Apostle of the Reformed Religion also takes This says he is but the Repetition of the former Sentence as 't is usual Therefore by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah the Prophet intended nothing else but Doctrine But further to shew that all but Papists Socinians and Arminians harmoniously agree in explaining such places after such a manner as may not give the least colour to the Opinion of the Gospel's being a new Law in the sense of the three mentioned Parties Tarnovius a Lutheran between whom and the Calvinists what great and at present irreconcileable Differences in other Points of Religion there are all the World knows perfectly accords with Calvin in this Interpretation of the Prophet Micah It is such a Law of which the Prophet speaks that in the Hebrew says he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah which word by the Force of its Etymology notes all and every Doctrine since it is from the Root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jarah which in Hiphil signifies he hath taught that it is frivolous to design from this Text to prove the Gospel to be a new and more perfect Law made by Christ in the New Testament whenas tho indeed by this Hebraism the Gospel is call'd a Law by the Apostle Rom. 8. 2. as also by the Psalmist Psal 19. 8. yet with a Restriction but the Law is never called a Gospel And the latter Words the Word of the Lord he makes consonantly with Calvin to be exegetical of the former Law c. as demonstrating that nothing but the Doctrine of the Gospel is thereby signified But really there need no more than carefully to review the Context to be satisfied that by the word Law here is meant the Doctrine of Grace in the Gospel For all this 4th Chapter of Micah is a Word of Consolation to an afflicted People from the refreshing Springs of its gracious Promises as Junius notes The Law then by consequence must signify the Doctrine wherein those are contained And the Acclamations too of the rejoicing People proclaim the same thing who mutually exhort one another in the second Verse to go up to this glorious Mountain because there Christ would teach them this Doctrine of Grace Micah 4. 2. And many Nations shall come and say Come and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths for the Law shall go forth of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem I know it may be objected that the Phrase And we will walk in his Paths seems to imply a Precept and Command and so a Law in the strictest Sense to which they vowed Obedience But this may as easily be denied as 't is asserted precariously for since according to the usual Language of God's Word to walk in God's Paths is to observe his Orders and Appointments the Expression here may denote no more than that they would punctually keep to the Way of Salvation mark'd out by him which I wish with all my Soul was the hearty Resolve of all who hear the Gospel and seek to be justify'd no otherwise than by Christ's Blood and Righteousness as the Law or Doctrine of the Gospel prescribes There is a Difficulty remains arising from the third Verse which at first sight seems to point to us that the Gospel is such a Law by which Christ exerciseth Judgment as on a Tribunal and executes Justice But the Appearance of Difficulty is so slight and thin that it will vanish as soon as seen if we do but consider that the word Judg may very well import no more than that Christ will judg what Course of Salvation is best for us to take that he will determine the Case and it is better for us to acquiesce in the Decision of his unerring Judgment which cannot be deceiv'd nor ever will mislead us than to pursue our own mistaken Apprehensions which bewilder us continually But if we take his Judging as having an Influence or Effect upon those who are under his Kingdom and Judgment it may be considered not as the Act of a Judg pronouncing Sentence and Condemning but as the Administration of a Wise Good and Gracious King preserving and protecting his Subjects and defending them against their Enemies That the word Judging is taken in such a large Sense in the Hebrew Language there needs no more to prove it than that the Princes of Israel whom God rais'd up and spirited to be the Liberators of his People from the Tyranny of Moab Ammon and Midian and to defend them against those cruel and implacable Enemies are not only call'd Judges but the Book which contains the History of their Administration and Government is titled by that Name Or if we attribute to Christ the rigorous Administration of a severe Judg and that he comes in all the terrible Solemnities of Justice yet this doth not belong to the Dispensation of his Gospel but to the Oeconomy of his Laws when he comes to avenge the Violation of them by Sinners To those who live and die under a Covenant of Works he is a Judg to be sure and a dreadful One too and they who seek Righteousness by the Works of any Law he will deal with in that way of Trial which they have put themselves upon and they shall stand at the Bar of Judgment which by their own
justified and sanctified in Christ apprehended by Faith as we have in its proper place copiously demonstrated They viz. the Papists on the contrary think the Evangelical Doctrine to be nothing else but a certain Law more perfect than that of Moses Thus this Pious and Learned Man when he gives the Summary of the Gospel makes not the least Figure to denote Law or Works so that according to his reckoning they belong not to the Sum since he leaves them out in his Account And in the other Instance he with some Indignation rejects the Notion of the Gospel's being a Law as an Article of the Popish Faith The same Worthy Author writing against Sebastianus Castalio for he had not only the perplexing Trouble to refute the Reasons of the Papists but to answer the Cavils of the Semi-Pelagians makes the distinguishing Mark of the Gospel from the Law to be this that the Gospel is no other than the Doctrine of the Free Grace of God For proving that there are two Parts of God's Will reveal'd one which concerns meerly our Duty which is the Law and the other which contains nothing but the joyful discovery of God's gracious Purposes to save us by Christ the Redeemer There is yet no mention says he of this Benefit in the Law For the Declaration of this Will belongs to the other Part of the Divine Word which is called the Gospel This Truth is so rooted in the Hearts of true Christians that it will grow tho in various Climates and Soils where they have different Habitations Tho separated by Seas and vast Lakes and unpassable Mountains all who love Jesus Christ agree in asserting the pure Doctrine of his Grace Henricus Bullingerus one of the known and fam'd Reformers of Religion in Switzerland joins his Testimony to that of Beza in asserting the Gospel to be a pure Doctrine of Grace unmingled with Law or Works The Gospel says he is defin'd almost by all in this manner The Gospel is a good and sweet Word and a most certain Testimony of the Divine Favour towards us in Christ exhibited to Relievers Or The Gospel is the most clear Sentence of the Eternal God brought down to us from Heaven absolving all Believers from their Sins and that freely for Christ's Sake alone and promising Eternal Life Hieronymus Zanchius was an Italian who left his Country with Peter Martyr for the Sake of the Gospel in whose Writings as the Truths for which he suffer'd the loss of all things are nobly vindicated so a Vivacity of Spirit which is so natural to that Nation shines in them And it is a Wonder in him as well as Calvin that a Man who wrote so much should write so well He gives us his Suffrage also for the same Truth and in every Page almost of his three large Volumes he asserts the Gospel to be a sincere Doctrine of Grace without any Mixture And on all Occasions doth clear the distinct Nature of Law and Gospel from that Confusion in which by some in his Time they were involv'd Having first divided the whole Word of God into two Parts Law and Gospel and not to confound the Natures of Things so distinct having describ'd the Law in its Being Properties and Office that 't is peculiar to it to instruct us what Duties to perform what Sins to avoid that it points to us what is a Crime and shews what it deserves and accuseth Sinners and reveals the Wrath of God and threatens the merited Punishment Having thus clearly and distinctly stated the Nature of the Law of which the Gospel partakes not in the least and having assign'd its several Offices with which the Gospel intermeddles not at all nor crowds it self into them he then as distinctly explains the Nature of this Gospel But the Gospel says he which is the other essential Part of the Holy Scripture is a Doctrine or Scripture which declares free Salvation in Christ by Faith And a little after The Office of this is to proclaim that Salvation is to be had freely in Christ through Faith alone And in another Discourse he ascends higher and tells us That the Gospel is the joyful Preaching of that Eternal and free Love of God this is Eternal Election toward us in his beloved Son Christ To these I might add a Cloud of other Witnesses to evince that it was the Faith which universally obtain'd among all the Reformed Churches in several Nations and was earnestly maintain'd by all the Protestant Writers against the Papissts that the Gospel in the peculiar Nature of it is no other than a System of Promises a Disvoery of God's Mercy and Grace in Christ and a Proclamation of Free Pardon and Justification Lambertus Danaeus Martinus Chemnitius Osualdus Myconius David Pareus Daniel Chamier Joannes Gerrardus Antonius Waleus Altingius Andreas Rivetus with innumerable others write harmoniously in the same strain I will yet add the Testimony of our own Whitaker Since the Gospel says he is nothing else but the Narrative and Declaration of the Grace and Mercy of God which Christ merited for us by his Death it cannot be denied that principally to be the Evangelical Doctrine which most fully expounds this Benefit and joyful Message and for that Reason the Gospel to be most copiously and clearly taught in Paul's Epistles and Paul to be the best Evangelist He scruples not to attribute the Title of Gospel more to the Epistles of that Apostle than to the Sermon on the Mount tho preach'd by the Saviour of Men and that on this Account because in these more abundantly are display'd the Mysteries of our Redemption when the Import of that was to explain and urge Precepts which belong properly to the Law But it will be needful to produce one Evidence more who is the more material because it is the same Person whom my Reverend Brother brings as a Witness for the Cause which he maintains of the Gospel's bring a Law It is Gomarus himself who gives this Definition of it The Gospel is a Divine Doctrine in which the secret Covenant of God concerning Salvation out of pure Free Grace by Christ is declar'd to Men fallen into Sin and with the Elect it is begun and preserv'd to their Salvation and the Glory of God the Saviour Here he speaks nothing of the Gospel but that it is meerly a Declaration of Grace and the manifestation of the secret Purposes of it which were before hid in God's Heart when therefore a little after he calls the Gospel a Law in the Place cited by my Reverend Brother he must necessarily understand the word Gospel in the large extensive Sense as it signifies all the second Part of the Bible not in the strict and properest Sense as it implies only God's Covenant of Grace discovered to Man But what need was there that I should mention the Testimonies of Men when Witness offers it self from Heaven At
