and working ever since mans Fall alwayes was and yet is unable to justifie it may possibly attempt such a thing or rather the Sinner may look for such a thing from it but it cannot carry it on to any good issue This I conceive Pauls thoughts were in special upon when he says what the Law could not do For 't is the Sinners justification which he in this place is discoursing of and he first begins with the Law as being impotent and insufficient to accomplish this justification God by Christ condemned sin i. e. he abolish'd and cut off Sins Guilt and by him he brought about a righteousness for the Sinner but the doing of this by the Law was a thing altogether impossible that could not make the Creature to cease to be guilty or to become righteous The proving of this truth was elsewhere his main business as namely in the 3d 4th 5th Chapters of this Epistle where he doth professedly and largely insist upon it That one place is a sufficient proof of it Chapt. 3.20 Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the Law is the knowledge of Sin He pursues the same Argument in his Epistle to the Galatians where he goes over it again and again Gal. 2.16 21. 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 I do not frustrate the Grace of God for if righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 3.11 21 22. But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident for The just shall live by faith Is the Law then against the promises of God God forbid for if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath concluded all under Sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe So also in his Sermon at Antioch Acts 13.39 By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses How full and positive are the Scriptures in the denial of any power to the Law to justifie It can discover Sin accuse and judge for Sin but it cannot expiate Sin or make a man righteous before God There is indeed the righteousness of the Law and upon that righteousness by the Law but that now is altogether unattainable further than as 't is brought about and accomplished in the hands of Christ the Law in Christs hands can do great things but in ours it can do nothing So also the Law is weak in reference to Eternal life It could not do i. e. it could not save it never yet as separated from Christ carried one Sinner to Heaven 't is above the ability of the Law to save one Soul Consider it as the Covenant of works so its language is Do and Live Rom. 10.5 For Moses describeth the righteousness of the Law that the man which doth these things shall live by them Now man in his lapsed state cannot do according to the Laws demands therefore by it there 's no Life for him Had he continued in the state of innocency he had been able to have done all which the Law required and so would have attained Life by it in the way of doing but now the case is altered If Salvation depended upon the Creatures perfect and personal obedience not a man would be saved There must indeed be Obedience to the Law or no Salvation but should it be that very Obedience which the Law calls for and as the Law calls for it viz. as the condition of the first Covenant this would make salvation absolutely impossible You know Moses brought Israel to the borders of the Holy Land but Joshua must lead them into it so the Law as God uses it in subserviency to the Gospel may do something toward the saving of a poor creature but 't is the alone Merit and Obedience of the Lord Jesus applyed by Faith which must put the Sinner into the possession of the Heavenly Rest That which now saves is Christ not Moses the Gospel not the Law believing not doing I mean only in the old Covenant sense So much for the Matter of the Laws impotency The Grounds or Demonstrations of the Laws inability to justifie and save Secondly Let me give you the Grounds or if you will the Demonstrations of the Laws impotency and weakness to justifie and save He instance in Three 1. It requires that which the Creature cannot perform Before the Law do any great thing for a person it must first be exactly fulfill'd for that 's its way the terms and condition which it stands upon and 't is as high in these terms now as ever it was for though man hath lost his power the Law hath not lost its rigor it doth not sink or fall in its demands because of mans inability to answer them Though the Sinner be as the poor broken debtor utterly undone yet the Law will not compound with him or abate him any thing but 't will have full payment of the whole debt Now this in statu lapso as I shall shew when I come to the 4th verse is * Unde sequitur plus in lege praecipi quam praestando simus quia si pares essemus implendae Legi frustra aliunde effet quaesitum remedium Calvin Hic locus efficacissime convincit justificationem non esse ex opcribus c. P. Martyr Non implet Legem infirmitas mea sed landat Legem voluntas mea August impossible None but such an one as Christ could thus answer the Laws demands For nothing will serve it below perfection inherent righteousness actual obedience all must be perfect or else the Law despises them The Gospel accepts of Sincerity but the Law will ' bate nothing of perfection if there be but the least failure all is spoiled Gal. 3.10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Jam. 2 1â— For who soever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all And is it thus are these the terms and demands of the Law what then can it do or rather what can we do it must needs be weak to us Because in these rigors we are so weak to it it cannot do much for us because we can do but little to it it cannot do what we desire because we cannot do what it demands O how exceeding short do the best come of the high measures of the
Gospel as well as under the Law Page 13 'T is not only No Condemnation to Believers but positive Salvation Page 16 Of the dreadfulness of Condemnation Page 25 How it may be avoided Page 32 Persons exempted from it are to be thankful and chearful Page 37 c. What the Condemning of Sin is Page 460 There may be troubles in the Conscience after Sin and yet Sin may reign Page 212 The Contrariety of the two Walkings Page 95 The Corrupt Nature set forth by Flesh Vide Flesh The Covenant of Redemption touched upon Page 298 Of the New Creature Page 65 Of the crucifying the Flesh Page 66 D. The Law of Death opened Page 152 249 Sin and Death go together especially when 't is the Law of Sin Page 250 How the Regenerate are freed from the Law of Death Page 253 c. Comfort from hence to such against the Fear of Death Page 257 In temptations to Sin 't is good to consider that 't is Sin and Death Page 254 Comfort to Believers as to Death from their Vnion with Christ Page 81 Christ's Death a strong Dissuasive from walking after the Flesh Page 128 The main Ends of Christ's Death made good against the Socinians Page 518 c. Man had not died if he had not sinned Page 250 Of the Saints Dignity from their Vnion with Christ Page 96 Of the Dominion of Sin See the Law of Sin E. The converting Spirit works efficaciously and irresistibly Page 234 Of the spiritualness of a mans Ends. Page 111 Expiation of sin by Christ's Sacrifice Page 449 That finished on Earth not done in Heaven Page 505 The Nature of this Expiation Page 510 The Extent of it Page 511 Vide Sacrifice F. God the Father's Love to be admired in his sending of Christ Page 303 Saints are to think well of God the Father as well as of God the Son Page 305 Faith the Bond in the Mystical Vnion Page 49 Faith to be repeated in fresh applications to Christ Page 553 There are but few in Christ Page 118 Flesh is in the Best Page 91 All particular Sins comprehended in Flesh Page 97 Of being in the Flesh and walking after the Flesh ibid. Flesh taken for corrupt Nature Page 99 Why that is set forth by Flesh Page 100 Flesh considered more Generally Page 99 Particularly Page 101 The Philosophical notion of Flesh and Spirit Page 105 What it is to walk after the Flesh Vide Walking What the Flesh is by which the Law is made weak Page 263 Of Christ's being sent in Flesh that opened Page 375 He did not bring his Flesh from Heaven Page 376 Of the verity of his Flesh against the antient Hereticks Page 377 379 380 That proved ibid. How he was sent in the likeness of sinful Flesh Page 406 c. And but in the likeness of sinful Flesh Page 410 c. Of the excellency of Christ's Flesh Page 417 He as sent in Flesh is to be believed on Page 424 Of Freedom from the Law of Sin Vide the Law of Sin Freedom from its Guilt and from its Power Page 150 Of Christ's Fulfilling the Law Vide Law G. The eternal Generation of Christ the Son of God proved Page 324 c. The difference between that and common Generation Page 356 Its mysteriousness Page 354 Of the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion Page 415 The Priviledges of Believers under the Gospel above those under the Law Page 450 Grace set forth by Spirit and the Reasons why 't is so Page 104 c. There should be in Saints a Growth in Spiritualness Page 137 Of the Spirits being a Guide Page 108 Whether Christ took our very Guilt upon him Affirmed Page 490 H. Heaven made credible upon Christ's Incarnation Page 447 Holiness press'd from Vnion with Christ Page 75 From being made free from the Law of Sin Page 225 From the Incarnation of Christ Page 437 The Holiness and sinlesness of Christ's Humane Nature Page 411 The necessity thereof Page 414 The difference of the Humane Nature as in Christ and as in us Page 386 Of the advancement of the Humane Nature by Christ's assuming it Page 451 Christ to be highly Honoured 'T is shewn wherein Page 363 Humiliation the way to Consolation Page 5 6 Saints to be humbled that they were so long under the Law of sin and that sin still hath such a power in them Page 217 c. As also that there should be that Flesh in them by which God 's own Law is made weak Page 271 Humility press'd from Christ's taking our Nature Page 437 Of the HypostaticalVnion Vide Vnion I. About the Idem and the Tantundem With respect to Christ's Sufferings Page 489 To his Active Obedience Page 608 c. Of the Imputation of Christ's Active Obedience Vide Obedience How the imputation thereof is to be stated Vide ibid. The Incarnation of Christ largely discoursed of Page 372 c. His Mission and his Incarnation two distinct things Page 376 The Latter not impossible not incredible Page 386 The Grounds laid down why Christ was Incarnate Page 387 c. Prophesies and Types of it ibid. Seven Propositions insisted upon for the explication of it Page 393 c. What benefit had they by Christ who lived before his Incarnation Page 397 Why he was Incarnate just at that time when he was incarnate Page 398 A firm Assent is to be given to the Verity of Christ's Incarnation as also a firm Adherence to him as incarnate Page 420 c. Many other Duties urged from this Incarnation Page 426 c. As also the Comfort of it to Believers is set forth in several Particulars Page 441 c. Whether if Man had not sinned Christ had been incarnate Neg. Page 406 Of Inclinations Good or Evil and their difference in the Godly and Others Page 110 The severity of God's Justice in Christ's being a Sacrifice Page 543 The Law unable to Justifie Page 266 Whether there be two distinct integral parts of Justification Page 602 In the Justifying of Sinners God proceeds upon the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness Page 610 As to Christ we are justified by Works as to our selves by Faith Page 610 L. Law of Sin what it is Page 151 What the Law of the Spirit is Page 159 All Vnregenerate persons under the Law of Sin Page 169 c. How Sin is a Law opened in the proper improper notion of a Law Page 172 c. Wherein Sin acts as a Law Page 177 How it may be known when it is the Law of sin That particularly opened Page 179 c. All the Regenerate are freed from the Law of Sin Page 154 203 c. They are freed from Sin only as 't is a Law Page 149 203 206 Their freedom from the Law of Sin proved from Scripture and Argument Page 207 c. How fâ—r men may go and yet not be freed from the Law of Sin Page 210 A serious Exhortation to all to get free from it
together unless that which we build upon them or infer from them do agree with other Scriptures where the Thing is fully and professedly handled I dare not undervalue the least the meanest particle in God's Word yet I would be loath to bottom a fundamental Article of Faith upon such a particle especially when it admits of various senses as this here doth if it hath not the current of the Word to back it For our Opinion of Justification by the alone righteousness of Christ imputed to the Sinner and laid hold on by Faith we ground it upon several full and entire Discourses where our Apostle doth professedly handle that Argument proving Justification to be according to what we hold But our Adversaries to prove their justification by inherent righteousness very often I do not say always catch at some little single word and that they make the foundation which they build this Opinion upon In short against this For in the Text I mean too onely as they pervert it for in truth they have not so much as even this little Word to favour them we set the whole third fourth fifth Chapter of this Epistle to the Romans where the Apostle in a full discourse upon it doth plainly lay Justification upon imputed not upon inherent righteousness and which of us now do build upon the surest and safest bottom 2. What if this particle supposing it to be Causal doth point to the description of the persons and not to the priviledge some of their own * Stapl. ut prius Tolet. Causam exponit cur qui sunt in Christo non secundum carnem ambulant Authors do carry it so where then is the strength of their Argument from it to prove the fonmal Cause of No Condemnation All that then can be deduced from the Words is this that Grace in the heart is the Cause of an holy life that men upon regeneration are delivered from the Law of Sin and therefore they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit what is this against us And with respect to their Glosses who questions or denies inherent righteousness or that that doth free from sin provided you take it with a double limitation 1. that the freeing from Sin upon regeneration be understood of the taking away its power 2. that it be not carried so far as quite to justle out imputed righteousness or set so high as to have that attributed to it which is onely proper to Christs righteousness Our * Si Spiritus vitae vivificans Sanctificans c. Ergo liberati sumus à Lege peccati mortis Regeneratione Sanctificatione non solâ Justitiae imputatione Gratia ergo inhaerens est quae liberat à peccato Contz Quaest 1. in Vers 2. cap. 8. ad Rom. Torsit hic locus tà m Calvinum quam Bezam quia inhaerentem Justitiam per veram peccati victoriam luculentèr probat imputativam subvertit Stapl. Antidot p. 625. Adversaries misrepresent our Opinions and trouble themselves in a great measure to prove that which we never deny and then asperse us as though we did deny it 3. 'T is one thing to be the Proof of a thing another thing to be the Cause of that thing Regeneration indeed proves Justification for every regenerate person is a justified person but 't is not the cause of justification for the person is not therefore justified because he is regenerated but because Christ's righteousness by Faith is made over to him 'T is one thing to say therefore a man lives because he hath sense and moves and another thing to say therefore a man lives because he hath a living Soul in him the Sense and motion prove the life but 't is the living Soul which is the cause of life So here the Believer shall not be condemned because the Law of the Spirit of Life c. this evinces the certainty of the thing but 't is not the proper Cause of it So that the For in the Text is onely Nota probationis but not causalitatis and so 't is used up and down in the Gospel in very many places 4. 'T is very true that (a) Legem Spiritus impropriè vocat Dei Spiritum qui animas nostras Christi sanguine aspergit non tantum ut à peccati labe emundet quoad reatum sed ut in veram pietatem sanctificet Calvin Calvin in part doth interpret the Words of regeneration and inherent righteousness but then foreseeing the Objection that would be made upon it he explains himself about it and saith (b) Siquis excipiat veniam ergo quâ sepeliuntur nostra delicta pendete à regeneratione facilis est solutio Non assignari causam à Paulo sed modum tradi duntaxae quo solvimur à reatu Calvin If any shall reply that then pardon or justification doth depend upon regeneration the Answer says he is obvious Paul doth not set down the Cause wherefore we are absolved from Guilt onely the Manner wherein this is done He adds further (c) Perinde valet haec sententia ac si dixisset Paulus Regenerationis Gratiam ab imputatione Justitiae nunquam disjungi 'T is as much as if the Apostle had said that regeneration is never separated or parted from the imputation of Christs righteousness So that he doth not argue for Non-condemnation or Justification from inherent righteousness as the proper Cause of it but onely as these two always go together and as this is the order and method of God wherein he justifies And 't is true too that * Legem Spiritus Vitae nec pro lege fidei c. sed pro ejus efficaciâ per quam peccatum i. e. corruptio ipsaque adeo mors sensìm aboletur ut docet infra V. 10. 11. denique pro Regenerationis gratiâ accipio cui opponitur carnis i. e. Naturae nostrae corruptio Beza Beza doth take in here under the Law of the Spirit Regeneration and Sanctification but then 't is very well known what he makes to be the Law of the Spirit of Life principally viz. the Sanctity and Holiness of Christ's humane Nature which he saith being imputed to the Believer he is thereupon justified * In his verbis Calvinum Orthodoxae Augustinianae expositioni conformitè dicere quis dubitaverit sed audiantur reliqua impostoris technae ac fraudes apparebunt Stapl. ubi supra Quam Legem Spiritus cum probè intellexissent recentiores Haeretici perperam transferunt non ad Gratiam justis inhaerâ—ntem sed ad externam Christi justitiam quam robis quodaminodo affingi volunt imputari Justin And now Calvin and Beza have lost all their credit So long as they expounded the Words of inherent righteousness they were very sound and orthodox but now they thus explain themselves no Censures are severe enough for them now if Stapleton may be believed they are not adulteratores sed carnifices Verbi Dei I know Pareus to avoid the
large to be written out Ambrose expounds it The Law saith he of the Spirit of Life it is the very Law of Faith * Chrysostome distinguishes much to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in loc The Law of Moses was a Spiritual Law because it forbad Sin but it was not the Law of the Spirit of Life because it could not remit Sin and so quicken the dead But this Law of Faith is the Law of the Spirit of Life because it doth not onely restrain Sin but it also restores from death c. This Law in Christ Jesus that is by Faith doth free the Believer from the Law of Sin and Death The Law of Sin is that which dwells in the members which persuades to that which is contrary to the Will of God the Law of Death is the Law of Moses because it kills Sinners And no wonder that this Law should be the Law of Death when the Gospel is to some the savour of death unto death and so he goes on in the further explication of it Amongst modern Interpreters Pareus follows this Exposition making the Law of the Spirit of life to be the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Law of sin and death to be the Law of Moses The Gospel saith he is the Law of the Spirit because 't is attended with the conveyance of the Spirit the Law of Moses was spiritual but not the Law of the Spirit because it did not convey the Spirit And that was the Law of Sin because it discovered sin irritated sin made sin to be sin and of Death too because it had a killing virtue in it 2 Cor. 3.6 The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life Thus Pareus who after he had laid down and opened his Opinion thus concludes With submission to other mens judgments I judge this to be the most plain and genuine meaning of this place This way very many * Lex Spirituâ— c. est doctrina Evangehi fide apprehensa Osiand Fortasse legem Mose intelligit per legem peccati mortis à quâ etiam lege liberati sumus in vulgato Jesu Christi Evangelio Massus Utraque est Spiritus Sancti ut actoris utraqne est Spiritus nostri directivaâ— sed haec est Spiritus Sancti quatenus est vivificator noster in Jesu Christo c. Cajetan Legem peccati vocat literam Legis quae peccatum excitare solet damnationem revelare Vatabl. Opponitur haec Lex Spiritus Legi Mosaicae Crell Posset etiam per Legem peccati mortis intelligi Lex Mosis c. Perer. Vide Lud. de Dieu in loc Baldwin Dr. Hammond in Paraphr Others go either as to the whole or as to the most considerable part of it But neither shall I close with this Interpretation and that for two Reasons I. Because though the Gospel may very well be stiled the Law of the Spirit of life yet it sounds somewhat harsh to call the Mosaical Law God's own Law the Law of sin and death There is I grant something of truth in it and it may admit of a very fair and sound explication but then there must be a great deal of stating and limitation and cautioning before you can come at it And therefore many * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost Legem peccati mortis non ausim cum quibusdam accipere pro Lege Dei c. Quamvis enim peccatum augendo mortem generet Paulus tamen ab hâc invidiâ consultò supra deflexit Calvin His verbis non significatur Lex Mosaica c. Pet. Mart. Expositors do not approve of the application of this title to the Mosaical Law Nay our Apostle himself warns us against it whose way and custome it was whenever he had touch'd upon any thing which might seem to reflect any disparagement upon the Law presently to subjoin something for the vindication of its honour Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the law sin God forbid when the commandment came sin reviv'd and I dy'd and the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death c. yet saith he the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good was then that which was good made death to me God forbid but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful No man did ever depress the Law more than Paul did in the matter of Justification yet in other respects none did ever more vindicate and exalt it Well! this is one Reason why I shall not fall in with this Sense A Second is this because the Apostle here is not treating of the Law-state or Gospel-state or of the Covenant-aà ministration proper to either but he is more closely treating of the State of Nature and of Grace of freedome from Condemnation by the taking away of sins power and guilt in pursuance of which he pitches upon Sanctification by the Spirit and Satisfaction by the Son And therefore though the Former Notion may be taken in yet certainly that which directly falls in with the Latter as that Sense will which I shall presently give must be most agreeable to the Apostles Scope in this place 3. Thirdly by the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus Some understand nothing but the very Spirit of Christ Jesus They make the Law of the Spirit to be the very Spirit it self and nothing more thus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Theophyl Oâ—cumen Theodor. say the same Lex Spiritus i. e. Lex quae est Spiritus Aquin. Chrysostome and his Followers This is a very good foundation to build upon but yet without some further addition it will not so fully reach that special matter in the Words which hath a great weight and emphasis in it 4. Fourthly therefore Others do interpret them not onely as pointing to Gods Spirit but to make it the more express they consider the Spirit of God as renewing as regenerating as working the new and heavenly life in the Soul with great power and efficacy The Spirit is stiled the Spirit of life both as he is a living Spirit himself and also as he is a quickening Spirit to the Creature as he makes Sinners who were * Eph. 2.1 dead in trespasses and sins to live by working Grace and Regeneration in them and so life thereby But what is the Law of the Spirit of Life why 't is the mighty power of the regenerating Spirit put forth upon men in order to the freeing of them from the power and dominion of sin There are I know sundry other explications given of it (a) Lex-Spiritus vitae una eademque est quae Lex Dei sicut una eademque est Lex peccati mortis Nihil damnationis erit his qui Lege peccati quae est Lex mortis liberantur Legi Dei quae est Lex
of Sin for though that puts forth a great efficacy in the manner of its working yet it doth not rise to such a pitch or degree of efficacy in what is evil as the Spirit of God doth in what is good Set corrupt Nature never so high yet 't is but a finite thing and so hath but a finite power but the Spirit is an infinite being and in his saving and special workings he puts forth an infinite power and therefore He must work more efficaciously than Sin can do the Law of the Spirit must carry it against and notwithstanding the Law of Sin for though both pass under the same appellation of Laws yet they are Laws of a different kind and nature with respect to their power and efficacy This Law or power of the Spirit is that which I will speak to and for the better opening of the Truth in hand which mainly points thereunto I 'le do two things Two things propounded for the opening of the Observation 1. I 'le speak to the necessity sufficiency efficacy of the power of the Spirit in order to the freeing of men from the power of Sin 2. I 'le shew in what Way or Method the Spirit doth work and exert his power in his rescuing of Souls from Sins power In the First of these Heads three things are put together which must be spoken unto apart The Necessity of the Spirits power to free from Sins power 1. First of the necessity of the power of the Spirit Concerning which I may confidently affirm that 't is indispensably absolutely necessary for the divesting Sin of its long possessed soveraignty no less a power than the mighty power of this Spirit can bring down Sins power ô it s no easie thing to rescue the poor enslaved captive-soul out of its bonds Omnipotency it self is requisite thereunto that 's the * Luk. 11.21 22. strong man which keeps the palace till Christ through the Spirit which is stronger than it comes upon it and overcomes it Israel had never got out of their bondage under Pharaoh if God himself had not brought them out of it through a mighty hand and by an out-stretched arm as you read Deut. 5.15 and so 't is here Let 's bring it to a particular case take a Sinner who is under the Law of Vnbelief as there are too many such God knows nothing shall ever free this Sinner from the power of his unbelief unless a divine and an almighty power from above be put forth upon him 'till this be done all the Calls Commands Invitations Promises of the Gospel are all weak and ineffectual therefore 't is said to be the faith of the operation of God Col. 2.12 and the Apostle pray'd that God would fulfil the work of faith with power 2 Thes 1.11 and says the Prophet who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Isa 53.1 without the revealing of Gods mighty arm there 's no believing and you read that God in sanctification and the working of Faith doth put forth the exceeding greatness of his power according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Eph. 1.19 20. what can be spoken higher than this You see the Law of the Spirit is necessary to the freeing of a person from the Law of Vnbelief and is it not so in all other things wherein Sins power shows it self The power of Nature which some do so much magnifie can never conquer the power of Sin alas 't is impar congressus there 's no eaven match betwixt them and besides Natures greatest strength is on Sins side its relicks onely where 't is good are for God against Sin but its full and entire strength as 't is bad are for Sin against God God hath but its shattered sorces as it were but Sin hath its full Body what can enfeebled Nature what will depraved Nature do against Sin Let it be considered if the power of Grace in the Regenerate be so small that by that alone without the concurrence of divine and special assistance from above they can do nothing which Christ affirms Joh. 15.5 no not so much as think a good thought as the Apostle affirms 2 Cor. 3.5 what then can be expected from meer Nature in the Vnregenerate in whom Sin is in its full strength as to the weakning or subduing of it In things of a spiritual nature the Scripture doth not onely deny the act but the power too Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father draw him 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God c. neither can the know them because they are spiritually discerned Jer. 13.23 Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil So in that which I am upon 't is not onely the Sinner doth not free himself from the Law of Sin but of himself without the mighty power of the divine Spirit he cannot so do he that is not strong enough to subdue some one particular Lust how shall he be able to subdue the whole body of Sin in all its united and combined force as he that cannot conquer one single Souldier can much less conquer the whole Army If God leave a man to grapple with Sin meerly by his own strength woe be to him The necessity of the Spirits power to free from Sins power made out in some Particulars That the power of the Spirit is absolutely necessary to free from the power of Sin will be very evident if you consider those several advantages which it hath for the securing and holding up of its power in the Sinner As 1. 't is in possession 2. It hath been so a long time may be twenty forty theescore years to be sure from the time of the Sinners coming into the world for its power and his birth are of the same date now Vsurpers in possession and who have long been so are not so easily conquer'd 3. It s dominion is entire it hath all on its side the whole Soul is for Sin insomuch that when the Spirit of God comes to grapple with it he finds nothing there to side with him or to take his part which argues the necessity of his infinite power When there is a party within a Kingdom ready to fall in with the foreign force that comes to depose the Tyrant he may with more facility be vanquished but if all the people unanimously stick to him then the conquest is the more difficult As Christ once said * Joh. 14.30 the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me so the poor Sinner may say the Sin-subduing Spirit comes but he finds nothing in me to close with him 4. The natural man likes the power of Sin it hath his heart which is worst of all for the securing of its empire he
the Spirit He 's the great agent in your Regeneration deliverance from Sins Soveraignty illumination conviction turning to God believing mortification c. from him your light life strength liberty joy peace do all proceed why do you not more love and honour the Spirit O love the Son for what hath been done without but love the Spirit also for what he hath done within the whole management of Soul-work within in order to salvation now lies upon the hands of the Spirit let him be adored and honoured by all Saints 2 To live under the Law of the Spirit As you have found the Law of the Spirit in your first Conversion so you should live under the Law of the Spirit in your whole Conversation There is the power of the Spirit at the first saving work that is here spoken of and there is in what sense you have heard the continuation of it in the whole life now this you are to labour after I mean two things 1. you are to live under the constant influences 2. under the constant government and rule of the Spirit Blessed is the man that hath it always working in him and ruling of him what a life doth he live who ever lives under the Spirits authoritative guidance Col. 3.15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts c. I and let the Spirit of peace rule in your hearts 'T is a great motive to men to come under the rule of Christ to consider that where he rules there he saves and 't is also a great motive to sanctified persons to live under the rule of the Spirit to consider where he rules there he comforts his governing and his comforting go together he that is acted by the Spirits command and yields up himself to the Spirits guidance shall neither want peace here nor come short of Heaven hereafter 3 To set Law against Law Set Law against Law the Law of the Spirit against the Law of Sin You yet find too much of this latter Law and it goes to the heart of you that Sin should yet have so great a power over you well what have you to do in this case why set Law against Law power against power the power of the Spirit against the power of Sin this should humble you that should support you That power which could baffle Sin when in its full strength can it not subdue it in the remainders thereof that power which could bring you in to God in spite of all opposition is it not sufficient to keep you now you are brought in to God 1 Pet. 1.5 We are kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation that very power is put forth for your establishment now which was put forth for your Conversion at the first ô fear not the Law of Sin against you so long as the Law of the Spirit is for you When you are beset and enemies press hard upon you see that you improve both for duty and comfort this power of Gods own Spirit Thus I have finish'd the three Observations which take in the summe of this Verse Rom. 8.2 Reader the Contents of this Chapter were insisted upon only in the close of a Sermon I having under the former Head the Law of Sin exceeded the bounds allowed by the Press cannot upon this Head the Law of Death make any considerable enlargement From the Law of Sin and Death CHAP. VIII Of the Law of Death The connexion 'twixt Sin and Death Where 't is the Law of Sin there 't is the Law of Death Regenerate persons are made free from this Law that opened with respect to Death temporal and Death eternal Vse 1. Men persuaded to believe that Sin and Death go together dehorted from thence not to sin Vse 2. Of the happiness of Gods people Of the Law of Death THe Apostle here sets a twofold Law before us the Law of Sin and the Law of Death the former I have been large upon the latter I must dispatch in a few words And Death The word Law is not repeated but according to that interpretation which some put upon the Words 't is to be * Ut Lex ad utrumque ex aequo referatur Erasm Of the twofold Sense of the Words repeated 't is the Law of Sin and 't is the Law of Death too as if the Apostle had said The Law c. hath made me free both from the Law of Sin and also from the Law of Death In the * See pag. 152. opening of them I told you there is a twofold Sense given of them 1. Some tell us there is in them the Figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein one thing is set forth by two words therefore they render this and Death as being onely an Adjective or Epethite of Sin thus the Law c. from the Law of Sin and Death that is from deadly Sin or from the Law of Sin which is of a deadly nature 2. Others take the word substantivè making the Law of Death to be a Law by it self as well as the Law of Sin as if this Death was not to be melted into Sin and the deliverance from it into the deliverance from Sin but that they are distinct things and point to distinct deliverances Now both of these Senses are very true and good and indeed I know not which to prefer From the First The Matter contained in them one single point offers it self to us viz. That Sin is a deadly thing From the Second these three which mutatis mutandis perfectly answer to the three former under the Law of Sin 1. That men by Nature and before Regeneration are under the Law of Death 2. That upon Regeneration or such as are Regenerate are made free from the Law of Death 3. That 't is the Law of the Spirit of Life which frees from the Law of Death The due handling of these Heads would take up a great deal of time but I having already staid too long upon this Verse and upon some other Considerations I am necessitated to contract and therefore for the better shortning of the work I must pitch upon another method wherein I may draw all into a narrow compass Three things abserv'd in the Words That Sin and Death go together Three things onely shall be observ'd 1. That Sin and Death go hand in hand together There 's an inseperable connexion or conjunction betwixt them they come here in the Text very near each to the other there 's but an and betwixt them and that too is copulative the Law of Sin and Death And well might the Apostle put them together when God himself in the methods of his Justice and in the threatning of his Law hath so put them together and surely what he hath so joyn'd no man can put asunder When Sin came into the world Death came along with it the one trod upon the heels of the other if man will sin he shall
Law (a) Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin (b) Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all (c) Eccles 7.20 There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not (d) Isa 64.6 Our very righteousness is as a polluted ragge (e) Job 9.2 3. How should man be just with God If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand If I justifie my self mine own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse See Job 15.14 15 16. Job 25.4 5 6. * Psal 130.3 If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand †Psal 143.2 Quis melior Prophetâ dequo dixit Deus Inveni virum secundum cor meum et tamen ipse necesse habuit dicere Deo Ne imres in judicium cum servo tuo Bernard in Annunt Mariae Sine peccato qui se vivere existimet non id agit ut peccatum non habeat sed ut veniam non accipiat August Enchirid. In pessimis aliquid boni et in optimis non nihil pessimi solus homo sine peccato Christus Tertul. Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified 2. The Law doth not give what the Creature * Lex Moysi quamvis spiritualis esset quia tamen non adjuvabat intus per gratiam lex â—rat infirma et imbecillis ob statum carnalem hominum in quo relinquebat illos Cajet Non quod ipsa infirma sit sed quod infirmos faciat minando poenam nec adjuvando per gratiam Anselm Lex Praeterquam quod peccati rationem aperiebat nihil praeterea auxilii praestabat spiritui adversus carnem et ideo neque sufficiebat ad justificandum neque ad perficienda Legis opera Soto needs it asks above his strength and gives below his want He must have Grace Sanctification Holiness c. but will the Law help him to these no! 't is high in the commanding of them but that 's all it doth not work them in the soul it asks very high but gives very low 'T is holy it self but it cannot make others holy it can discover sin but it cannot mortifie sin as the glass discovers the spots and blemishes in the face but doth not remove them The Law is a †2 Cor. 3.6 killing thing but 't is of the Sinner not of the Sin it hath by accident by reason of the Flesh here spoken of a quite other effect for it doth rather * Non de legis praestatione hic agitur sed de ipsius vi in nostris immutandis animis ad illud Legis praescriptum efformandis utpote quae corruptionem illam in qua nascinsur non modo non sanet sed augeat potius Beza enliven increase and irritate sin as Water meeting with opposition grows the more fierce and violent and the Disease the more 't is check'd by the medicine the more it rages Paul found in himself this sad effect of the Law Rom. 7.8 But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead Moreover the Law calls for duty but it gives no * Per-Legem non adjutorium sed nostri mali indicium monitorium habemus Luâ—her strength for the performance of it Pharaoh-like who exacted brick but allowed no straw The Gospel helps where it commands the Law commands but helps not Lex jubet Evangelium juvat remember I still speak of the Law as it stands in opposition to the Gospel and as 't is the matter and transcript of the first Covenant It neither pardons what it forbids for doth it inable to do what it injoyns and much of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impotency of the Law lies in these * Necessarius fuit adventus Christi qui Legi suppetias ferret c. Nam illa quidem rectè docuerat c. Verùm adhuc duo erant necessaria quae Lex conferre non potuit 1. ut condonentur ea quae contra ejus precepta admissa fuerint 2. ut vires hominis corroborentur quibus possit Legis jussa perficere P. Martyr two things Take a particular instance great is the Sinners need of Faith for without this no justification no peace with God no heaven 't is the Gospel-condition on which all depends Now the Law knows nothing of this Faith nay 't is diametrically opposite to it 't is so far from working it that it hinders it to its utmost 'T is all for working for doing Gal. 3.12 And the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Believing belongs only to the Gospel therefore that is stiled the Law of Works and this the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 If Faith come under the Law 't is only that Faith which is a General Faith or as 't is a part of Obedience not as the Condition of Gospel-grace The Law therefore not helping as to these things so indispensably necessary for Grace here and hereafter what can it do for the lost Sinner 3dly The Law could not do because it could not heal that breach which Sin had made betwixt God and the Sinner It still looks forwards and is alwayes calling for perfect Obedience but what if Sin hath been committed for the time past O there the Law is weak It can make no reparation for what is past as to that all it sayes to the guilty person is as they to Judas what is that to me see * Matth. 27.4 thou to that Suppose the Sinner could for the future come up to a full conformity to the Law and in every thing answer its highest commands Suppose him now to arrive at such a pitch of perfection that he should do nothing which this Law forbids and do every thing which this Law commands yet supposing the Fall from God and the Guilt thereby contracted or any one sin committed the Law would be weak and the creature could not thereby be justified the reason is because here is now reparation and satisfaction to be made for what is past which to make is impossible to the Law This perfect Obedience present and future might do the work was it not for what is past but guilt hath been contracted God hath been offended his first Covenant violated therefore there must be reparation made to him for this Now this the Law cannot do nor the Creature upon the terms of the Law for all that he can arrive at is but perfect obedience and that is his duty he 's under an obligation to it and therefore by it he can make no satisfaction for what is past this is but the paying of the present debt which can quit nothing of the former score This is very well if we look forward but what becomes of us when we look backward So
