inherent but by imputation Then are we freed from the law no then are we tyed faster in obedience to it forasmuch as we had no power before to do it but now through Christ we can doe all things Againe they say they have the spirit of God for their rule and they doe all by a free spirit and need not the law to rule them for they are like unto trees that bring forth fruit of themselves without any teaching But let them know that trees although they were never so rooted in the earth yet they would never bring forth fruit of themselves but by the meanes of outward helps as the Sunne and the raine and other helpes and besides the spirit of God brings them to the rule of the law to square and try all their actions by it and shewes us wherein we faile and when we doe that which is required of us But sure these men thinke that our Fathers went to Heaven by one meanes and we must goe thither by another meanes but saith the Apostle we write unto you no new commandement but the old which ye have had from the beginning then there is but one way Ier. 32.39 for them and us had they the law so have we and if we have the Gospell so had they and the law and the gospell command the same vertues and both forbid the same vices then what a cursed errour is this to thinke that God the sonne should free beleevers from all obedience to God the Father but we know that he who honours the son must needs honour the Father Iohn 5.23 the sonne speakes not of himselfe but from the Father ver 16. then he that saith he abideth in him ought himselfe also to walke even as he walked 1 John 2.6 but how was that saith he Loe I come in the volume of thy booke it is written of me to doe thy will O God then said I loe I come to doe thy will O God Heb. 10.7.9 and saith he I seeke not mine owne will but the will of the Father that sent me John 5.30 Mat. 26.39 my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me Iohn 7.16 he was subject to his Parents Luke 2.51 and saith Paul let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 and Christ saith learne of me Mat. 11.29 I have given you an example that ye should doe as I have done to you if ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Ioh. 13.15.17 and for suffering he left us an example that we should follow his steps 1. Pet. 2.21 then did Christ free us from the law or did he not rather by his own example shew us how to obey the law more exactly and saith David thy law endures for ever in heaven Psa 119.89 and the Angels do the commandments of God and hearken to the voice of his word Psal 10.3 and do not the Saints liev there by the same rule have they not all one charter why doth Christ teach us to pray that we may doe the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven Mat. 6. are we on earth more perfect then they or more sanctified then they or hath Christ done more for us then for them if not why then should we forsake that rule that must be for Saints and Angels for ever they boast of their justification but saith Ambrose how can they be justified that are not friends with the law of God and Luther whom they challâ—nge for their own friend he rangeth them among the unjustified and by his câ—nsure rejects them among the unregenerate for saith he Paul said I delight in the law of God in the inward man and I serve the law of God in my mind Rom. 7.22.25 and saith David O how I love thy law Psal 119.97 and the blessed man delights in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night Psal 1.2 then were Christ and his Apostles and the faithfull Ministers that succeed them all legall Preachers for urging the law and pressing on beleevers the obedience of the law yea to the law more strictly expounded by Christ as you shall see anon then it was by the Scribes and Pharisees Then he that neglects the Commandements and shall teach men so shall be least in the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doeth them and teacheth men so shall be called great in the Kingdome of Heaven Mat. 5.19 againe how can a man teach obedience of faith but he must needs teach obedience to the law for if faith beare no fruits it is a dead faith James 2.17 18. and if those workes or fruits be not regulated by the law they are but grapes of gall which growes on the vine of Sodom and their clusters are bitter Deut. 32.32 the workes of the law and the workes of faith are the same thing they may be distinguished but not devided and saith Christ to the Lawyer what is written in the law how readest thou and he answered thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with all thy strength and thy neighbour as thy selfe and Christ said unto him thou hast answered right this doe and thou shalt live Luke 10.26 27 28. and doth not faith worke by love Gal. 5.6 againe how can a man beleeve that God will shew mercy to thousands of them that love him and keepe his commandements Exod. 20.6 when they shew no endeavour at all to keepe or obey them but scornfully terme them legall teachers that call for any obedience from them but what makes them to love God if the commanding power of his law doth not or if they yeeld to this command of the law why not as well to another bâ—t if they love God and not as a duty to his law that commands it it is bottomlesse groundlesse and in the end will be comfortlesse and why doe they beleeve in Christ but to fulfill the Fathers commandement for this is his commandement that we should beleeve on the name of his sonne Jesus Christ and love one another as he the father gave us commandement 1 Iohn 3.23 this is the vvorke of God to beleeve on him vvhom he hath sent Iohn 6.29 Then doe we make void the law through faith God forbid yâ—a we establish the law Rom. 3.31 being not without thâ— law to God but under the law to Christ 1 Cor. 9. â—1 He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Rom. 14.18 He thâ—â— speaketh evill of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evill of the law and judgeth the law but if thou judge the law thou art not a doer of the law but a judge Jam. 4.11 If ye have respect to persons ye commit sinne and are convinced of the law as transgressors whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all for he that said thou shalt not commit adultery