the Birth of our Redeemer God the Father sends down his Messengers not only to tell us that his Son was born into the World but to assure us that he brought nothing with him but Grace and Peace and the Reconciliation of a God before angry unto lost and desperate Rebels It is thus the Angels who certainly with the greatest Exactness discharg'd their Commission without one word of Christ's being a new Legislator or coming as a second Moses to deliver a new Law from Mount Zion as he did from Sinai proclaim the Gospel to be a most solemn Declaration of God's gracious Designs and Purposes to Sinners unworthy of his Favour Luke 2. 13 14. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace good Will towards Men. Thus in the first delivery of this glad Message there is no Voice but of Peace no stounding Claps of Thunder as from Sinai at the Promulgation of the Law but the Songs of Angels rejoicing in the restor'd Happiness of Elect Men their Fellow-Creatures no affrighting Flashes of Lightning but a soft and gentle Brightness shining from the Face of a reconciled God and diffusing it self through the Air without any hurtful or consuming Flame Luk. 2. 9. And lo the Angel of the Lord came upon them and the Glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid Tho they were a little astonish'd at the first appearance of so strange and unusual a Sight yet the Sense which they had that it was only an innocent lambent Fire about their Heads and the encouraging words of the Angel reassur'd them ver 10 11. It is not a Judg but a Saviour who is come into the World nor are there any Threatnings denounc'd as at the giving of a Law are necessary but they hear Promises of Mercy There is no Sentence of Death given nor Warrants issued out for the Execution of guilty Criminals but God the Father honours his Son's Birth-day with a large and very comprehensive Act of Pardon When this his Son his Solace and Delight in Eternal Ages before any Creatures made steps down from Heaven he doth not meerly declare the great Pleasure and Satisfaction he hath in this glorious God-Man but he evidenceth how dear this infinitely excellent Person is to him in the most surprizing Effects of Goodness and Grace He proclaims that for his sake only he can regard his Elect of Men with Eyes of Favour and Kindness who in their own Persons were only Objects of Detestation and Abhorrence And therefore tho he freely lov'd them from Eternity his Benevolence was never openly publish'd till now As it is only for the sake of Christ whom God infinitely loves that he can take any delight in his chosen Children of Men so 't is not till this his great and adorable Son comes upon Earth that he proclaims Peace and Good-will to Men. Thus God from Heaven and some of the best Men who ever liv'd upon Earth do plainly tell us that the Gospel is no Law but a pure Act of Grace And as God sent these Men into the World to restore his Truth to recover it out of the Darkness of Popery in which the Nations of the Earth had for so many Ages lost themselves and been wretchedly deluded by the worst of Errors dress'd up in the faint Resemblance of Truth they were answerably faithful to the performance of that Work which God had sent them to do They were careful to distinguish the Gospel from a Law and would by no means suffer Works tho insinuating themselves under never so specious pretences to invade the Prerogative of Grace They very well knew as both Chemnitius and Beza inform us that playing with the Ambiguity of the word Law confounded Law and Gospel laid the Root of the most pernicious Errors to spring up and overspread the Church with nothing but Tares or worser Weeds in the room of nourshing Corn. They were aware that the perplexed Thoughts of Law and Gospel chain'd together by the unnatural Mixture gave Birth to that monstrous Metamorphosis by which the Monks transform'd the Gospel into a Law and as they were not at all ignorant that the proper Remedy to cure these distemper'd Thoughts was exactly to distinguish between the one and the other they sutably made a good and successful use of it They would give every thing its proper Name sutable to its Nature If they spoke of Works they meant a Law prescribing them and commanding Obedience under severe Penalties but then in thus thinking speaking or writing the Gospel never came into their Minds nor was form'd in their Voice nor dropp'd from their Pens But whenever an Idea or Notion of Grace arose in their Minds then indeed the next following Thought was the Gospel of Christ By thus reducing these two Notions into due Rank and Order they baffled all the sophistical Cavils of the Monks and afterward of the more cunning Jesuits and made War against Antichrist with Success and Victory for to drive that Man of Sin out of his dark Corners and hiding-Places is indeed to conquer him In pursuing such a Conquest these fam'd Divines of the first Reformation once too much ador'd and now as much despis'd wrote and preach'd the pure sincere Grace of the Gospel to the People It was by this alone Doctrine unassisted by any humane Policy or Force that they blew up all the Forts of the dark Papal Kingdom and conquering all before them planted the glorious Ensigns of our Blessed Lord Jesus in the Room of the Roman Standards Thus Chemnitius who was a perfect Master in the Art of attaquing Antichrist in her strongest Holds since he so prosperously storm'd and demolish'd the Council of Trent shews what were the Instruments of this Spiritual Warfare us'd by him that had the greatest Force What other Light says he hath dispers'd the most thick Darkness of the Papal Kingdom but this chiefly the true Difference of the Law and Gospel before demonstrated And this Difference he had stated that the Law consists purely of Works and the Gospel of all Grace This might be sufficient to inform us in what Sense we are to apprehend the Expressions of any of the Reformed Divines when they give the Name of a Law to the Gospel for since this signifies no more among them than the joyful News of God's Mercy and Love and his being reconciled to Sinners in the Blood of his Son the meaning of the Word Law when attributed to this Gospel that it may be sutable and consistent with such a Notion of it must design nothing more than a Doctrine of Grace and Peace But if I now bring Instances that they tell us in so many express words that when they call the Gospel a Law they intend the Word in no other Sense than this alledg'd it will clear the puzzled Cause and leave no remaining Doubt
Instruction given us not only by the Precepts but the Promises of God The Root from which it is deriv'd proves this to be its genuine meaning for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jarah signifies to cast or throw Darts or any other thing and metaphorically in the Conjugation Hiphil the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Horah signifies to cast the Meaning of one's Mind or a Doctrine and Instruction into the Thoughts of the Hearers as Mercer a Critic beyond exception in this Language very well observes And what is God's teaching us effectually but the throwing the quick and powerful Darts of his Truths into our Souls and his fastning them in our Hearts not to give us any mortal Wound but only a vital piercing Sense to rouze us out of our Lethargy in pernicious Errors and Sin Whereas it is the fiery Darts of the Devil of which the Apostle speaks Eph. 6. 6. corrupt Doctrines which he is so diligent to throw into our Souls which give us our Death's Wounds This is enough to show how natural the Metaphor is that from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jarah he casts Darts in Hiphil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Horah should signify he teacheth or scattereth any Doctrine And thus it is us'd in 2 King 12. 2. and in Ps 119. 102. And from hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moreh a Doctor or Teacher Job 36. 22. And from hence too is the Name of a Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moriah Gen. 22. 2. Which as Mercer notes signifies the Doctrine of the Lord God which from that Hill it being situated at one side of Mount Sion where the Temple was built was to spread through the World And indeed it was at Mount Zion nay in the Temple it self that our Lord Jesus taught his Glorious Doctrine of the Gospel and there also it was preached by the Apostles before they had a particular Commission to go to the Gentiles And sutable to this is that place in Isa 2. 3. And many People shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem that is a Doctrine shewing to Sinners the Way of Justification Thus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Horah he teacheth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah used in the Old Testament for Law proceeds by a free and unforc'd derivation which is enough to evince that in its original and native Meaning it signifies no more than a Doctrine which is taught us and to confirm it I shall produce several places of Scripture where it is us'd in this Sense By this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah sometimes is expressed any Doctrine or Instruction which Parents give to their Children or a Man to his Friend Thus in Prov. 3. 