legis impotentiam aliò ut Legem absolvat à culpá quam dat carni viz. nostrae i. e. corruptae nostrae naturae Muscul Ne quis parum honorificè Legem impotentÃae argui putaret vel hoc restringeret ad Ceremonias expressit nominatim Paulus defectum illum non à Legis esse vitio sed Carnis nostrae corruptelâ Calvin through our Flesh 't is not so in and from it self but only through our depraved nature 't is meerly by accident et aliundè that it lies under this impotency The Law is not to be blamed but we had not we finn'd the Law would have been still as able and mighty in its operations as ever it was did it but meet with the same subject it would soon appear that it hath the same power which it had before Adam fell So that I say the Law is not at all in the fault but only we because of the Flesh Observe here the wisdom and care of our Apostle where-ever he seems to tax the Law there he will be sure to vindicate it As where he speaks of its irritating of corruption he there layes the blame upon his own wicked nature not at all upon the holy Law Rom. 7.8 9 10 11. Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead For I was alive without the Law once but when the commandment came Sin revived and I died And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death For Sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me Yet vers 12 13 14. The Law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good Was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid But Sin that it might appear Sin working death in me by that which is good that Sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful For we know that the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin And thus we should carry it with respect to the Laws weakness O in it self 't is mighty and powerful but there is sin in us by which only the Law is made weak there therefore the blame must lye Could we but get rid of this Sin we should soon find what a mighty thing the Law is so mighty that nothing would be too high or too hard for it 2 Secondly Take heed that you do not cast off the Law upon this pretence 'T is indeed weak as to such ends but yet 't is a Law and that which is obligatory to all even to Believers themselves under the Gospel State and Covenant Shall we because of this weakness especially it being occasioned by our selves cast off the Law and pretend that we are not under the obligation of it we must not so argue Observe it in the Apostle even when he was proving the weakness of the Law as to Justification and shewing that God had found out another way for that viz. the way of Faith yet foreseeing that some might run themselves upon this rock and infer from hence that they had nothing to do with the Law he therefore adds * Rom. 3.31 Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law in its proper place and Sphere The Creature as a creature is under a natural and therefore indispensable obligation to this Law so as that nothing can exempt him from that obligation It commands to love fear serve honour obey God wherein it obliges so strongly that God himself with reverence be it spoken cannot free the creature from its obligation to these duties True indeed Believers are not under the curse rigor or bondage of this Law or under it as it is the condition of life but they are and it cannot be otherwise under the obligation of its commands as to an holy life There may be and blessed be God there is a great change as to circumstances a great relaxation as to the Laws rigors severitys and penaltys but for the main duties of Obedience and Holiness it is eternally obligatory and never to be abrogated O therefore do not look upon your selves as made free from this Law though it be weak and unable to justifie and save you it can damne upon the breaking of it though it cannot save by the keeping of it 3 Thirdly Neither must you upon this look upon the Law as altogether weak or useless I say not as altogether weak for though as to some things it be under a total impotency yet as to other things it still retains its pristine power It cannot take away sin or make righteous or give life which it promis'd at first and for which it was appointed for the commandment was ordained to life Rom. 7.10 here 's the weak side of the Law as to these 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as to the commanding of duty the directing and regulating of the life the threatning of punishment upon the violation of it here it can do whatever it did before The Laws preceptive and punitive part where 't is not taken off by Christ are yet in their full strength only as to the promissory part of it viz. its promising life upon the condition of perfect Obedience there 't is at a loss In a word its authority to oblige to duty or punishment is the same that ever it was but its ability to give righteousness or life in which respects only the Apostle here speaks of it is not the same If God open this Law to you and set it home upon your Consciences you will find it hath yet a very great strength and efficacy in it let it not therefore be altogether weak in your eye Nor altogether useless For Some will be ready to say if the Law be thus weak then what use is there of it to what end doth it serve what is to be looked for from that which can do so little for us But do not you thus reason For though the Law be not of use to you as to Justification I mean in a way of immediate influence upon the Act or State a remoter influence it may have yet in other respects 't is of great and admirable use viz. as a Monitor to excite to duty as a Rule to direct and guide you in your course as a Glass to discover sin as a Bridle to restrain sin as an Hatchet to break the hard heart as a * Gal. 3.24 Schoole-master to whip you to Christ The Lord Jesus indeed hath taken Sin-pardoning God-atoning Justice-satisfying Soul-saving work into his own hands he would not trust this in the hands of the Law any longer because he knew the weakness of it but for other work the awakening and convincing of a Sinner the terrifying of the secure the humbling of the proud the preparing of the Soul to close with Christ though this last act be only eventual and accidental as to the Law all this work I
say yet lies upon the Law Be you who you will Believers or unbelievers regenerate or unregenerate the Law is of marvellous use to you 'T is a rule to all whether they be good or bad and as so none are exempted from it as is by several Divines sufficiently proved against the Antinomists and it hath too very good and useful effects upon all whether called or uncalled Saints or Sinners Our Apostle who here doth so much depress the Law in respect of Justification doth elsewhere in other respects speak much of its usefulness Rom. 3.19 Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the Law sin God forbid Nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Gal. 3.19 24. Wherefore then serveth the Law it was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Wherefore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith I must not launch out into this vast Ocean you have variety of * Taytor's Reg. Vitae Burg. Vind. Legis Boltons Bounds c. Baxter in several Treat with divers Others Facessat longè ex animis nostris profana ista Opinio Legem non este regulam Est enim inflexibilis vivendi regula Calvin Treatises upon this Argument namely to prove that the Law is still a Rule and still very useful in those great effects which have been mentioned I refer you to them for further satisfaction This I only touch upon as it lies in my way both that I may prevent dangerous mistakes and also shew you how you are to carry it towards the Law O let it be highly esteemed reverenced honoured by you yea bless God for it for though indeed 't is weak and unprofitable as the Covenant of Works yet as 't is a Rule and as it produces such effects upon the Conscience so 't is of great use and highly beneficial So much for the 2d Vse Thirdly Use 3. Was the Law thus unable to do for the Sinner what was necessary to be done then never look for Righteousness and Life from and by the Law For as to these it cannot do your work unless you could do its work it cannot justifie or save you unless you could perfectly obey and fulfil it O pray expect little from it nay nothing at all in this way you cannot answer its expectations and it cannot answer yours It highly concerns every man in the world to make sure of righteousness and life but where are these to be had only in Christ in the way of believing not in the Law in the way of doing We would fain make the Law stronger than indeed it is and 't is natural to us to look for a righteousness from it because there was our righteousness at first and that suits best with the pride of our hearts Man is not so averse to the Law in point of obedience but he is as apt to rest upon the Law for Heaven and Happiness if he can but do something which the Law requires O this he looks upon as a sufficient Righteousness and as a good Plea for Heaven Especially when Conscience is a little awakened then the poor Creature betakes himself to his doing to his obedience to the Law and this he thinks will do his work till God lets him see his great mistake As 't is * Hos 5.13 said When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judab saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound just so 't is with the convinced Sinner in reference to the Law both as to his practise and also as to his success I would not be mistaken in what I have said or shall further say as if I did design to take off any from Obedience to the Law God forbid all that I aim at is only to take men off from trusting in that obedience and from leaning upon that as their Righteousness We should be doers of the Law for * Rom. 2.13 not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified yea we should go as far as ever we can in our endeavours after a Law-righteousness for though that be not sufficient to justifie us before God yet that must make us righteous in his eye * Vide Burg. of Justif 2d p. Serm. 22. p. 215. as to qualitative and inherent righteousness and so we are to understand that Text with many others of the same import * Deut. 6.25 It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as he hath commanded us But yet when we have gone the furthest the Righteousness which we are to rely upon is only the Gospel Righteousness or the imputed Righteousness of the Lord Jesus if we take up with any thing short of that we are * O nos miseros si vel tantillum nostra salus basi tam infirmá nitatur Beza in 1 Joh. 1.8 miserable and lost for ever As to the Law is it thus weak or rather are you thus weak and yet will you bottom your expectation and confidence there can you fulfil or satisfie it in its demands of perfect personal universal constant Obedience If you cannot then which nothing more certain it can never then do your business nay upon the least failure it will be your enemy to plead against you for the non-performance of its Conditions and so though it cannot as a Friend do you much good yet as an Enemy it can and will do you much hurt What a sad case is the legalist in the Law condemns him because he doth no more obey and the Gospel condemns him because he doth no more believe he 's lost on every hand O this is woful And yet how many precious Souls split themselves upon this rock millions of men look no higher than the Law that is the foundation upon which they build their confidence for Life and Salvation Could we but get into them and be privy to the Grounds of their Hope we should find that 't is not Christ and Faith in him but the Law and some imperfect Obedience thereunto upon which they bottom they deal honestly wrong no body live unblameably make some external Profession perform such duties are thus and thus charitable to the poor c. and hereupon they are confident of their Salvation Now I deny not but that these are very good things I wish there was more of them yet when any rest in them or upon them for Righteousness and Life they set them
have been some ground of fear that he would not have been able to have gone throught such a work but when Christ is pitch'd upon all ground of fear is removed to be sure he can and will finish what he engages in And 't is evident that he perfected what he came about from the Father's re-admitting him into Heaven had there been any thing left undone by him would the Father have given him such a reception as he did Believers do not fear all is * Joh. 17.4 finished Christ gave not over till he brought it * Joh. 19.30 to that You do your work by halfes very weakly and imperfectly but Christ did his compleatly yea though the Law it self through your flesh was weak yet Christ in your flesh was strong he did that throughly which the Law was altogether unable to do 4. Did God send Christ know to your Comfort he hath not yet done As to his own Satisfaction he hath no more to do but as to Your Glory and Happiness he will yet do more He sent Christ once into the Flesh and he will send him again in the Flesh not to suffer and die again no Christ †Rom. 6.9 being dead dies no more there 's now no further need of any suffering and dying but to appear * c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Athan. de Incar Verbi p. 110. like Himself in Glory and then to take you up into Glory Once already he came down from Heaven to Earth from thence hee 'l come again for what end why to carry you up from Earth to Heaven Heb. 9.28 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many that 's past and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation this is yet to come O long for it and rejoyce in it His First-Sending was to make the Purchase his Second shall be to put you into Possession which shall be done as certainly as the former is done and then there will be nothing further to be done 5. Wherefore did God send Christ for most gracious ends and purposes 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners c. 1 Joh. 4.9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Joh. 3.17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Now were these God's Ends and shall they not be accomplished may not Faith fetch strong encouragement from these for in order to the strengthning of Faith we are to look to God's Works and their great Ends as well as to his Word and Promise 6. Did God send Christ set this against All. Against the weakness of the Law that which the Law could not do Christ did that which was too hard for it was not too hard for him the Text tells you he was sent on purpose to make up what was defective in the Law Set it also against the guilt of Sin upon Christ's Sending presently you read of the condemning of sin God sent his own Son c. and for sin condemned sin in the flesh Sin was to be destroy'd and the Wise God took a fit course imploy'd a fit messenger for that end as the Scape-Goat with the Sin of the people was to be sent away by the hand of a fit man into the Wilderness Lev. 16.21 Several Other things might be instanced in whatever it is which troubles the dejected Christian let him therein study a God sending a Son sent and there he may find very proper and considerable satisfaction in every Case 7. God sent Christ for whom for you who see your lost and undone condition Matth. 15.24 I am not sent but unto the lost Sheep of the house of Israel so his Commission was straitned at first but afterwards it was enlarged to the lost sheep of the Gentiles also Luke 19.10 The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost Matt. 9.13 I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners of whom I am chief 8. He that sent Christ was also pleased to lay a special Trust and Charge upon him to secure all the Elect and to look to it that not One of those should perish Here 's a Truth which is like the full Honey-comb you cannot touch it but Honey and sweetness drops from it And I the rather here take notice of it because I find our Saviour himself when he is speaking of his Sending to make mention of it or when he mentions it to take in also his sending as Joh. 6.39 40. This is the Father's Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day And this is the Will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day O when the Father sent Christ he made this known to him as his Will and Pleasure that he should take special care of all his Elect and see that not one of them should be lost And this Christ submitted to as a part of his Surety-ship and ever since he hath with all faithfulness observed this his Father's Will and made good his Trust in the securing of every sincere Christian And for your Comfort know that this Trust doth as much lie upon Christ's hands now as ever it did that even as to your individual Persons if you be true Believers it is the Father's Will to Christ that he should not lose one of you or let one of you perish A child of God perish O by no means that neither Father nor Son will permit Rather than that should befal any of the Elect God would send his Son again to do and suffer all over again if such a thing was to be imagined Here then Believers is matter of strong Consolation for you viz. as to your Spiritual and Eternal State you are safe Christ is under a special obligation to secure you For the Father did not only send him in order to the bringing of you into a good estate but he did also then entrust him with the keeping of you in that estate when he should have brought you into it and what can be spoken higher for your support and comfort But I must leave these things with you O that you would often think of them especially in Soul-distresses and be ever drawing from them till your Hearts be even brim-full of Heavenly Consolation A Third Vse offers it self
could not be thereby convinc'd However I thought I could not do less than what I have done possibly thereby weaker Christians may come to some clearer insight into these matters if there too I be disappointed yet I have laid down the grounds of my own peâ—suasion which this Subject made necessary Whether the Answers I have given to the Objections will be satisfactory to others I know not but I. seriously profess as to the main they are so to me I must acknowledge in some of them there are those difficulties which 't is not an easie thing to get over yet upon the whole matter I must say that after the most serious thoughts I as to my self can with more ease and satisfaction answer the Arguments brought against the imputation of the active Obedience than I can those which are brought for it otherwise I had not embrac'd an Opinion which some knowing men oppose with scorn and derision I come to the Application wherein I must be very short From the Truth I am upon we learn 1. in what way or upon what terms a Believer is justified Vse 1 What are they why the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness which though it could not be done by the Believer himself yet by Christ it is done for him In the justifying of Sinners God proceeds upon the perfect righteousness and full demands of the Law and being justified they are righteous according to that * c. justi sumus coram Deo ex illâ etiam absolutissimâ legis formalâ Beza If with our justification from Sin there be joyn'd that active Obedience of Christ which is imputed to us we are just before God according to that perfect form which the Law requireth Engl. Annot. strict and exact righteousness which the Law itself holds forth You reade much of Legal and of Evangelical righteousness of justification by works and by faith there seems to be a contrariety between these two and so there is in some respects but if you consider them materially and fundamentally they are one and the same The righteousness by which we are justified 't is both legal or the righteousness of works and also Evangelical or the righteousness of faith in reference to Christ 't is legal as he exactly fulfilled the Law in reference to us 't is Evangelical that righteousness which was never performed in our own persons being graciously made over to us and accepted for us And so as to our selves we are justified by faith but as to our Head and Surety we are justified by works God deals with us in our own persons upon the terms of the Covenant of grace but he dealt with us in Christ upon the terms of the Covenant of works and indeed in the justification and salvation of a Sinner all these concur The Scripture 't is true sets them in opposition one to the other and makes them incompatible but that is only in reference to the same subject under the same personal consideration The same person as considered in himself and by himself cannot be justified by Works and by Faith too by the Covenant of works and by the Covenant of grace too but let Christ be taken in and so these things are reconcileable As Christ in his person did all which the Law or Covenant of Works required so in him our justification is by the Law of Works c. but as that his righteousness is imputed to us and apply'd by us so our justification is of grace by faith c. That very righteousness which is legal in the Head is Evangelical in the members in respect of the application of it Blessed be God for the sweet harmony and concurrence of both Covenants of Law and Gospel Works and Faith in the Sinners justification and salvation 't is admirably brought about by this great thing which the Text speaks of Christs fulfilling the righteousness of the Law for us 2. Secondly it shews us what great respect and value the great God had for his holy Law and what an high honour he put upon it Which appears from this the Apostle here setting down God's high and glorious ends in the sending of his Son into the world he makes them all to center in the satisfaction and accomplishment of his Law that it might be satisfied in its penalty Christ shall be a Sacrifice as you had it before that it might be satisfied in its commands Christ in his own person shall fulfil the righteousness of it as you have it here Here was by both plenary satisfaction made to the Law which was the very thing which God stood upon and would have done and rather than it should not be done his own Son must come from Heaven and put on flesh and be himself made under the Law he must live an holy life and die a cursed death and all to satisfie the Law And this was a thing so great in God's eye as that he look'd upon the fulfilling and answering of the Laws demands as a valuable compensation for all the abasement and humiliation of his dearest Son Oh let us think honorably of the Law for surely God did so The Apostle had seem'd to speak somewhat diminutively of it before what the Law could not do in that it was weak but here he puts a great deal of glory upon it in making this the end of the Incarnation of the Son of God that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us God never designed by the sending of Christ to have his Law * Nota per Christum non abolitam esse Legis justitiam non respectu quidem nostri verum impletam eam etiam respectu nostri in nobis Rolloc abolished or abrogated no but rather to have it accomplished and fully satisfied †Matth. 5.17 think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil In Christ's obedience active and passive we have an high demonstration of that singular respect which God bare to his Law Sin was a base thing therefore that shall be condemned but the Law was good therefore that shall be satisfied Secondly Vse 2 from hence by way of Exhortation I would urge a few things upon you As 1. make sure of an interest in the priviledge here spoken of To have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us O what a priviledge is this is it yours are you in the number of the us in the Text is Christ's obeying the Law so made over to you as that in God's estimation the righteousness thereof is fulfilled in you Sirs this is a thing that must be done either by you or for you the former being impossible what relief have you from the latter If you cannot plead this fulfilling of the Laws righteousness either by your selves or by your Surety you are lost for ever you are under that * Gal. 5.3 debt to the Law which you will never be able to pay you are
yet in your sins un-justified persons you lie open to the wrath of that God whose Law you have violated can make no good claim of life for the Law is not done its condition of life is not performed and which is very dreadful if the Laws righteousness be not fulfilled in you the Laws curse will most certainly be inflicted upon you God will have a perfect righteousness and obedience some where or he will not justifie and save if therefore the perfect righteousness and obedience of Christ be not imputed to you what will you do what will become of you wo to that man who when he shall come at the great day to stand before God's Tribunal shall not be judg'd in and through Christ a fulfiller of the Law that shall then be found without the garment of Christ's imputed righteousness how will the Law fall upon him for non-obedience and thereupon demand satisfaction of him in the suffering of eternal torments Pray think of this in time so as to get an interest in Christ's fulfilling the Laws righteousness Some dispute whether his righteousness be imputed to any let your enquiries you taking the thing in thesi for granted be about something else viz. whether in particular it be imputed to you and what you may be and do that it may be imputed to you For your direction and help in both of these enquiries look to three things Vnion with Christ Faith the Spiritual conversation these are the evidences of the priviledge and also especially the two former the grounds and means of obtaining it The us of whom the Apostle speaks in whom the Laws righteousness is fulfilled are 1. Such who are in Christ 1. Cor. 1.30 2. Such who believe Rom. 3.22 Rom. 4.24 Phil. 3.9 3. Such who live the Spiritual Life for so they are here characteriz'd that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit So that would you either know whether Christ obey'd the Law for you and that that his obedience be imputed to you or would you take some course in order to the securing of this grace to your selves these are the things which your eye must be upon that you be in Christ that you be true believers that you be holy and spiritual in your walking God never intended that his Sons Obedience should be imputed to any but only to such as these 2. You who pretend to the having an interest in this glorious priviledge I would with the greatest earnestness exhort you to go as far in your own persons as is possible in the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness And this I would with the more vehemency press upon you because of those ugly aspersions and calumnies which some do cast upon this precious Truth and the worthy Assertors of it How do * Ita nunc juxta hujus bestiae Sanctimoniam he means Beza renatus in Christo credens in eum Christi que justitiam forti fide apprehendens fornicetur inebrietur omni spurcitiâ contaminetur peccatum pro nihilo habetur utcunque supersint reliquiae ejus in nobis Staplet Antidot p. 630. Haec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt daemonum praestigiae quibus Legem Dei eludere c. Vid. Conâ—â—â—n in loc Qu. 1. Papists let fly whole volleys of bitter invectives against Protestants because they assert the imputation of Christs Obedience and so expound these Words And there are some Others who are high enough in their censuring and calumniating of this Doctrine as if it tended to nothing but to make men careless and loose and profane as if it opened a wide door to all licentiousness and did cut the sinews of all piety and godliness O therefore I would intreat you to be the more strict exact holy obedient in your course that you may live down all these scandals and that your conversation may be a â—isible confutation of them 'T is no new thing for the Doctrines of imputed righteousness of not resting on the Law for justification the decrying of Works for righteousness the crying up of Faith as the great condition of righteousness and life I say 't is no new thing for these evangelical Truths to be reviled by some and perverted by others Therefore as to the latter the Apostle when he was speaking of them was fain ever and anon to interpose something by way of Caution that he might obviate those misinterpretations perversions abuses which some might make of what he had said * Rom. 3.31 Do we saith he make void the Law †Gal. 2.17 is Christ the minister of sin And surely we have need to do the same as to that which I am upon O say some did Christ in our stead obey the Law is his fulfilling the Law made over to us then we have nothing to do we are under no obligation on our part to obey too is not Christ's perfect fulfilling the Law enough what can be further required of us what need we trouble our selves about any obedience or holy walking But God forbid that any of you should thus reason We are indeed too prone to such reasonings 't is very natural to us to catch at any thing that may comply with the gratifying of the flesh and with the easing of us as to the severities of an holy obediential course and hence it is that we suck poison out of the sweetest flowers turning the grace of God into wantonness But I assure you there 's nothing in Christ's Obedience and in the imputation thereof that hath any tendency or gives any encouragement or patronage to any such loose inferences for though he obey'd the Law for us yet we our selves must obey it too his obedience must not justle out ours both together upon different accounts do very well agree Indeed he having obey'd the Law we are not bound to obey it for such an end as for satisfaction and merit for righteousness and life yet in other respects and for other ends as that we may conform to the Will of God and so please him that we may in our sphere imitate our holy Saviour that we may testifie our love and gratitude to God c. so we are as much bound to keep and obey the Law as ever O 't is such an excellent Law in the commands and injunctions of it that all should delight in conforming to it as 't is the Law of works calling for perfect and personal Obedience and giving no strength thereunto so 't is burdensom but as it is puts the creature upon works and is the rule and matter of obedience so the gracious Soul will delight in it Wherefore though Christ hath fulfilled it for you yet it becomes you too to live in all obediential complyance with it and subjection to it And I say herein go as far as is possible You cannot perfectly fulfil it blessed be God that is not required of you but yet you should do as much
sin is there is matter of condemnation There 's not a man to be found on earth who upon this account and in this sense is not obnoxious and liable to a sentence and state of Condemnation for * 1 Kings 8.46 there is no man that sinneth not * Jam. 3.2 in many things we offend all * 1 Joh. 1.8 if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Besides those actual sins which break forth in external acts which are committed upon deliberation and with consent of which all are more or less guilty I say besides these there is in all a corrupt wicked depraved Nature which Nature puts forth it self in evil motions sinful propensions strong inclinations to what is evil O that Fomes Peccati those Motus Primo-primi as the Schoolmen call them those inward ebullitions of indwelling sin in impure and filthy desires set forth in Scripture by Concupiscence what shall we say to these are not they sinful is there not in them matter of Condemnation if God should enter into judgment and proceed according to the rigour of his Justice and the purity of his Law surely yes If it be prov'd that they are sinful unquestionably then it follows that they expose a person to Condemnation now how full are our Divines in the proof of that Concupiscence the first risings and stirrings of Corrupt Nature even in renewed and regenerate persons are properly and formally sinful whether they consent or not for Consent is not so of the Essence of sin but that there may be sin without it that may have some influence upon the degree but not upon the nature of the thing it self Those evil thoughts and motions in the Heart with which the best are so much pestred are not meer infirmities attending the present state of imperfection but they are plain iniquities there is sin in them The Apostle speaking of them sets the black brand of sin upon them Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the Law sin God forbid nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known Lust except the Law had said thou shalt not covet The holy Law forbids these inward workings of the sinful Nature as well as the exterior acts of sin therefore they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a breach of that Law and being so therefore they are sinful They flow from sin they tend to sin and yet are they not sin when Lust hath conceiv'd it bringeth forth sin Jam. 1.13 This is the Doctrine of our (a) Art 9. Church of the ancient (b) August lib. 1. contra duas Pelag. Ep. cap. 13. lib. 3. contra Julian cap. 3. with several others cited in Chamier tom 3. lib. 10. c. 10. Fathers of the Body of (c) Vide Cham. tom 3. lib. 10. c. 4. c. Chemn Exam. Decr. 5 Sess p. 93. c. Calv. Instit lib. 3. c. 3. Daven Det. Qu. 1. Ward Determ Theol. p. 136. c. Protestants and they make it good by several Arguments of great strength The (d) The Council of Trent anathematizeth all who hold Concupiscence in renewed persons and after Baptism to be sin Sess 5. Bellarm. de Amiss Grat. lib. 5. cap. 7. Valentia de Pec. Orig. cap. 7 8. Perer. Quaest ad Cap. 7. in Ep. ad Rom. Disput 7 8 9. Papists are wholly of another mind And whereas 't is said here in the Text There is no Condemnation c. they carry it so high as to affirm that in reference to Original Sin the depravation of Nature Concupiscence the inward motions and inclinations of the Heart to sin after Baptism Faith Regeneration there is no matter of Condemnation or nothing damnable in them who are in Christ He that will please to cast his eye upon the (e) Non tam significat nullam esse Condemnationem justificatis in Christo ob Concupiscentiam quà m nihil esse in eis condemnatione dignum Bellarm. de Am. Gr. lib. 5. cap. 7. Tollitur damnatio quantum ad Culpam quantum ad poenam Primus Motus habet quod non sit Peccatum Mortale ex eo quod rationem non attingit in quâ completur ratio Peccati c. Aquin. in loc c. Et consistit differentia in hoc quod inillis justificatis nempe in Christo nihil committitur damnabile propter donum Christi tam externum quam internum Intendit itaque per nullam damnationem nullum actum quo meremur damnari Et dixit hoc ad diffetentiam Primorum Motuum qui sunt etiam apud justificatos in Christo ut intelligamus illos non esle materiam damnationis Primi enim Motus non reddunt Sanctos damnabiles tum ob eorum imperfectionem tum quia absorbentur a copiâ Sanctarum actionum continuarum Cajet in loc Hinc patet nec concupiscentiam nec aliud quippiam in renatis esse peccatum damnatione dignum A-Lap Non quod volo ago c. ex iis sequitur involuntarios esse Concupiscentiae motus in renatis ac justis quibus proinde ad poenam imputari non possint Est Quamvis Caro contra Spiritum insultans molestias exhibeat iis qui sunt in Christo Jesu nihil tamen est in iis damnatiois quia dum non consentiunt non ipsi operantur illud sed peccatum quod per Concupiscentiam habitat in Corde Soto Citations here set down which are taken especially out of their Expositors upon the Text may see that this is the Interpretation which they put upon it What no matter of Condemnation nothing damnable in them who are in Christ this is much too high Our Adversaries I suppose though they deny any merit of Condemnation upon the forementioned things yet surely they will not deny but that sin in its full Act merits Condemnation if they will be so absurd the Apostle plainly determines it Sin when it is finished brings forth death Jam. 1.15 Now is there not too much of this to be found even in Saints in Christ and therefore are not they worthy of Condemnation True indeed Sin whether in the conception or in the finishing is not * Ad haec respondetur dimitti Concupiscentiam Carnis in Baptismo non ut non sit sed ut in peccatum non imputetur Aug. de Nup. Conc. lib. 1. cap. 25. imputed or charged upon them and so there is no Condemnation but yet as considered in its own Nature it merits Condemnation it doth so ex Naturâ rei exjudicio Legis onely 't is not so in point of Fact and in Event ex indultu Gratiae as one expresses it Sin is sin in the Children of God and it merits Condemnation in them as well as in others whence is it then that there is no Condemnation to them meerly from the Grace of God who doth not impute this sin to them As Solomon told Abiathar he was worthy of death yet he
wickedness O let such take heed lest God hear them in a dreadful manner I hope I speak to none of these you I trust have a dread of God and of the things of eternity upon your spirits let exempt on from Condemnation be the matter of your prayer and do but joyn the right manner with the right matter and this will secure your Souls forever God never yet condemned a praying man he that fears and prays shall never feel what he fears and prays against Fifthly 5 Dir. Make sure of Faith I mean true saving justifying Faith where that is yea but the least dram of it there shall be no Condemnation It secures from this both as 't is the Grace which unites to Christ and also as 't is the great condition of the Gospel upon which it promises life and salvation Unbelief is the damning Sin and Faith is the saving Grace If thou be'st a sincere Believer 't is not only thou shalt not be condemned but thou shalt most certainly be saved both are sure from the frequent often repeated declarations attestations promises of the word the whole Gospel-revelation centers in this God is as gracious to acquit justifie save the Believer as he is righteous to charge punish condemn the Unbeliever He * Gratia Dei speranda est acceptanda ad normam propositum miserentis Dei reque enim convenit or quiâ—condemnationis reusest formulas Gratiae praescribat ei à quo justè potest condemnari sed requiritur ut praescriptum Gratiae ab allo accipiat grato animo amplectatur Muscul in praefat ad Ep. ad Rom. may set down what condition or conditions he pleases in order to the giving out of his grace which when they are performed he is engaged to make good what he promises upon them O therefore get faith for this is the grand Gospel-condition if you believe not the Gospel it self cannot save you if you believe the Law it self cannot condemn you I do not enlarge upon these things 6 Dir. because that Direction which is proper to the Text is this As you desire No-condemnation get into Christ so as to be in Christ Jesus For they and they only are the persons who are out of the danger of Condemnation The Priviledge and the Subject are of the same extent and latitude just so many as are in Christ are safe and no more If thou beest one of these do not fear if otherwise do not flatter thy self with false presumptuous and ungrounded hopes All that were not in the Ark perished in the common Deluge all out of Christ are lost When 't is a Christ 't is no Condemnation when 't is no Christ 't is nothing but Condemnation When the guilty pursued Malefactor had got into the City of Refuge then he was secure O thou poor awakened Sinner fly to Christ 't is for the life of thy precious Soul and get into Christ the alone City of Refuge for the poor guilty Creature then Guilt many pursue thee but it shall never hurt thee And here I would admonish all to take up with nothing short of Vnion with Christ You are members of the Church but are you members of Christ you are joyned to the Church upon Baptism but are you joyned to Christ by a true and lively faith here lies your security from Condemnation The first Adam hath brought Guilt upon us and consequently Death how we being united to him So the second Adam frees us from this and makes over righteousness to us how in the same way and upon the same ground viz we being united to him without this all that Christ is hath done or suffered will avail us nothing But I shall more fully insist upon this in that which will follow VSE 3. Believers are to admire God for exemption from Condemnation Thirdly I would speak to those who are in Christ to excite them to be very thankful and highly to admire the Grace of God What No condemnation not one condemnation O the riches the heighths bredths depths lengths of the love of God! How should such be even astonished because of this inexpressible mercy They who deserve millions of condemnations that yet there is not one condemnation belonging to them they that have in them matter enough to condemn them over and over that yet they shall never be condemned how should God be admired by those to whom this blessedness belongs Such as are not in this state how should they be filled with self-awakening thoughts such as are in this state how should they be filled with God-admiring thoughts O you that are in Christ what will you think of this happiness when you shall see it accomplished the truth is as Sinners will never know nor ever be suitably affected with their misery till they feel it in Hell so the Saints will never know or be suitably affected with their happiness till that day shall come wherein they shall be put into the possession of it in Heaven When God shall pick and single you out of the common crowd and shall say I here acquit you before all the world from all your guilt I here pronounce you to be righteous persons and I will by no means pass a condemnatory sentence upon you though I know what I might have done to you and what I will do to others I say when it shall come to this how will your Souls be drawn out and if you had a thousand more Souls how would they all be drawn out in the adoring and magnifying of the Grace of God! But something should be done now whilst you are here though but in the hopes and expectation of this felicity Where there is no condemnation there should be much thankfulness How doth the Traitor admire the grace and clemency of his Prince who sends him a pardon when he expected his tryal and sentence to dye And as you must be thankful to God the Father so in special to Jesus Christ 't is he * 1 Thes 1.10 who hath saved you from wrath to come 't is he who was willing to be condemned himself that he might free you from condemnation judgment passed upon him * Is 53.8 he was taken from prison and from judgment that it might not pass upon you he was * Gal. 3.13 made a curse that he might deliver you from the curse when Adam had entail'd guilt and wrath upon you Christ came and cut off this sad entail and procur'd justification for you * Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all to justification of life 'T is upon Vnion with him that there is no condemnation to you O let your whole Soul go out in thankfulness to Christ He as your Surety paid your debt else you had been arrested and thrown into prison forever in him there was nothing to deserve condemnation and yet he
justificari nisi ci inseramur uniamur unus spiritus cum eo fiâ—mus Sâ—â—eso the first Adam could do us no hurt were we not descended out of his loyns and in him as our common head and so the second Adam can do us no good unless we be made One with him and in him as our head also If we so be then there shall be gracious communications most blessed derivations from him but if not none of these can be looked for And who would not now desire to be in Christ who would not purchase this priviledge with a world nay who would not give ten thousand worlds for it O that you would all make sure of it Do not trouble your heads with curious enquiries into some difficulties about this union but let this be your business to make sure of the thing The poor low-gifted Christian may get it though the highest gifted man cannot grasp it VSE 3. Directions how to get into Christ But I must direct as well as perswade Methinks I hear some saying How may this blessed Vnion be attained what shall we do that we may be in the number of those who are in Christ Jesus For answer to this I must again refer you to its double bond and ligament the Spirit and Faith and advise you to get both of them Would you have Christ to be one with you then get the Spirit would you be one with Christ then get Faith 1. First get the Spirit which may be done by attendance upon the Word and by Prayer Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the Hearing of Faith the Apostle means the Hearing of the Gospel or the Evangelical Doctrine The Gospel doth highly conduce to the obtaining of the Spirit for 't is the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 Do any therefore want this Spirit let them wait upon the Gospel dispensation and publication and through the Grace of God attending that Dispensation they shall have it Let me also recommend Prayer as an excellent means for the procuring of the Spirit O Sirs what will bring you into Christ but the Spirit and what will bring the Spirit into you but Prayer you should be praying for the Spirit though you cannot as yet pray with the Spirit O that you would often go to God and plead with him for the giving of it to you Say Lord we read if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his now Lord we dread the thoughts of being none of Christs O to be out of Christ is a woful state and we perceive that is our state till we have thy Spirit we hear 't is the Spirit that knits the Soul to Christ till therefore we are partakers of it we cannot be knit to him wherefore we beseech thee to give it to us O whatever thou deniest to us do not deny us this good Spirit Thou hast promised * Luk. 11.13 to give thy Spirit to them that ask him Lord upon our bended knees we ask him of thee O now make good thy promise to us I say do you but thus pray and the thing shall be done a good God never denies his good Spirit to the good Seeker of it 2. Get Faith also This is a Grace highly precious and excellent the Apostle Peter speaks of several precious things and Faith is one of them 't is precious blood 1 Pet. 1.19 't is precious Christ 1 Pet. 2.7 't is precious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 and 't is also precious Faith 2 Pet. 1.1 Now amongst many other things which make it so precious this is one 't is the * Fidei Gratia incomparabilis haec est quod animam copulat cum Christo sicut sponsam cum sponso c. Luther tom 1.466 Grace which unites to Christ The woman consenting to take the man for her Husband upon that the matrimonial union follows so the Sinner consenting to the receiving and obeying of Christ which is one great act of Faith upon this he is united to him this I say makes Faith so precious O this is one of Faith's royal excellences nothing puts a greater worth and glory upon it than this great effect Well then see that you make sure of it are you yet without it in the sad state of unbelief You have no share in and can make no claim to this Mystical Union so long as 't is thus with you you must be put into another state and become true Believers then 't will be well These are the only persons who are in Christ we who believe are in him that is true 1 Joh. 5.20 For whom did Christ ask of his Father that they may be one even as we are one 't was for them that should believe on him Joh. 17.20 c. Therefore let it be your great endeavour to be Believers for let me tell you in the very first moment of believing you will actually be the members of Christ the Soul is in Christ as soon as ever Faith is in it I 'le say no more but only add this As you desire to get Faith first get the Spirit for if you once come to have that Spirit he will most infallibly work Faith in you Of all the several Graces he will not let that be wanting wherever he is The Vses hitherto have been General VSE 4. Several things press'd upon those who are in Christ To admire the Love of God I shall now more particularly direct my self to those who are in Christ Jesus And first is it thus with any of you that you are indeed taken into this near Vnion with Christ how should you admire the love of God! I here consider God personally and so I would excite you to admire the Love of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for indeed all the Persons have a great hand in this Vnion and the love of each of them in it is very admirable The Father first lays the foundation of it and then he orders the accomplishment of it therefore 't is said 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him i.e. of God the Father are ye in Christ Jesus c. and he also is said to call unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 The Son is willing to be One with you what a condescension is that and he is the person in whom the Vnion is primarily terminated Then the Holy Ghost brings it about as one great Agent therein So that all the three Persons are concerned in the Mystical Union 't is to the Son by the Will of the Father through the agency and operation of the Spirit O let Father Son and Spirit all be adored by you Which that I may the more effectually perswade you to let the Thing it self be considered and how you stand in reference to it To be in Christ Jesus so nearly so indissolubly united to him what mercy is this There are in the Vnion many things of a
to God daily for help against it well God will not lay particular failings thus circumstantiated to your charge The Damsel under the Law that was ravished if she cry'd out for help and did not consent to the fact was to be acquitted Deut. 22.25 so you do to God under the assaults of the Flesh and so God will do to you True sin is sin though it hath not full and deliberate consent but God is so gracious that where that is not he will not impute it I have also told you that you must distinguish betwixt (c) Non dicitur vivere secâ—ndum Carnem qui Spiritum ducem sequitur etiamsi aliquando extra viam vestigium ponat Justin lapses into sin and walking in sin thou sometimes fallest by the Flesh but yet thou doest not walk after the Flesh where the fleshly act especially if it be gross is not repeated where the Soul resists it where there is a rising again by repentance deep humiliation for for what is past and all diligent circumspection and stedfast resolation in God's strength for the time to come there 't is but a lapse and not a walking This I hope is your case and if so then what you alledge against your selves will not amount to make you walkers after the Flesh And as to the positive part the walking after the Spirit though you come short as to degrees and are not so rais'd in the spiritual life as you ought yet in such a measure which God accepts you do live it The Spirit is your Principle your Guide spiritual objects have your affections the Heart inclines and bends chiefly to that which is good your great end is to enjoy and glorifie God O be of good comfort this is walking after the Spirit You are imperfect in it yet sincere you aim at more than what you can as yet arrive at God accepts of you and will deal with you as persons really ingrafted into Christ your holy walking discovers your Vnion and your Vnion secures your Non-condemnation What have you to do but to beg of God that he will yet guide you and more and more fix and stablish you in this your spiritual walking He that knows the goodness of your Way knows also the weakness of your Graces O pray much for strengthening Grace that you may stedfastly continue in your holy course to the end Psal 17.5 Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not Psal 119.117 Hold thou me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually So much for the Application of this Point Two things should therein have been further spoken to but now must be omitted namely 1. To vindicate the true Notion of the Spiritual Life against all the false MONASTICK glosses and interpretations which Some do put upon it 2. To answer those usual and common Objections which too many do raise against it But the due handling of these two Heads would take me up some considerable time and they will in the following Verses again offer themselves and I fear I have already been too long upon this Verse therefore at present I shall not meddle with them I have done with the First Verse There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit ROM 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death CHAP. IV. Of the Sinners being made free by the power of the Spirit from the power of Sin and Death Of the Connexion of this Verse with the Former Some bring in the Words by way of Prolepsis The proper import of the Particle For cleared and made good against the Papists In the Words something imply'd something express'd All reduc'd to three Heads A gracious Deliverance the Subject the Author of that deliverance What Sin is here mainly intended How far the being made free from it doth reach Whether it points to the Guilt or Power of Sin What is meant by the Law of Sin Of deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death Paul instances in himself as the Subject of it How that is to be taken Why he speaks in the Singular Number The Law of the Spirit c. opened A Fourfold Exposition of the Words What that is which is in Christ Jesus is it the Life or the Spirit or the Law of the Spirit In the close one Truth briefly handled That the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life How or in what respects he is so Some short Application made thereof The Connexion of this Verse with the Former THe Apostle having in the former Verse more succinctly laid down that great Truth upon which he designed to build his following discourse he here in this Verse falls upon the amplifying and enlarging of himself about it and all that he says from this Verse to the Seventeenth is but by way of amplification upon what he had more concisely said in the First 'T is obvious at the first view that this Verse doth not onely immediately follow but that in its Matter it is link'd and imbodied with the Former the particle For plainly shows that 't is brought in to prove or to explain something there asserred For the Law of the Spirit c. Now the Apostle having there 1. propounded the happy state of persons in Christ and 2. having describ'd and characteriz'd those persons a Question here doth arise Which of these Two doth he in this Verse design to prove or open I say to prove or open for the Words may come in by way of illustration as well as by way of proof or argumentation For answer to which I see nothing of reason why * Hinc utrumque depender quod Versu praecedenti statuit Prius c. Lud. de Dieâ— both may not be taken in the Words will bear a fair reference both to the One and to the Other too 1. First as to the Priviledge He had said there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus now this being the great prop or pillar of the Believers faith and hope he will therefore fasten it sure he is not satisfied barely to affirm it but hee 'l confirm and make it good and also show how 't is brought about For the Proof of it he first brings this Argument They who are freed from the Law of Sin and Death to them there is no condemnation But such who are in Christ are thus freed from the Law of Sin and Death Ergo c. All the difficulty lying in the Minor Proposition he shewes how this freedom from the Law of Sin and Death is effected and as to that he saith 't is by the Law of the Spirit of Life Which being done in this method in and for Believers they are in no danger of condemnation For the explication of it if you take the Words in that notion the Apostle
of (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. Confer supra cap. 7.23 24. ubi utriusque Legis neinpe Legis Peccati Mortis mentio facta est Quare non videtur hic esse Figura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vorstius in Schol. Interpreters open it The Law of Sin is always attended with the Law of Death and freedome from the Law of Sin is always attended with freedome from the Law of Death the power and dominion of Death stands or falls by the power and dominion of Sin But what is this Law of Death * August contra Fortunat. Disput 2. Austine answers the Law of sin is Whoever sins shall dye the Law of Death is Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return * Lex mortis est mortuum perseverare mortuum est de morte non esse reditum ad vitam Cajes Cajetan makes it to be permanentia in morte the abiding or continuance in the state of Death So Believers are freed from it for though they may for a time be subjected under it yet it shad not always have power over them so as to hold them forever as the Word is used concerning Christ Acts 2.24 they shall arise and live again they are not under the Law i. e. the everlasting evercontinuing full power and strength of Death You have Ver. 10 11. the matter of this Explication If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But to pass these by as the Law of Sin is the power of sin so the Law of Death is that power and right which it hath over Men by reason of sin for it hath its empire and dominion as well as sin Therefore as you read of the reigning of sin so also you read of the reigning of Death Rom. 5.14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it reigned as a King as the word imports Death is either Temporal or Eternal both of which carry that in them which may give them the Title or Denomination of a Law but regenerate persons upon the Law of the Spirit of Life are freed from both From the first not simply and absolutely but onely in a restrained sense viz. as 't is strictly a Curse or the fruit and product of that primitive Curse Gen. 2.17 From the second as it notes eternal condemnation for these two are all * Ut sibi respondeant Mors damnatio Estius one they are absolutely freed This Death they being in Christ and by the sanctifying Spirit delivered from the Law of sin hath no power or authority over them I say no authority for 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 20.6 on such the second death hath no power This is the First General in the Words that Gracious Deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death which they hold forth Second General The Second is the Subject of this deliverance This the Apostle puts down in his own Person The Law of the Spirit c. hath made me free from the Law of sin and death Here is Enallage Personae the change of the Person 't was them in the foregoing Verse 't is me in this I have already observed and I would now more fully open it that our apostle throughout this whole Chapter wherein he mainly treats of the Saints Priviledges speaks altogether in the Plural Number excepting onely this one Verse 'T is true where he is speaking of some high act of Grace as performed by himself there he purs it in the Singular Number as Ver. 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us And so too where he is speaking of some high Assurance a thing not so common there also he expresses it in the Singular Number as Ver. 38. For I am persunded that neither c. But wherever the great and fundamental priviledges of Believers are before him there he always expresses himself in the Plural Number then 't is us altogether And 't is observable that oven where he speaks of himself as to some special act or enjoyment yet even there as to the main Priviledge he takes in all the people of God You may see this made good in the two fore-mentioned places 't is I reckon but 't is the glory that shall be revealed in us and 't is I am persuaded but 't is shall separate us from the love of God Well! here he puts in himself as the Subject of the Priviledge but 't is not to exclade or shut out Others onely he propounds himself as one great Instance of freedome from the Law of sin by the Law of the Spirit here is application and appropriation as to himself but no impropriation or exclusion with respect to Others He that had so much of Faith and Experience as to be able to apply this to himself had withall so much of Knowledge and Wisdom as to know that it was with Others yea with all regenerate persons just as it was with himself And therefore 't is in the * Observandum est in causâ Gratiae nullum esse inter Apostolum quemvis Christianum duntaxat verum discrimen Non est quod dicamus Paulus suit Apostolus nos non item ex eo quod sibi contigit per gratiam Christi probat hoc quod tribuit omnibus Christianis Muscul Continet Argumentum á Testimonio viz. experientia Apostoli ita fimul Argumentum á Pari quod enim Apostolus in se expertus fuerat id pari ratione omnes credentes in se experiuntur nempe operationem illam Spiritus Sancti regenerantis Piseas Non ego solus sed omnes quotquot in Jesu Christo sunt c. Zuingl Me fidelem quemvis Gomar i. e. quemvis verè Chriftianum Grot. Pronomen me demonstrat ipsum in Christo ambulantem c. personam fiquidem talium induit Cajes In corum personâ de se Apostolus loquitur haec verba Estius Soto will be sure to extend it far though for be glosses upon it Me i. e. Gonus humanum persons of all these that he here thus speaks and this me is inclusive not exclusive every Child of God in the world may say as here Paul doth the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and indeed every Believer should be so well acquainted with the workings of the Spirit of God upon his own heart as to be able to apply this to himself But why doth Paul here particularize himself and speak thus in the Singular Number in this place rather than in Others I ansiver 1. Because he looked upon himself
as a pattern And indeed God all along dealt with him as so in reference to pardoning grace he was a pattern 1 Tim. 1.16 that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern c. So in reference to renewing grace he shall be a pattern too God would and did so effectually work upon him in the miraculous changing of him in the mighty rescuing of him from the power of ignorance carnal confidence prejudices against Christ enmity to the Gospel and the Professors thereof that he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a pattern to all that should be converted of the freeness and efficacy of converting Grace And therefore if He was thus freed from the Law of sin it should then be so with Others also for what was done to him was not done to him as a meer single or private person but as to One that was to be an instance or pattern of the Grace of God towards many 2. Because he was the Complainer therefore he shall be the Triumpher because he was the Combater therefore he shall be the Conqueror And as you have him in the * Ponit se pro Exemplo ut prius infirmitatum Luctae ita nunc fiduciae Imo verbis quasi praeit quibus singuli hanc consolationem nobis applicemus Pareus foregoing Chapter in the person of Believers complaining of the Law of sin so here you shall have him in the person of Believers too triumphing over the Law of sin he being made free from it by another and an higher Law But to close this Head be thou who thou wilt if thou beest a gracious person and one upon whom the Spirit hath put forth his efficacious power thou as well as Paul art made free from the Law of sin Therefore to make this the more indefinite and universal the Syriac not without an Emphasis saith * Et quidem non sine Emphasi quasi admonente Paulo ut singuli credentes hoc sibi beneficium applicent Beza Beza reads it not me but thee the Law of the Spirit of Life hath made thee free from the Law c. The Third General in the Words is the Author or Efficient of this freedome from the Law of Sin and Death and the way or manner how 't is effected 't is by the Spirit of Life and 't is by the Law of the Spirit c. Now here lies the greatest difficulty and that wherein Expositors do most differ I find no less than Four several Interpretations put upon these Words 1. First Some would have them to refer to the sanctity and perfect holiness of Christ's Humane Nature This say they is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the Law of the Spirit of Life is the power and virtue of Christ's unspotted holiness and purity to acquit and make free the Believer from the Law of Sin and Death h. e. from the guilt of sin and Condemnation So that they bring the matter to this the Habitual righteousness of Christ as Man being imputed and made over to the Believer upon this he is discharged from all guilt and look'd upon by God in Christ as perfectly righteous This Interpretation is that which * Cùm adeò imbecilla sit vis Spiritus in nobis quomodo inde possumus colligere nullam esse condemnationem c. quoniam inquit vis ista Spiritus vivificantis quae tà m imbecilla est in nobis perfectissima potentissima est in Christo nobis credentibus imputata facit ut perinde censeamur ac si nullae prorsus reliquiae corruptionis mortis in nobis inhaererent Nunc autem de perfectâ sanctitatis humanae naturae Christi imputatione disterit c. Beza in Paraphr Distinguit Legem Spiritus vitae quae est in ipso Christo Jesu ab eâ quae in nobis est ab co effecta i e. perfectam naturae nostrae in Christo sanctificationem ab eâ quae in nobis est duntaxat inchoata Nam illa quidem nobis imputata cum perfecta sit nos liberavit c. Explicandum est igitur istud de tertiâ Justificationis nostrae gratuitae parte quae consistit in Sanctificatione ipsâ Jesu Christi nobis communicata Idem in Notis Et porro Vis illa Spiritus vivifici cujus fons est in Christi carne facit ut peccatum seu vitiositas illa cu us reliquiae adhuc in me supersunt quae me alioqui condemnationi adjudicarent efficere nequeat ut conde â—ner quoniaru quod est in me duntaxat inchoatum in Christo perfectissimum est cui sum insitus This way goes Hemingius Elton Parr Streso c. Thâ—s Downham interprets it Of Justific Book 1. Chap. 3. Several Expositors some of Whom are of great Eminency do pitch upon Yet with submission I shall crave leave to prefer another before it For 't is very well known though I shall not in the least concern my self therein that some very worthy Persons do question the truth of the Thing viz. the formal imputation of Christ's Habitual and Original righteousness they making the sanctity of his Humane Nature to belong to his Justitia Personae rather than to his Justitia Meriti or Justitia Fidejussoria and they looking upon it onely as the necessary qualification of his Person to fit him to be a Mediator and also as that which was necessary in order to the meritoriousness of his Obedience but denying that it is directly and formally made over by imputation to the Believer But as to this which is the Veritas Rei as I said before I will not at all concern my self about that I am onely to enquire whether this Interpretation be proper to the Text and rightly grounded upon it which is the Veritas Loci And truly that I question very much and must say with the learned De Dicu Nescio an id spectaverit Apostolus c. I know not whether that was the thing which the Apostle here had in his eye I humbly conceive the Words without great straining cannot be brought to this Sense their main scope and intendment looking to a quite Other thing And that branch of them in Christ Jesus upon which they who close with the Exposition before us lay so great a stress will bear another explication much more easie and genuine as you will hear by and by 2. Secondly Others understand by the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Law of Sin and Death the Law of Faith and the Law of Works or the Evangelical and the Masaical Law You read Rom. 3.27 of the Law of Faith and of Works two very opposite and contrary Laws now by that twofold Law Some open the Law of the Spirit and the Law of Sin and Death Thus * I ex ergo Spiritur vitae est Lex Fidei Nam Moysi Lex est Spiritualis quia prohibet peccare non tamen viâ—ae c. 'T is too
Jesus is as much as (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occumenius Lex Spiritus vitae i. e. gubernatio Spiritus vitalis quem suppeditat Christus non solum admonens nos exemplo mortis suae ad charitatis opera perficienda sed etiam operans illam in cordibus nostris Oecolamp by Christ Jesus the Spirit is given and doth work as a regenerating Spirit or the Spirit of life according to the will and good pleasure of Christ 4. (c) In Christo Jesu quia non datur nisi his qui sunt in Christo Jesu Aquin. As this Spirit is given onely to those who are in Christ Men out of Christ have nothing to do with it his Members are onely its Temples without the Spirit there 's no Vnion and without the Vnion there 's no Spirit As the Member doth not participate of the Animal Spirit but as 't is united to the Head so a man doth not participate of the blessed quickening Spirit of God but as he is united to Christ but these things will be more largely insisted upon when I come to the ninth and tenth Verses Now the Words which I am opening mainly point to this what is it which is in Christ Jesus why 't is the Spirit it self therefore (d) Placet supplementum qui ut referatur ad Spiritum in Graeco subaudiatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi scriptum sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piscat So Erasm Some also would have an Article inserted here to make the reference to the Spirit more clear thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Then as to the Third and Last thing the Law of the Spirit that too is in Christ Jesus Thus that mighty power which the Spirit at any time doth exert in the work of Regeneration it is conveyed to a person and doth take hold of him in Christ Jesus that is in and through Christ viz. as this effectual Operation of the Spirit is grounded upon Christ's purchase and is put forth in pursuance of Christ's redeeming love This is a truth which might be largely opened but I fear I have been too long already upon the clearing up of this Branch of the Text And yet I cannot omit to tell you that there 's One reference more which * Quamquam nihil vetat quin illa verba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 construantur cum verba sequente 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Piscat in Schol. Some do mention as this in Christ Jesus may refer to and be joyned with the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath made free Then the Sense would be this 't is by Christ that Saints are made free from Sin and Death whatever spiritual freedome Believers have they owe it all to Christ he hath the great hand in it as the Efficient and meritorious Cause thereof But this I 'le pass by because though it be a thing unquestionably true yet the generally received pointing of the Words will not admit it to be here intended I have now finished the Explicatory part the difficulty of the Words and the different Expositions put upon them all of which may be useful though all are not so pertinent and proper must be my Excuse for my being so redious and prolix upon it Having given you their proper sense and monning I should next draw out those Doctrinal Truths which are contained in them but that I shall not do at present Onely there 's One of them which I shall mention and briefly close with How the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Life 't is this The Holy and Blessed Spirit is the Spirit of Life so he is here expresly stiled the Law of the Spirit of Life Which Words are applied to the Witnesses Rev. 11.11 where 't is said of them that the Spirit of Life from God entred upon them but yet know though 't is the same words yet 't is not the same sense For by the Spirit of Life as applied to the Witnesses nothing is meant but their civil living again in their restunration to their former Power Office Liberties of Service c. but when 't is applied to the Great Spirit of God it carries a quite other and much higher sense in it What 's that why it notes his living in himself and also his being the Cause of Life to the Creature He 's the Spirit of Life 1. Formally 2. Effectively or Causally A few words to each 1. First as to the Formal Notion The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Life as he is a living Spirit as he lives in himself or hath life in himself For as the Father hath life in himself and hath given to the Son to have life in himself Joh 5.26 so the Spirit hath life in himself also And 't is not an ordinary or common life which the Spirit lives but 't is the self same life which the Father and the Son do live he being truly God lives the same increated infinite independent blessed life which the two Other Persons do * Genitivus Hebraico more pro Epitheto ponitur Calvin Est Genitivus Epitheti loco Estius Expositors generally observe that Life when 't is here joyned with the Spirit is not to be taken Substantive but Adjective 't is according to the Hebrew I diome where when two Substantives are put together the Latter of which is in the Genitive Case that is to be rendred as an Adjective or as an Epithete of the Former as the Bread of life is living bread the Water of life is living water the Glory of Grace is glorious Grace c. so here the Spirit of life is the living Spirit Theophylact joyning this Life with the Law going before saith this is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the Law of Life was set in opposition to the Law of Sin and Death but Life is not to be joyned with the Law but with the Spirit himself 2. Secondly the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life Effectively or Causally He is a quickening a life-bestowing or life-working Spirit in the Creature he makes Sinners to live and is the spring of that heavenly and supernatural life which is in the gracious Soul As he hath life in Himself so he communicates it to Others he is not onely a living Spirit but he is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quickening Spirit And this is One of his great acts namely to quicken he 's the Spirit of * 2 Cor. 3.17 liberty and he 's also the Spirit of life he 's a teaching inlightning convincing strengthening comforting purifying Spirit and he 's also an enlivening and quickening Spirit And as the Father and the Son live in themselves and quicken * Joh. 5.21 whom they will so the Holy Ghost too hath life in himself and quickens whom he will as he is said to divide gifts to every one severally even as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 The Spirit is * Oecumen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the
Duty as the Soul is quickned so proportionably 't is comforted In order therefore to this how doth it concern you to improve the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Life who can thus animate and enliven you but he he who freed you from the Law of Sin and Death must also free you from all that dulness and deadness of Spirit which sometimes possesses you therefore when David was desiring this mercy he puts the Spirit before it Thy Spirit is good c. Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake Psal 143.10 11. Indeed as none can cleanse the filthy heart but the purifying Spirit nor soften the hard heart but the mollifying Spirit so none can enliven the dead heart but the quicking Spirit When the Child was dead the Prophet sent his staff but that would not do the work the Child did not revive till the Prophet came himself so you may have quickning Means and quickning Ordinances and quickning Providences but if this quickning Spirit doth not come himself you will be dead still O therefore whenever you find the Heart under inward deadness presently carry it to this quickning Spirit for quickning Grace I would not have any here mistake me to put a wrong interpretation or make bad inferences from what hath been spoken so as to slight neglect cast off External Means Ordinances Duties because they are but dead things of themselves and 't is the Spirit onely which gives life Some infer such a practise from the premises but they do it very unwarrantably For 't is true that the Spirit of Life onely quickens but then he doth this for men when they are in the use of and in attendance upon the Means he first quickens to duty and then in duty and by duty his way and method is to give out his enlivening influences when the Soul is waiting in holy Ordinances And therefore these must be highly valued and duely attended upon though it be the Spirit onely which works in them effectually upon the heart 'T was the the Angel moving the Waters that did the Cure yet the poor Cripples were to lie by the Pool side so 't is here 'T is a good Caveat therefore that of Musculus upon the Words Ista Spiritus Dei efficacia c. that efficacy of the Spirit saith he is always to be pray'd for yet we must take heed that we have a due respect for those outward Means which the Spirit will have us to make use of But no more of this ROM 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death CHAP. V. Of the Law or Power of Sin under which all Men are by Nature The whole Matter in the Words drawn into several Observations The main Observation broken into Three The First of which is spoken to viz. That every unregenerate person is under the Law of Sin That Law of Sin is opened in the twofold notion of it Two Questions stated 1. How doth Sin act as a Law in the Unregenerate 2. How it may be known when 't is the Law of Sin or wherein doth the difference lie betwixt the Power of Sin in the Regenerate and in the Unregenerate The Point applied by way of Information to inform us 1. of the bondage of the Natural State The Evil and Misery of that set forth in some Particulars 2. To inform us of the necessity power and efficacy of restraining and renewing Grace Both spoken to HHaving opened the Words and fixed upon that Interpretation of them which I judge most proper and genuine The Observations raised from the Words which was my work the last time I come now to fall upon those Observations which are grounded upon and do best therewith It hath been already observed First that the Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of Life this I have given some short account of and will add nothing further upon it I might Secondly observe That this Spirit of Life is in Christ Jesus the regenerating Spirit is in Christ though not as the regenerating Spirit according to our common notion of Regeneration This was also cleared up in some Particulars when I was upon the Explication of the Words and in the following Verses I shall have occasion to handle it fully therefore here I 'le pass it over There 's a Third Observation which takes in the principal matter in the Text that therefore I shall onely insist upon namely That all regenerate persons by the Law of the Spirit of Life are made free from the Law of Sin and Death For this is that which Paul here affirms concerning himself and he speaking here not as an Apostle but as One regenerate quatenus regenerate that which he saith of himself is applicable to all such they all are made free from c. The General Observation broken into Three This being more generally laid down just as it lies in the Words of the Text and it being very comprehensive I will therefore more particularly branch it out into three Observations 1. That every man in the world as he is in the natural and unconverted state 1. Obs before the Spirit of Life or the regenerating Spirit takes hold of him is under the Law of Sin and Death 2. That such who are truly regenerate are made free from the Law of Sin and Death 2. Obs 3. That 't is by the Law of the Spirit of Life that these are made free from the Law of Sin and Death 3. Obs Each of these Points are of great weight and importance therefore I shall distinctly and largely speak to them First Observ handled I begin with the First which you may shorten thus Every unregenerate man is under the Law of Sin and Death In the handling both of this and also of the two other I shall mainly direct my Discourse to the Law of Sin as to the Law of Death that I shall onely speak to in the close of all This first Doctrinal Proposition is not so express in the letter of the Words as the two following but 't is strongly implied and very naturally deducible from them Paul himself that * Acts 9.15 chosen vessel who was so eminent in the Love of God the Graces of the Spirit the work and priviledges of the Gospel till it pleas'd the Lord savingly to work upon him was under the Law of Sin for he says here he was made free from it implying there was a time when he was enslaved under it As to the civil freedom of a Roman he tells us he was born to that Acts 22.28 but as to Evangelical freedom from the command and bondage of Sin he doth not say he was born free but made free this was not the result of Nature Birth or any such thing but the meer effect of divine grace Further he saith the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free whence it follows that till