said also thou shalt not kill now if thou doe not commit adultery yet if thou kill thou art a transgressour of the law Jam. 2.9.10.11 Then bear one anothers burden and so fulfill the law of Christ Gal. 6.2 here Christ claimes the law to be his There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy Iam. 4.12 the Prophets came all saying Thus saith the Lord but when Christ came and cleered the law from those false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees which say thou shalt not kill but I say whosoever is angry vvith his brother without a cause is in danger of judgement Mat. 5. and ye have heard say thou shalt not commit adultery but I say whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already in his heart and so of the rest therefore obey it and so fulfill the law of Christ for he saith I am not come to destroy the law till Heaven and earth passe away not one tittle or jot shall in no wise passe from the law Mat. 5.17.18 now when Christ hath claimed the law to be his and cleered it from their false glosses then there comes a young man to him saying Master what good thing shall I doe to inherite eternall life then Christ answers him directly saying â—f thou wilt enter into life keepe the Commandements he saith unto him which Christ answered him thou shalt not commit adultery nor murther nor steale nor beare false witnesse honour thy father and mother and love thy neighbour as thy selfe Mat. 19.16 17. and although outwardly he had beene doing something for which Christ loved him yet there was that inward lust of covetousnesse stucke fast in his heart therefore Christ sends him backe to the law to be humbled for it this one thing thou lackest Marke 10.21 before thou art fit for faith or to have treasure in heaven goe to the law and see thy sinne for by the law is the knowledge of sinne Rom. 3.20 then is the law sinne nay I had not known sinne but by the law I had not knowne lust except the law had said thou shalt not lust Rom. 7.7 and the law shewes us our failings when we are in the state of grace for it we should cast off the law from being a rule to us we should neither know when we sin nor how to recover our selves for where no law is there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 for whosoever sinneth transgresseth the law for sinne is the transgression of the law 1 Ioh. 3.4 then it is time Lord to worke when they have made voyd thy law Psal 119.126 rivers of teares runne downe mine eyes because they keepe not thy law ver 136. so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God for the carnall mind is enmity against God it is not subject the law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 Then what shall we say to those sonnes of Beliall that are so weary of the law that as much as in them lyes they seeke to make it void both in the commanding duties and forbidding of vices but cursed be such tenets hath the divell so prevailed with them as to make them take counsell against the Lord and against his Anointed saying let us breake their cords and cast away their bonds from us Psal 2.2 3. How dare they say that Christ hath freed them from all duty and that they owe the Lord no obedience at all so that what they doe is out of their free love and curtesie and not from any duty or obedience to his law which is no rule for beleevers But doe they make void the law God forbid Rom. 3.31 faith should be imployed to fetch power from Christ to enable us to obey the law vve are not sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 but vve can doe all things through Christ strengthening us Phil. 4.13 then faith doth not free us of our duty but makes us more able to performe our duty to the law of God and therefore it is called the obedience of faith Rom. 1.5 it stands not with true faith to call them legall divines by way of scorne and dirision that call upon us and put us in mind of our duty to the Lord because say they we owe him none but let them know and be sure that their sinnes will find them out Numb 32.23 let them take heed how they say that God is like to themselves lest he reprove them and set their sinnes in order before them now consider this ye that forget God lest he teare you in peeces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.21.22 certainly that man was never justified from his sinne that thinkes it not his duty to mortifie it and doth not grieve and mourne for want of strength to subdue it and his duty to pray against it which our Antinomeans renounce saying this is legall teaching and they will try their condition onely from a bare testimony as I said before although it be a suggestion of the divell it may serve their turne well enough while they despise the operation of the spirit of God sanctifying and changing them and setting up his owne Image in them giving them grace for grace with Christ they say if we looke upon these markes and signes to know our condition this is legall this vvill not stand with their free grace vvhich frees them of that labour vvhich should search and try them they take all from a testimony vvithout examination but this building vvill not endure the storme of persecution Then they say that they love God terribly and this frees them from their duty they say the love of Christ constraines them but they vvill not tell us to what for they flatly deny all duty to the Law of God but saith Christ when ye have done all that ye can you have but done your duty Luke 17.10 and saith Christ ye call me Lord and Master and ye say well for so I am but then ye ought to wash one anothers feet for the servant is not above the Master if ye knovv these things happy are ye if ye doe them John 13.15.16 if the yong man call him Master presently he sends him to his worke and duty of obedience Mat. 19.17 if I be your Master vvhere is my feare Mat. 1.6 It is not enough to call him Lord and Master and then to deny all duty of obedience to him this was the love of Judas who cryed Hale Master when he betrayed him so these men say that they love him dearely but they defie all duty to him for they owe him none but time will come when they that say Lord Lord shall not come to heaven but he that doth the vvill of my Father which is in heaven Mat. 7.21 But their true love frees them from all duty but what love they have I know not for this is the law of God that we keepe his Commandements
and his Commandements are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 But if they love God why doe they despise his Law which saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with all thy might these words I command thee this day Deut. 6.5.6 and where is their love to Christ they boast so much of for he saith these words in answer to the Lawyer This is the first and great Commandement in the Law to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and vvith all thy soule and vvith all thy mind and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe on these tvvo Commandements hang all the Lavv and the Prophets Mat. 22.37.38 And Moses spake the same words of the second Table saying Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe Levit. 19.18 so that you see the sweet harmony between Christ and Moses and the same was with Paul who saith Thou shalt not commit adultery kill nor steale nor beare false witnesse nor covet love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.9 10. then doth love drive them from the law saith David Oh hovv I love thy lavv and what followes it is my meditation all the day Psal 119.97 thy testimonies are my delight and what followes and my councellours ver 24. Unlesse thy law had beene my delight I had perished in mine affliction I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickned me ver 92.93 thaâ— is the shewing him his duty revived his dull spirits that began to flagge and faint but these men despise the Law of God because it is sent by Moses but saith Christ had ye beleeved Moses ye would have beleeved me for he wrote of me and if ye will not beleeve his writings how shall ye beleeve my words John 5.46.47 Moses told them that the seed of â—he woman should breake the serpents head Gen. 3.15 and that the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the middest of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken and he shall speake unto them all that I command him Deut. 18.18 and saith the Lord This is my beloved Sonne heare him Mat. 17.5 the Apostle to set forth the faithfulnesse of Christ compares him with faithfull Moses for saith he Christ was faithfull to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithfull in all his house Heb. 3.2 then why must Moses be so despised who was as faithfull to the Lord as ever man was but yet the message was the Lords then why must Gods law be despised because you like not the messenger that brings it Againe Christ cleares the law of Moses from their false glosses but it seemes in their conceit that Moses hath so defiled it that Christ is not able to cleare it againe except he take it quite away for they are not minded to make it a rule to beleevers although they perish by swarving from it as that cursed Whoremonger that is so busie to broach those sweet tolerations for his owne vilany and for such as he vvho esteeme the law of God as a heavy burden to them and as a bridle to restraine them from their sweet pleasures in sinne but if they leave this rule they must needs offer polluted bread to the Lord and the blind and the lame and the sick in their offering vvhich is evill that their governour vvould not be pleased vvith nor accept their persons then cursed be that deceiver that hath in his flocke a male and offereth unto the Lord a corrupt thing Mal. 1.7 8 9 14. if the Lord vvrite unto you the great things of his law and you count them as a strange thing Hosea 8.12 If you doe not make the law of God your guide you must needs bring strange fire to the Lord as the Sonnes of Aaron did and perished for their presumption Levit. 10.12 for vvho required these things at your hands to tread my Courts to vvhat purpose is all that ye doe bring no more vaine oblations it is iniquity my soule hateth them they are a trouble to me I cannot beare them Isa 1.11.12.13.14 see Amos 5.25.26 He that killeth an oxe is as if he slew a man and he that sacrificeth a lambe as if he cut off a dogges necke he that offereth an oblation as if he offered swines blood and he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idoll the reason is because they have chosen their owne vvayes Isa 66.3 thus saith the Lord stand in the vvay and see aske for the old pathes vvhere is the good vvay and vvalke therein and ye shall finde rest for your soules but they laid vve vvill not vvalke therein Heare O earth I vvill bring evill upon this people the fruit of their owne thoughts because they have not harkened to my law but rejected it then it followes to vvhat purpose cometh their incense to me from Sheba your offerings are not acceptable nor your sacrifices sweet unto me Jer. 6.16.19.20 these people are