1. Prov. 4. 2. Prov. 7. 3. Prov. 13. 14. In other places it is imploy'd to signify the whole Doctrine of Truth contained in God's Word both of the Old and New Testament Thus in Psal 1. 2. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate Day and Night The Design of the Psalmist being to give the entire Character of a Person truly blessed the Description must be so comprehensive as to take in not only his delighting in the Precepts of the Moral Law which a Turk or Heathen may do and the old Philosophers really did but an inward feeling of a ravishing Pleasure in the Knowledg of the Gospel and in meditating on the admirable free Grace of God display'd in the Salvation of a Sinner And it is this pleasing Sense resulting from the Apprehension of the Doctrine of Grace which is the distinguishing Mark of that blessed Believer whom the Psalmist with such wonderful Eloquence describes So then the Law in which the Believer delights is not the old Law of Works nor a new one of a resembling Nature but it is the Doctrine of the Gospel as opening the hidden and unsearchable Riches of God's Grace and Love in Christ Jesus And thus the most Learn'd Commentators both Papists as well as those of the Reformed Religion explain the word Law in this extensive Meaning as not meerly signifying Precepts and Commands but that delightful Instruction which the Knowledg of Evangelical Truths affords the happy Believer More expresly the Doctrine of Grace in the Gospel is called a Law Psal 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple That it is not a Law of Works but the Word of Grace is evident from Scripture which is the best interpreter of it self For the Apostle Paul who best knew the Psalmist's meaning applies the 4th Verse of this Psalm 19. to illustrate the swift spreading of the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Teaching and Instruction of it coming to all Nations Rom. 10. 17 18. So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God But I say Have they not heard Yes verily their Sound went into all the Earth and their Words unto the Ends of the World That as the Sun and Moon and Stars in a Day and Night's Journey look round all the Earth and tell to all the Nations the Power and Wisdom of the Creator tho they say not a Word of his Mercy and Grace So the Preaching of the Gospel shall give a Sound through the whole World not meerly to proclaim the Great Majesty and Goodness of God who made it but his Infinite Grace undiscernable by Reason and the Love of our Saviour which is above all our Thoughts Now then as the plain Intention of the Psalmist is by a Comparison to shew that as the Heavens manifest God's Adorable Perfections so his Law vers 7. hath a more excellent Sound and Instruction in the Discoveries which it makes of his Grace the Apostle's taking one part of this Comparison and applying it to the Word or Doctrine of the Gospel necessarily infers that he understood the Psalmist to intend by his Law no other than this Doctrine of Grace which as the Sun and all the other Lights of Heaven spreads so swiftly and universally If we consider too the Psalmist's Sense as expressed by himself we shall find that the Effects which he ascribes to his Law cannot be produced but by a pure Doctrine of Grace From these Effects of converting the Soul and making wise the Simple it is evident that it cannot be understood a Law of Works in any Sense for that instead of converting the Sinner would but frighten him from God and so far is it from driving the guilty Criminal to Christ that without the Gospel proclaim'd the natural Tendency of it is to hurry him into Despair It could not let into the Soul the least Glimmerings of Hope for such a Law proposeth Salvation
upon the Condition of Obedience to it and yet at the same time convinceth the poor wretched Sinner of his own utter Disability to perform it It is then the pure Doctrine of Grace encouraging the Soul to trust and hope in Christ by directing him to that perfect Saviour for Pardon and Righteousness and Life which is in the properest Sense the converting Law And this Virtue and Efficacy our Lord Christ appropriates to his Gospel John 17. 17. Sanctify them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth By Truth there is more emphatically meant the Doctrine of Free Grace which Christ was sent into the World to teach unto Men and this and this only is the effectual Means which God useth to turn Sinners to himself and really to sanctify them And in other places where David the Man after God's own Heart because of that Evangelical Spirit which was in him speaks of the Delight which he took in God's Law and the inconceivable Pleasure which sprung up in his Soul when his Thoughts were employ'd in meditating on it by the word Law he understands the Gospel and that not as a new Law of Works but a Doctrine of Grace For as such it reveals those astonishing Mysteries concerning the Redeemer and makes those surprising Discoveries of Grace which only are capable of giving that pleasing entertainment of Mind which the Psalmist so much magnifies as having enjoy'd it in his own Thus in Psal 119. 97 98. O how love I thy Law it is my Meditation all the Day Thou through thy Commandments hast made me wiser than mine Enemies for they are ever with me Where it is evident that he speaks of a Doctrine by the Knowledg of which he had arrived to a higher Degree of the most excellent Wisdom than any who lived in the same Age and Nation with him a Wisdom which he pursued with the most eager and inquisitive Search and the discovery of one Mystery did but animate him to an impatient enquiry after more and make him earnest in his Petitions that God would reveal to him higher Measures of that admirable and most useful Knowledg Psal 119. 18. Open thou mine Eyes that I may behold wondrous Things out of thy Law By which especially is meant as Mr. Clark very well remarks the Mysteries of the Gospel Here then we have the Gospel called a Law not as a System of Precepts or a Statute-Book of a new Edition but as it at once instructs and amazes us in the Wonders of our Redemption and affects our Hearts with the thoughts of the Redeemer's Love When the Psalmist also expresses those refreshing Comforts which slow'd into his Soul from the inexhaustible Spring of God's tender Mercies he useth the same word Law and consequently means by it not a Doctrine of Works which can in no sense give any Solace to a guilty Mind but a Doctrine of Grace such as the Gospel which display'd those Riches of Grace to the Psalmist's Sight and in which he so chearfully hop'd and rejoic'd Psal 119. 77. Let thy tender Mercies come unto me that I may live for thy Law is my Delight i. e. Let me experience thy tender Mercies let me feel my own Part and Interest in them that I may live joyfully for my most fervent Desire O Lord is to search into the Depths of thy Mercy and Love and therefore my whole Delight is in that Word of Truth which contains these inestimable Treasures of thy Mercy and exposeth them all open to the view of my Faith Thus again the Gospel is called a Law but no otherwise than as it is a comfortable Instruction to poor convinc'd Sinners what Riches of Mercy there are in store and as it teacheth them how they may trust and hope in the God of all Grace In another place we read the Psalmist informing us what supported his Spirit under inward Troubles and outward Afflictions which oppress'd him And what was it but the Law of God not the Precepts or Commands for how could they have sustain'd his sinking Spirit since they only tell us our Duty but offer us no help in the sad Circumstances of our Case They shew us indeed what God would have us to do but declare nothing what he will do for us and so discover not any support to our languid Spirits fainting under a Calamity This is the Nature and the proper and peculiar Office of the Promises and the Gospel consequently as a Body of them is called by the Psalmist a Law in which he delighted because it thus sustained him under his Afflictions Psal 119. 92. Vnless thy Law had been my Delights I should then have perished in mine Affliction A Law that is as the before-mentioned judicious Annotator observes the whole Word of God chiefly the Promises of Support and Deliverance If we consider those Places which are more expresly urg'd to prove the Gospel to be a new Law it will appear that they only evince it to be a new Doctrine of Grace As 1. That clear Place in the Prophet Esa where by Law is expressed solely the Doctrine of Grace in the Gospel Isa 2. 3. And many People shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem It is manifestly the Design of the Prophet in the first and second Verses to shew how large a Church not straiten'd within the narrow Confines of Judea but spreading through all Nations of the Universe should be gathered and established Then he tells us by what Way and Means such a great and wonderful Work should be accomplished Christ doth not raise Armies to subdue the Earth to himself nor come to give new Laws to the conquered People but he sends his Apostles to preach the glad Tidings of Salvation by him And the Light of this glorious Doctrine of Grace breaks forth from Zion with such Swiftness and Violence as suddenly to illuminate all Parts of the Earth and with a ravishing Sweetness irresistibly to draw every Mind and Heart whom God hath appointed to Salvation to assent to it and embrace it ver 3. It is the Doctrine of Grace alone and not any new Precepts or Commands or any new Sanction of a Law which carries in it so admirable Force able to produce these astonishing Effects This is the Law which goes forth out of Zion so succesfully It is the Doctrine of Grace which is thus victorious and invincibly prevails when the Doctrine of Works in the Experience of many Ages could not subject one stubborn Sinner to God's Kingdom nor make one stiff and hardened Heart to bow to his Scepter of Righteousness And that by the Law out of Zion he means this effectual Doctrine of the Gospel the next words And the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem
the Old Testament is expressed by this Name John 12. 34. The People answered him We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever and how saist thou The Son of Man must be lift up Who is this Son of Man Where not the Decalogue or Levitical Book of Statutes is intended but the Doctrine concerning the Redeemer to come as appears from those Texts in Psal 110. 4 5. Isa 9. 6. to which John 12. 34. hath a manifest regard It is then plain from this Place of the Evangelist that among the Jewish People when our Saviour lived on Earth not only Exodus and Leviticus but the Instructions which they had concerning their so much desir'd and expected Messiah and Salvation by him in any of the Books of the Old Testament were call'd and known by the Name of a Law And to this common Notion of the People according to which they nam'd the whole Doctrine reveal'd by God whether it were Precepts or Promises a Law the Apostle Paul accommodates his way of writing in stiling the Gospel a Law in Rom. 3. 27. which I shall afterwards more fully vindicate from my Reverend Brother 's imposed meaning and in Gal. 2. 19. which I now shall consider These are the Apostle's Words Gal. 2. 19. For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God He writes to the Galatians among whom it was a prevailing Opinion that tho Christ had abated the too rigorous observation of the Law of Works yet Justification was to be obtain'd by some lower degrees of Obedience To shew them how opposite this Doctrine was to the Gospel preach'd by him the Apostle tells them what were the Experiences of his own Soul I am dead says he to the Law of Works and have not the least Heart to seek Justification by it And how was he thus mortified to the Law of Works What by a new Law of Works lower'd to more moderate Conditions No for such an one would rather have cherished and encouraged the Life of his Hopes in his own Obedience By the Law then that is by the pure Doctrine of Grace in the Gospel revealing Christ's Righteousness as that alone by which a Sinner can be justified the Apostle is quite deaden'd as to any hopes of Justification by his own Righteousness and hath not the least motion in his Soul to seek it in that manner What very much weighs with me is That Luther who so excellently hath wrote on this Epistle and who successfully prevailed against the Errors of Antichrist about Merit of Works by subverting the great Foundation of them which is this Assertion of the Gospel's being a milder Law of Works interprets the Apostle to mean by that Law which had such a mortifying Efficacy upon him the pure Doctrine of Grace in the Gospel The Law of the Decalogue says he did bind me against it I have now another Law viz. of Grace which is not a Law to me neither binds me but frees me But it is a Law against the damning LAW THIS it binds that it may no longer bind me If Luther thus calls the Gospel a Law signifying no more by that Name than a pure Doctrine of Grace it is no wonder that others of the Reformed Religion cited by my Reverend Brother call it so too tho not in his Sense but designing Luther's Meaning who ruin'd the greatest Strength of Popery by denying the Gospel to be a new Law of Works and by asserting it on all Occasions to be meerly a Doctrine of Grace But it is not the Authority of this Great Man which solely prevails with me the Design and Scope of the Apostle in this second Chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians hath the greatest Force to perswade me that by the Law which made him dead to the Law of Works he intends the sincere and unmuddied Doctrine of free Justification by Christ's Righteousness alone His Design is plainly to refute an Error prevailing among the Galatians who tho professing the Gospel and to be justified by Faith in Christ yet would make this Gospel to be a new Law exacting Works as necessary to Justification He answerably disclaims every Law of Works whether the old Jewish or that new Evangelical One so lately invented among these Christians and made to look with the polish'd and smooth Face of the Gospel He excludes the Observances of any Duties or any Act of Obedience from having an Interest in our Justification assigning the whole Business of it to Faith alone ver 16. Knowing that a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified It is thus he demonstrates this Proposition That we are not justified by the Works of any Law That they who were Jews to whom the Law was more especially given yet they having been instructed by the Doctrine of Grace that they could not be justified by Obedience to the Law and having by the Gospel which brings in a better Righteousness been convinc'd of the Defects of their own and therefore knowing that God had not appointed any Law whereby he would justify a Sinner they answerably had believed on Christ that so according to the Doctrine of the Gospel they might be justified by his Righteousness alone This is undoubted that we must be justified by some Righteousness or other not by our own for then Justification would be by the Works of a Law and so our Faith in another's Righteousness would be insignificant and to little or no purpose For why should we entirely trust in another Person for that which we could so well accomplish our selves If then not our own it must be Christ's Righteousness only that can have this desir'd Effect and knowing this by the Law or Doctrine of the Gospel we have says the Apostle for this very purpose believ'd on Jesus This without any Shuffles or intricate Windings is the plain Sense of this 16th Verse And among other Causes which mortified in him and the other Believers any Inclinations to seek Justification by the Law Pareus numbers the Doctrine of the Gospel as that which had the strongest and most efficacious Influence It is now then very agreeably that the Apostle says of himself That this Law or Doctrine of Grace had made him dead to the Law of Works but alive unto God What is it to be dead to the Law To renounce it in the Matter of our Justification to be freed from its galling Yoke of Servitude and Bondage whereby it keeps guilty unbelieving Sinners perpetually under the Tortures of slavish Fears and amazing Terrors To be dead to the Law is to disclaim our Justification by Works of our own and not to trust in any Obedience which we can perform to it and being convinced
that it condemns and dooms us to Death not to seek Life by it any more and no longer to have the least Commerce with it in the Affairs of our Justification or to be dead to the Law is no more to be obnoxious to its condemning Sentence in that it cannot exact from thee its threaten'd Punishments tho indeed as a Rule of Duty it always unalterably requires Obedience To be dead to the Law is no longer to be under its Dominion and Reign as it is a Covenant of Works Thus a King hath no Authority over a Subject whom Death hath transported out of his Territories into the Regions of another World nor can the Power of the Greatest reach beyond the Confines of the Grave In all these Meanings the Apostle asserts himself to be dead to the Law And what was it made him so What! but the Law or Doctrine of Grace revealed in the Gospel which so happily instructed him in the knowledg of free and compleat Justification by Christ This Sun no sooner riseth but all those little wandering Stars which as false Lights had before so wretchedly misled him do set presently and all his natural and rooted Inclinations to seek Justification by the Works of the Law lessen and at last wholly vanish and disappear at the glorious Appearance of the Sun of Righteousness who comes with healing in his Wings All those treacherous Hopes which he repos'd before in his Obedience to the Law in the severe Observance of its Precepts and strict Performances of Duties are utterly extinguished and all the Sparks of them being quite dead do not scatter any longer the least Glimmerings in his Soul Thus the Law or Doctrine of the Gospel teaching him how that Christ his Surety being made under the Law for him hath redeem'd him from its Curse answered all its Demands and silenced every Accusation hath stopp'd its Mouth and taken away its Strength and not only so but depriv'd it of Life as well as Voice the Apostle's Mind being thus illuminated with the Light of his new Law or Heavenly Doctrine to know more than ever he did before that Christ hath slain the Law as it is a Covenant of Works as well as the Enmity which Sin had caused between God and miserable Sinners he accordingly looks on the Law as a dead Thing which can neither hurt in respect to Condemnation nor do him any good as to Salvation and Life He answerably regards it with other Eyes than before and his former Zeal and Affection he had to it for the Purposes of Justification are not only abated but extirpated out of his Heart not meerly cool'd and damp'd but perfectly quench'd and dead Now then that the Gospel is called a Law by the Apostle not in the strict Sense as importing Works of any kind but as a meer Doctrine of Grace is evident from all these Effects which it produc'd It perfectly mortified him to a Law of Works and therefore could not be one it self unless we can imagine that the Apostle became dead as to seeking Justification by the Works of any Law whatever and that no otherwise than by giving entertainment to and putting himself under the Conduct of a new Law of Works which things do not seem very well to agree And that by Law when the Gospel is so nam'd in this Gal. 2. 