onely of a commanding but also of a condemning nature And which is not usual where it commands and is obeyed there it condemus which shows the difference betwixt the Law of sin and all other Laws they do not condemn where they are obeyed 't is onely the breach or non-performance of them which makes a person liable to Condemnation but herein lies the cursedness of the Law of Sin upon the obeying of it it becomes a condemning Law and it onely condemns where 't is obey'd But observe how this comes about for there is a difference in this double Act of the Law of Sin to command that is Sins proper and natural act to condemn that is Sins act onely eventually or meritoriously it rules of it self directly and propenly but it condemns onely as it lays the foundation of Condemnation by another for there is another Law which formally is the condemning Law viz. the Law of God upon the violation of it And this speaks the inexpressible misery of the Unregenerate they are under that Law which tyrannically commands them here and which upon their obeying of it will most certainly condemn them hereafter Sin a Law as it backs its Commands with Promises and Threatnings 2. Secondly that I may further clear up this Expression of the Law of Sin let me compare it with other Laws Divine and Humane Take the Law of God or Men they are usually back'd with * Some therefore defins a Law Ordo rectam gubernandi rationem includens ex prudentiâ prodien◠transgredientibus prenam obtemperantibus praemium decernens See Wendel Polie l. 2. c. 11 Rewards and Punnishments and 't is convenient it should be so if not for the strengthening of the Laws in themselves yet however for the furtherance of mens Obedience to them for men generally do not obey them upon the Authority of the Legislators or the intrinsick goodness of the Matter of the Law but as they are thereunto either allured by Rewards or deterred by Punnishments these are the things that do most prevail with them to yield their Obedience to the Laws both of God and Men. Answerably now to this Sin Indwelling in the Corrupt Nature will be backing its Commands with Promises and Threatnings it will be pretending to Rewards and Punnishments which though in themselves they are but sorry things yet they have a great power and efficacy upon besotted Sinners For instance Sinner saith Sin I enjoyn thee to fall in with me and my ways to do as I bid thee do I will that thou dost go and swear and steal and be filthy and profane Sabbaths and please the flesh c. here 's the Laws or Commands of Sin well how doth it strengthen and back them why thus Sinner do but obey me and here are such Profits Pleasures Delights Honours Preserments all of which upon thy complyance with me shall be thine if thou wilt but be my loyal Subject and do what I would have thee thou shalt live at ease flourish in the world pass thy days in mirth be respected by all with a great many more Promises of this nature therefore why do'st thou demur why do'st not thou presently submit and obey Particularly you read of the pleasures of sin Heb. 11.25 now it represents and heightens these to Sinners and by them urges and almost enforces Obedience to its Commands O saith Sin do but hearken to me and do thus and thus then what a delightful pleasant Life will you live how will all Comforts then flow in upon you then your good days will begin when you once resolve to comply with my Laws but 't will never be well till then And are all these promises and sollicitations of Sin in vain no! the poor deluded Sinner believes hearkens yields closes with them and knows not how to resist its Commands back'd with such promises and rewards But if these soft and mild insinuations these enticing and alluring Arguments will not do Sin then appears in the Lionsshape and begins to menace and threaten it alters its language and saith Sinner wilt thou cast off my Laws and chuse to be subject to some Other then look to thy self and take what follows wilt thou engage in a course of Duty and fall in with a strict and godly life then know what will be the fruit of this much better than thine O thou cursed Lyar thou must expect the loss of all that is good the undergoing of all that is evil thou must look for nothing but prisons reproaches derision contempt poverty persecution and what not thou must bid adieu to all thy Comforts prepare for the carrying of an heavy Cross live a pensive afflicted Life this will cost thee deer expose thee to the loss of Liberty Estate Relations Credit nay of Life it self O how doth Sin to draw and hold the Sinner in vassalage to it self and to keep him off from the way of holiness bestir it self and summon in all its Threats and Menaces And may not unrenewed Souls too truly be said to be under the Law of sin in these respects with what efficacy doth it entice them to what is evil by what it promises and deter them from what is good by what it threatens Do not these promises and threatnings of Sin carry it with men in their natural state the former for Sins of Commission the latter for Sins of Omission that they know not how to withstand them O that what we do see every day was not too full a demonstration of their being under the power of Sin as promising and as threatning By this you understand what there is in a Law in the strict notion of it that is applicable to Sin upon which the Apostle might ground his Metaphor of the Law of Sin 't is a commanding thing and it urges and seconds its Commands with promises and threatnings both of which are proper to a Law One thing further I desire you to take notice of and 't is this that Sin considered as simply commanding so 't is not a Law but it then becomes formally and compleatly a Law when it commands and the Sinner obeys so that he owns the power of it and willingly subjects himself to its dominion ô now 't is a Law indeed As it is in the Laws of Vsurpers they meerly as imposed by them are no Laws because not made by persons in lawful Authority but if a people freely own these Usurpers and willingly put themselves under subjection to them them to them their Laws become valid and obligatory so here as to Sin it hath not the least right to any dominion over the Soul it hath no power but what is by usurpation and therefore its Laws are meer nullities but yet if men which is the Case of the Unconverted will voluntarily put themselves under its Government and consent that it shall rule them to them de facto it becomes a Law and hath the force and authority of a Law though de jure it
put forth its power and strength in him namely thus 1. it did strongly excite impell and draw him to what was evil so Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not what I hate that do I V. 17. It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me V. 19. the evil which I would not that I do V. 23. I see another law in my members c. 2. it did strongly oppose resist hinder him as to what was good V. 15. what I would that do I not V. 18. To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would I do not V. 21. I find then a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me Thus Sin acted in Paul in whom its power and strength was much broken and thus it doth in a much higher degree act in the Vnregenerate in whom it is in its full strength and vigour 1. Sin in such exerts its power in its vehement urging and impelling of them to what is evil I say to what is evil for indeed all its impulsions are to that Sin is for nothing but Sin Sin in the Habit is altogether for Sin in the Act Indwelling Sin is wholly for dwelling in Sin it bends and works entirely that way urget ad Peccata Peccatum And no wonder that it so doth since the principle always moves and excites to those acts which are consentaneous to it self therefore Sin agreeing with Sin the sinful Nature solely stirs up a person to that which is sinful And how entire restless unwearied impetuous is it in this the truth is though there was no Devil to tempt the graceless Sinner yet that Law of Sin which is in himself would be enough to make him sin in a great measure as he doth as to many Men and many Sins of those men 't is but the Devils over-eagerness which puts him upon tempting of them for without that the thing would be done to his hand as dry wood would burn without blowing Corrupt Nature is continually egging solliciting exciting the unsanctified man to what is evil 't will not let him alone day or night unless he gratifie it and its motions are so urgent and violent that he poor creature either cannot or will not make any considerable resistance What an instance was Amnon of this he was under the Law of Sin it had such a power and Soveraignty over him and was so impetuous in its workings in him that he walked sadly pined away fell down-right sick and all because he knew not how to satisfie that Lust which wrought so strongly in him towards his own Sister read 2 Sam. 13.2 c. So Ahab Sin put him upon the coveting of Naboths Vineyard and this it did with such violence that he would eat no bread because he could not have his will 1 Kings 21.5 Solomon tells us of some who sleep not except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall Prov. 4.16 O the Law of Sin it sollicits to this and that evil and its sollicitations thereunto are so pressing and earnest that it will receive no repulse yea the Sinner is so over-powered that he is even carried away with it like an empty Vessel in a fierce and rapid stream In whatever point the Wind stands it blows so fiercely so strongly that there 's no standing against it I mean whatever the Lust be in which the Sin of Nature vents it self whether Vncleanness or Ambition or Coveteousness or what you will that comes with such a force and violence upon the natural man that he falls before it and yields to it We speak much in another sense of the Law of Nature truely the grand Law of Nature as depraved is to command and incline men to sin against God and this it must needs do with a mighty power and efficacy in those in whom 't is wholly depraved 2. Secondly this Law of Sin shews it self in its opposing and hindring of what is good 'T is a Law which always runs counter to Gods Law it will be sure to further what that forbids and to hinder what that commands for it always sets it self in a direct opposition thereunto Doth that call for such and such Duties are there some Convictions upon the Sinners Conscience about them doth he begin a little to incline to what is good how doth Sin now bestir it self to make head in the Soul against these convictions and good inclinations how doth it endeavour to nip the blossoms to stifle and smother the initial propensions to what is good to kill the Infant in the Cradle as Herod would have done with Christ to make all Conceptions in order to Obedience and Holiness to prove abortive There is in Sin a fixed rooted aversation to whatever is holy and spiritual which it puts forth to its utmost wherever 't is upon the throne it doth not onely work a loathness to duty but a loathing of duty it countermands where 't is in its full power all the motions and excitations of the blessed Spirit thereunto O sometimes the Spirit comes to a man and says thou hast neglected prayer hitherto 't is high time now to set upon it thus long thou hast liv'd and all this time thou hast not minded the reading of the Scriptures the hearing of the Word preached c. come now let them be minded all thy days thou hast been a stranger to holiness now be holy thou hast been a despiser of Christ hitherto now love fear receive honour him thus the good Spirit would draw on the Sinner to what is good Well! is indwelling Sin quiet now O no! it puts forth it self with its greatest vigour and strength in opposition to the breathings of the good Spirit it saith Sinner let Word and Spirit say what they will do thou hold on thy course keep on thy way God is merciful fear it not Duty is burdensome meddle not with it what need is there of all this praying hearing believing repenting holy walking c. These are the bold oppositions and subtil insinuations of Sin against what is good set forth by the lustings of the Flesh against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 these are its cursed renitencies and reluctancies against duty Now till the regenerating Spirit comes with his victorious grace to conquer them the Sinner is wholly under their power so that they do most effectually and prevailingly keep him off from what is good You have it exemplified in the Young-man Matth. 19.22 in Felix Acts 24.25 and in several others This is the very Case of men before Conversion whether you consider the Law of Sin as it puts forth it self with respect to Evil or with respect to Good the Unconverted are under it it hurries them on to what is wicked and as powerfully holds them off from what is holy in both respects they are entirely under the command of it as a Law
and entirely acted by it as a principle 't is no better than thus and worser it cannot be with unregenerate persons Let this general Answer to the First Question be sufficient 2 Quest Of the difference betwixt the Law of Sin as 't is in the Regenerate and as 't is in the Vnregenerate A Second is this How may it be known when persons are under the Law of Sin or How may we distinguish betwixt the Law of Sin as 't is in the Vnregenerate and as 't is in the Regenerate For even the Latter find too much of this Law in them Paul here saith he was freed from it and yet in the foregoing Chap. he sadly laments it as you have often heard renewed and sanctified Souls do by sad experience feel the corrupt Nature strongly urging and pressing them to what is evil and as strongly opposing and hindring them in what is good yea in both often prevailing may not they therefore as well as Others be said to be under the Law of sin if not where lies the difference or what is it that doth indeed denominate a man to be under that Law This being a Question of great importance I shall be larger in the answering of it than I was of the Former Answ yet not so large as the Nature of the Subject would admit of nor as Some of our own Divines are who write upon it I shall reduce all to Three Heads 1. First where the whole bent and tendency of the heart is towards sin that the propensions of the Soul thereto are entire and unmixt there 't is the Law of sin and that Law of sin which is proper to the Vnregenerate this speaks Sin to be upon the throne indeed that its power and dominion is habitual plenary and absolute A Child of God may have very strong corruptions in him and they sometimes too may break forth into external acts the sinful Nature may vehemently incline him to what is evil and sometimes prevail too yet the bent of his heart is for God against Sin and the stream doth not run wholly one way he hath propensions unto good as well as unto evil whereupon he is not under the Law of sin But take an unsanctified person 't is otherwise with him his heart is in sin and set for sin that 's the thing to which it altogether bends inclines and works there is not a stronger bent in heavy bodies to descend or in light things to ascend than there is in such an one to sin against God and further he 's not divided in what is evil he 's all of a piece the sinful Nature in him is entire and doth all now where 't is thus certainly there 't is the Law of sin Paul in his saddest complaints of this Law as in himself yet says It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me 't was not he that did it because the bent of his heart was against it and he says With the mind I my self serve the law of God the habitual tendency and inclination of his Soul was towards Good and as he was himself it was thus with him for he puts I my self onely to the serving of the law of God not to that of the law of sin So that though the Law of sin was in him yet he was not under it strictly as the Law of sin Sin had too great a strength in him but it had not the sole and full command of him 2. Secondly when all the several Faculties of the Soul are altogether on Sin 's side and wholly take its part then 't is the Law of sin and that which is proper to the Vnregenerate if this Head be not distinct from the Former yet it may be useful as a more particular explication of it In such persons Vnderstanding Will Affections all are engag'd on Sins side and therein lies its power and dominion over them the Vnderstanding assents the Will consents the Affections answerably are drawn out ô here is the Law of Sin or Sin regnant The Vnderstanding gives in its final and positive dictate that Sin is good represents it as eligible to the Will the Will upon this closes with it embraces it cleaves to it the Affections desire joy delight c. run out upon it where 't is thus the case is determin'd But this must be taken with a threefold Proviso 1. That the assent of the Vnderstanding be deliberate for even a Child of God upon a sudden surprisal pro hic nunc may judge better of sin than it deserves 2. That the consent of the Will be plenary and full for there may be in gracious persons sometimes a broken half-consent to what is evil 3. That both Assent and Consent be understood of a Course in Sin for as to particular Acts no question but one who is regenerate under the power of a temptation may do both of these This threefold Proviso being taken in the thing is clear whosoever shall be so far besotted as upon deliberation to judge a sinful course to be the best course and thereupon shall choose imbrace fall in with and continue in it yea shall delight and please himself in it unquestionably in this man 't is the Law of Sin Sin never gets thus high where Grace is For the proof of which we must recur to our great instance Paul after his Conversion found Sin to be too powerful in him which was his great burden yet notwithstanding the fixed acts of the several Faculties of his Soul were for God against Sin As for example in his Vnderstanding he assented to the goodness of the Law of God but not to the goodness of the Law of Sin Rom. 7.12 wherefore the Law is holy c. in his Will he also consented to this V. 16. If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the Law that it is good and for his Affections he saith I delight in the Law of God after the inward man now these being as I said the fixed acts of the several Faculties in Paul in him it was not the Law of Sin And thus for the main it is with every gracious Soul but for Others in whom Sin hath all all the Faculties Vnderstanding Will Affections in their proper acts being entirely for it 't is evident that they are under the Law of Sin Of all the Faculties the Will doth most discover the power of Sin for there its Dominion and Soveraignty is chiefly seated and acted ô when it once gains that then it ascends the throne indeed that 's the time as it were of its inauguration when 't is invested in all its Regalities It comes to the Sinner and says art thou willing that I should rule thee yes saith he with all my heart I like thy Commands and Government I am thine I submit to thee to be at thy dispose I here swear Fealty and Allegiance to thee c. Dreadful language ô that ever it
should be uttered by the heart of man Sinner do'st thou know what thou saist pray thee make a little pause be persuaded to consider what thou do'st is this spoken in good or rather in bad earnest do'st thou resolve upon it wilt thou stick to it ô then thou art a meer vassal thou putt'st thy self under the reign of the worst Tyrant in all the world from this day forward thou must carry chains and fetters about thee from this act of thine Sins reign commences therefore if it be not yet done let it never be done if it be done let it be rescinded speedily but I forget my self The lowest act of the Will in order to the constituting of this Law of Sin is Election or Choice there 's Good and Evil Holiness and Sin set before the Soul and it chooses the evil before the good this is a sad evidence of Sins power Isa 65.12 but did evil before mine eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not Isa 66.3 4 c. they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their abominations c. But though I say that this is the lowest act of the Will in Sins being a Law yet even this is enough to put a person under that Law The godly man chooses the way of Holiness Psal 119.30 I have chosen the way of truth the Sinner chooses the way of Sin this he prefers before the Other Now should there be nothing more than this choice supposing it to be deliberate full and peremptory that would be enough to evince Sins dominion for wherever it hath the preference it hath the power But there are higher acts of the Will than this which do more highly constitute and more fully demonstrate the Law of Sin and which are to be found onely in the Vnregenerate As namely when the Will doth not meerly choose embrace prefer Sin before Holiness but 't is pertinaciously set for Sin its full purpose and resolution is for Sin against Holiness the Sinner says he hath sinn'd and so he will do still he 's fixed and obstinate in his wickedness instead of cleaving to the Lord with full purpose of heart as Barnabas exhorted the Christians at Antioch to do Acts 11.23 he cleaves to Sin with full purpose of heart Jer. 2.25 I have loved strangers and after them I will go Jer. 8.5 They hold fast deceipt they refuse to return Jer. 44.16 As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken to thee but we will certainly do whatsoever goeth out of our own mouth c. Now wherever it comes to this that Sin is thus enthron'd in the Will there most certainly 't is the Law of Sin But I must yet go one step further there is one act of the Will higher than this too viz when the heart is wholly set for Sin and is not onely resolvedly but also impetuously carried out after it Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Jer. 50 38. They are mad upon their idols Eph. 4.19 Who being past feeling have given themselves ever unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness Jer. 8.6 Every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel Here the power of Sin rises high indeed when the Will doth not barely consent to it but 't is eager and fierce for it ô this speaks not onely its own great wickedness and most woful depravation but also the Sinners full subjection to Sin this is the Law of Sin with a witness where 't is thus it may easily be known who bears Rule in the Soul Sin never arrives at this heighth of power in the Regenerate this is altogether inconsistent with Grace upon Conversion the Will is sanctified and the sanctified Will can never carry it thus towards Sin You see what that is in the interiour faculties of the Soul which doth constitute and evidence the Law of Sin in unregenerate persons I might instance also in the exteriour parts of the Body for though Sins power doth mainly reside and put forth it self in the Former yet it reaches to these also therefore the Apostle brings them in upon this account Rom. 6.12 Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies c. 13. neither yield you your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin c. 19. As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness c. When the Body is prostituted to Sins drudgery the several parts thereof imploy'd in its service as the Eyes to let in external Objects for the exciting and feeding of Lust within the Feet to run on Sins errands the Tongue to utter vanity and frothiness c this is a great demonstration of a mans being under the Law of Sin 'T is true it chiefly reigns in the Heart there 's its imperial Seat or the Pallace where it hath its imperial residence that 's the inward Citadel where its main strength doth lie but yet from thence it issues out its Laws and Edicts to the Body also and that is its out ward Fort or Territory where it hath a great strength and command also Indeed the Law of Sin is best discerned as to Others by its venting of it self in and through the Body for so long as Sin keeps in its power within the interiour Faculties of the Soul 't is known onely to the Sinner himself but when that once breaks out in Sins committed in and by the body as intemperance drunkenness uncleanness c. then it becomes discernible to all to whom such Sins shall be known And though 't is certain that Sin may have its full dominion in the heart without the external eruptions of it in the Life in gross and corporeal acts yet where they are added they infallibly discover that Sin lords and domineers O therefore how evident is it that all who abuse and defile their bodies who use them as instruments for Sin and wear them out in its service are most perfectly under the Law of Sin But 't is not thus with any who are truely sanctified Sin hath not the command of their Bodies they * Rom. 6.19 yield up their members servants to righteousness unto holiness they look upon their Bodies as the * 1 Cor. 6.19 Temples of the Holy Ghost and accordingly they keep them holy they know they are themselves * 1 Cor. 6.20 bought with a price and that their Souls and Bodies are both Gods and therefore both to be imploy'd in the glorifying of God they scorn to let their Bodies be drudges to Sin and Satan and in this respect they are not under the Law of Sin 3. Thirdly the Law of Sin and its different workings in the people of God and Others may be opened by the modification of the act of Sin As 1. Where Sin is committed industriously and designedly there 't is the
Law of Sin and that which is peculiar to the graceless Some there are who set themselves to sin 't is the thing they aim at which they deliberate contrive muse how to bring about their serious thoughts from time to time are at work in order to it like to that person whom David describes Psal 36.4 He deviseth mischief on his bed he setteth himself in a way that is not good like to the wickedness of men before the Deluge Gen. 6.5 c. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was onely evil continually 't is meant not onely of imaginations which had Sin in them materially and subjectively but also of those which were for Sin and in order to Sin intentionally and finally The Apostle sets it forth by making provision for the flesh Rom. 13.14 when the Sinner hath his forecasts and projects for Sin Now * When the Flesh hath the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 providenâ—ial projecting and forecasting ability at command and at her service it is certain her supremacy is in the full Mr. Rich. Bifeild The Gospels glory c. p. 235. where 't is thus unquestionably 't is the Law of Sin this doth most certainly discover the absolute unbroken full power and dominion of Sin Joh. 8.34 Whoever commits Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who makes it or frames it as an Artist doth a thing which is proper to his trade or art who sins de industriâ datâ operâ what of him why he is the servant of sin that is he is fully under its Command and is a perfect slave and vassal to it 'T is never thus with regenerate persons this * Deut. 32.5 spot is not the spot of Gods Children 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin he doth not frame sin or contrive how to sin in the sense named but now It cannot be denied but that even a Child of God may sin after deliberation nay as to some particular sinful act he may deliberate in order to the doing of it there was a great deal of deliberation in Davids killing Vriah 't was a plotted contrived sin that which was brought about by many deliberate thoughts ô but in such an One this is very rare and seldome 't is but in this or that particular act 't is not a thing that he holds on in God forbid it should be so And therefore though this be a great aggravation of sin when it is committed deliberately and a sad evidence that it hath too much power and strength in the heart yet every deliberate sin is not enough to prove a man to be under the Law of sin when the designing and contriving is customary and that too as to a Course in sin ô then 't is the Law of sin 2. When the Temptation easily prevails and there is little or no resistance and opposition made to sin then 't is the Law of sin and that which is proper to the unregenerate If the Town be surrendred and yields upon the first Summons 't is a sign the Assailers are very strong and the Defendants very weak if the tinder takes fire upon the first little spark that falls into it surely 't is very dry so here when Satan doth no sooner lay the temptation before the Sinner but he immediately closes with it and falls before it and yields to it this argues that Sin and Satan have a full power in and over him But I lay the main stress of this Head upon little or no resistance to the motions suggestions commands of sin Possibly it no sooner commands but the Sinner readily obeys if he chance to make some some opposition 't is as bad as none at all 't is not lively vigorous resolute but cold dull faint and languid ô this is a sad demonstration of Sins heighth and regency in the Soul The bare Commands of Sin as hath been said do not make it to be a Law but when there is a ready willing subjection to those Commands then 't is a Law Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness 'T is a brand upon Ephraim that he was * Hos 5.11 willingly walked after the Commandment may not this be charged upon men before renovation with respect to the Commands of Sin We read of Satan that he takes some captive at his will 2 Tim. 6.26 and truly so it is with the sinful Nature too it doth with the unregenerate what it will it commands governs orders them even as it will it meets with little or no resistance upon all occasions it doth but speak the word and the thing is done The true Convert stands upon his guard fights it out to the last hee 'l dye rather than yield Sin doth not so easily do his work in him he may sometimes â—e a Captive to it as being overborn with its strength but he will not be a Subject to it so as to give willing obedience to it which shows that he is not under the Law of Sin When 't is willingness in the way of duty then 't is the day of * Psal 110.3 God's power when 't is willingness in the way of sin then 't is the day of Sins power There may be some resistance made to Sin and yet its dominion may be high but when 't is no resistance then its dominion is high indeed A Sinner sometimes from the stirrings of Conscience may make a little opposition but Sin having his Will in its entire consent that opposition soon goes off and so Sins Sover aignty is as absolute as ever it was 3. When Sin carries it in spight of all opposition then 't is the Law of Sin and that power of Sin which only suits with the unregenerate state when 't is committed with little opposition ab intra and in spight of all opposition ab extra I assure you then it hath a great power Many there are who are so much under the strength and dominion of the hellish Nature that nothing shall hinder them from what is evil As the sincere Christian set never so many hinderances and discouragements before him yet being under the Law of the Spirit he will be and do good so è contrà the man that is destitute of Grace set what hinderances or discouragements you will before him yet being under the Law of Sin he will be and do evil Let the threatnings of the Law of God stand in his way like the Angel with a drawn sword in his hand yet hee 'l sin let the Scepter of the Gospel be held out to him yet hee 'l sin set the Love Grace Mercy of God before him yet hee 'l sin set the Wrath Justice Severity of God before him yet hee 'l sin set the Death Sufferings Agonies Wounds Blood of the Lord Jesus before him yet hee 'l sin let Conscience smite him let Word
tell us that some of our Kings who had the worst Titles made the best Laws and indeed they had need use their power well who get it ill But now Sin doth not only usurp that power which of right belongs not to it but it also manages its power very wickedly particularly with respect to the Laws which it makes and imposes upon its Subjects ô 't is sad living under its government The Philosopher tells us that the intention of the Legislator is to make his Subjects good certainly 't is either so or it should be so but when Sin gets upon the throne and assumes a legislative Authority to it self its intention is only to make its Subjects bad for the worse they are the better they suit with it 'T is a blessed thing to live under the Rule of Christ because of the holiness purity goodness of his Laws but 't is a woful thing to live under the Rule of Sin because its Laws are quite contrary hellish and wicked for here it holds true like Lord like Law Nay the Laws of Men I do not say all have real goodness in them so far as they are founded upon * Lex est nihil aliud nisi recta à Numine Deorum Ratio imperans honesta prohi◠ens contraria profectò ita se res habet ut quoniain vitiorum emendatricem Legem esse oportet commendatricemque virtutum ab eâ vivendi doctrina petatur Cicero de Legib. l. 1. Reason and designed for good Ends viz. to excite persons to what is good and to restrain them from what is evil and so far 't is the happiness of any to live under them and their duty readily and cheerfully to comply with them But 't is not thus with the Laws of Sin inasmuch as they are always contrary to right and sound Reason and always tend to what is evil which therefore so far as any man is subject to he must needs be miserable 'T is commonly said Ex malis moribus bonae Leges bad manners sometimes produce good Laws but bad Laws especially when they are written in the heart and are the principle of action as the Laws of Sin are can never produce good manners if Sin make the Law I know what will be the Life Further this Sin is not onely out of measure sinful in the exercise of its power where it is uppermost but 't is also out of measure tyrannical There have been too many Tyrants in the World but never was there such an one as Sin all the Nero's Caligula's Domitians c. that ever lived were nothing to it this first acted the part of a Tyrant in them before they acted the part of Tyrants over others The tyranny of Sin appears in many things I 'le instance in a Few 1. Its Commands are innumerable there 's no end of its Laws and * In corruptissimâ Republicâ plurimae Leges Tacit. multiplicity of Laws always speaks either a bad people or a bad Prince 2. Its Commands are contrary one Law thwarts another the poor Sinner under its dominion is haled contrary ways that he scarce knows whether to go or what to do Lust clashes with Lust one draws one way and another another so that the poor inslaved Soul is at a loss and knows not how to please all Tit. 3.3 serving divers Lusts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divers for their Number and divers for their Nature and Kind also O quam multos habet Dominos qui unum non habet how many Lords and Masters hath he who hath not Christ onely for his Lord 3. 'T is very rigorous in its demands it must have full Obedience or none at all Eph. 2.3 fulfilling the Lusts of the flesh partial and half-Obedience will neither satisfie an holy God nor an unholy Nature and as God for whom the All is too little so Sin too for which the least is too much is for the doing of all it requires 4. Its Commands are never at an end Let the poor bondman sin to day he must sin again to morrow and so on in infinitum yea the more he doth in obedience to it the more it grows upon him in its Commands just as Tyrants and hard Masters use to do 5. When Sin once gets upon the throne 't is so imperious and cruel that its Vassals must stick at nothing Be the thing never so base the costs and hazards never so great yet if Sin calls for the doing of it it must be done Sinners you must waste you Estates blast your Credit impair your Health destroy your Bodies damn your Souls you must part with God peace of Conscience Heaven it self you must quit all that is good and venture all that is bad in its service and in compliance with its Edicts ô what an imperious insolent insatiable thing is Sin here 's the Tyrant indeed both in Titulo and also in Exercitio And now is not the poor unregenerate Sinner very miserable who lives under such a Tyrant is not his bondage exceeding great who that is not highly besotted would be willing to continue under Sins power that may be brought under the holy gracious excellent government of the Lord Jesus 3. Thirdly the Evil of this bondage arising from the Law of sin appears from its principal Subject 't is a Soul-bondage Of all Evils Soul evils are the worst Soul-famin is the worst famin Soul-death the worst death Soul-plagues the worst plagues and so here Soul-bondage is the worst bondage The bondage of Israel in Egypt was very evil yet not comparable to this which I am upon because that was but corporal and external but this is spiritual and internal when the best part is inslav'd that must needs be the worst slavery There may be a servile condition without and yet a free and generous Soul within as * Errat siquis existimat servitutem in totum hominem descendere pars melior ejus excepta est corpora obnoxia sunt adscripta Dominis mens sui juris est c. Sen. de Benef. l. 3. c. 20. Seneca observes of Servants but if the Soul it self be under servitude then the whole man the very top of man all is in servitude Sin is of so proud and aspiring a nature that no place will serve it for its pallace or principal Seat but the very Soul ô there it delights to have its residence and to exercise its dominion And this is its subtilty as well as its pride for it knows if it can but rule the Soul that then the Soul will easily rule the Body as the main Fort within the Town being gained that will with ease command all the outward Forts And 't is the whole Soul too that Sin must have God who made it will have the whole Heart and Sin which designs to enslave it will have the whole Heart too 't is not satisfied with this or that Faculty but all must be subject to it it must reign in the Vnderstanding
God hath no love there the Sinner must dye eternally You have in the Text the Law of sin and the Law of death coupled together ô what a dangerous thing is the Law of sin where Sin hath its full power over the creature to make him wicked Death upon this will have its full power also to make him miserable So Rom. 6.16 Know you not that to whom you yield your selves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righreousness V. 21. For the end of these things is death V. 23. the wages of sin is death And is it so who then would be Sins servant who would serve that master who pays no better wages than death you that are Servants would you enter into the service of One that would pay you such wages such a master sin is and such wages it doth pay ô therefore quit its service be wise for your Souls be sensible of the danger of continuing under the Law of sin otherwise this Law of sin will soon be turned into the Law of death And indeed it is this which ends in death 't is not barely sin which condemns but 't is the Law of sin which condemns when it hath the Supream and Soveraign commanding power in the Soul and reigns there as Lord paramount then 't is killing and damning And now Sirs may not that which hath been spoken be sufficient to convince you of the evil of that bondage that miserable hereditary bondage which you all lie under so long as you are in the natural and unregenerate state and will you not be prevailed with to endeavour speedily to get out of it by the Law of the Spirit to be made free from the Law of Sin You may be freed from this bondage if you will Christ is come as for other ends so for this to give liberty to the captives and to open the prison to them who are bound Isa 61.1 to knock off Sinners bolts and chains and to make them free indeed Joh. 8.36 in his name I do this day tender freedom to you and deliverance from Sins vassalage will you not accept of it And here 's the Law of the Spirit too to make you free from the Law of Sin why then shall not this be done Will you still like Sins yoke I assure you Christ's is not so easie but Sins is as uneafie will you have its dominion yet kept up in you are you loath to part with your old Master then your ears must be boared for Sin and Sathan * Exod. 21.5 6. as the Servant under the Law was to be served who might have been set at liberty from his Master but he had no mind to it If it be thus I can say nothing more onely pray that the Lord will convince you what the reign and power of Sin is what a miserable bondage attends it that you may with the greatest earnestness press after Conversion and the Law of the Spirit of Life in order to freedom from it So much for the First Branch of this Vse of Information 2. Branch of Information concerning the Necessity c. of restraining and renewing Grace Secondly it informs us further of the Necessity Power and Efficacy of restraining and renewing Grace I 'le speak to them apart 1. For restraining Grace By which I mean that grace whereby God keeps in mens corruptions and sets bounds and limits to them in Sin so as not to suffer them to be as vile and wicked as otherwise they would be That such a thing is done by God all grant he that bounds the Sea that it doth not break forth and overflow all 't is most elegantly set out Job 38.8 10 11. Who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb And brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors And said hitherto shalt-thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed as also Jer. 5.22 which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it I say he that thus bounds the Sea that unruly body doth also bound the wickedness of mans heart a far more unruly thing than the Sea it self this God keeps in or lets out as seems good unto him You see it in the case of Abimilech whose Lust did strongly work in him towards Sarah but saith God Gen. 20.6 I withheld thee from sinning against me therefore I suffered thee not to touch her the like you have in several other instances Now this Law of Sin proves both the necessity and also the mighty power and efficacy of this restraining Grace for the making out of which be pleased to take notice of the following Particulars 1. That the most of men are under the Law of Sin All are born under it and the most continue under it for the most are in the state of Nature and in that state the Law of Sin carries it Here and there you have a Soul brought in to God converted savingly wrought upon * Jer. 3.14 one of a city and two of a family but the generality of men are strangers to this work and therefore they are under the full power and dominion of a cursed nature It being so how necessary is restraining grace for the less there is of regenerating grace the more need there is of restraining grace 2. Men naturally being under this Law it doth vehemently and impetuously put them upon sin for herein lies its being a Law and a Principle as you have heard The depraved Nature doth not barely dispose men to sin or faintly persuade them to sin but it doth powerfully and efficaciously incline urge impell nay necessitate them to sin they cannot cease from sin 2 Pet. 2.14 3. It is not this or that sin which this Law urges men to but if it be left to it self it urges to every sin yea to the very worst of sins This indwelling sin contains all sin in it the corrupt Nature is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seminary or Seed-plot of all wickedness in that one sinful habit all sinful acts do lie seminally and radically and Sin where it is a Law is for all Sin it will excite instigate provoke not onely to lesser evils such as the world puts a fairer interpretation upon but also to those which are most enormous hideous and horrid as Atheism Blasphemy Murther Theft Adultery c. 4. This Law of Sin hath great advantages in and over men for 't is a Law that is in them an innate ingenit inbred Law 't is written and engraven in their very nature Sin is now connatural to them yea 't is as natural in some respects for apostatized man to sin as 't is for the fire to burn