19. the Apostle means a pure Doctrine of Grace and not a more moderated Law of Works appears from ver 21. I do not frustrate the Grace of God for if Righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain It is as if he should have said However others despise the Grace of God and think it too mean and ignoble to owe their Life to it it shall be my great Zeal to magnify it to illustrate its Glory and to pay unto it the highest Honour However others are Obstacles to its Progress and endeavour to put a stop to its Victories and Triumphs or attempt to render all its Power and Force vain and ineffectual yet for my part I will neither say nor do any thing to frustrate it and none of my Actions nor any Article of Doctrine which I teach shall in the least degree have such a Tendency I will not let fall a Word which may but seem to lessen or disparage the Favours of my blessed Redeemer who loved me and gave himself for me And can there be a greater Slight than when he hath done and suffered so much to save me not to rest satisfied with his Undertaking and Work as compleat but to be solicitously endeavouring how to supply the Deficiencies and to perfect it my self To esteem Christ as insufficient is certainly to despise him in the highest measure and he doth not suffice me if I join my own Righteousness to his or add Works done by me in Obedience to any Law unto his great Performances Nay if I should assert Righteousness to come by any Law whether New or Old I should dishonour Christ so much as to insinuate that he died very unwisely or unadvisedly For what could be more unadvised than to come and suffer all sorts of Miseries and at last to expire in Torments and that only to the Purpose of effecting what might have been done very well without such expence of his inestimable Blood For if by my Obedience to some Law I may be justified and the Works of that can be my Righteousness why should Christ die or to what purpose was he obedient since no other Ends of his Death and Obedience are assigned but the Justification of a Sinner And if this Business can be effected by this Sinner's own Works of what Nature soever the Blood and Righteousness of Christ comes in uncalled for and when there is no great or urgent need of them But far be it from me to defeat the Designs of the God of all Grace to misprize the greatest Favours which can be bestowed upon a Creature or to darken and obscure the Glory of the Grace it self and therefore I am firm to it and will unmoveably maintain it that Righteousness comes by no Law whatever nor are Sinners justified by the performance of any Conditions in obedience to it And therefore when I before ver 19. call'd the Gospel a Law you must by no means understand it to be a soften'd and milder Law of Works but a Doctrine of Grace in which Sense I also us'd the word Law in my Epistle to the Romans where I call the Gospel a Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. Thus I have endeavour'd to give briefly the Apostle's Sense in this Text which proves his Meaning in the other where he calls the Gospel a Law that he understands only a Doctrine of Grace by that Word CHAP. IV. That the Fathers of the Primitive Church when they call'd the Gospel a Law meant only a Doctrine by it proved by a few Instances out of Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Theodoret Origen and Chrysostom THIS might be enough if my
the Thing if it be known to us or can be comprized we may be assur'd that these truly venerable Persons for Learning as well as Piety and the true Knowledg of Christ knew so well all the Arts of Reason as they would not leave out of their Definitions of the Gospel any of the Parts constituent of its Being But neither is the word Law as the Genus or the general Notion wherein all that are so agree put into the Definition nor any mention made of Works Thus those who compil'd the Confession of Faith which was subscrib'd by seven Protestant Princes of Germany and the Senates and Magistrates of two Cities and presented to Charles V. Emperor An. 1530. after having declar'd their Belief concerning Justifying Faith and how it is wrought by the Holy Ghost in those who hear the Gospel the Sum of this Gospel they give in these few words That God not for our Merits but on the account of Christ justifies those who believe that they are receiv'd into favour for Christ's sake And in the Apology for that Confession publish'd by Melancthom the Gospel is describ'd that it is properly the Promise of Pardon of Sins and of Justification on Christ's Account Luther plainly described the Gospel to be a pure Doctrine of Grace without Works And as he had before divided the whole Word of God into these two Parts of Precepts and Promises and the former he entitled purely to the Law so he then defines the Gospel to be the other Part of God's Word distinct from the Law And how Only as it is a compleat System of gracious Promises to us that we shall possess all these inestimable Blessings in Christ And he very sutably a little after says Therefore the Promises of God belong to the New Testament yes and are the New Testament it self Which is in few words to express his Sense to be That the Nature of the Gospel and Covenant of Grace strictly and properly taken consists only in Promises And the more deference is to be given to what this Great Man says here because it was a Discourse which he compos'd on purpose to clear himself of those vile Aspersions which the clamorous Monks perpetually bawl'd out to the People That he was an Enemy to Holiness disparaged good Works and by his preaching and writing the pure Doctrines of Grace encourag'd all manner of Licentiousness and Villanies To vindicate himself he compil'd and sent this Discourse to Pope Leo the Tenth Anno Dom. 1520. before there was an open Rupture Wherefore tho his Adversaries basely reproached him as a Man of a boisterous Spirit who for want of a due Temper of Mind was immoderately hurried by a fiery Zeal to speak and write he knew not what yet we may be sure that in this his little Treatise of Christian Liberty there are no Thoughts but what are calm and compos'd with mature deliberation For he would not write like an enraged Man against Popery before War was proclaim'd nor would suffer his Passion to transport him or overcloud and distemper his Judgment when he pleaded his Cause before the Pope who to be sure had no very favourable Opinion of him Philippus Melancthon contemporary with Luther and greatly assistant to him in the Reformation of Religion and whom God made a glorious Instrument to clear the Light of the Gospel from the Darkness and Corruptions of Antichrist doth as plainly describe this Gospel to be meer Doctrine of Grace Having first inferr'd that the Name of the Gospel is not a Word framed at pleasure because that the Apostle John propounds a clear distinction between the Law and Gospel John 1. 17. For the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ For it is necessary says he that the Precepts and Pardon of Sin be discriminated and that a Difference be put between Precepts and Promises and also between the Promises of meer Grace and those which are not so And by these Lines he draws the Description of the opposite Natures of Law and Gospel that the first is a Doctrine of Precepts the other a Doctrine of Promises Says he a little after Our Adversaries speaking of the Papists tho they bawl out that they teach the Gospel yet because they do not instruct People concerning Reconcilation with God freely of pure Grace they leave Consciences in doubt and for the Gospel teach the Law Now in all this there is not the least hint of the Gospel's being a new Law nay so far is he from the seeming appearance of such an Assertion that he will not allow it in its true and proper Nature to contain Precepts but Promises alone In what Sense it may be said that the Gospel instructs uc concerning Repentance which Melancthon allows to it and that herein it doth not exercise its proper and peculiar Office but only employs the Ministry of the Law I shall afterward shew John Calvin to mention whose Name sufficeth without attempting to give the Charater which he deserves whenever he speaks of the Gospel forms no other Notion of it than as meerly a Doctrine of Free Grace According to the Mind of this truly Great Man if you take the Gospel in the more extensive Sense of the Word it sounds nothing but Promises tho comprehending those too which were offer'd to the Saints of the Old Testament but take the word in the strictest Sense and it signifies the clearer and fuller Discoveries of God's Infinite Mercies and Free Grace as revealed in Christ Jesus And as for investing Christ with a new Legislative Power and dignifying the Gospel with the Title of a new Law he calls it a meer Fiction They who have not apprehended says he these things viz. that Christ did not come to give new Laws but to interpret the Old and to restore it to its true spiritual Meaning of which he largely discourses before they have feigned Christ to be another Moses the maker of an Evangelical Law which should have supplied the Defect of that of Moses Beza is as well known as Calvin and tho from the Decisions of the best of Men in Matters of Faith there must always be an Appeal to the Scriptures yet by all to whom the Truths of the Gospel are dear and precious there hath ever been a great Deference paid to the Judgment of these two Learned Men in Divinity He briefly tells the comprehensive Sum of the Gospel without one Word inserted about Law or Works The Sum of the Gospel says he which is the Power of God to Salvation to every Believer is this that it teacheth us to lay hold on Christ as made to us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption In another of his Discourses demonstrating that the Papists know the use neither of Law nor Gospel For whereas says he the Gospel propounded by Moses under Legal Figures c. was therefore publish'd to the World that we may be freely