or the stone to descend I have told you and there is too much of truth in it that the great Law of Nature it being considered as depraved is to sin against God This Law of sin is written in the heart and that gives a mighty power and efficacy to it and must needs strongly incline a person to comply with it as God when he would have men readily and effectually to close with his Will * Jer. 31.33 he writes his Law in their heart and that being done they cannot but do what that Law enjoyns just so it is with Sinners in reference to the Law of Sin upon the writing of it in their hearts These things being considered and put together what 's the reason that there is no more sin in the world God knows there is too much of it the Law of Sin is too prevalent in the hearts and lives of the most but yet I say what is the reason that there is no more of it for certainly this Law of Sin leads the Unregenerate to do more evil than what many yea any of them do Doubtless there are divers who are fully under Sins power who yet are kept from many external gross acts of it and are not altogether so bad as it and Satan would have them to be Sometimes it breaks forth in this or that unconverted person but why doth it not do the same in every such person and sometimes too it breaks forth in this or that act but why doth it not so do in every act yea in the grossest acts whence is it that every unconverted man is not a Cain a Judas a Nero c. the Law of Sin inclining him to all this wickedness I answer the reason why it is not so is wholly grounded upon the restraining grace of God It pleases God for the Good of the World of humane Society especially for the good of his own people to keep in and bound that wicked nature which is in wicked men that it shall not in all such at all times in all acts proper to it vent it self as it pleases And was it not for this mighty restraint which God in his Providence lays upon Sin and Sinners there would be no living in the world there would be nothing but killing and slaying and stealing c. and in a word the perpetration of all villanies imaginable Was it not for this whither would not the Law of Sin carry men they being under the full dominion of it what would they stick at ô but God restrains them he lets out so much of their corruptions as may be to his own glory and the residuum or overplus he keeps in according to that of the Psalmist Psal 76.10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee the remainer of wrath shalt thou restrain How necessary therefore is restraining grace 't is necessary in respect of the good much more in respect of the bad even they do need it for themselves but these much more for others Ravenous and fierce Creatures must be kept in chains or else they would worry and tear all that should come within their reach if God had not Devils and Men in chains they would be so exorbitant that the world could not long subsist blessed be God for restraining mercy And how doth this also hold forth the mighty power of this mercy when Sin lords it at such a rate in the hearts of men hath such an absolute power over them◠doth so impetuously urge them to all kinds and degrees of evil that yet they should be so bounded and limited that some Order and Decorum should be kept up in the world ô the power of restraining providence 'T is like the Fires not burning into which the Three Children were cast or like the Lions not tearing of Daniel when he was in the very midst of them which certainly proceeded from the mighty restraint which God laid upon the One and upon the Other in the suspending and hindring of them in their natural operations 't is no less power that which God puts forth in the restraining of mens sinful Natures that they do not so fiercely break forth in all wicked acts as otherwise they would And if this be so admirable in the restraining of Men how much more admirable is it in the restraining of Devils their power rage malice wickedness is greater by much than that in men ô therefore why do not they do all the mischief they could and would why do not they destroy and worry all before them especially as to the Saints whom they most hate why do they not tear them in pieces every day why no thank to themselves they cannot do it because God restrains them binds and bounds them as he pleases here 's the great demonstration of the power of restraining Grace 2. Secondly it shows us also the necessity power and efficacy of Renewing Grace There 's more in this Grace than in the former in restraining grace Sin is a little curb'd and kept in but yet it retains its inward strength and power as 't was with Sampson when he was onely bound or as 't is with fierce Creatures when they are in cages or chains but in renewing grace Sin is subdued conquered much weakened in its strength divested of its former absolute power not onely kept in but brought under and the Soul brought over to the will and command of God Now this being effected in and by renewing grace 't is evident that there is a mighty power and efficacy in that Grace for that which frees from so great a power as that of Sin before Conversion must needs have a great power it it If renewing grace was a weak thing or did act in a weak manner it could never do what it doth was there not the Law of the Spirit in it the Law of Sin would be too hard for it 'T is not to be imagin'd that Sin will ever be persuaded to resign or tamely to quit its power and dominion which it so dearly loves and so fiercely contends for no it must be forc'd to this and plainly overpower'd or else 't will keep what it hath therefore in regeneration God comes with that effectual almighty grace which shall infallibly pull Sin off from the throne let it do its worst with that power which all the power of Sin cannot withstand and so the work is done As you see in the case of Peter that I may open it by an allusion you read Acts 12.5 c. how he was kept in prison bound with two chains the Keepers before the door kept the prison besides he had Souldiers by him and he sleeping betwixt them one would think that now Herod had him fast enough and yet Peter is brought out how why the Angel of the Lord comes in the strength of God awakens him bids him arise makes his chains fall off from him breaks open the prison doors and so sets him free The like you read of Paul and
Silas Acts 16.23 they were thrown into prison the Jaylor charged to keep them safely he throws them into the inner prison made their feet fast in the stocks yet for all this they were delivered how Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and every ones bonds were loosed what could have brought these persons under these circumstances out of prison but the miraculous interposures of the mighty power of God and that did it effectually Thus 't is with men in their Natural State Sin and Satan have them fast bound secur'd in chains and fetters they cannot stir hand or foot to help themselves are fully under the power of their enemies how are these now released why God comes and the Spirit comes by renewing grace and therein he opens the doors of their hearts though shut up very fast knocks off their fetters conquers the Guard that is set upon them breaks all the power and force of Sin and so rescues them from that thraldom and bondage which they were under ô the power of renewing grace well might Paul say Eph. 3 20. according to the power that worketh in us The truth is in the freeing of a Soul from the Law of Sin no less power is put forth than that very power of God put forth in the raising up of the Lord Jesus from the dead so the Apostle makes the parallel Eph. 1.19 20. and that was much above that power which was exerted in the rescuing of the forementioned persons out of their confinement It had been morally impossible that ever the Children of Israel should have been freed from the power of Pharaoh and that woful bondage they were under if God himself had not made bare his arm and brought them out with a strong and mighty hand as 't is Deut. 6.21 Psal 136.12 but 't is a much harder thing to free the Sinner from his spiritual bondage he being under a sadder captivity and held therein by a far greater strength than what Pharaoh had ô surely no deliverance could be expected from Sins dominion unless infinite power was engag'd in the bringing of it about therefore how necessary as well as efficacious is renewing Grace but more of this when I come to the third Observation One Use I have finished several Others should have been made of the Point in hand as to shew you yet further how you may find out your particular Cases whether you be under the Law of Sin or not how you may be freed from this Law if as yet you be not so why you should labour after this freedom c. But these things will as well fall in under the next Observation and therefore I will there insist upon them ROM 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death CHAP. VI. Of Regenerate Persons being made free from the Law of Sin The Second Observation spoken to viz. That persons truly regenerate are made free from the Law of Sin This is 1. cleared and stated where 't is shown that the freedom is not to be carried further than the Law of Sin How Sin is in the best yea and hath a great power in them and yet they are not under the Law of Sin when persons may be said to be so or what that is which constitutes the Law of Sin That not to be found in those who belong to God The Observation 2. confirmed by Scriptures and Reasons 'T is 3. applied First by way of Examination Mistakes about things which look like freedom from the Law of Sin and yet are not so Five Particulars instanc'd in Secondly all are exhorted to make out after this freedom One Direction in order to it Thirdly suth as are made free c. are exhorted 1. To be humble 2. To stand fast in their Liberty and also to walk suitably thereunto 3. To bless God Fourthly Gracious persons are comforted from hence THe Sum of these Words after the giving their proper sense and meaning hath been drawn into three Observations The 2. Observ spoken to the First of which hath been spoken to the Second now follows and 't is this That persons truly regenerate are made free from the Law of Sin this is the priviledge of all such and that which always accompanies the State of Grace or Regeneration viz. freedom from the Law of Sin Paul being such a person here saith he was made free from the Law of Sin For the better opening and stating of this Truth the first thing to be done The opening and stating of it I must necessarily inmind you of some things which in the explication of the Words and elsewhere too I have had occasion to insist upon As 1. Though the Apostle here speaks in his own person the Law of the Spirit of Life hath made me free c. yet the thing spoken of is not to be limited to him individually considered but to be extended to all who are regenerated and sanctified his knowledge of it might be somewhat special but the thing it self is common and general in all Saints 2. That the freedom mentioned in the Text refers to the being made free from the commanding reigning power of Sin rather than to the being made free from the condemning power of Sin 3. The Apostle speaks of it as an act that is past hath made me free c. therefore that freedom from Sin which the Saints shall have hereafter in their glorified estate is not here primarily intended but rather that which they have already upon their sanctification 4. This especially must be observed which I must more enlarge upon that the thing which the Saints are freed from is but the Law of Sin So the Apostle here states it Saints freed from Sin only in the Notion of its being a Law and therefore the Words are to be carried no further than to deliverance from that in Sin which doth properly denominate it to be a Law or which doth belong to it in the notion and appellation of a Law so far the Saints in this Life are made free from it but no farther For the preventing of mistakes and the due bounding of the Point two things must be laid down and made good As 1. That this freedom is not to be taken simply and absolutely for perfect deliverance from the very being and inhesion of Sin but only for deliverance from Sin in the notion of a Law The highest Saints God knows and they themselves know too well in their present state are far from being wholly compleatly perfectly made free from Sin in this respect yet the very lowest Saints are truly and really made free from the Law of Sin There 's a great difference 'twixt the inbeing and the Law of sin 'twixt the residence and the reign of sin betwixt Sins mansion and Sins dominion Sin will have a being in Gods people
Gen. 25.23 I mean the corrupt nature must be an underling to that which is sanctified if Hagar will be content to live in the house in a state of inferiority well and good that for a time must be submitted to but if she will be presuming to vie with her Mistress for authority and rule and nothing will serve her below that she must then be made to know her self the application is obvious To make the thing unquestionable pray consider what that in special is which is done by God at the converting of a Soul 't is this very thing the dethroning of Sin and Satan and the inthroning of Christ and Grace where God converts he doth in effect say Sin thou must now come down and Christ and Grace shall now ascend the throne When ever the Sinner is regenerated in the first moment of that state Sin is divested of its usurped power and regency and the Kingdom of Christ in and by Grace is set up in him now Christ's kingdom and Sins kingdom are incompatible where he reigns it shall not for he is impatiens consortis but especially he will not have such a base thing as Sin to share with him in the government of the Soul Where Christ comes and takes possession he always abolishes the Law of Sin and instead of that sets up another Law for new Lords will have new Laws and different Lords different Laws Therefore in the work of Conversion God promises to write his Law in the heart Jer. 31.33 But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts now upon the doing of that the Law of Sin is defac'd antiquated and canoell'd for since contrary Laws cannot be together in their full force the former must be abolish'd upon the introduction of the latter Once more in the Text you have the Law of the Spirit of Life brought in in opposition to and in order to the abolition of the Law of Sin which being considered it affords a very weighty argument for the proof of the Truth in hand The Law of the Spirit is the mighty power of the Spirit put forth in the regenerate Soul for the rescuing of it from the power of Sin and the bringing of it under the Rule and Scepter of the Lord Christ now shall this Spirit put forth such a mighty power for this very end and yet Sin continue as high in its Soveraignty as before what advantage then would the Believer have by the Law of the Spirit if the Law of Sin should yet be kept up in him Certainly when this great Spirit shall vouchsafe to exert his great power there must be some great effect produced by it and what can that be but the delivering of the poor Captive-Sinner from Sins bondage the destroying of Satans kingdom and the setting up of Christs sweet and gracious Government in the Soul but I spend time in the proving of that which indeed needs not much proof In the application of the Doctrine which I judge will be more useful and necessary I might here take occasion to confute those who misunderstanding this passage being made free from the Law of Sin do from thence infer and argue for the Saints perfection in this Life But having given you all that this freedom contains in it which comes exceeding short of perfection I think I need not I 'm sure I will not speak any thing further for the obviating and refuting of that proud Opinion He that here saith he was made free from the Law of Sin elsewhere saith also * Phil. 3.12 he had not already attained nor was already perfect c. and surely he went as far nay much further than any of our modern Perfectionists God make us sensible of imperfection in this State and ever to be pressing after and waiting for that perfection which only belongs to the future state I might also from hence infer the happiness of such who are truly regenerate and the preciousness excellency advantage of regenerating grace ô how happy are they who are delivered from Sins yoke and how precious is that grace which instates the Soul in such liberty VSE 1. How we may know whether we be made free from the Law of Sin But passing by these things I will in the first place desire you to make diligent search whether you be thus freed from the Law of Sin O Sirs how is it with you what can you say of your selves about this You heard in the former Point that all in the Natural State are under this Law Adam hath entail'd this bondage upon all his posterity had he not flan we had come into the world with the Law of God written in our hearts but now we are born with the Law of Sin written in them are we therefore brought out of the state of Nature In this Point you have heard that they who are Regenerate are made free from it so that if you be not such you are concluded to be yet under the Law of Sin these two do mutually prove each the other if it be the state of unregeneracy 't is the Law of Sin and if it be the Law of Sin 't is the state of unregeneracy Well! it highly concerns you to be most seriously inquisitive about this 'pray therefore bring it down to your selves one by one and ask how is it with me am I under the Law of Sin or am I made free from it some Law or other I must be under for every man in the world is so therefore what is the Law which hath the authority over me is it the Law of Christ the Law of Grace or is it the Law of Sin hath not the sinful Nature in me the dominion of a Law and the efficacy of a Principle is not all that which makes up the Law of Sin to be found in me To help you in this Enquiry I need not say much more than what I have already said do but look back to the explication of Sins being a Law as also to the Answer of that Question How this may be known and there 's enough to direct you in examination and passing judgment upon your selves Yet however a little further to help you herein and also to quicken you to the more serious searching into it let me tell you there are very great and dangerous mistakes in this matter ô how far may Sinners go and how well may they think of themselves and yet for all that be under the Law of Sin men catch at false evidences and lay that stress upon them which they will not bear Let me instance in a few particulars to show how far persons may go and yet not be made free from the Law of Sin or to set forth the weakness of some grounds which men build upon for this How far men may go and yet be under the Law of Sin 1. They
make some resistance to Sin and therefore they conclude they are not under its power But alas this will not prove it for 1. this resistance may be but a faint weak half resistance 2. it may be bus to this or that Sin nor to every Sin 3. it may be to Sin but not as Sin that is Sin may be resisted because of the Effects and Consequents of it as it kindles God's wrath brings punnishment ends in Hell exposes to shame before men c. and yet as considered in its own nature as 't is an offence to God a breach of the holy Commandment an aberration from the straight Rule so no resistance may be made to it but the Sinner readily closes with it and likes it well enough now such a resistance as this will not amount to a proof or evidence of not being under the Law of Sin There is a resistance indeed which will undeniably prove it as when 't is hearty thorough vigorous universal when 't is such that the utmost strength of the Soul goes out in it against Sin when 't is made to every sin and to sin as sin where 't is thus 't is no Law of Sin he that thus opposes and resists it 't is most certain he 's none of Sins slaves and subjects if therefore it be thus with any of you 't is well but you must not bottom too much upon meer resistance if it be not thus qualified and stated Indeed no resistance is a good affirmative Argument to prove Sins dominion but every kind of resistance is not a good negative Argument to prove no dominion thereof Sincere Christians may fetch much comfort from their resistings of sin but as to those which are common and ordinary in Others little comfort can be fetch'd from them 2. Persons may be free from very many Sins may not have such violent inclinations to some particular Sins and yet for all this be under the Law of Sin The reason is this because there may be some Other sins in which though not in these it may exercise full authority over them possibly they are not proud but they are covetuous they are not openly vitious but they are worldly they are not unclean but they are spightful and malitious now reigning Sin never limits it self to any one Sin though it be not obey'd in this or that if its Commands be observed in any other sin 't is enough willing and full subjection to it in any one sin I speak not of particular acts but of the kinds of Sin evinces its dominion Thou pleasest thy self because such Corruptions and Lusts do not prevail over thee I but if any other single Lust rules thee so that it hath thy heart and thou yieldest free and entire Obedience to it this sufficiently determins thy Case thou art under the Law of Sin As * Jam. 2.10 whoever keeps the whole Law of God and yet offends in one point is guilty of all so whoever opposes the whole Law of Sin and yet in some one point resigns up himself to it he is as truly under the power of it as if he obeyed it in all its Commands There needs not thirty Tyrants at once to enslave a people one is enough 3. Sin may seem to lye still and quiet in the heart to let Sinners alone that they shall not feel its urgings and impulsions to what is evil especially in such a violent and impetuous manner and yet they may be under its full strength and empire For this stillness and quietness of sin may proceed meerly from the entireness of its reign or because it meets with no opposition the Soul doth whatever it will have it do no wonder then that 't is still Pharaoh himself was so till the people of Israel would cast off his yoke but then he bestirr'd himself and march'd in all his rage and fury against them O when the Sinner begins to think of changing his master when Christ and Grace are competitors with Sin who shall rule how doth it then though it was quiet before shew it self and put forth all its strength for the securing of its dominion We say Natura vexata seipsam prodit when Sin is vex'd and cross'd a little then you shall see and feel what it is but so long as 't is pleas'd all is still and calm And do any say they feel not the impetuous risings stirrings motions of Sin doth not this proceed from their insensibleness if so then Sins power is very high for the less is the Sinners sense the greater always is Sins power if all be in peace 't is a sign the strong man keeps the house Luk. 11.21 Sin evermore hath the fullest dominion where it gives the least disturbance where it troubles least it rules most if there be little or no sense no conflict no trouble 't is a very bad sign that Sin is entire upon the throne 4. There may be some trouble upon the Conscience after the commission of sin and yet it be the Law of Sin 'T was so in Cain in Ahab in Judas c. where there is no after-grief Sin indeed reigns there may be some after-grief and yet for all that Sin may reign too Upon the commission of some known Sin natural and enlightned Conscience may fall upon a man and vex him sorely Sin usually hath not that power in the Conscience which it hath in the other Faculties it may entirely have the Will and Affections whilst yet Conscience stands off and is not so fully on its side no that unless it be a cauteriz'd Conscience will give in its dictates against Sin and if it be not hearkened to it will smite and vex and gaul the Sinner to some purpose And because sometimes 't is fast asleep and neglects to do its office therefore God himself interposes to awaken and set it on the Sinner Conscience saith God go and do thine office make such a man know what he hath done tell him of his Sin and spare him not pursue him from place to place with the sense of his guilt c. Well! now all this may be but in order to his smarting and not in order to his healing this trouble may be only penal and not medicinal or penitential and therefore doth not amount to any proof of freedom from the Law of Sin I would not discourage any true penitent know therefore Sin never reigns where the Soul grieves for it provided 1. that the ground of this belief be right viz. because God is offended the good Spirit grieved the holy Law violated c. 2. that the effect of this grief be * Poenitentia est mala praeterita plangere plangenda iterum non committere Ambr de Poen Inanis est Poenitentia quam sequens inquinat Cu'pa nihil prosunt lamenta si iterantur peccata Aug. reformation and the leaving that Sin which the Soul seems to mourn over if there be not these two things accompanying the trouble
upon the Conscience it speaks nothing against the dominion of sin 5. Men may do that which materially is very good and may hold on in so doing for some time and yet be under the Law of Sin O there are many who pray hear the Word attend upon Ordinances give alms c. and yet Sin is still regent in them because 1. though they do all this yet the heart is not at all changed in them now Sins power never goes off till the heart be made new 2. because which is more demonstrative the heart is rotten in all this Christ hath the external duty but Sin hath the heart some outward respect is shown to God but yet the heart is set for some Lust against God as you read of those Ezek. 33.31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetuousness 'T is a thing too common for men even in their external serving of God to serve Sin more than God and Gods work is done by them for the matter of it but Sin so far interposes its authority and strength as that it carries it in the Sinner as to his Ends in what he doth and if it can but sway and order him in them God may have the external act but still it hath the soveraiguty and power within The same holds true too as to a plausible outwardly good Conversation external piety is too well consistent with the internal reign of Sin it rules in the fair professing-Hypocrite as well as in the gross and scandalous Sinner By this you see you may run your selves upon great mistakes in taking up with such Evidences as will not prove your being made free from the Law of Sin O that the consideration thereof might make you the more careful lest you as many thousands are to their eternal undoing should herein be deceived as also quicken you to the tryal of your selves by those things which will infallibly prove the thing in hand What are they why no allowed subjection to Sin no tame quiet submission to its commands inward renouncing nay abjuring of its authority a rooted vigorous opposition to it in all its cursed suggestions an utter dislike and hatred of it the bent and impetus of the heart set against it universal resignation of a mans self to the Law and Will of God an hearty willingness nay desire to come under the rule and government of the Lord Jesus c. these are the things you are to enquire after and to judge by for these are sure Evidences which you may relye upon Happy is that man who finds these in himself he may with confidence build upon them that he is indeed made free from the Law of Sin but he that is confident upon any thing short of these will sooner or later find he was too credulous So much for this Use VSE 2. To exhort Sinners to make out after this freedom The next shall be to exhort you and others yea all men in the whole world if I could reach them to labour after and make sure of a share and interest in this blessed freedom from Sins power and dominion Regenerate persons you hear have it shall the Vnregenerate sit still and be quiet and contented under the want of it God forbid To be made free from the Law of Sin what a mercy or priviledge is this ô how much is there in it to excite draw allure Sinners to desire love and value it and to be industrious after it He that can upon good grounds say over the words of the Text needs no higher happiness 't was more for Paul to say the Law of the Spirit of Life c. than if he could have said that God had given him all the Kingdoms Crowns Diadems Riches Honours Pleasures of this world You see he applies it to himself and surely he had comfort enough in that application now Sinners when will you be able to say the same of your selves that you also by the power of the Spirit are made free from the Law of Sin ô as Eliphaz once said to Job hear it and know it for thy self Job 5.27 so I would say to you hear this and know it for your selves so as to get it for and to be able to appropriate it unto your own selves so as to take the me here as coming out of Pauls mouth concerning himself into your mouths one by one concerning your selves Sirs this is a thing of such importance that we Ministers cannot speak too much or be too earnest about it 't is the great end of our Lord and Master in his employing us in the work of the Ministry to open your eyes to turn you from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26.18 and therefore though I have said so much already to press the thing upon you yet I must further plead with you in order to the more effectual pressing of it Therefore consider hath not this Sin tyranniz'd long enough over you are you willing still to continue under its thraldom and vassalage must this cursed Vsurper forever sit upon the throne shall it yet command and give Law to you What woful and miserable bondage attends its empire and government hath been described largely shall all that be nothing to you to be slaves the very worst of slaves shall that be but a little thing in your eye Other bondagé not half so bad you cannot bear you detest and dread it shall the worst bondage only be tolerable nay eligible 'pray look * Pag. 189 c. back to the description of Sins bondage and methinks your hearts should rise at it 'T is an astonishing thing to consider that so excellent a Creature as Man who hath such an excellent Being in him as a reasonable and immortal Soul should so tamely submit to so base aâ—thing as Sin and make no more of servitude to it Doth God in the Gospel so graciously tender Liberty privative and positive to you and will you not accept of it may you be made free and will you not ô stupendious folly is this after the manner of men with respect to external liberty or bondage When God sent Moses to deliver Israel out of their bondage what madness would it have been in them not to have accepted it let there be a ransom sent to the poor Captives under Turkish cruelty would they not readily embrace it ah Sinner the Lord Jesus came from Heaven on purpose to redeem thy poor captive Soul out of the hands of Sin and Satan he hath on his part effected what he came about he now offers his Merit and Spirit to make thee free nay he invites intreats sollicits beseeches thee that thou wilt accept of the liberty purchased for thee and yet wilt thou hug thy chains play with
thy fetters love thy dungeon be fond of thy bondage and prefer it before liberty what is this but madness not to be parallel'd what ingratitude is this to thy Saviour what cruelty to thy self as to thee I may well alter Tiberius's ô gentem c. into ô animam ad servitutem natam Further I pray you think of this if Sin rule you will Christ save you you cannot but know the contrary you know that he rules wherever he saves that he will be the Governour Where he is the Saviour that Sins yoke must be taken off and * Matth. 11.29 his yoke taken up or no salvation and yet shall Sin be obey'd and be thy Lord and Sovereign rather than Christ The business comes to a narrow issue let Christ rule thee and hee 'l save the but let Sin command thee and 't will condemn thee the Law of Christ and of the Spirit is the Law of Life but the Law of Sin is the Law of Death but these things have been insisted upon O that this Spirit which frees from the Law of Sin would shew you what there is in the Law of Sin men do not endeavour to get out of it because they are not convinc'd of the evil that is in it did they but know what it is they would choose to dye rather than to live under it And as for you let me ask you how you carry it in other respects you hate the Tyrant without will you love the Tyrant within you groan under the Laws of men when they are a little heavy shall there be no groanings under the far heavier Laws of Sin you will not be called slaves to any will you be content to be indeed slaves to Sin is a barbarous Turk cry'd out of when a Devil and a cursed Nature are never regarded But one Consideration more as God made you at the first you had nothing to do with this Law of Sin no he made you for his own government to be subject to himself his Law was written within you to command and act you in your whole course how then came Sin by this power how did it get up thus into the throne why onely by the first Apostacy from God Adams Fall was Sins Rise its reign commenc'd from mans rebellion 't is a meer upstart and intruder God never design'd this power to it will you now by your liking of it and continuance under it give an after-ratification or approbation of its power It hath depriv'd you of your primitive liberty and will you not endeavour to regain it when Sardis was taken by the Grecians Xerxes commanded that every day when he was at dinner one should cry aloud Sardis is lost Sardis is lost that hereby he might be inminded of what he had lost and stirr'd up to endeavour the regaining of it ô Sirs your Original Liberty is lost Sin hath got it out of your hands this we proclaim in your ears from time to time that you may never be quiet till you have recovered it and yet will you do nothing in order thereunto will you e'ne sit still under this inexpressible loss ô that 's sad All this hath been spoken to set you against Sins dominion to excite you to the most earnest endeavours to be rid of its soveraignty to cause you to fly to the Spirit of Life that you may be made free from the Law of Sin to work holy purposes in you that Sin shall no longer reign over you that you may say with the Church Isa 26.13 O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but by thee onely will we make mention of thy name O that I might prevail with some Soul to say with respect to Sin Ah Lord other Lords have had dominion over me lust pride passion covetuousness sensuality have ruled me just as they pleas'd but I desire it may be so no longer I am resolved now onely to be subject to thy self ô do thou dethrone Sin and inthrone thy self in me let me be brought under universal hearty ready subjection to thy Laws and let not the Law of Sin carry it in me any longer c. One Direction given for the Sinners being freed from Sins power In what ways and by what means a poor enslaved Sinner may be made free from the Law of Sin is a very weighty enquiry and I would hope that some Sinners being convinc'd by what hath been spoken have it in their thoughts For answer to it there 's one Direction only which I shall at present give 't is this Get into the regenerate state regenerate persons are the adequate Subjects of this freedom they and none but they are freed from Sin as a Law Paul so long as he was unconverted was as much under this Law as any person whatsoever but as soon as it pleased God to convert him he was made free from it This deliverance depends upon the state it must be the state of regeneracy till which Sin will keep up its regency and soveraignty in the Soul ô as you have heard when Grace once comes into the heart the kingdom of Sin goes down and the kingdom of Christ goes up therein but never before All your strivings endeavours convictions purposes promises will never make Sins throne to shake and fall till you be renewed and sanctified Therefore pray much for the regenerating Spirit and attend much upon the regenerating Word in order to this great work Joh. 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Jam. 1.18 Of his own will begat he us by the Word of truth c. 1 Cor. 4.15 In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel 't is this Spirit and this Word which must renew and bring about the new birth in you and so deliver you from the power of darkness and translate you into the kingdom of Gods dear Son as the Apostle speaks Col. 1.13 But this will be more properly enlarg'd upon when I shall come to the third Observation therefore here I 'le say no more about it VSE 3. To such who are made free from the Law of Sin first by way of Counsel 3. I will direct my self to those who by the Spirit of Life are made free from the Law of Sin something to them 1. by way of Counsell 2. by way of Comfort By way of Counsel I 'le urge three duties upon them 1. The first is hearty and deep humiliation and this is incumbent upon such partly upon what is past and partly upon what is present Regenerate persons to be deeply humbled though they be made free from the Law of Sin First hath the Lord been so gracious to any of you as to bring you out of the Natural bondage to dethrone and bring down this Sin which did at such a rate domineer over you ô you must be deeply humbled upon your taking a view of what is past
dye Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man Sin entred into the world and Death by Sin even so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ver. 17. For if by one mans offence Death reigned by one c. here 's Death and the Law of Death too by Sin it hath got a power over men so as to reign over them Had there been no Sin there had been no Death if man had continued in his sinless and innocent state he might have been * Vide Grot. de Sat. c. 1. p. 18. mortal i. e. under a posse mori he being but a Creature and made up of contrary principles but he had not actually dyed much less had he been under a necessity of dying if he had not sinn'd Death did not come into the world upon Gods meer dominion and Soveraignty or meerly upon the frailty of the humane Nature as Pelagians of old and (a) Mors non erat poena vel effectus transgressionis Adami sed conditionis naturalis consequens Socin de Statu primi hominis Vide Praelect Cap. 1. contra Paccium Cap. 5. Socinians of late assert but as the (b) Calov Soc. Prost p. 250. Hoorn Soc. conf vol. 1 l. 3. c. 4. p. 583 c. Franz Scho Sacr. Disp 1. p. 7. fruit and punnishment of Sin Immortality was a part of (c) Molin Enod Grav Qu. de statu Innoc. Tract 3. p. 62. Gerhard Loc. Com. de Imag c. t. 1. c. 4. p. 199. Zâ—â—em de Imag. c. c. 8. Art 2. Moretâ—n's threefold state of man p. 1. c. 2. p. 35. Gods Image at first imprinted upon man that image being defac'd mortality took place You know in Gods dealing with our first Parents how he back'd his Command or Prohibition with the threatning of death Gen. 2.17 Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye they disobeyed this most equitable Commandment and thereby brought death both upon themselves Gen. 3.19 and also upon all their posterity Besides the guilt of this Sin made over to all mankind by imputation there is mens personal sin habitual and actual which renders them yet more obnoxious unto death and that too not onely to temporal but also to eternal death Rom. 6.21 the end of those things is death v. 23. the wages of sin is death The Apostle in James 1.14.15 treats of the first and last of Sin shows where it begins and where it ends sets down its rise progress and final issue But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished it bringeth forth death Sin is the issue of Lust and Death is the issue of Sin So that our Apostle here in the Text might upon very good grounds link and couple Sin and Death Where 't is the Law of Sin there 't is the Law of Death 2. Observe that 't is the Law of Sin and the Law of Death which is here coupled together so that where 't is the Law of Sin there and there only 't is the Law of Death When Sin is reigning and commanding then 't is ruining and condemning 't is the power of Sin that exposes to the power of death Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness 'T is true every sin in its own nature deserves death the Scripture knows no such thing as venial sin it being judge all and every sin is mortal indeed as to event the Apostle saith there is a Sin not unto death 1 Joh. 5.17 but as to merit every Sin be it what it will deserves death Yet God is so gracious as that Sin shall not condemn and end in death where it doth not command 'Pray mark it how in the words the Law of the Spirit is join'd with Life and the Law of Sin with Death as where the power of the Spirit is there is Life so where the power of Sin is there is Death I know the Death in the latter Clause doth not carry a direct opposition to the Life in the former for the Life there referring to Grace and Regeneration and not to Glory hereafter the Death which refers to eternal Condemnation and the misery of the future state cannot be look'd upon as directly opposite to that Life yet there is a truth in the Parallel As upon the Law of the Spirit there is Life spiritual and eternal so upon the Law of Sin there is ' Death spiritual and eternal too Further I know there is a great disparity betwixt the Spirits working Life and Sins working Death the Law of the Spirit works Life in the way of proper Efficiency and Causality the Law of Sin works Death only in a final consequential meritorious way yet here also we may speak by way of Parallel as the power of the Spirit works Life in its way so the power of Sin works Death too in its way That which I drive at is very plain if I be so happy as to express my self clearly about it Regenerate persons are made free from the Law of Death 3. Observe that such who are brought under the power of the regenerating Spirit they are made free from the Law of Death This was Paul's happiness here laid down and 't is the same to all that are regenerate the proof of which I need not insist upon for this deliverance undeniably follows from the former they who are made free from the Law of Sin by that Grace are also made free from the Law of Death it being the Law of Sin which subjects the Creature to the Law of Death The power or right of Death stands or falls by the power of Sin so that if the person be freed from the latter as you have heard every regenerate person is it certainly follows in the course and methods of Gods Grace that every such person shall be freed from the former too for the Law of Death is penal or the effect of the Law of Sin now take away the Cause and the Effect ceases Quest How is this to be understood But a little explication will be necessary How may Regenerate Persons be said to be made free from the Law of Death For answer to this Answ you know Death is either temporal or eternal I do not instance in spiritual Death because though 't is very true that the Saints upon the Law of the Spirit are made free from this Death yet I conceive that is not so much intended here the former lies in the separation of the Soul from the Body for a time the latter in the everlasting separation of both Soul and Body from the love and favour and presence of God This separation from God is
be told there 's poyson in it and that if he drinks it he 's a dead man ô the stupendious folly nay madness of men we tell them from Gods own mouth there 's death at the bottom of sinful practises and yet because these suit with and please their sensual part they will venture upon them The fear of temporal death to be inflicted by the Magistrate keeps off many from those enormous acts which otherwise they would commit they dare not thus and thus transgress the Law by stealing killing c. though they have a good mind to it why because they know if they so do they must dye Ah Sinner God backs his Laws with the penalty of eternal death to which thou makest thy self liable by the violation of them and yet wilt thou dare to do it shall the fear of this not at all restrain thee from what is evil Here 's the Devils cunning in his temptations he presents the bait but hides the hook he tempts from and by the pleasure delight contentment that is in sin but conceals the death that will follow upon it nay he doth not onely conceal the evil threatned but either in thesi or in hypothesi he flatly denies it This lying Spirit will tell the Sinner he may sin without danger what dye for it no there 's no such thing thou shalt not dye Thus he began in his first assault upon our first Parents Gen. 3.4 And the serpent said to the woman ye shall not surely dye and thus he doth with Sinners to this very day He always sharpens his temptations by blunting the edge of the Laws threatning assuring the poor besotted Creature that he may sin and yet not dye Now I beseech you do not hearken to him or believe him for he is what he always was a lyar and so a murderer Joh. 8.44 Let the temptation be never so inviting and alluring yet 'pray consider * 2 Kings 4.40 death is in the pot and therefore there is no meddling with it let the enticements of Sin be never so specious and plausible yet know nothing less than eternal death will inevitably follow upon it and doth not the evil of that infinitely weigh down all the good which Sin promises Sin is the falsest thing in all the world its promises are very fair but its performances are quite contrary it pretends to this and that which takes with the Sinner exceedingly but the very upshot and end of all is everlasting destruction Suppose it be as good as its word as to some temporal concerns yet alas its good is soon over and gone but its bad abides forever the pleasant taste of its hony in the mouth is but short but its gall lies fretting in the bowels to all eternity now what madness is it for a man for a few minutes delight to run himself into everlasting and endless torments 'T is one of the saddest things that is imaginable that men do and cannot but know that 't is Sin and Death and yet in a stâ—â—nge defiance of God and in a bold contemning of all that he threatens yea even of eternal death it self they will venture upon Sin Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not onely do the same but have pleasure in them that do them But surely did they but know and consider what this death is they would not carry it thus I cannot now enter upon any particular description of it onely let me tell them what there is in it the absence of all good the presence of all evil is not this enough that in short 't is the summary and abridgment of all that misery which the Humane Nature is capable of and should not such a thing make a poor Creature tremble As to this death the Sinner would fain dye but cannot he must live though he be dead even whilst he lives at the * Mors prima pellit animam nolentem de corpore mors secunda detinet animam nolentem in corpore Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 21. c. 3. first death the Body and Soul are loth to part but in the second death they would fain part if they might but the just God will keep them together that as they sinn'd together so they shall suffer together What a sad meeting will there be 'twixt these two at the general Resurrection when they shall be reunited onely in order to their being eternally miserable Now do not Sinners tremble at this do they not dread that which will bring all this upon them if not what can we further say or do As to you dearly Beloved I hope you are not given up to a reprobate mind to this desperate hardness of heart to make nothing of dying eternally 'pray therefore * Psal 4.4 stand in awe and sin not do not dare to live in that for which you must dye and perish forever let Sin dye that you may never dye for it must be either its death or yours If you live sin you love death and is death a thing to be lov'd Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul all they that hate me love death Methinks that 's a very sad description of the carriage of the poor amorous Wanton under the enchantments of the whorish Woman Prov. 7.21 22 23. With much fair speech she caused him to yield with the flattering of her lips she forced him He goeth after her straightway as an oxe goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks Till a dart strike thorow his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life Sirs will you carry it thus under Sins enchantments not considering that it aims at your life and exposes you to eternal death A fool sees but a little way but a wise man looks to the issues and consequences of things you know what I mean Simply to dye is not so much but to dye eternally ô that 's a formidable thing as you would shun that shun sin for itâ— house is the way to Hell going down to the chambers of death Proverbs 7.27 VSE 2. Comfort to all Regenerate Persons 2. Let the people of God see their happiness and take the comfort of it You that by the power of the regenerating Spirit are made free from the Law of Sin know that upon this you are also made free from the Law of death ô precious and admirable mercy what a cordial is this to revive you under all your faintings As to temporal death you are not wholly exempted from it that 's common to you as well as to others yet 't is a quite other thing to you than what it is to others ô whenever it shall come bid it welcome and do not * Non est formidandum quod liberat nos ab omni formidando Tertull. Ejus est mortem timere qui ad Christum nollet
Mihi placet ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nominativus positus sit absolutè loco Genitivi ut sensus sit cum enim effet impossibile c. Erasm Fateri necesse est Panli orationem mutilam esse imperfectam nifi dicamus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 positum esse absolute loco secundi Casus quo Graeci eo firmè modo utuntur quo Latini Casu auferendi c. Justin Some would read it absolutely and change the Nominative Case into the Genitive the Greeks using that Case as the Latines do the Ablative in that form of expression thus for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they turn it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law being unable in that it was weak through the flesh God sent c. Some take it in the Accusative Case and put in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impossible part of the Law God performed or made good by the sending of Christ Some change the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putting in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was the impossible of the Law or to the Law that God supplied by the sending of his Son this comes neerest to our Translation * Impossible legis i. e. impossibilitas implendae legis ex eo procedebat quoniam Lex infirma erat per Carnem Tolet. Some make the impossibile Legis to be taken Substantivè for impossibilitas implendae Legis which impossibility of fulfilling the Law proceeded from hence because the Law was weak through the flesh ‖ So Camerarius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Articâ constructione usitatà accipi commodè potest pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza Propter impotentiam Legis eò quod per camem erat infirmata Pare Some tell us the Words are an Atticism and they make a double Atticism in them 't is first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the sense of them runs thus For the impotency and inability or because of the impotency and inability of the Law therefore God sent his Son The * Quùm impotens esset Lex propter infirmitatem carnis c. V. Syr. Ob defectum virium legis quo laborabat in carne c V. Arab. Et cum impotentes cramus ad praestandum mandata legis c. V. Ethiop Ancient Versions bring it in with a Since or Because Since there was an utter impossibility or inability in the Law to justifie or recover lost man therefore God pitch'd upon another way viz. the Incarnation Obedience Satisfaction of his own Son I thought it not amiss to put down these several Explications and Readings of the Words for the satisfaction of more inquisitive persons concerning the Expression it self and the Coherence of the Matter but as to the plain Sense that our Translators as I said before give us very well For what the Law could not do or because of the Laws inability to do in that it was weak through the flesh therefore God sent his Son c. The Sum of the Words in Two Proposi ions I pass from the Letter of the Words to the Matter contain'd in them and that may be sum'd up in these Two Propositions 1. There was something to be done by and for the Sinner 1. Prop. which the Law could not do it was under an impossibility of doing it 2. Therefore the Law could not thus do 2. Prop because it was weak through the flesh For the better understanding of which Propositions 4 Questions answered it will be necessary to resolve these Four Questions 1. Of what Law doth the Apostle here speak 2. What was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which the Law could not do 3. How is the Law said to be weak 4. What is meant by the Flesh from which the Laws weakness proceeds First Of what Law doth the Apostle here speak 1. Quest What Law is here meant when he saith What the Law could not do I answer Of Gods own Law and that too in its strict and proper acceptation Answ For the Word Law is taken sometimes in an improper allusive Metaphorical notion as in the Verse foregoing where you read of the Law of the Spirit and of the Law of Sin which is nothing but the power and commanding efficacy of the Spirit and of Sin But here in this Verse 't is to be taken in the strict and proper notion of a Law viz. as it notes that declaration or revelation which God the great Law-giver hath made of his Will therein binding and obliging the reasonable creature to duty I know Some understand the Law here of that * Lex mentis quae impleri non poterat propter carnem peccati Tolet. Crediderim ego non hic legem Mosis sed legem illam mentis accipiendam esse Justin Potest de lege mentis intelligi quam supra dixit velle facere bonum sed per infirmitatem fragilitatem carnis implere non posse Orig. Law of the Mind spoken of Chap. 7.23 which lies in strong propensions efficacious and commanding impulsions to what is holy and good springing from the Sanctifi'd nature in regenerate persons But I conceive this interpretation is not so genuine nor so well suiting with the Apostles Scope in the words where he is treating not of the Law which is in some persons but of the Law which is imposed upon all of that Law the righteousness of which was to be fulfilled as it follows Vers 4. and therefore it must be understood of Gods own Law that being it which Christ was to fulfil and satisfie and not any other Law Since then the Words point to the Law of God we must bring the Question into a narrower compass and enquire What Law of God is here spoken of For answer to which that I may as much as I can avoid unnecessary excursions I shall only say this That 't is either that Primitive Law which God impos'd upon Adam and in him upon all mankind upon the keeping of which he promised Life upon the breaking of which he threatned death it being the Summary of the Covenant of Works Or else 't is that Law which God gave the people of Israel from Mount Sinai namely the Decalogue or Moral Law Which Law was but a new draught of the Law first made with Adam for that being by his Fall much defac'd nay almost quite obliterated as it was written in his heart it pleas'd the Lord to copy it out again and to write it afresh in Tables of Stone in fair and legible Characters And this too was a Scheme or Transcript and Summary of the Covenant of Works first made with Adam though it was not given to the people of Israel purely and absolutely as the Covenant of Works for in reference to its end and design there was much
much too high as good as they are in reference to these great concerns they are no better than so many figg-leaves which will not cover a Sinners nakedness when God shall come to reckon with him whosoever bottoms his trust and confidence upon these he builds upon the sand and sooner or later there will be a sad downfal of all his Hopes * Sordet in districtione Judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis Gregor these are things which glitter in our eye but they are but course and mean things without Christ in Gods eye Sirs I am upon a Point of as great importance as any that can be spoken to and therefore give me leave to stay upon it a little and to deal plainly and faithfully with you about it I would feign leave every one of you upon a good bottom built upon the Rock that * Isa 28.16 sure Foundation which will stand firm and steady in all winds and weather having that anchor-hold which will abide under all storms And therefore let me prevail with you to cast off all Legal Confidence and to rely trust rest upon nothing short of Christ and his Righteousness Duties Graces Holiness Obedience Good Works all in their proper places are excellent things but 't is the alone Merit Righteousness Satisfaction of Christ that must justifie and save you Would you have that righteousness which will bear the test at the great day that righteousness in which you may be able to stand before the disquisition of the righteous God O then fly to Christ to his imputed righteousness and there let all your trust and relyance be placed What is that One thing which the New-Testament-revelation mainly drives at 't is this to carry Sinners from Moses to Christ from the way of the Law to the way of the Gospel from doing as the Old-Covenant Condition and Ground of Life to believing The not understanding receiving embracing of this grand Truth was the sin and ruine of the Jewes all that Christ and the Apostles could say or do would not prevail with them to shake off their depending upon the Law but still they * Rom. 2.17 rested in the Law †Rom. 9.31 32. followed after the Law of Righteousness and sought righteousness not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law ‖ Rom. 10.3 they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness would not submit to the Righteousness of God O therefore how full how earnest was Paul in his dealings with them and with others too to undeceive and convince them about this He saith the whole matter of Righteousness was now taken out of the Laws hands and put into the hands of Christ * Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth * Rom. 3.21 22. Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight c. But now the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and Prophets Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe He sets down the miserable state of those who would be resting upon the Law such as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he describes them * Gal. 3.10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them He tells them by this they made the sending dying of Christ to be to no purpose * Gal. 2.21 I do not frustrate the Grace of God for if Righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain see too Gal. 5.3 4. He tells them further that God had such a respect for his own Law that if righteousness and Life had been possible by it he would have taken no other way * Gal. 3.21 If there had been a Law given which could have given Life verily righteousness should have been by the Law But why do I give you a few gleanings when you your selves may go into the full field Now was all this spoken only to the Jews and Gentiles who lived at that time doth it not concern us also have not these several Considerations their strength to us as well as to them To come neerer home the Text tells us the Law could not do will you not be convinced of the Laws inability to help you so as to betake your selves to that better and effectual way of Justification and Salvation which God hath so graciously provided for you The Law is weak as weak now as ever but Christ is strong as strong now as ever the Law can do nothing but Christ can do all 'Till it pleases God to convince you of the Laws impossibility to make you righteous and happy you 'll never seek out after help in Christ or close with him for as Christ had never come to you had it not been because it was impossible for the Law to save you so you will never come to him till you see that 't is impossible for the Law to save you this is that which moved God to send Christ and this is that which moves the Sinner to embrace Christ and his way of Salvation If this work of Conviction was but once pass'd upon you O you would soon quit the Law and all your Confidence would be bottom'd upon Christ Well! shall I bring it to an head here are two wayes set before you for Righteousness and Life the way of the Law and the way of the Gospel the way of Doing and the way of Believing now which of these two will you chuse if the former so as to venture your Souls upon what you can do your case is desperate by this you plainly put your selves under the Covenant of Works and there 's nothing but perishing as things now stand with us under that Covenant if the latter there is hope nay certainty supposing you close with the Gospel-way in a right Gospel-manner that it shall be well with you Who would not now say with David * Psal 71.16 I will make mention of thy righteousness even of thine only who would not with * Phil. 3.8 9. Paul count all but dross and dung that he may winne Christ and be found in him not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith 4. Fourthly Use 4. See here the admirable love of God and be greatly affected with it The Law was weak utterly unable to relieve us in our forlorn condition as to that conclamatum est the case is desperate and now the merciful God finds out another way pitches upon another course hee 'll see what that will do the former failing what 's that he sent
his own Son in the likeness c. O the infinite Love Mercy Compassion of God! The weaker was Gods Law the stronger and higher was Gods love O that he should not let us all perish under the Laws impotency that he should imploy One for our recovery who was every way able to do what the Law could not how should we adore his mercy in this But this leads me to the following words in the Text God sent c. where I shall have occasion more fully to press this duty upon you So much therefore for this First Branch of the Words What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh ROM 8.3 God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh c. CHAP. X. Of Christ's Mission and of God's sending him Man being utterly lost upon the terms of the Law it pleased God to find out and to pitch upon another Way which he knew would be effectual That was the sending of his own Son c. Four things observed in the Words All reduced to three Observations Of Christs Mission How be was sent and sent by God It notes his Praeexistence before his Mission and Incarnation his Personality his being distinct from the Father 'T is opened First Negatively 1. 'T was not Christ's ineffable and eternal Generation 2. 'T was not any local Secession from his Father Secondly Affirmatively 'T was 1. Gods preordaining of him to the Office and Work of a Mediator 2. His qualifying and fitting of him for that Office and Work 3. His authorizing and commissionating of him to engage therein 4. His authoritative willing of him to assume mans Nature and therein so to do and so to suffer 5. His trusting of him with his great designs How was this Sending of Christ consistent with his equality with the Father this answered Two wayes Why was Christ sent answered first more Generally then more Particularly in Four things Use 1. To stir up persons 1. To admire God 2. To admire in special the Love of the Father 3. To love Christ 4. To imitate Christ with respect to his Sending 5. Not to rest in the external Sending of Christ 6. To believe on him whom God hath sent Use 2. This is improved for the Comfort of Believers The Law being weak God pitch'd upon another Course He Sent his Son THe Laws impotency and weakness nay utter inability to recover justifie and save the lost Sinner hath been spoken to I go on to that which thereupon the Wise and Gracious God was pleas'd to do And what was that why to the praise of his glorious grace he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh The Great God is never at a loss if one Means fails he hath another if all Means fail which fall within the view of the Creature yet God hath his secret reserves and that under the deck which shall no the work Upon Adams Sin all Mankind was lost plung'd into a woful abysse of misery obnoxious to eternal wrath and accordingly God might have dealt with them in the utmost severity of his Justice What is there now to prevent this to give any relief to man in this deplorable State Alas the Sinner cannot help himself the Law stands with a withered arm and can do nothing there 's no Creature in heaven or earth to interpose as to all of these the case was desperate Therefore God * Deus Solus in hâc intricatâ causâ poterat prospicere remedium Streso himself engages to let the world see what He could do * Isa 63.3 He looked and there was none to help therefore his own arm brought Salvation Here indeed was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God helping at a dead lift in the greatest streights and in the most admirable manner If ever with reverence be it spoken infinite Wisdom was put to it now was the time yet even in this intricate and perplexed State of things That found out a Way which would do the business a Way which none could have thought of but God alone he sent his own Son c None could cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this but God himself this was his alone invention and contrivance The restoring of fal'n man was impossible to the Law yet it shall be done God will take * Noluit proptereà quod Lex imbecillis erat per praritatem humanae naturae opus salutis humanae abjicere quasi non posset per aliam quod ista Legis via non succedebat efficere Musc another strange and wonderful Course which shall do it effectually what his own Law cannot do his own Son can therefore him hee 'll send A very high and costly Way yet rather than all mankind shall perish God will make use of it here 's the very mirror of the Wisdom Love Grace Pity of the blessed God God sending his own Son c. Of the Reading of the words To make the Sense run more smoothly Some turn the Participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reading the Words thus God sent his c if the following Conjunctive particle And be kept in this Reading is not much amiss Some render it in the * Dictio interpretata Mittens Participium est c. et propterea ad servandum Participium Tempus aliqui Interpretes verterunt rectè Activum in Passivum legendo sic Deus filio suo misso in Carne Cajet Passive form Deus misso Filio suo c. * Duplex est Hebraismus unus est óportet supplere Latine Ideò Alter quia Participium Mittens ponitur loco Verbi Misit Tolet. Some would put in the word Ideò therefore Since the Law was weak through the flesh therefore God sent his own Son and for sin c. but as to these things there 's no great difficulty In the whole Paragraph you have Their Division into Four Parts 1. The Act or the Thing done namely the Sending of Christ 2. The Person whose Act this was or the Person sending viz. God the Father God sent c. 'T is a known Rule when the Name or Title of God is set in contradistinction to the Son 't is then taken not Essentially but Personally for the First Person God the Father instances of which are very common 'T is here said God sent his own Son therefore it must be understood of God the Father Christ being his Son and upon that consideration he being stiled the Father And * Mr. Perkins on Galat. 4.4 p. 271. this Person is called God not because he partakes more of the Godhead than the Other Persons Son and holy Ghost do but because he is the first in the Order of the Three Divine Persons and because he is the beginning of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but hath no beginning of his own Person for he doth not receive the Godhead in the Personal consideration of it
of God You find in Scripture that saving Faith is described by its special reference to Christ as standing in this relation so Gal. 2.20 The life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me why doth the Apostle thus express it by the Faith of the Son of God I answer partly because Christ the Son of God is the efficient and * Heb. 12.2 author of faith partly because this Son is the great Object of faith and partly because Faith in its essential act doth very much eye Christ as thus related to the Father for 't is a believing or relying upon him as the Son of God 'T is very usual in the Gospel where it speaks of believing to mention Christ with it as standing in this relation 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him as the only begotten Son should not perish but have everlasting life O what a person is Gods own Son for Sinners to believe on what an all-sufficient Saviour how able to * Heb. 7.25 save to the utmost must he needs be who is God and Man the Son of God and the Son of Man And indeed 't is not enough barely to believe on Christ but there must be such a believing on him as may in some measure be answerable to this his relation is he God's own Son at what a rate should we believe what a faith should we act upon him what great things should we expect for him and from him can any thing be too high for our faith when we have the proper natural Son of God in our eye as its basis and foundation Saints should have their faith raised not only upon the encouragement of the Promises but also upon the consideration of Christ's Person as he is so near and dear to God I have formerly observed how our Apostle in the Text rises higher and higher in the setting forth of the Love of God he sayes God sent there was Love he sent his own Son there was more Love this own Son he sent in the likeness of sinful flesh there was yet more Love and this he did for this end that he might for sin condemn sin in the Flesh c. there was the very top and zenith of Love Now as there is a rise in these things in the setting off the Love of God so there is also a rise in them in their several engagements and encouragements to us to believe in Christ and to believe in him yet more and more firmly and fiducially he was sent therefore we must believe he was and is God's own Son therefore we must the rather and the more strongly believe he took our flesh here 's an higher argument for an higher faith in that flesh he condemned sin performed all that the Law commanded suffered all that the Law threatned what a faith doth this call for Now if notwithstanding all this it shall yet be either no believing or but faint-believing both will be sad though in a great disparity for the faint-believing is unanswerable to what is reveal'd and uncomfortable to the Saint but the no-believing is damnable to the Sinner 3. Branch of the Exhortation To honour Christ 3. Thirdly is Christ God's own Son how then should all honour and adore him certainly upon this Sonship the highest yea even divine adoration it self is due to him Is he a Son such a Son the Son of such a Father the greatness of his Person arising from that high and near relation wherein he stands to God calls for the highest respect reverence veneration which Angels or Men can possibly give unto him Besides this 't is the absolute Will of the Father that all should * Joh. 5.23 honour his Son even as they honour himself for he having the same Nature and Essence with the Father the Father will have him have the same honour which he himself hath which whosoever deny's to him reflects dishonour upon the Father who will not bear any thing derogatory to the glory of his Son 'T is a known * Nicephor lib. 12. cap. 9. Sozom. l. 7. c. 6. story that of the carriage of Amphilochius to the Emperour Theodosius he had petitioned the Emperour to be severe against the Arrians to discountenance and suppress them because in their Opinions they did so much disparage the Son of God but could not prevail whereupon he made use of this device coming one day into the presence of the Emperour and of his Son Arcadius who now ruled joyntly with his Father he made his humble obeysance to the Emperour himself and shewed him all reverence but as for his Son he passed him by shewed him no respect at all rather dealt derisorily with him stroking him upon his head and saying to him in a way of contempt Salve tu Fili The Emperour upon this was much offended sharply reproves Amphilochius for his affront to his Son c. whereupon the good man vindicates his carriage plainly telling the Emperour he had given reverence enough to his Son And now the Emperour was more incens'd commands him with great indignation to be thrust out of his presence c. which whilst some was doing Amphilochius turn'd himself to the Emperour and said thus O Emperour thou being but a man canst not bear the contempt or disparagement of thy Son how dost thou think the great God can bear that contempt of his Son which the Arrians cast upon him the Emperour was much affected at this begg'd the Bishop's pardon commended his ingeny and did that now which he refus'd to do before The inference is undenyable if great Men stand so much upon the giving of all honour and due observance to their Sons much more will the Great God stand upon the giving of all due Honour and Reverence to his own and only Son O therefore let Christ be highly adored and honoured by you If you ask me how I answer every honouring of him is not sufficient but it must be such as may suit with his infinite Majesty and Greatness you must conceive of him as God as the Natural and eternal Son of God and according to that honour which is due to him as such so you must honour him The Apostle speaks of some * Rom. 1.21 who when they knew God they did not glorifie him as God so some pretend to give some glory to Christ but they do not glorifie him as God O this is that which you must come up to to adore and reverence Christ in such a manner
pleasing to God the like you have of the Levitical Sacrifices Levit. 1.9 an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord so Vers 13.17 answerably to which yea far above them Christ was a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour to God Heb. 7.27 This he did once when he offered up himself Heb. 9.14 who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself to God Vers 26. but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Vers 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Indeed the great business of the Apostle in his excellent Epistle to the Hebrews is both to assert and also to illustrate Christ's being a Sacrifice for Sin which he doth so fully and plainly as that one would think there should be no doubts or differences amongst any that bear the name of Christians about either the thing or the true nature and notion thereof Of Christ's being the eminent Sacrifice and the reference of all the old Sacrifices to him Yea Christ was not only a Sacrifice a true real proper Sacrifice in opposition to those who would make him but an improper figurative metaphorical Sacrifice but he was the Sacrifice in a way of eminency unto which therefore all the Law Sacrifices did bear a special reference For 1. Those were the Types of this all of them * Propter hoc etiam omnia Sacrificia Veteris Testamenti leguntur ut hoc unum Sacrificium designarent per quod vera est reinissio peccatorum mundatio animae in eternum Ambros in Ep. ad Heb. c. 9. Fuit apud Veteres oblatio Holocausti Concio quaedam de morte Christi quâ nes à peccatis per fidem purgati sumus Quia omnia Sacrificia Legis in unum Christum respiciunt atque unicum ejus Sacrificium adumbrant Munster in Lev. 1.1 typifying and prefiguring Christ the grand Sacrifice and like the gnomon in the Dyall pointing to him in this consideration I say all were typical adumbrations of him therefore we find they are not only in the body and lump of them but as taken severally and apart apply'd and brought down to him yea he was shadowed out by them not only with respect to their matter but also with respect to the several rites and modes used about them both of which assertions are sufficiently made out in the forenamed Epistle And whereas †Socin de Servat p. 2. c. 9. Against him in this see Grotius de Sat. Christi p. 126 127. Turretin de Satis p. 216. Franz Disp 6. thes 34 c. Essen Tri. Crucis p. 226. Hoornb Socin conf 597 599. Some affirm that the annual expiatory Sacrifices of which you read Levit. 16. only did prefigure Christ and his being a Sacrifice 't is a very great falsity those indeed might so prefigure him eminently but not solely For we find Others apply'd to him as well as those as namely the Lamb in the daily Offering the Paschal Lamb which was partly a Sacrifice and partly a Sacrament Joh. 1.29 1 Pet. 1.19 1 Cor. 5.7 Rev. 5.6 c. Chap. 13.8 the red Heifer to be Sacrific'd upon occasion for the expiating of the guilt of unknown murder Numb 19. Heb. 9.13 the daily Sacrifices Heb. 7.27 Heb. 10.11 But passing by these things I say Christ was typified by the old Sacrifices and probably that might be one End of God in his instituting of them For that they were of * For this vide Suarez in 3. part Sum. Aquin Quest 83. Art 1. Disp 71. Rivet in Gen. Exerc. 42. p. 170. c. p. 222. Franz de Sacrif Disp 2. thes 76. Disp 3 Disp 76. Disp 16 thes 33. Cloppenb Scho. Sacrif probl 2. p. 51. c. Dr. O. de Theologiâ Adamica l. 2. c. 1. p. 133 134. divine and positive institution and not taken up upon the Light or Law of Nature is to me though I know †The Papists generally Bâ—llâ—rm de Missâ l. 1. c. 20. Valentia de Missae Sacrificio l. 1. c. 4. Others are of this Opinion also The Author of Eccles Policy p. 100. c. Defence c. p. 421. c. who yet grants expiatory Sacrifices to be of divine Institution p. 427. c. Others think otherwise a truth clear enough But why did God institute them to appoint the slaying of so many poor Creatures such various and costly Sacrifices to be offered so often to be repeated such for every day such for every Sabbath such for every New Moon such every year at the solemn and anniversary Expiation besides what were offered at the Passeover at several Feasts at the lesser and greater Jubile upon particular and special occasions as dedications c pray what might be God's End or Ends in all this Was it that he might shew his dominion over the Creatures was it that he might by this demonstrate the Evil of Sin and what the Sinner deserv'd upon it was it to * Theodoret for this Vol. 4. de curandis Graec. affectibus c. 7. p. 584. gratifie the Jews who having been amongst the Egyptians where Sacrifices did abound might therefore be taken with them and fond of them and thereby to prevent their Idolatry Several such Ends and Reasons are assign'd but surely that which I am upon must not be left out if not preferr'd before any other viz. therefore God †Fagius in Levit. 1.2 gives two reasons of them Ut populus in Idololatriam pronus ab idolis averteretur in cultu Dei retineretur Deinde ut typos haberet populus Dei Sacrificii Christi quem oportebat aliquando in crucem agi pro peccatis suorum Rivet in Gen. p. 222. Praecipuè quia voluit adumbrari Sacrificiis passionem futuram Mediatoris c. did ordain and institute Sacrifices that by them he might typifie and prefigure that great Sacrifice which was to come thereby the better to prepare and inform the world about it but how or in what measure and in what extent God did clear up this Notion Vse and End of Sacrifices I shall not be too forward to determine 2. As the Law-Sacrifices were Types so they were but Types there was little in them take away the typical nature of them what poor things were they further than as they did point to Christ The Apostle calls them but shadows of good things to come Heb. 10.1 figures for the time then present Heb. 9.9 patterns of things in the Heavens Heb. 9.23 examples and shadows of heavenly things Heb. 8.5 3. Nay Thirdly all that * Hujus Sacrificii à Christo peragendi Sacrificia caetera typi erant quia ut pecus moriebatur pro homine Levit. 17.11 ita Jesus Christus esset sanguinem suum effusurus pro nobis Utraque igitur auferebant reatum hoc tamen discrimine quod Sacrificium Christi id praestabat virtute suâ illa vero legalia proprie