have been or as the necessary Prerequisite of Justification Well then when we meet with the word Law if we would not be impos'd on by the meer Sound of a Word we must carefully view the Text on all sides and survey and consider all its Circumstances When what is proper to the Gospel is attributed to the Law the word Law is not to be apprehended in the strict Sense as signifying a Rule of Duty and threatning Penalties to the Disobedient or as importing a Doctrine of Works but a Doctrine of Grace Thus when the Law is said to turn the Soul and to rejoice the Heart Psal 19. 8 9. since these are not the Effects of the Law as a Doctrine of Works for that rather effects a Sense of Wrath than any hope in the Heart of a guilty condemned Sinner and its Efficacy is more suted to wound him with anxious Fears or tormenting Despair rather than to comfort him Rom. 4. 15. we must by no means conceive a proper Law consisting of Precepts and Menaces to be meant but the Doctrine of the Mercies of God in Christ which only can have those Virtues and Influences And so when the Apostle too calls the Gospel a Law of Faith since he makes the Righteousness of the Law opposite to the Righteousness which is of Faith Rom. 10. 4 5 6. and Rom. 3. 20 21 22. he must consequently mean not a Law in the strict Sense not a Doctrine of Works but of pure Grace And by this Rule we are to proceed when we find the Gospel call'd a Law we are not to understand it in the strict meaning as a Rule of Duty with a Sanction which is the proper and peculiar Nature of the Moral Law but as a revealed Instruction to us what the Mind of God is concerning our Recovery and Salvation by Christ And when we hear of the Precepts and Threatnings of the Gospel and read them in that part of the Bible which we call the New Testament whether in the Sermons of our Saviour or in the Writings of the Apostles we are not to surmise presently that these are any Parts of the Gospel properly so titled as it is a Word of Grace and the Doctrine of our Redemption by Jesus tho they are contain'd in that Book to which we commonly give that Name For this would be to perplex our Notions of Things which are entirely distinct in their Natures and Idea's and to jumble them so confusedly together that we should not be able upon sight to discern and know one from the other For by the same Method of proceeding I might frame an Imagination to my self and strive to impose it on other Men that the Moral Law is the Gospel because there are so many Declarations of God's Love to Sinners of his Mercies to pardon them and so many Promises of Grace interspers'd in the Psalms and Prophets and other Books of the Old Testament all which tho so much of the Gospel be contain'd in it is so frequently call'd the Law both by Christ and his Apostles the Primitive Fathers and Protestant Divines So that in a Word as the Promises of the Gospel spread through the Books of Moses and the Prophets is no Argument to prove the Law to be the Gospel So it is as false a Demonstration that the Gospel is a Law because there are so many Precepts and Threatnings repeated in the Evangelists and Epistles All that can be concluded is that as there are Promises in one Volume of the Bible so there are Commands and Menaces in the other But yet as it is the Gospel which promises Grace in the First so it is the Law which commands and threatens in the Second And to clear the Equation it is only needful to bring all the Precepts in both to one side and the Promises to another and then we have distinct Law and Gospel CHAP. VII The Arguments us'd by the Apologist to prove the Gospel to be a new Law examin'd That from the Precepts Commands urg'd and Threatnings denounc'd in the New Testament nothing can be concluded to this Purpose IT is now very easy to answer my Reverend Brother's Arguments and with one gentle Stroke to wipe off all his Citations since they all are establish'd meerly upon the Ambiguities of the word Law Such reasoning is very fallacious to endeavour to prove the Gospel to be a new Rule of Duty fortified with a Sanction because we find it to be nam'd a Law both in the Scriptures and Humane Writings for the Sum of the whole Demonstration amounts to no more than this a Law is a Law the Gospel is a Law therefore the Gospel is a Law which is a pretty way of arguing and without doubt unanswerable But the clearing the Sense of the Terms answers all without any more to do which I think I have done and the more largely because I would do all the Justice to a bad Cause as could reasonably be ask'd and allow to it the fullest Scope and Play possible I have therefore offer'd Arguments for it my self I have consider'd what might be alledg'd I have produced those Scriptures which with any colour may be urg'd to prove the Gospel to be a new Law omitted by my Learned Brother and yet as aware that they might be summon'd I have brought them in and endeavour'd to clear their Words from that false Meaning which might be fasten'd on them to so ill a Purpose I shall now particularly consider those which he brings and shew that they do not prove the Matter in Dispute His first set of Scriptures are such as express the Gospel to be either giving Precepts and issuing out Commands and prescribing what is our Duty or reproving the Negligent or threatning the stubborn Offenders or promising Blessings on the Condition of such Duties perform'd as are requir'd It would make this Discourse too large which is I know not how grown under my Hands to a greater Bulk than I first design'd if I should particularly examine every Text it will be enough to shew that however there are Precepts and Commands in the Books of the New Testament yet these are not properly the Gospel but parts of the Law only employ'd in its Service that the Threatnings denounc'd do not properly belong to the Covenant of Grace for what hath Love and Mercy and Favour to do with Wrath and Justice and Expressions of Vengeance but it useth the Ministry only of a violated Law whose proper Office it is to threaten the Disobedient to condemn the Unbelieving and Impenitent Sinner and to demand Justice against him If I also shew at last that those places of Scripture which look like Promises of Blessings to us on condition that we perform the commanded Duties viewed nearly prove to be no more than so many Declarations of the Connexion of the Blessings of Grace and that as Faith is the first bestow'd it goes not alone but is attended with a numerous Off-spring When all this is
to do Justice in punishing Malefactors and yet in Man's Primitive State of Integrity there were no Rogues and Villains nor any need of Judges or Sheriffs This is strange indeed it will be said to deny the Gospel to be a Law commanding Faith and Repentance when nothing is more frequently inculcated and earnestly urg'd in the Sermons of Christ and the Writings of the Apostles than that Sinners should repent and should believe on him 'T is readily confess'd but yet from what hath been argued it must be own'd that these are Precepts of the Law made use of by the Gospel and encourag'd by its Promises We are not presently to fasten every thing on the Gospel strictly taken as it is the Word of Salvation which we find in the Books of the New Testament and because Christ and his Apostles give us Rules of Holiness immediately name the Gospel a New Law For after this rate of Reasoning we may infer too that it is a Book of Lives because the Life and Death of our Saviour and the Acts of the Apostles are recorded in it that it is the Levitical Law because the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews insists on so many Particulars of it That it is the Ceremonial Law because the said Apostle circumcis'd Timothy Act. 16. 1. That it is a Sacred Chronicle and the Annals of the Church because it contains the History of the Beginnings and first Progress of Christianity Thus if we frame Arguments by these Measures we may make the Gospel any thing that we please or would fancy it to be I have thus as I think clear'd the Difficulty which ariseth from our finding the Precepts of Faith and Repentance so frequently enjoin'd in the New Testament and have demonstrated that all such Instances will not serve the Purpose of evincing the Gospel to be a new Law The next Rank of Arguments to be broken is this that it is alledg'd that the Gospel denounceth Threatnings against unbelieving and impenitent Sinners and makes general Promises that every one who believes and repents in obedience to its Command shall certainly be sav'd If I now then prove that these Threatnings are not of the Gospel but that it only leaves the Sinner who by Faith hath no Interest in Christ to the condemning Sentence of the Law without any Defence or Plea or the least Excuse for himself And if I also prove that the Gospel makes no such universal Promises of Eternal Life to all Men on condition they believe I shall then clear the Way through my Reverend Brother's first thick Set of Arguments form'd from twenty Texts of Scripture enumerated by him One plain Text of Scripture evinceth that the Gospel judgeth and condemneth no Man but leaves the unbelieving Sinner to a fair Trial at Law and to make the best of it that he can 'T is what Christ who came to save Sinners and perfectly knew his own Design and Work tells us John 3. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved What could he have said more to assure us that in the Declaration of the Gospel he did not threaten Death but promise Salvation to Sinners whom the Law menac'd and who were condemn'd by its Sentence that he came not as a new Legislator to give new Laws and to pronounce a fatal Doom against those that disobey'd them but to rescue poor sentenc'd Criminals from the rigorous Judgment of the Law and to assure them of a Pardon He came not to condemn the World but to save all those whom God had appointed to Life and consequently to believe on him But if Christ had brought in a new Law with Precepts and Threatnings then one Design of his coming had been to condemn the Disobedient Our Blessed Redeemer took an effectual Care that we should not have such a Thought of him and therefore he repeats the same Assertion John 12. 47. And if any Man hear my Words and believe not I judg him not for I came not to judg the World but to save the World He doth not threaten much less judg and condemn an Unbeliever He knew that Salvation of Sinners was the Work which he came into the World to perform and that the Office of a Judg did not belong to a Mediator He accordingly disowns it and leaves to the Law its proper Duty which is to pass Sentence of Death on every Sinner who cannot plead the Blood and Righteousness of Christ for his Discharge and this all Unbelievers dying in that woful Condition are uncapable to do Thus the Gospel condemns no Man but it is the Law and those who believe not shall be judg'd by it for violating its just and righteous Commands and are expos'd defensless and liable to Justice Those who believe not on Christ are presently condemned by the old Law in force against them who have in the least Instance disobey'd it and there is no need that any Sentence of a new Law should be pass'd against them to this Effect If any should deny the Argument I am yet confident they will have a regard to the express Words of Christ himself which are to the same Pupose John 3. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God What is this but to say that he introduced no new Law to condemn the wretched and desperately lost Sinner for not believing on him since he was before condemned for the Offences committed against the Moral Law But it will be urg'd What is more frequently pronounc'd by Christ and his Apostles against all Unbelievers than an unavoidable Ruin and Damnation such Threatnings are almost as thickly scatter'd in the New Testament as the Promises of Grace What then will it thence follow that the Gospel which is a Doctrine of Grace is also a dreadful threatning Law No certainly for these two are altogether inconsistent All then which can be concluded is only this that the Gospel repeats the Threatnings of the Law to shew Sinners their Danger if they do not believe This Gospel only tells them what severe Measure they will have from a violated Law if they are not inclos'd within the compass of the Mediator's Favour and Blessings It plainly and sincerely declares to them that they can expect nothing but certain Death from a Law which kills the Sinner if they refuse the only healing Remedy which Christ offers Thus it is told to a Patient That he will certainly die if he takes not the prescrib'd Physick And yet who will say that this Threatning is any part of the Medicine Thus the Physician pronounceth Death to a Man who when mortally Sick wilfully refuseth to observe his Directions And how absurd is it from this to imagine that he who came to cure design'd to murder him when it is only the Disease and his