bare the sin of many Is not all this spoken of our Lord Christ and is there not in it sufficient proof of his susception of the Sinners guilt and bearing the punishment due for it It runs much in the stile of the old Sacrifices they had the sins of the people laid upon them Levit. 16.21 and the Priests too are said to bear their iniquity Levit. 10.17 that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things Exod. 28.38 answerably to which the Prophet tells us that Christ our Sacrifice and Priest too had the iniquities of all believers laid upon him and that he bare them in his own person So the Apostle Heb. 9.28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many c. and that 's a great Scripture 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them up with him when he ascended the Cross the Apostle uses the word Heb. 7.27 Who needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to carry up Sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he carried up himself So in the place cited but now Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is an allusion to the Priests who carried up the Sacrifice and with it the sins of the people to the Altar Christ did the same with respect to his Cross whither he first carried up sin and then he carried or bore it away I have but just mentioned these Scriptures to prove the thing in hand to which should I have spoken as largely as the matter in them would have born or should I now fall upon the refutation of the Adversaries Replys such as they are by which they endeavour to weaken them I should certainly run my self upon unpardonable prolixity To back this notion of these expiatory Sacrifices which were of God's own appointment institution I thought though it would have been but as the holding of a candle to the Sun to have shown that it was the very notion of the Heathens themselves in their idolatrous Sacrifices which whether persons or things they alwayes look'd upon as substituted in the room stead of the offenders themselves but I have altered my purpose because I conceive it will be most proper at the close of the Four Heads which I am upon to bring in all together of what I have to say upon those Pagan-Sacrifices by way of parallel with the true Sacrifices Two Queries propounded answered 'T is no time for us to divide amongst our selves or unnecessarily to run into parties when the common Enemy is in the Field yea making fierce assaults upon us to defend our selves against whom all our united strength will be little enough Otherwise two things should here be further enquired into As Whether Christ underwent the same punishment that was due to the Sinner or onely something equivalent thereunto 1. It having been said that Christ did so far substitute himself in our stead as to undergo the punishment due to us it may be query'd Whether he underwent the idem the very self-same punishment that we should have undergone or only the tantundem that which did amount and was equivalent thereunto To which I answer though I 'm very loth to meddle in points wherein persons eminent for Learning and Piety seem to differ that in different respects both may be affirmed The * Mr. A. Burg. of Justif p. 73 74. Turret de Sat. p. 9. p. 281. punishment which Christ indur'd if it be consider'd in its Substance Kind or Nature so 't was the same with what the Sinner himself should have undergone but if it be consider'd with respect to certain Circunstances Adjuncts or Accidents which attend that punishment as inflicted upon the Sinner so 't was but * Non quidem idem Deo solutum quod debebatur ab iisdem nos etenim debebamus aeternas poenas exolvere verum pependit aequivalens Christus c. Hoornb Socin Conf. p. 253. V. Stegm Photin p. 260. Mr. Baxter's Aphor. p. 26. Life of Faith p. 325. Also the Author of the Great Propitiation p. 71. c. equivalent and not the same The punishment due to the Sinner was Death the curse of the Law upon the breach of the first Covenant now this Christ underwent for he was made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 the Adjuncts or Circunstances attending this death were the eternity of it desperation going along with it c. these Christ was freed from the dignity of his Person supplying the former the sanctity of his Person securing him against the latter therefore with reference to these and to some other things which might be mention'd it was but the tantundem not the idem But suppose there had been nothing of sameness nothing beyond equivalency in what Christ suffered yet that say some would be enough for the making good of the main Truth against the Adversary for 't was not * Dr. Stillingst against Crellius p. 441. necessary to his substitution that he should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the Offender himself was lyable unto but if he shall undergo so much as may satisfie the Law 's threatning and vindicate the Law-giver in his truth justice and righteous government that was enough now that was unquestionably done by Christ Whether Christ took the guilt of our Sin upon himself or only submitted to the punishment 2. Secondly it having also been said that our Saviour took upon him the guilt of our sins it may further be query'd Whether he took the guilt it-self of them or whether he did any thing more than bear the punishment due for them Answ he first took the guilt upon him and then he bare the punishment Far be it from me to assert any thing which may reflect the least dishonour upon Christ I dread with my soul such a thing but I see nothing in the asserting of his voluntary susception of our guilt which hath any tendency to that therefore I hope I may affirm it safely and confidently 't is so far from that that 't was the highest manifestation of his Love and that which was necessary for our Justification There is in sin the macula and the reatus the stain or filth and the guilt of it or there is in it the fact the fault and the guilt the * Suscipiendo paenam non suscipiendo culpam culpam delevit paenam August de Serm. Dom. in Luc. Serm. 37. two former are solely ours but the third and last Christ was pleas'd to take upon himself What is guilt but obligation to punishment if the holy Jesus will freely put himself under that obligation what can be said against it certainly that he might do yet in himself be as
necessitas propitiationem requirit propitiatio non fit nisi per hostiam necessarium suit provideri hostiam pro peccato Orig. in Numb Hom. 4. Christ himself be made a Sacrifice for sin why must he take flesh and then die in that flesh why must his precious blood be poured out why must he feel the wrath of his Father be under a necessity of suffering and of such suffering too was there not a cause for this yes surely and what could that be but satisfaction God had great and weighty Reasons which made him to insist upon this so as that he would in this and in no other way let out his Love and Mercy to Sinners for instance he must vindicate his truth make good his threatning maintain his own honour as also the honour of his Laws make known his Holiness let the world see what Sin was what an extreme hatred he had to it keep up and assert his rectoral righteousness c. for though as * Vid. Hulsium in Theol. Jud. p. 473. Grot. de Sat. c. 2. pars offensa and creditor he might have done what he pleas'd yet as rector mundi he must do that which shall speak him to be just and righteous in his Government now were not these great and weighty reasons for God to do what he did and could these high ends have been attain'd without satisfaction All his Attributes were equally dear to him and thereupon shall all be advanc'd alike he was not for the advancing of Mercy only but of Justice also and therefore he will so carry it in his dealings with man as that he may glorifie the one as well as the other If he justifie the Sinner wherein he displays so much of Mercy hee 'l do it in such a way as that he may display his Justice too wherefore Christ must be a Sacrifice first to expiate Sin by his blood and then God will not charge it upon the Sinner Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past c. he goes over it again To declare I say at this time his righteousness wherein or son what end that be might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus what could the Apostle have spoken fuller plainer to determine the business in hand how can the Denyers of Christ's Satisfaction and of the necessity thereof stand before the light of this Scripture Propitiation must be made by blood by the blood of Christ that thereby God might declare his righteousness that he might be just not so much in himself and in the general as in this special act of the justifying of a Sinner Had we no other Text in all the sacred Records but this one me-thinks it should be enough to silence and convince gain-sayers 't is a bulwark for Faith which will stand firm in spite of all the little batteries that men can make against it But the truth of Christ's satisfying divine Justice will yet more fully appear from what follows in the next Head therefore I go on to that The true Nature and. Ends of Christ's Death 2. Secondly this may help us to right notions concerning the Nature and Ends of Christ's death For if it be ask'd How or in what manner he dy'd we see he dy'd as a Sacrifice if it be further ask'd Wherefore did he die or what were the main ends of his dying I answer he dy'd chiefly for such ends as are most proper to Sacrifices If God's own Son die undoubtedly there must be something special in his death and some great ends must be design'd to be promoted thereby * 2 Sam. 3.33 died Abner as a fool dieth but what were they Answ such as may best comport and suit with the common ends of all Sacrifices especially of those by which he was more directly typified therefore the pacifying of an angry God the purifying of a guilty Sinner being the principal ends in the death of the typical Sacrifices as you have heard answerably these must also be the principal ends of the death of Christ the real Sacrifice The SOCINIANS in this matter run into two dangerous Errors 1. they make that in Christ's death to be supream and principal which was indeed but subordinate nay 2. they make that which was but subordinate to be the sole thing therein altogether excluding and denying what was supream and principal Now this one thing which I am upon viz. Christ's being and dying as a Sacrifice in correspondency with the Ends of the Levitical Sacrifices was it rightly understood and firmly believ'd would be a sufficient confutation of and antidote against their pernicious tenents For do they say that the main end of the death of Christ was to turn men from sin the contrary appears because that was not the main end in the Law-Sacrifices or do they say that Christ died only for our good 't was not so because that doth not agree with the Law-Sacrifices which were offered not only for the Sinners good but in the Sinners stead or do they say that he died only as a Witness of the Truth as an Example c. 't was not so neither because it shuts out that which was the principal intendment of the Law-Sacrifices But besides this there are some other things of considerable strength which that we may the better take in we must more particularly enquire into those Causes or Ends of Christ's death which * Socin de Serv. p. 1. c. 3. c. et de Officio Christi Crellius de Caus Mortis Christi with all the rest Against them see Grot. de Sat. p. 26. c. Franz de Sacrif p. 400. c. et 606 c. Hoornb Socin conf l. 3. p. 492. c. Portus contra Ostorod p. 447. c. Turret p. 7. p. 247. c. Dr. Stillingst discourse concerning the true Reasons of the Sufferings of Christ with many Others they assign that by the removal of false Causes and Ends I mean in their exclusive sense the true ones may the better appear They say therefore 1. Christ dy'd for this End that he might bear witness to the truth confirm the Evangelical Doctrine and give assurance to the world of the verity of what he had taught To which we reply the question is not whether these were true and proper Ends that we readily grant but whether they were the principal much more the sole Ends of Christ's death that we utterly deny And our denyal is grounded upon these Reasons 1. All along in Scripture the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel is laid upon Christ's Works and Miracles not upon his Death reade Act. 2.22 Joh. 10.25 passim And he having by these given a sufficient proof or evidence of the truth of what he had taught it cannot be imagined that he dy'd only or chiefly for this that by his
the good of Believers there 's Merit So that in the words we have a further account of that full benefit and compleat Salvation which sinners have by the Lord Jesus and so much for their main Scope and the general explication of the matter contain'd in them Four things propounded for the more particular explication of the Words In the more particular opening of them Four things are to be enquired into 1. Of what Law doth Paul here speak 2. What he means by the righteousness of the Law 3. How this righteousness of the Law is said to be fulfilled 4. In what sense is it said to be fulfilled in us What Law doth the Apostle here speak of To the first of these Enquiries I shall answer very briefly 't is the Moral Law which is here chiefly spoken of That which is called the Law of Works Rom 3.27 in contradistinction to the Evangelical Law or the Law of Faith the Law which God at first made with Adam in the state of innocency and afterwards for the matter of it renew'd and copied out again to the people of Israel abridging it in the ten Commandements the Law which call'd for universal perfect constant Obedience and promis'd Life thereupon which was a draught or model and summary of all that duty which God required of man this is that Law which the Apostle here had mainly in his eye 'T is the same with the Law spoken of in the foregoing Verse What the Law could not do in that it was weak c. where I had occasion to speak * See pag. 259 260. something about it to which I refer you 'T is here said that the righteousness of the Law c. now the Law to which righteousness is annexed is commonly the Moral Law see Rom. 10.5 Phil. 3.9 et passim And that 's the Law which Christ in special fulfill'd therefore he having said * Matth. 5.17 Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil he explains himself Vers 21 27 c. what Law he meant by instancing in some branches of the Moral Law And the Apostle having stiled Christ * Rom. 10â—â— 5. the end of the Law c. shows that he also by this meant the same Law as appears by what he immediately adds For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth those things shall live by them I add further 't is that Law the righteousness whereof is fulfill'd in us that is by imputation now 't is the righteousness of the Moral Law as fulfill'd by Christ which is most eminently imputed to us therefore that Law must here chiefly be understood I deny not but that there are other Laws besides this with which righteousness is coupled as those particular and positive Laws laid upon Christ with respect to the management of his Office when the business of his Baptism was before him he would have it done for saith he thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness Matth. 3.15 Yea the Ceremonial Law it self had its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that 's the Word Heb. 9.1 and 't is said of Zachary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 they were both righteous before God walking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord * See Dr. Hammond on Rom. 8.4 in Annot. b blameless where some distinguish making the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to refer to the commands of the Moral Law and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the rites and ordinances of the Ceremonial Law Neither do I deny but that other Laws besides the Moral Law were fulfill'd by Christ for he fulfill'd all and that his fulfilling of them also was for our good But yet 't was the Moral Law with which especially righteousness is joyn'd which Christ eminently fulfill'd and which fulfilling is in an higher notion imputed to us therefore I interpret the word Law here as mainly pointing to that and in so doing I have the concurrent suffrages of all the Expositors that I have look'd into one or two only excepted What is the righteousness of the Law 2. What is here meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or righteousness of the Law The Vulgar Ambrose Erasmus Tremelleus c. reade it the justification of the Law as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated Rom. 5.16 and the Greek Interpreters pitch upon the sense as to the thing that the righteousness of the Law c. that is say * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. they that the primary end and scope of the Law viz. to justifie for that was the end of the Law as given at first might be fulfilled in us Beza with divers others render it that the right of the Law c. the Law had a right to lay its commands upon the Creature and to exact his obedience thereunto it being God's own Law the declaration of his Will it having his authority stamp'd upon it and it enjoyning nothing but what was righteous just and good it was its right to command and to be obey'd when it did so command And in case it was not so it had a further right viz. to demand satisfaction in the enduring of its penalty for it had (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duplex condemnandi peccatores rursus exigendi obedientiam perfectam Pareus Jus Legis ut qui peccaverant punirentur quiad vitam intrare volebant servarent mandata Streso 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illud quod requirit Lex nempe tum plenam Poenae reatibus nostris debitam luitionem ut a condemnatione libeâ—emur tum plenam legis praestationem ut ad aeternam vitam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inveniamur ex illâ promissione Hoc fac vives c. Beza See Burg. of Justif part 2. p. 358. a double right one as it did and might require active obedience the other as it did and might require satisfaction by suffering in case of disobedience and these two put together make up its righteousness (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu jus legis nihil aliud est quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 damnatoria sententia legis quâ maledictionis mortis aeternae supplicio c. Jacob. ad Portum Fid. Orthod Defens c. 34. p. 975. Vid. Pareum in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Some make this to lie in the Laws threatnings or damnatory sentence against Sinners in that curse which it denounces against the transgressors of it Gal. 3.10 as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoken of Rom. 1.32 is God's punishing and avenging justice and that dreadful sentence passed by him that they who do such things are worthy of death so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the penal or maledictory part of the Law But this is only a part of its righteousness and the secondary part thereof too its preceptive righteousness in its
demanding of active Obedience must be taken in and that too as that which is primarily and principally intended by it therefore 't is (c) Significat eam rectitudinem quae praecipitur in lege P. Martyr Justitia quam Lex exigebat Vatabl. Totum quod Lex praecipit Alap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsa legis praecepta c. Perer. Justitia Legis est justitia quam praecipit Lex Estius Implere justum legis est totum quod Lex precipit efficere Tolet. Ut justificatio legis i. e. justitia quam lex prescribit exigit impleretur c. Staplet Antidot p. 627. Ut ad impleret opus praeceptorum legis Ver. Aethiop Ut nos praestaremus omnia quae in lege Mosis per se honesta sunt Grot. Jus justitia justificatio legis in eo consistit ut per omnimodam cum lege conformitatem justi atque inculpati habeamur coram Deo De Dieu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is any thing that God hath thought meet to appoint or command his people Dr. Hammond generally opened by that The Scripture speaks of the Law of righteousness Rom. 9.31 of righteousness by the Law Gal. 3.21 of the righteousness of the Law Rom. 2.26 and in the Text Some difference there is betwixt these but that I shall not stand upon the latter is all that duty righteousness obedience which the Law requires with the penalty which it threatens and will have inflicted upon disobedience What is it to fulfil the Laws righteousness 3. We are to enquire what this fulfilling of the Laws righteousness is Answ The former Head being rightly apprehended there will be little or no difficulty in this To fulfil the righteousness of the Law 't is fully to answer all its demands to come up to perfect and universal conformity to it to do whatever it enjoyns or to suffer whatever it threatens or both For so it was fulfilled by Christ in his active obedience as to the one in his passive obedience as to the other as he was perfectly holy he did what the Law commanded and besides this as he was made * Gal. 3.13 a curse he underwent what the Law threatned 'T is questioned whether one of these be not enough for us either to obey or to suffer but all grant that both were necessary on Christ's part and that both were done by him and so he fulfilled the Laws righteousness This is the genuine and plain notion of the word yet I know other interpretations are given of it The righteousness of the Law was fulfilled inasmuch say * This interpretation noted and confuted by Burg. of Justific P. 361 362. some as that righteousness which it did foretel was actually accomplished in Christ Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets that righteousness which before was witnessed promised foretold in the Law receiv'd in Christ its full accomplishment and therein lies the fulfilling of its righteousness But this exposition of the word is I conceive not so proper to the thing here spoken of 't is another fulfilling which is here intended not so much that which is the bringing into act what was foretold or which is the verifying of a prophesie or prediction in which sense it hath usually joyned with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Matth. 13.35 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Jam. 2.23 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Luk. 24.44 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Matth. 13.14 as the perfect obeying of what was enjoyned in the Command and the doing to the full what the Law as preceptive did require rather than what the Law as predictive did foretel Again * Bodius in Eph. c. 5. v. 28. p. 799. who yet afterwards sets down that notion which I close with Impleri quoque dicitur cum perfectè praestatur observatur quod â Christo pro nobis factum est etsi eâ praestatione vitam aeternam non dicatur nobis acquisivisse Some make this fulfilling of the Law to be no more than adeptio finis the bringing about of that which was the great end of it what was that why to drive Sinners to Christ By its discovering sin and guilt for the Law was added because of transgressions Gal. 3.21 and wrath the consequent thereof and the Sinners utter inability to help himself eventually it was a means to bring such to look out for help in Christ Therefore Gal. 3.24 't is said The Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ and in this sense some take that passage Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness i.e. that which God mainly design'd in the Law and which was the great end that he aimed at therein it was to drive Sinners to Christ to obtain righteousness in and through him This explication I do not close with neither for I suppose the Apostle is not here speaking so much of the fulfilling of the end of the Law as of the fulfilling of the matter of the Law for he speaks of that which is imputable to us as you will hear now 't is Christ's performing the matter of the Law and not the end of the Law in it-self which comes under imputation That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled that is say * Deodate in loc others that it might not be commanded in vain nor without effect as it is in respect of Vnbelievers But this exposition will carry us to that fulfilling of the Law which is in our own persons which is not here intended and this will better suit with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.26 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.27 rather than with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text These and such like explications of the word therefore being rejected I stick to that which was first laid down to fulfill the Laws righteousness it is fully exactly to do and to suffer whatever that righteous Law demanded How the righteousness of the Law may be said to be fulfilled in Believers 4. The resolution of the 4th Enquiry will take me up more time How are we to understand the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in the Saints that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us he means in such who are in Christ Jesus and who do believe on him Every true believer is a fulfiller of the Law but how or in what sense he is so there 's the difficulty in one sense nothing more true in another nothing more false In the resolving of this a fourfold Answer is given and a fourfold Interpretation put upon the words The first Answer or Interpretation about it viz. that the righteousness of the Law is perfectly and personâ—lly fulfilled by the Saints themselves 1. First say some the righteousness of the Law is perfectly and personally fulfilled by the Saints themselves This the POPISH Writers in their
any one person who ever did so fulfil the Law I know some are mentioned but all that is said of them doth amount only to integrity of parts not to perfection of degrees to eminency in Grace and Obedience but not to Law-exactness to Evangelieal but not to legal perfection Obj. But doth God enjoyn the Creature that which is * Bellarm. de Lib. Arb. l. 5. c. 18. impossible Answ Just thus the PELAGIANS of old argued for the possibility of mens keeping the Law and †De Nat. Grat. c. 43. De Peccat Mer. Rem l. 2. c. 6 7 9. AVSTINE writing against them was fain again and again to answer this very Objection We say what is ‖ Vid. Chamier tom 3. l. 11. p. 328. Thes Sedan Vol. 1. p. 479. Pet. Martyr in loc Quanquam si quis rectē c. simply and absolutely impossible God doth not impose upon the Creature but what he himself hath made impossible voluntarily and by his own default that the great Law-giver may and doth impose This impossibility doth no way entrench upon the goodness of God because the Sinner hath contracted and wilfully brought it upon himself I hope the Creditor may demand his debt though the debtor cannot pay it if through sloth prodigality bad husbandry he hath disabled himself thereunto that 's the Sinners case with respect to perfect obedience to the Law God may demand his right though the Creature hath lost his power This Objection at the first hearing seems to have something in it and it is very plausible to put an ugliness upon the PROTESTANTS doctrine but when 't is look'd into and duly weighed there 's nothing at all of strength in it Others for brevity sake I must omit It appears then that the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in this sense viz. of the Saints perfect and personal fulfilling thereof in themselves is not according to truth and therefore must be rejected Second Interpretation The Laws righteousness is fulfilled in Saints personally but not perfectly 2. Secondly 't is said that the Law is fulfilled in and by the Saints inherently and personally but not perfectly Thus some of our own Divines do expound the words they making them to refer to that Obedience which belongs to Sanctification and which sanctified persons in themselves come up unto who though in the high and rigid notion they do not fulfil the Law yet in a soft and mild notion * Lex data est ut gratia quaereretur gratia data est ut Lex impleretur August de Spir. Lit. l. 1. c. 19. they do There is a begun inchoate Obedience in them thereunto which is continued and carried on higher and higher till it be consummate they do not only love and like the Law and consent to it that 't is good but they obey it in part which though it be but in part yet they being sincere therein and desiring to arrive at what is perfect God accepts of them as though they did perfectly fulfil it thus Evangelically though not Legally the Laws righteousness is fulfilled in them 'T is not unusual in Scripture to set forth inchoate partial imperfect Obedience by the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 2.27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by Nature if it fulfil the Law judge thee c. Rom. 13.8 He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law Vers 10. Love is the fulfilling of the Law Gal. 5.14 All the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Gal. 6.2 Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Now in this sense the Saints in themselves in this life may be said to fulfil the Laws righteousness They who go this way differ in this * Id quod nonnulli de justificatione interpretantur c. ideoque de Sanctificatione vitae intelligitur Nam quod objici potest nos non esse perfectos ideoque c. illud non sequitur quia etsi legem non compleamus simpliciter ac simul complemus tamen secundum quid secundum omnia praecepta inchoatâ obedientiâ successive Gomar in loc Balduin Deodat c. Some interpret the words solely of inherent and personal Obedience †Pareus in Dub. p. 780. P. Martyr Others take in that also which is by imputation I cannot deny the truth of what is here said as to the thing but whether it be the proper interpretation of the Text that I question I think not My reasons why I so think are these 1. The Apostle speaking of that Obedience or fulfilling of the Law which was one of the great Ends of God in sending his Son it must be most proper here to understand that Obedience and that fulfilling of the Law which was first effected in the person of this Son and then made over to Believers by imputation 2. This Lawfulfilling coming in as the high product of the Love and Wisdom of God it may very probably be conjectured that if there be one fulfilling of the Law higher than another the highest here must be taken and therefore it must not be that which is but inchoate and imperfect in us but rather that which was compleat full perfect in Christ 3. Though the fulfilling of the Law be sometimes taken in that lower sense which hath been mentioned yet the Law-righteousness more usually notes that exact universal Obedience which the Law requires which notion therefore we may the rather be induced here to follow 4. The Interpretation given by these worthy persons will not so well suit with what the Apostle is now upon he is in short summing up the grand benefits that Saints have by Christ shewing how they are secured from Condemnation and restored to a state of happiness In order to which he first sets down the expiation of Sin the satisfaction of God's Justice c. which were done by Christ's Sacrifice or passive Obedience in dying Then he goes on to that which was further to be done the Holiness of God and of his Law must be satisfied also eternal Life must be merited now these must be done by Christ's active Obedience or fulfilling the Laws righteousness therefore that he adds that the righteousness of the Law c. Wherefore we must here understand Christ's Obedience as imputed not our own as inherent if that word be proper otherwise we shall leave out one of the great benefits which we have by Christ viz. that which results from his active Obedience and one of the wayes wherein he did promote our salvation whereas the Apostle designs to set down both distinctly Third Interpretation the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in Saints perfectly yet not personally but imputatively 3. Thirdly Others open it thus the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in Believers perfectly yet not personally but imputatively Their meaning is this the Lord Jesus in his own person whilst he was here on earth did fully obey
These in short are the Arguments which incline yea command me to believe the high and strict imputation of Christ's active Obedience or fulfilling the Law But I have as yet done but half of my work the Objections which are made against what hath been asserted must be answered It hath been affirm'd that Christ's active as well as passive Obedience is imputed to Believers now that is objected against It hath been affirm'd also that the imputation of Christ's obedience is to be taken as hath been stated that too is objected against both therefore must be defended The Objectors do not all concur in their Opinions about these two Heads yet in their main Objections about them in a great measure they do wherefore I shall take them as they lie before me promiscuously and in common and so endeavour to answer them Obj. First 't is objected 1. Object that in the Scripture remission of sin justification reconciliation with God eternal life are wholly and solely ascribed to Christ's passive Obedience to his death on the Cross under which yet is included the whole humiliation and abasement of Christ The particular Scriptures cited for the proof of this have been already set down Answ They who are for the active Obedience as a part of Christ's humiliation Answ and as such do hold the imputation of it making it and the passive to be but one and the same Obedience only diversified in its acts all of which do yet meet and concur in his humiliation these I say are not at all concerned in this Argument And they who take them as distinct parts of his Obedience and as such hold the imputation of them are very little pinched by it for the answer is easie and obvious these great effects are attributed to Christ's death and blood not exclusively and solely as to justle out the influence of his holy life and active obedience but eminently only In his dying there was the highest piece the consummation of all his Obedience therefore the main stress is laid upon that the chiefest part being by an usual Synecdoche put for the whole but yet the obedience of his life is to be taken in in conjunction with the obedience of his death and so the Sinners happiness is compleated 'T is not only here said that God for sin condemned sin which refers to Christ's death but also that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us which refers to his life as we reade of our being justified by his blood and the like so we reade of his being made under the Law to redeem them who were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons and of his being the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Obj. If Christ's active Obedience be imputed 2. Object and in such a manner too so that in his obeying and fulfilling the Law Believers did obey and fulfil it thence it will follow that his passive Obedience his Death it-self was in vain and needless for this being so the Saints must be perfectly righteous as having done what the Law required and so there would be no need of Christ's Suffering or Satisfaction for that supposes guilt and the non-performance of the Law Answ This Objection is very considerable yet I conceive the Consequence is not so pressing Answ the reason is because though upon the imputation of Christ's active Obedience one part of the Law is satisfied yet there being another part of the Law to be satisfied also for that his passive obedience was necessary Suppose that Believers upon the former might be look'd upon as now fulfilling the Laws commands yet guilt being before contracted the penalty of death thereupon iucurred that the one might be expiated by the undergoing of the other it was necessary that Christ should die and suffer The Law requiring both of these in both it must be satisfied insomuch saith * Mr. Burg. of Justif 2. part pag. 411. one that if we could have had a perfect righteousness conformable to the Law de novo and not have satisfied the punishment our debt would not have been discharged we had still been in our sins The twofold Obedience or double righteousness of Christ do not destroy or undermine each the other 't was necessary that he should obey actively for the doing of what the Law enjoyned 't was necessary also that he should obey passively for the suffering of what the Law threatned for both of these were necessary to reach the Laws righteousness and so to lay the foundation of a compleat righteousness for the Creature in order to which therefore both must be imputed to him I know what is objected against this but all cannot be spoke unto at once For the better answering of the Objection in hand 't is said by some that the imputation of Christ's passive Obedience must be supposed to antecede in order of nature though not of time the imputation of his active for in the justifying of Believers God dealing with them as Sinners we must suppose him first to take off guilt and punishment due for what was past before he makes over a positive righteousness to them for the time to come If this be so we shall easily get off from what is objected wherein Dissenters go upon this that a person being judg'd righteous upon his imputative active fulfilling the Law to him no further or subsequent imputation is necessary We say so too but then we suppose an antecedent imputation of that Obedience which was proper to free from guilt and wrath viz. Christ's passive Obedience So that the matter comes to this though Christ's active Obedience being imputed a child of God is righteous and a fulfiller of the Law and so nothing further is necessary for him yet it doth not hence follow that Christ's passive Obedience was in vain or needless because in the methods of divine grace that is first imputed for freedom from guilt and Hell before the active is imputed in order to righteousness and Heaven Very large discourses there are abroad in the world about these things I only design to set down in short what is satisfactory to my self but how far it may be so to others that I must leave with God Obj. Christ's passive Obedience was sufficient 3. Object for thereby the justice of God was fully satisfied the Sinners guilt fully expiated ful payment made of all that he owed c. what need therefore is there of any imputation of his active obedience to be superadded to the imputation of the former Answ If the passive Obedience be taken in conjunction with the active Answ we grant the sufficiency of it to all intents and purposes but if it be taken disjunctly from the active then we grant its sufficiency for such and such ends or effects but not for all For the removal of guilt the satisfying of the penal part of the Law the freeing from Hell and death
as ever you can you should endeavour after perfect obedience though you cannot arrive at it Our Saviours perfect obedience may encourage us in our lamented defects but we must not thereupon stint or limit our selves in our obedience A gracious mans will is alwayes above his power he can do but little but he would do all 'T was an high commendation given to Caleb saith God of him * Numb 14.24 he followed me fully or as 't is in the Hebrew vajemalle achari he fulfilled after me and thus it is with every Caleb one that is after God's own heart as the word signifies hee 's for fulfilling after God The Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulness or fulfilling of obedience 2 Cor. 10.6 Epaphras pray'd for the Colossians Chap. 4.12 that they might be compleat in all the will of God and 't is said of Zechary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 they were righteous in all the commandments and ordinances of God O that it might be thus with you If streight bodies be put together there is an universal contiguity betwixt them they 'l meet and touch each the other throughout and so where the heart is sincere it will close with every part of God's Law Christians pray rejoyce in Christ's fulfilling the Laws righteousness and rest upon that only but yet in the way of duty and obedience aspire in your selves at the highest fulfilling of the Law which here you are capable of 3. Thirdly the Law-righteousness Christ hath fulfilled for you but the Gospel-righteousness you must perform your selves The Moral Law as 't was strictly and properly the Covenant of works Christ hath satisfied in his doing of what it required but the Evangelical Law requiring Faith and Repentance you your selves must satisfie Christ's obedienee to the former is made yours by imputation but as to the latter there must be your own personal and inherent obedience We reade of Christ's being made under the Law and of his fulfilling the Law but we never reade of his being made under the Gospel or fulfilling the conditions thereof no you must repent your selves believe your selves or else all that Christ hath done upon the account of the Law will not profit you I would not be mistaken in this therefore 1. I do not mean that you are to perform the Gospel conditions in your own strength was it so you might as well do what the Law as what the Gospel requires it being as easie in your own strength to obey the one as the other You your selves are to repent and believe but 't is not of your selves these are the gift of God Nor 2. do I mean that the performing of the Gospel-conditions is left to the lubricity of your Wills so as that it should be uncertain and undetermin'd whether you should perform them or not for upon the Election of God and the purchase of Christ all that do belong to him shall certainly believe and repent Nor 3. do I mean that upon the fulfilling of the Gospâ—â—-Law you should have another formal righteousness before God distinct from that which results from Chaist's obeying the Moral Law which is imputed to you but only that upon your performing of the Gospel-conditions way may be made for the application of Christ's legal obedience to you as the only thing wherein stands your righteousness these are things which might be very much enlarg'd upon but I am now in hast All therefore that I drive at is this Christ fulfilled the Moral Law for you but he never fulfilled the Gospel-Law for you you must repent and believe your selves or else you cannot rely upon the imputation of Christ's Obedience to the Law if you be impenitent and unbelieving both Law and Gospel are unfulfilled and in full force against you 'T will be an insignificant plea at the great day when the Laws righteousness shall plead against you for you to say Lord Christ fulfilled that righteousness true will God say he did so but the Gospel-righteousness was not fulfilled by you therefore what my Son did as to the other is nothing to you 4. One thing more you that are Believers take a further view of the great love of God and Christ and let the sense of it work up your hearts to the highest thankfulness Was God pleas'd to send his own Son in flesh for this very end that he might fulfil the Law and when his Son had so done doth he reckon that obedience to you as if you had done it your selves O incomprehensible infinite amazing love Was Christ willing to submit to this on these terms to take flesh O the transcendent superlative love of Christ He who made the Law to be made under the Law he who was the Lord and Soveraign to be willing to become a Subject he to undertake to do that which you could never have done and without the doing of which you must have eternally perished he to condescend to do what the Law demanded to suffer what the Law threatned what shall we say to this love surely we can never enough adore it or sufficiently bless God for it Saints did you but consider what humiliation this was in the Son of God what a dreadful enemy this Law would have been had not its righteousness been fulfilled into what a blessed state things are now brought it would certainly highly affect you with the love of Christ and engage you to love serve praise him eternally The third Vse is Comfort to the people of God Vse 3 and indeed to such here is not a little matter of rejoycing The righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us great and blessed words Did God imploy such a person in such a way for such an end that end must needs then be attained and if so what shall hurt them for whom it was attained You who believe do often fear that the Laws righteousness is ready to rise up against you you tremble at the thoughts of it when you consider how short you come of it but fear it not for in Christ 't is exactly perfectly fulfilled and that for you too in your stead that 't is as well as if you had obey'd it fully in your own persons is not here ground of Comfort You eye the imperfection of your own obedience and you do well but pray eye too the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus which is yours by imputation There is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ why now no condemnation because now Christ hath fulfilled the Laws righteousness for such and thereupon who or what shall condemn them You are troubled because of the Law of Sin but that the Spirit hath freed you from you are troubled because of the Law of God inasmuch as you come so much short of its righteousness but that by Christ is fulfilled for you You desire a righteousness such an one as will bear you out before God here 't is for you Christ's own righteousness is yours O you may say
* Isa 45.24 In the Lord we have righteousness When you had none of your own God provided another and a better for you Assignata est ei aliena justitia qui caruit suâ Bernard Epist 190. ad Innoc. Christ was * Delicta nostra sua delicta fecit ut justitiam suam nostram justitiam faceret August willing to be made sin that you might be made the righteousness of God in him You may with holy confidence say Law thou demandest much of me and that very justly and I cannot my self answer thee in these demands but there 's my Saviour my Surety he hath paid the full debt for me he hath in my room and place done and suffered all that thou canst require to his satisfaction I appeal a good appeal the Lord give you more and more of the comfort of it That which often causes a gracious Soul to be troubled is the consideration not only of the Laws penalty but also of the Laws purity Oh 't is a righteous Law and it calls for an exact doing righteousness in the Creature what will become of me who cannot answer it herein Now under this trouble the belief of the imputation of Christ's active obedience may be of great use And this is one reason why I would be the more loth to part with the imputation of that obedience because under troubles of Conscience it is so proper so necessary so soveraign a Cordial for many fainting Christians To shut up all Believers Christ's whole Obedience active and passive is yours what would you have more what can Sin or Satan or Conscience or the Law it self now object against you be humble and mourn in the sense of the imperfection of your own inherent righteousness yet withal rejoyce and glory in the fulness perfection everlastingness of that righteousness which is imputed to you 'T is a terrible word to Sinners the righteousness of the Law must be fulfilled on them 't is a comfortable word to the Saints the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in them ROM 8.4 Who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit CHAP. XV. Spiritual Walkers the Subjects of the foregoing Priviledge The Sixth Head in the Words viz. the Description of the persons to whom the priviledge belongs Some short Animadversions upon the Words The main Doctrine raised from them but not handled A brief Survey of these Four Verses and recapitulation of the principal matter in them The Conclusion of this Volume IN the opening of the matter which the Apostle is upon in this and in the preceding Verse I have taken notice of 1. The act it-self viz. the sending of Christ 2. The person whose act this was God sent c. 3. The person who was sent as he stands in a very near relation to God God sent his own Son c. 4. The way or manner in which this Son was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh 5. The great Ends of God in all this or the great Effects produced thereby namely the condemning of Sin c. and the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in and for Believers These several Heads have all more or less been opened 6. The Apostle having appropriated the last End or Effect the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness to such a sort of persons that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us he goes on to describe those persons by their qualification and course they are such who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit This Description or Character we had before with respect to Vnion with Christ or exemption from condemnation there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Here 't is repeated with respect to Christs fulfilling of the Law and the imputation of that his Obedience who are the persons who have a share also in this and who shall be the better for it why such who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit As the mystical Vnion and freedom from condemnation so the imputation of Christ's righteousness is attended in every Subject that is a real partaker thereof with a spiritual and holy conversation These are different priviledges but for the evidence of them the Apostle makes use of the same character or description Who walk not after the flesh c. The words are not descriptive of the nature of the thing spoken of before as if the righteousness of the Law was fulfilled in Believers in their not walking after the flesh c. as * Pererius Disp 3. in c. 8. ad Rom. Some would have it but they are descriptive of the persons for whom and in whom that thing was done There 's a vast difference betwixt these two †Apostolus non affirmat justificationem Legis à nobis impleri sed in nobis nec quia incedimus secundum Spiritum ut haec causa sit sed ut hoc testimonio judicio intelligamus legis justificationem in nobis impleri qui secundum Spiritum incedimus Whittak contra Duraâ—m de Patad l. 8. fol. 203. our holiness is not the fulfilling of the Law but whoever is an holy man Christ's fulfilling of the Law is imputed to him and so he doth fulfil it In the bringing in of this description three things might be designed by the Apostle 1. To assert the happiness of all who live the spiritual life in them by Christ the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled * Ideo Apostolus admodum apposite c. Vide Bezam in loc Christus est illis justitia qui juxta Spiritum non juxta carnem ambulant Christus enim iis duntaxat justitia Legis satisfactio est qui crucifixo jam vetere homine Spiritui obtemperant h. e. solis fidelibus Zwingl 2. To stave off all others from laying claim to this grace none but holy livers can warrantably apply Christ's satisfying of the Law to themselves 3. To obviate all * Quia suam justitiam nullis communicat Christus nisi quos Spiritus sui vinculo sibi conjungit additur iterum regeneratio ne putetur Christus esse peccati minister sicuti proclive est multis ad carnis lasciviam rapere quicquid de paternâ Dei indulgentiâ traditur Calvin abuses of this precious Truth all mis-interpretations of it as also all †Vide Chrysost Oecum in loc security and carelesness in them who have an interest in the priviledge Hath Christ fulfilled the Law for us some from hence might be apt to infer then we may live as we list there 's nothing now for us to do no not so saith the Apostle for though Christ hath fully satisfied the Law yet all for whom he hath done this do and must walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Who walk not c. Faith being the proper and immediate condition of the imputation of Christ's righteousness or obedience to the Law why doth
place our whole confidence in Christ's meritorious death for if we rely partly upon that and partly upon something else we spoyl all Gospel-Conditions to be per formed on the Sinners part notwithstanding Christ's Sacrifice 5. Fifthly you must so confide and relie upon Christ's one most perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice as yet withal to be careful that you on your part do perform those Gospel-conditions which God enjoyns and requires of you in order to remission justification glorification this word of advice is so necessary that 't is by no means to be passed over Christians 't is a thing of very high importance for you rightly to understand your selves in this matter therefore take it thus All your trust and relyance is solely to be bottomed upon the Death and Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus but yet you canâ—ot regularly and warrantably act this trust and relyance upon this â—nly ground or foundation unless in your own persons you perform those conditions which God prescribes in his Word The whole business of merit and satisfaction lies upon Christ that is wholly out of your hands and only in his but as to believing and repenting the two grand Gospel-conditions they lie upon your selves I speak with respect to the act not to the power and must be done by your selves yea and the doing of these is as necessary on your part under the notion of Conditions as suffering and dying was on Christ's part under the notion of merit And 't is most certain that the latter without the former will not profit you because Christ never design'd to impute or make over his merit to any further than as they should make good these Conditions of Faith and Repentance We have here two dangerous rocks before us and it must be our care and skill to shun both of them the one is the setting of inherent grace or duty too high as when we make it to share with Christ in merit and trust the other is the setting of inherent grace or duty too low as when upon the pretence of Christ's alone merit and full satisfaction we quite throw it off and are altogether careless about it as supposing it now to be a thing wholly unnecessary Now we are exceedingly prone to dash upon the one or the other of these rocks either we run our selves upon POPERY in the former or upon ANTINOMISM and LIBERTINISM in the latter O what need have all to beg the guidance of the unerring Spirit that thereby they may eavenly steere betwixt both and avoid each extreams which they shall most happily do if Christ and his Sacrifice be only eyed by them in the way of relyance and yet Holiness Obedience Faith Repentance have also that respect which is due to them as means and conditions Much hath been said concerning the perfection and sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice that he hath thereby put away all sin fully expiated its guilt perfected for ever them that are sanctified c. shall any now from hence infer that all is done by Christ that the Creature hath nothing to do but only to receive the benefits prepared and purchased God forbid True Christ's Sacrifice was perfect in suo genere but not in omni genere 't was perfect as to what was meritorious and satisfactory so as to exclude all other Sacrifices and supplements whatsoever upon that account but not so as to exclude all Conditions which God will have the Creature to perform which though they can add nothing to the perfecting of the believers great Sacrifice yet they do prepare and fit Sinners for the participation of the benefits merited thereby To instance in all these Conditions or to enlarge upon any one of them would be a long work briefly therefore as ever you desire to be the better for a dying Saviour to share in the great and blessed effects of his Sacrifice look to it that you repent and believe O if you be found at last in the number of the impenitent and unbelieving all that Christ hath done or suffered will be a very nothing to you notwithstanding all that you will eternally perish Here is indeed an expiatory Sacrifice I but yet as to you no repentance no expiation here is Sin condemned by Christ's oblation of himself I but yet if the Sinner doth not penitentially condemn â—n in himself and himself for sin for all this hee 'l be judicially condemned at the great day The Scripture every where makes repentance the way to and condition of remission of sin Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins with very many other places to this purpose The Apostle having said 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin presently subjoyns Vers 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness great is the efficacy of Christ's blood but 't is upon condition of the Sinners Repentance if we confess our sins c. At the JEWISH anniversary Expiation all the sins of the people were by the Sacrifices done away yet God would have them then to afflict their Souls Levit. 16.29 and the High Priest was in their stead to confess their iniquities and all their transgressions in all their sins Vers 21. we under the Gospel have our great expiation by the death of Christ but this also must be attended with penitential abasement and humilation So likewise as to Faith this too is a grace or condition indispensably necessary to the partaking of the benefits of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice Therefore the Apostle speaking of propitiation brings in our Faith as well as Christ's blood it having an instrumental as well as that a meritorious influence thereupon Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood c. To the blessings of the new Covenant as the blood of Christ was necessary that thereby there might be * Grotius de Sat. p. 141. impetration so Faith also is necessary that thereby there may be application Our Lord's Sacrifice is every way sufficient for atonement yet he that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3.36 so also 't is sufficient for expiation yet 't is only whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10.43 Under the Law the blood of the Sacrifice was to be so and so * Exod. 12.22 Heb. 9.19 sprinkled with a bunch of hyssope to which custom David alludes Psal 51.7 Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean now answerably to this Paul speaks of the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 't was not enough for Christ only to shed his blood but that must be sprinkled upon the Sinner how why by Faith which under
the Gospel answers to the hyssop under the Law Well! after our Saviours being an offering for sin as we have nothing further to do but only through Grace enabling of us * Vid. Cameron Misc p. 529. to perform these Evangelical conditions so nothing less than that will serve our turn for a share and interest in the great effects and fruits thereof Frequent application to be made to this Sacrifice 6. Sixthly you are not to rest in some one single application of your selves or in the first application of your selves at your first believing to this great Sacrifice for expiation and remission but you are to repeat and renew it daily For though 't is true all the guilt of believers is removed thereby yet that is done in this method 't is removed as 't is contracted and as the benefit of it is accordingly drawn forth by the fresh applications of it O do not rest in what you did at your first Conversion but be you every day applying your selves to a sacrific'd Christ new guilt must have new pardons and daily sins call for daily expiations 'T is observable that Christ is set forth not only by the yearly expiatory Sacrifices or by those that were but seldom offered but also by the daily Sacrifices Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God c. We should not lie down in our beds at night before we have applyed our selves to a dying Christ for the cleansing of our persons from the guilt of the sins of the day past Yea we should never go to God in duty but we should revive upon our thoughts and make use of this Sacrifice Under the Law the blood was to be sprinkled even upon the Mercy-seat Levit. 16.14 God sits upon a Throne of Mercy but even that requires the blood of Christ no mercy from him no acceptance with him can be expected but upon the intervention of this Sacrifice God and Christ to be admired and adored upon this 7. Seventhly Upon this Sacrifice and what followed thereupon God and Christ are highly to be admired and adored by you This holy admiration hath been already again again press'd upon you under the foregoing gracious acts mention'd in the Text but surely that which is now before us doth as much deserve and call for it as they or any other whatsoever Is God to be admired because he sent his own Son because he sent this Son in flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh and is he not to be admired also for his making of him to be a Sacrifice for sin and for the condemning of sin in his flesh doubtless he is What Christ a Sacrifice a Sacrifice for such as we such great things brought about thereby O what matter is here to draw out admiration what so great so wonderful as this how much are the highest thoughts the most raised affections below the greatness of this mystery It hath my Brethren been largely set before you now I would ask How are your hearts affected with it 't is very sad if we can hear of such stupendious mercy and yet be but little wrought upon under the hearing of it Pray fancy to your selves what the Angels thought of this what frame they were in when they saw the Son of God hanging and dying upon the Cross as an expiatory Sacrifice Oh you may well suppose that it fill'd them with astonishment they were even amaz'd at this strange and wonderful spectacle never such wondring in Heaven as when the Lord Jesus was thus suffering on earth now shall that be little to you which was so great to them shall they thus admire and will you who were most concern'd in the thing and the greatest gainers by it be stupid and unaffected In Christ's being a Sacrifice God on his part hath display'd and advanc'd all his Attributes yea they by this have received their utmost advancement infinite Wisdom Justice Holiness Mercy could go no higher than a Christ crucifi'd and on your part by this your work is done your happiness being every way secur'd and your misery fully prevented by this you are reconcil'd to God and God to you condemning-sin is condemn'd it-self all its guilt expiated the righteousness of the Law fulfill'd c. by a strange and unthought-of method God hath fetch'd the greatest good out of the greatest evil by Christ's dying you live all which being considered is there not sufficient ground why you and all should admire and adore God And amongst other things pray in special admire his love his transcendent superlative matchless love what manner of love was this that God should give his Son to be a sacrifice for you 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Had not Christ been a person infinitely dear to God the thing had not been so much but that he should devote him to be sacrific'd whom he so dearly lov'd there 's the incomprehensibleness of his love 'T is reported of the PHOENICIANS that in their Sacrifices they did not use to Sacrifice an enemy or a stranger but * Porphyr do Abstin l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some one that they had a special love for this I 'm sure was done by God in his giving of the Son of his love to be a Sacrifice for us therefore what admiration can be high enough for him When * Gen. 22.10 c. Abrahaham had the knife in his hand and was just going to offer his Son Isaac God stop'd his hand and provided a cheaper Sacrifice for him this was more than what he did for his own Son him he would have to be offered up and would admit of no other Sacrifice and when the hand of Justice was lifted up ready to destroy us then God to secure us interpos'd and found out a Sacrifice of propitiation not a Ram but his only begotten Son O the heights bredths lengths depths of his love And must not Christ be admired also surely yes was not his love too admirable as well as the Fathers Oh well might the Apostle say Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me Eph. 5.2 And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Vers 25. as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood this was loving indeed When the * Joh. 11.36 JEWS saw Jesus weeping over LAZARVS they said Behold how he loved him but alas what was Christs weeping over him to his dying for us what was the shedding of a few tears to the shedding of his blood how may we come with a more emphatical Behold behold how he
Polemical discourses and also in their Commentaries upon the Text do assert wherein yet to give every one their due they * Hinc Patet persolam Naturam Legem sine gratiâ Christi hominem in hâc corruptione non posse totam legem totumque Decalogum implere A-Lapide differ from the old PELAGIANS For whereas they held that a man by the meer power of Nature might perfectly keep the whole Law these hold that a man cannot do this without the assisting grace of God but that being vouchsafed they say regenerate persons may keep the whole Law Thus they expound the words and then from them they endeavour to prove against us a possibility of perfect obedience to the Law of God by the Saints in this Life insomuch that say they Saints may here live without all Sin Venial sins only excepted which break no squares betwixt God and the Creature that they may do all the good which the Law requires nay that this perfect conformity to the Law is not only possible but easie nay that such who are high in grace may not only do just what the Law demands but that they may superogate and do more than what it demands This is the Doctrine which †Concil Trident Sess 6. c. 18. Bellarm. de Justif l. 4. c. 10 c. Becan Man Controv. l. 1. c. 17. Perer. Disp 3. in c. 8. ad Rom. Ut justificatio Legis c. i. e. ut nos legem impleremus idque faciendo justi essemus quia factores legis justificabuntur Estius Peccato in nobis per redemptionis Christi gratiam abolito factâque cum Deo reconciliatione legem implere nobis est jam possibile facile Tolet. Vide Justinian Catharin Staplet Rhemists in loc c. Nemo miretur quod dixerim posse nos absque omni culpâ absolute esse Nam iterum dico posse per Dei gratiam libetum arbitrium hominem perfectam assequi justitiam coram Deo immunitatem scilicet ab omni peccato modo voluntas ejus non desit adjuvante diviná ope C. Mussu◠they of the ROMISH-Church teach and maintain with great zeal We are not asham'd to declare * See Calvin Instit l. 2. c. 7. sect 5. Chemnit Exam. De bonis Operibus 3. Qu. p. 181. Chamier t. 3. l. 11. Whittak contra Duraeum de Parad. l. 8. p. 201 202. Bradsh de Justif c. 11. our dissent from them in this proud Opinion which in a great measure owns its descent from the old Pharisees We believe that since Adams fall no man Christ only excepted did ever thus in himself fulfil the Laws righteousness Indeed in the state of innocency man had a power to do this but not since and to hold the contrary is to confound the two states and to make little difference between man as standing and man as fallen The Laws righteousness is a draught or copy of mans primitive holiness so that to say that he can now in himself come up to that righteousness is in effect to say he is as holy and righteous as ever he was and no wayes impaired by Adams Fall By that we are all made unrighteous and such as are unrighteous can never perfectly fulfil a righteous Law He must be sinless do no evil who will exactly reach the Laws righteousness but are any * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Constit l. 2. c. 18. such here on earth 1 Kings 8.46 There is no man that sinneth not Eccles 7.20 For there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin reade Psal 130.3 Psal 142.2 Job 9.2 3. Job 15.15 c. Rom. 3.19 Gal. 3.22 Further he must not only do good all good but he must do it in the most intense and highest degree that he is capable of or else he doth not fulfil the Laws righteousness Matth. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy mind but where 's the man who thus loves God now if there be but a * Peccatum est cum non est charitas quae esse debet vel minor est quà m esse debet Aug. de Perfect justitiae gradual defect the Law is not fulfilled It s righteousness extends to the inward man and to the inward acts the Soul as to external acts if evil especially if grossely and scandalously evil 't is possible for one to refrain from them if good 't is possible for one to come up to them but this will not amount to the perfect keeping of the Law unless there be an abstaining from Heart-evils from evil thoughts and concupiscence within so Christ the Maker and Expounder of the Law opens it against the Pharisees Matth. 5. and unless also there be the doing of what is good from a right principle to a right end If the righteousness of the Law did lie only in external acts something might be said but when it reaches to internal acts who can say that there all is right O how great is the Laws strictness Deut. 5.32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left And its demands are so severe that if you fail in any one point you are gone you fail in all Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Jam. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all and if so he must be strangely arrogant and ignorant too that will pretend to come up in himself to the Laws righteousness If any could so do to him the reward would be reckoned not of grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 his justification would be by works whereas the Scripture excludes any from being justified that way Rom. 3.19 20. Gal. 2.16 his righteousness would be of the Law and so as to him Christ died in vain Gal 2.21 If the Laws righteousness was fulfillable in this sense why did the Apostle in the Verse foregoing speak of the Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or weakness whence doth that proceed but from our weakness and utter inability perfectly to obey it If it be said as it is that Christ came in flesh for this very end to take off this weakness that we might be able fully to keep it in our own persons that we peremptorily deny he came that the righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled for us and in us imputatively but not personally Had he designed the latter 't is strange that we should not have one Instance in all the New Testament of
time introduces light the putting on of the garment and the removal of the nakedness are but one and the same thing and done together Answ Many things are here mentioned which cannot so distinctly be spoken to in the answering of an Objection Answ What place remission of sin hath in Justification whether of being the form of it or but an integral part or only an effect and Consequent is a thing that Divines are not very well agreed about whether the whole of Justification doth lie in remission is a point wherein also they differ But I must not at present engage in these debates I will defer the discussing of them till I come to open the Doctrine Doctrine of Justification which the 30 Verse of this Chapter will lead me to I shall now only suggest what is proper for the answering of the Objection before us And 1. what if the Opinion argued against doth make remission of sin and imputed righteousness to be different parts of Justification they both as * See Burg. of Justif 2 part Serm. 27. integral parts concurring to the compleating and perfecting of it I say what if it so doth is it the worse for that is this a novel tenent or that which but few or none do own have not several with great solidity and judgment defended it as to any error in it or any absurdities that will follow upon it I must confess I do not as yet understand either the one or the other A difference of parts in Sanctification is commonly granted viz. mortification and vivification the abolition of the power of sin and the implantation of the divine Nature the putting off the old man and the putting on the new man Eph. 4.22 now why may not Justification have its parts as well as Sanctification If the Believers righteousness doth lie in the fulfilling of the Law and there be different parts in that Law its commanding and its punishing part then that righteousness which results from the fulfilling of it must admit of different parts too So that remission of sin is one part that being grounded upon the satisfying of one part of the Law and imputation of righteousness is another part that being grounded upon the satisfying of the other part of the Law The Scripture speaks of these not as one and the same but as distinct Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered for our offences there 's remission and was raised again for our justification or righteousness there 's the other part how the latter is attributed to Christ's resurrection is not my business now to enquire I only cite the words as holding forth a distinction betwixt remission and righteousness So Rom. 5.9 compar'd with Rom. 5.19 And Dan. 9.24 to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness here are the two parts of Justification set forth as different and distinct 'T is true the Apostle Rom. 4.6 7 8. speaking of the Sinners righteousness instances only in the forgiveness or non-imputation of sin but he doth not do it as if that was the all in that righteousness but 1. because that being one eminent part thereof he puts it for the whole 2. because that remission of sin and the imputation of a positive righteousness being never parted in naming the one he included the other not as if they were one and the same in their nature but because they are never separated in the â—ubject I cannot yet be convinc'd but that the removal of Sins guilt and the introducing of a positive righteousness are things of a different nature and carry distinct notions in them for besides what hath been already said though in God's dealing with fal'n Sinners they are never parted yet as they are considered in themselves they may be parted Amongst us sometimes sin is remitted when yet the offender is not justified as we see in the case of Joseph's Brethren Shimei Abiathar c. and 't is possible for a person to be justified though he hath no sin to be remitted as it would have been with Adam had he stood he was then capable of Justification but not of remission now this their separableness evinces a difference or distinction betwixt them To object therefore against the imputation of Christ's active Obedience as well as of his passive one being suppos'd to free us from guilt the other to make us righteous that this would infer two different parts of justification this is so far from being an Objection that 't is but a plain asserting of what is so indeed 2. Whereas 't is said that this doth also make different causes of Justification I say as before what if it doth Provided that by those ye understand only the different grounds or matter of Justification according to its different parts that is as Christ dy'd and shed his blood there 's the ground of the Sinners discharge from guilt that which is imputed to him in order to that effect then as he in all things actively conformed to the Law there 's the ground of the Sinners positive righteousness or that which is imputed to him in order to that effect Such a multiplication of Causes which are not so of a diverse nature but that they do unite and concur in some one as the general Cause as these do in Christ's righteousness or Obedience carries in it nothing repugnant to Scripture or Reason This righteousness of Christ is the one only material Cause of the Sinners righteousness but that dividing it-self into his active and passive righteousness accordingly the Causes of the Sinners righteousness are diversified 3. The allusions brought against the Truth in question seem to fasten some absurdity upon it For they tend to this that for any to say upon one act sin is remitted and upon another the person is made righteous 't is as if one should say that by one act the crookedness of a thing is removed and that by another 't is made streight and so as to light and darkness To which I reply I except against these similitudes as not suiting with the thing in hand they are proper for things of another nature not for that which we are upon for that being a Law-act is not to be judg'd of by things of a physical nature Suppose the effects mention'd are produc'd by one and the same act yet they are not so pertinently alledg'd because what we are speaking of falls under another consideration We are not concern'd about crookedness and streightness but about guilt and righteousness all allusions which suit not with these as things of a legal nature are insignificative Will they say that that which frees the Offender from guilt when he stands arraign'd before the Judge doth also make him a true and exact keeper of the Law that at the same time and by the same sentence wherein he is acquitted from the violation of the Law that he is also thereupon to be look'd upon as a person that hath really kept the Law such an
Instance as this would be pertinent but then we should determine it in the Negative And indeed I could humbly desire that in these Points we might be very sparing in argumentative Similitudes of this nature for 't is very well known how by them some endeavour to decry and undermine all imputation of Christ's righteousness To be made righteous by the righteousness of another 't is say they as if a man should see with anothers eyes or be learned with anothers learning or wise with anothers wisdom c. there 's similitude for similitude though upon a far more pestilent and mischievous design Therefore in Law-acts such as we all grant Justification to be let us keep to those allusions which are proper to such acts or else upon the disparity of Physical and Law-acts we shall run our selves and others upon great mistakes Obj. This seems to reflect upon God some error or mistake in his judging 7. Object as if be should esteem the Sinner to do that in Christ which he did not do and which he knows the Sinner did not do And 't is said that 't is not possible that we by any estimation can be the Subjects of those acts qualities accidents which belong to another Subject Answ Though the debtor himself doth not pay the debt Answ but the Surety in truth payes it yet without any mistake the Creditor may in a Law-sense look upon the debtor as having paid it inasmuch as his Surety paid it for him and what his Surety doth he doth they being in Law but one person the application of this as to God's judging with respect to Christ and Sinners is plain and obvious But I ask why should this be thought a mistake in God to look upon us as obeying in Christ when I hope 't is not made a mistake in him to look upon us as disobeying in Adam wherein is the truth of God more impeached in the one than in the other we did not personally eat of the forbidden fruit and yet I presume it will not be deny'd but that in Adams eating of it legally we did eat it too and that God doth most truly and righteously reckon us guilty of it as though we had done the fact in our own persons Grant then that there is no mistake there and it will follow that there is none here Nay further why may we not as well be said to obey in Christ as to suffer in Christ his Sufferings were as remote and aliene from our persons as his active obeying and yet 't is granted that they are so reckoned to us as that in them even we may be said to suffer and satisfie and if the passive Obedience of Christ be thus imputed without any mistake why may not the active without any mistake be imputed also clear God in the one and you must likewise clear him in the other And whereas 't is said that those acts qualities or accidents which belong to one Subject cannot be made over to another this strikes at all imputation though I suppose 't is not so designed for that which is imputed must be out of that Subject unto which 't is imputed otherwise 't is inhaesion and not imputation Adams disobedience was his own personal and subjective act and yet 't is ours imputatively and legally But of this I 'le say no more Obj. If Christ actively obeyed and fulfilled the Law 8. Object as in our stead so that his Obedience be imputed to us hence it will follow that we are not at all * Mr. Bradsh of Justif p. 85. obliged our selves to obey or keep the Law Christ having done that in his person for us For as he bearing the curse and penalty of the Law in our stead we are thereupon freed from that curse so if he did obey the Laws commands in our stead we must also thereupon be freed from any obligation to obedience on our part thereunto Answ All that follows from hence is this Answ that Christ obeying the Law for us and in our stead we are not bound to obey it * Vid. Luciam in Advers p. 1. Sect. 5. for those ends and upon those accounts upon which he obey'd it as namely for satisfaction and for righteousness before God but as to other ends and upon other accounts we are yet and must be so under an obligation to obey it For being Creatures we are indispensably bound to keep that Law which our Creator and Lord is pleas'd to lay upon us so as that nothing can absolve us from that obligation And besides not only love and gratitude to God do call for this Obedience from us but it is the way wherein we can only hope for benefit by Christ's satisfactory and meritorious Obedience We must not carry our Saviours fulfilling the Law for us beyond what he intended now it appears by the whole tenure of the Gospel that he never intended it to exempt believers from Obedience as it speaks duty but only as 't was the Condition of the first Covenant I therefore think that it may as well be argued that Saints should not die or bear any punishment for sin because Christ dy'd for them and bore the penalty of the Law for them as that they should not obey actively because Christ obey'd the Law for them 'T is true upon the imputation of his passive obedience they are freed from Suffering in order to Satisfaction yet in other respects suffer they shall and so upon the imputation of his active Obedience they are freed from obeying so as that their righteousness before God should not lie in that yet upon other accounts obey they must notwithstanding all that Christ hath done In short we may as well argue against others that upon their principles God's people are not lyable to any punishment as they do against us that upon our principles God's people are not under any obligation to obey the Law and that explication or distinction which will clear and justifie their Opinion in the consistency of the Saints Sufferings with Christ's passive Obedience will do the same for ours in the consistency of the Saints Obedience with Christ's active Obedience Obj. 'T is objected 9. Object that the imputation of Christ's Obedience as thus stated makes Believers to be no Sinners yea as righteous as Christ himself was they in him fulfilling the Law where 's their sin and his righteousness being made over to them are they not as righteous as he was Answ This is one of the beaten Answ thred-bare Arguments with which the ROMANISTS impugne in general the imputation of Christ's righteousness Our PROTESTANT Writers thus answer them though Christ's righteousness be imputed to Believers yet for all that they are Sinners and may justly be so denominated inasmuch as the denomination is taken from what is inherent in them notwithstanding what is imputed to them Saints may be considered either as they are in themselves and so who can deny them