fond of any Arminian Opinions we must take the whole System of them together and assert roundly as they do without mincing the Matter what hath an inseparable Connexion with a false Proposition for there are Consequences among Errors as well as Truths and as the one are chain'd the other are link'd together We may then be certain that these Expressions in Scripture He that believeth shall be sav'd but he that believeth not shall be damn'd Mark 16. 16. And whoever believeth on Christ shall receive remission of Sins Acts 10. 43. And except you repent you shall all likewise perish Luke 13. 5. which are urg'd by my Reverend Brother do not signify that God passeth his Word to all Men by a new Law establish'd among them that if they obey it and believe and repent they shall assuredly be saved for God always speaks the Purposes of his Mind and none of his Words contradict his Heart but he never decreed either absolutely or conditionally that all Men should be eternally happy for if he had he would have taken effectual Care that they should be so since the Intents of his Mind and Will always obtain infallibly their desir'd Effect If we also understand that Expression He who believes shall be sav'd that it is promis'd to all that on the performance of this Condition they shall be thus eternally bless'd then by the same Rule we must say that eternal Death and Ruin is threaten'd to them on condition they do not believe But the Threatnings of this Wo are not denounc'd against Men for not believing but as due to them for not perfectly obeying the Law of Works and their Unbelief only leaves them in that perishing Condition wherein they were born as I have prov'd before tho as I said their Unbelief aggravates the Misery and inflames the Anguish of it But what meaning then must we apprehend these Scriptures to bear Why truly they have the same Sense as that Text in Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. What! is Holiness the Condition of obtaining the Beatifical Vision No tho it doth naturally dispose the Soul and make it meet for and capable of this blissful Enjoyment No more therefore is meant than that Holiness and this Vision of God are inseparably join'd together and that no unholy Soul can possibly come to his Presence and Sight Thus it is also true that he who believes shall be sav'd which imports no more than this that all Believers are sav'd and none but they and that there is such an unchangeable Connexion between the Blessings of the Gospel that Faith Repentance and Holiness are indissolubly fasten'd with Pardon Justification and Eternal Life in the same Person or in a Word that God justifies and saves no Man but whom at his own due appointed Time he makes a Believer brings him to Repentance I speak in this of Adult Persons and sanctifies his Nature and whoever asserts this is no Antinomian nor so much as like to such an execrable Monster however invidious Names are flung about as thick as Stones in the Streets I might insist more largely on this Argument but I begin to think that the Consideration of it will more properly belong to another Discourse wherein I design with the Assistance of my Lord Jesus Christ who hath help'd me in this beyond the natural Abilities of my own Mind to him be all the Glory to prove that the Covenant of Grace doth not promise nor confer the Blessings on condition of performing Duties requir'd CHAP. VIII Those Texts of Scripture which are urg'd by the Apologist as expresly giving the Name of a New Law to the Gospel recover'd to their right Sense His Testimonies out of the Fathers and Protestant Writers evinc'd to be useless to serve his Design I Shall now examine those Texts alledg'd by my Dear Brother wherein the Gospel is call'd a Law and the Citations produc'd by him wherein the Fathers and Protestant Authors give to it the same Name I shall do it but briefly for I need not be large since any Reader who hath with any intention of Mind perus'd my poor Writing may resolve them all at first sight The first Text produc'd is that known one in Rom. 3. 27. Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Without looking on the Context we may be satisfied by what the Apostle saith in the same Verse that by the Law of Faith he means no more than that Doctrine of Grace which declares a believing Sinner to be justified by the Righteousness of Christ which by Faith he receiveth for it is such a Law of Faith that excludes all boasting Now then if it commanded Faith and promis'd Justification on condition that this its Precept was obey'd Boasting would not be excluded but rather a great Occasion would be given to promote it For why should not a Man glory in his Faith if it be an Act of Obedience to this new Law which by the Statute of it makes his Justification to depend on this his Performance He may then as well plead that he hath done what was requir'd and so he may as well claim Life and Happiness on the Account of having done all that this new Law made necessary to Salvation as Adam if continuing in his Primitive State might have form'd a Plea of his Right to Life for having discharg'd all that Duty which the Law of Works commanded and propos'd as the Condition of his being eternally Blessed If he might have boasted for having faithfully observ'd the Covenant of Works the Believer too may assume some Glory to himself for having acted his Duty punctually to the Law of Faith if the Constitution of this Law be such that it makes the promis'd Salvation dependant upon this his Obedience in believing It will signify nothing to say that the Law by which Adam was to have been justified enjoin'd Works as the Terms of his being so but that this new Law insists only on two Acts of Obedience Faith and Repentance as all that it requires for our Justification For these two are Works done by us and so we might boast that we have done something tho not arising to that height of Duty incumbent on our first Father by which according to the Tenor of this new Law we are justified By the Opposition which the Apostle makes of the Law of Faith to a Law of Works it is also manifest that by the first he intends a pure Doctrine of Grace and by the other a Law commanding something to be done For if the Law of Faith requires any Works and constituted them to be Conditions of our obtaining the Blessings make these Works as few as you will and call them by what Names you please Faith and Repentance yet this will result from it that both are Laws of Works only with this difference that the one rigorously insists on
more Works than the other which how this may consist with that Opposition the Apostle forms between them I cannot very well apprehend We must therefore by the Law of Faith understand not a Law in the strict and proper Sense prescribing Works of any sort as Conditions but only the Doctrine of Faith and of the Believer's Justification by Christ's Righteousness which Faith receives It is thus all the right Protestant Divines who have commented on this Epistle interpret the Apostle's meaning tho the Popish Annotators wrest it to the same Purpose for which it is brought in by my Reverend Brother as I shall prove by many Instances It would be tedious to multiply Citations of the hundredth part of Protestant Expositors on this Epistle Calvin and Beza may alone suffice The Name of Law indeed says Calvin is improperly attributed to Faith By what Law that is says Beza by what Doctrine The Popish Commentators indeed universally interpret this Rom. 3. 27. to design the Gospel to be a new Gracious Law Thus Aquinas and the Cardinal Cajetan Arias Montanus Ambrosius Catharinus Bishop of Minori Cornelius Mussus Bishop of Bitonto the four Jesuits Benedictus Justinianus Cornelius a Lapide Estius and Adamus Contzen This last orders his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans in a way of Disputation to refute the Hereticks as he calls all those who believe the pure Truths of the Gospel One great Doctrine of these No-Hereticks is that the Gospel is no Law This suppos'd Error the Jesuit applies himself to confute and in resolving that Question What is the Law of Works and what the Law of Faith he first propounds Bellarmine's Decision of it the Sum whereof is that the Gospel is a Law of Works too but accompanied with Grace But there is an Objection of Paraeus in the way That if the Gospel be a Law as containing in it Precepts and Commands then the Distinction which the Apostle makes between the Law of Faith and Law of Works cannot be preserv'd for both of them will agree in commanding Works however different those Works may be which they enjoin and therefore they both of them must necessarily be Laws of Works unless any one will be so accurate a Disputant as to deny a Law to be a Law or Works to be Works To remove this Objection Contzen who being a Jesuit was very well skill'd in all the Arts of Shuffling as well as any Man and knew the necessary Doubles and Turnings when he was hunted like a Politician in Divinity makes this evasive Answer That both Laws command and yet the Law of Faith is not a Law of Works though it commands Works because it hath the Aids of Grace by which the Works are perform'd Therefore the Law of Faith is a Law of Grace the Law of Works is without Grace This is strange indeed What! the Gospel commands and yet is not a Law of Works that is the Gospel commands without bidding us to do any thing or to do is not to work but I know not what without a Name Ay but it is not a Law of Works because it contains in it Grace as a supply of Succour to enable us to perform them But this only proves the Works of their new Gospel to be easier not that they are none at all The best which can be made of it amounts to no more than this that their Gospel is a gracious Law of Works a Law whose Exactions are not so hard and cruel as those of the Tyrannical Egyptians to require Brick without Straw a Law whose Commands are moderated and its lesser degrees of Duty accommodated to the weakness of our present State and therefore it is not all Work bu there is an Alloy of a great mixture of Grace This seems to be fairly offer'd to compound the Business but what if the Apostle refuseth the Composition And indeed in my poor Judgment if a Man may know his Meaning by his Words it will not be admitted by him for he opposeth the Gospel or Law of Faith to any Law of Works whatever and however named gracious or rendred attractive by any other amiable Titles But in the Close of the Dispute this Jesuit Contzen joyfully cries out Victory And what animated his Courage Really it was only this that he thought any more of his Learned Labours in this Affair were wholly superseded by a great many of the Protestants owning the same Assertion which he endeavoured to prove of the Gospel's being a new Law But what are the Trophies of Conquest which he shews to this purpose only Bertius the Arminian who afterward turn'd Papist and was advanc'd by the French King to be Professor of History at Paris I wish that my Reverend Brother had not offer'd that place in Gal. 6. 2. not only on the account of its perfect refusal to serve his Design but because the Papists and Arminians press it to the same purpose of proving from it the Gospel to be a new Law and Christ a new Law-giver and I would not have him to be seen in such Company the entire words of the Verse are these Gal. 6. 2. Bear ye one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ There needs no more than to read them to be satisfied that they signify nothing to the Intent for which they are introduc'd For the Law of Christ doth not import the Gospel but as all Commentators agree only that particular Precept of the Moral Law urg'd by Christ 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 we may as well prove from hence that there are Eleven Commandments as that the Gospel is a new Law The Arminian Vorstius and the Jesuit Estius the better of the two infer the same Error from this Gal. 6. 2. as my Learned Brother doth From all it is manifest says Estius that Christ is not only given to Men as a Redeemer to whom they may trust as the Hereticks will have it but also as a Legislator whom they may obey Christ is to be acknowledg'd says Vorstius not only as a Saviour but also as a Law-giver inasmuch as his chiefest Law is Love which as a new Law he hath commanded to us in a new manner and hath confirm'd it by a new Example This is that Vorstius who denied the Omnipresence of the Infinite God and who advanc'd a wicked Opinion not only to imprison him in Heaven but to bind the immense Divinity in Chains to his Throne there and who asserted God to be mutable and to change his Mind and Will as often as a fickle inconstant Man The other place of Scripture Isa 42. 4. cited by my Learned Brother is no more effectual to prove his Assertion than any of the former The whole Verse is thus Isa 42. 4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
when a gross Error is wire-drawn to a slender Thred it is the more mischievous in being not easily discernable since so it slides insensibly into the Minds of the Unwary What tho the Merit of good Works is disclaim'd what tho the Socinian and Arminian Inferences from the Gospel's being a new Law are disown'd yet would it not be better for the Preservation of the Truth in its Purity and for the Safety of the Souls of the People to forbear such Phrases and Modes of Speech which by the Enemies of the Gospel are made use of to very ill Purposes Let all of us be sway'd by the Words of a Man whose Memory we all love and revere It is the admirable Beza who writing against Claudius de Xaintes contests with him that the Gospel was not a new Law nor ought so to be named I confess says he that Paul makes mention in one place of the Law of Faith which he opposeth to the Law of Works but besides that the Name of Faith added takes away all Ambiguity I say that neither so indeed doth that Place favour thee I read in the same Apostle the Law of Christ express'd but meant for the Command of mutual Love renewed by Christ to which is oppos'd the external and especially the Pharisaical Observation of the Law I deny that the perfect Law of Liberty which James mentions belongs to this naming of a new Law But I remember that Calvin in one place uses your Phrase but with an Interpretation added and that too only that all might understand what he would disprove in you But do not think that I contend with you about a Triffle tho some of the Antient Fathers as Augustine which yet he did very rarely attributed sometimes the Name of a Law and indeed of a new or second Law to the New Testament or Gospel That pernicious and plainly detestable Error of your's by which you take away the chief Difference of the Law and Gospel makes me to judg that this Phrase viz. a new Law unusual in the Scriptures ought wholly to be thrust out of the Church FINIS ERRATA Page 69. Line 14. for all read also a Mr. Quick's Synod in Gall. Reform vol. 2. in the Acts of the Synod of Alanson Chap. XV. pag. 353 354. b Ibid. Chap. 28. pag. 397 to 405. c Ibid. Chap. 29. pag. 40◠to 40◠d Ibid. Chap. 30. pag. 309 to 321. a Credita Res captique dolis Lachrymisque coactis Quos neque Tydides nec Larissaeus Achilles Non Anni domuere decem non mille Carinae Virgil. Aeneid l. 2. V. 196. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Declam 18. Pag. 483. Tom. 1. Oper. Ed. Morelli Paris 1606. c The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tor which in the Feminine Gender is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Torah signifies a fix'd and dispos'd Order of things as Esth 2. 12. and Ver. 15. Schindler in Lex Pentaglot and Cocceius in Lexic Heb. remark in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d In Addit ad Pagn Lex Heb. in Rad. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 1057. Edit Lugd. 1577. a Cajetan Lorinus in Psal 1. 2. Musculus Piscator Geierus in Psal 1. 2. a In his Annot. on Psal 119. 18. a Mr. Clark's Annotat. on Psal 119. 92. a Bullinger Homil. 9. in Esa 2. 3. Fol. 13. Tiguri 1567. b Est repetitio ejusdem sententiae quae passim occurrit Ergo per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nihil aliud intellexit Propheta quam Doctrinam Calvin Comment in Mic. 4. 2. in Part. 2. Tom. 2. oper Genev. 1617. c Talis Lex quae dicitur Hebraice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae vox vi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnem doctrinam notat cum sit à Radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae in Hiphil docuit significat ut frivolum sit hinc velle probare Evangelium esse novam perfectiorem à Christo in Novo Testamento latam cum quidem ex hoc Hebraismo Evangelium Lex vocetur Apostolo Rom. 8. 2. sicut à Psalte Psal 19. 8. sed cum restrictione Lex vero nunquam Evangelium appellatur Tarnov Comment in Mic. 4. 2. Pag. 104. Rostoch 1626. e Annotat. in Mic. 4. 1 2. a Nam verbum Judicandi Hebraeis per Synecdochen pro gubernare vel regere accipitur Calvin Comment in Esa 3. 2 4. Pag. 22. Tom. 4. oper Genev. 1617. a Plato de Leg. lib. 12. pag. 957. Tom. 2. oper Edit Serrani 1578. b Etymol Magnum in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot pag. 159. Tom. 4. oper Edit Du Val. Par. 1639. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophocles in Ajace pag. 33. Edit H. Stephan 1568. a Lex Decalogi ligabat me contra illam nunc habeo aliam Legem scilicet gratiae quae non est mihi Lex neque ligat sed liberat me est autem Lex contra damnatricem Legem hanc ligat ut amplius non possit me ligare Luther Com. plenior in Gal. 2. Ed. An. 1538. Fol. 45. pag. 2. Tom. 4. oper Jenae 1611. a Pareus in Gal. 2. 19. in part 2. oper exeget Calvin in Gal. 2. 19. Eilhardus Lubinus in Gal. 2. 19. in Tom. 1. Exercit. Theol. in Epistolas Francof 1612. a Nihil tam apertum quia si per Legem potuisset homo justificari Christum non oportuerat mori Sed quia Lex dare remissionem peccatorum non poterat neque secundam mortem detriumphans expoliare captivis quos tenebat causa peccati idcirco Christus mortuus est ut ea praestaret quae Lex non poterat ac per hoc non gratis mortuus est Mors enim ejus justificatio peccatorum Ambros in Gal. 2. pag. 327. in Tom. 5. oper Edit Froben Basil 1538. Non debeo illi esse ingratus qui me tantum dilexit ut pro me etiam moreretur abjecta enim est gratia si sola non sufficit Comment in Gal. 2. Incert Aut. sed Antiqui inter opera Hieronymi Fol. 216. pag. 2. Tom. 9. Edit Froben Basil 1526. b Those Errors with which Crellius the Socinian hath corrupted this Text when he asserts the Gospel to be a new Law and that to be justified by our Faith as our Evangelical Obedience to it is not excluded here by the Apostle This Fundamental Error of Socinianism is excellently refuted by Cocceius whom I would have transcribed had the design'd brevity of this Discourse permitted it I therefore refer the Learned Reader to that Author himself Cocceius in Gal. 2. 21. in Tom. 4. oper Amstel 1673. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexand. Strom. lib. 1. pag. 356. op Paris 1629. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. pag. 250. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Demonstrat Evangel Lib. 1. cap. 4. pag. 8 9. Edit Paris 1628. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Psal 49. Tom. 3. oper Ed. Front Ducaei Paris 1601. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Origen