like unto King Saul vvho forâ—ooke the commandement of the Lord and then vvould goe offer the sacrifice of his owne devising but to obey had beene better then sacrifice and to harken then the fat of Rams 1 Sam. 15.22 so these men forsake the law of God and say that it is no rule for beleevers and then they say that love will move them to something unrequired not as any duty nor done in obedience to the Lord but out of free love and meere good will and curtisie but I say if it be not done by the rule and weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary but onely of their owne head God will say of them as he said of Saul Rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft and stubbornnesse is as iniquity and idolatry because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he also hath rejected thee from being King 1 Sam. 15.23 and now O Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but to feare the Lord thy God and to walke in all his wayes and to love him and to serve him with all thy heart and with all thy soule and to keep the Commandements of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day for thy good Deut. 10.12 13. but they will answer that their free grace hath freed them from all duties so that they doe not stand in feare to oftend the Lord neither are they bound to walke in all his wayes nor to serve the Lord with all their heart and soule nor to endeavour to keep his lawes and statutes for their good this they say is legall and but the words of Moses and they can love God and this they can shew sufficiently from their free will unrequired of God or done in obedience to his law for it is no rule for them neither doe they acknowledge any duty to it Againe they are not acquainted with the graces of Gods
for the pardon of his sinne is like a man afrighted with sinne and at the same time giving thankes for the râ—mision of sinne and of a man that is afraid of the sinnes of his present prayers and of one that hath victory over sinne death and hell I answer although our sinnes be pardoned and the guilt taken away yet the being of sinne is not taken away and although we are justified from all sinne yet we are not sanctified from all sinne so that we ought to be humbled for our filthinesse for want of sanctification when we come into the presence of God and because that sinne is in us we may well feare that we shall not carry our selves so holy as becometh such a presence as the men of Beth-shemish said Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6.20 and yet not so despaire as to leave off the duty but to pray still and as sanctification increaseth we come into the presence of God with more cheerfulnesse and as our assurance increaseth we shall be lesse in our petitions and more in thanksgiving and praising God for his mercies to us He saith we present a man that is delivered from the law into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God and yet puts himselfe under the law I answer we are delivered from the curses of the law and the threatnings of the lavv and from the condemning povver of it and from the constraining povver of it but vve are not delivered from the commanding povver of it the free grace of Christ did not deliver us from our obedience to the lavv of God but in giving us the eye of faith vve see our duty more cleerly that is vvritten in the lavv of God and by our hand of faith vve fetch more strength from Christ to enable us to performe our duty to the lavv of God I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 but if our eye of faith vvere never so cleere to see our duty yet if vve vvill not looke upon the lavv of God but count it as a strange thing Hosea 8.12 it is all one to them as if the book of the law were sealed up and he that hath no faith is like a man to whom the booke of the law is open but the man cannot read for he is not learned Isa 29.11 12. so then the eye of faith is the Organ and our duty is the object and the written law of God is the Medium by which we see our duty but when the law is taken from us or if we cast away the commanding power of it which is all one we can see our duty no more then a man can see in a dungeon then well may the Antinomians be so blind concerning their duty when as they cast away that light that should shew it unto them thy law is a lanterne to my feet and a light unto my pathes Psal 119.105 But then faith hath another property when it sees the greatnesse of the work to be done and the weaknesse of the doer of it that it seeth helpe in another which is Christ and presently fetcheth it to helpe him this honour have all the Saints Psal 149.9 He saith we need not to tell a healthfull man that it is his duty to feed himself even so is it needfull to tell a beleever that it is his duty to heare Sermons read the Scripture and frequent the Lords Table these are his proper and his naturall food by which his faith is strengthened and increased yet saith he in what a sad and fearfull manner are these pressed upon mens consciences upon paine of having no part in Christ and of everlasting damnation in hell for ever I answer first if one should tell a healthfull man that it is his duty to feed himselfe I hope it would not make him leave feeding and goe about to starve himselfe because he is told that he must doe it as a duty and so for spirituall duties to be told of them is rather an encouragement to goe on still because it is their duty and what if he know it before he need not be offended at the love of his friend for telling him that which he knew before but I smell wherein lieth the venome of this man he hath free grace bestowed on him which hath freed him from all duties of obedience to the Lord so that what he doth is onely out of free love for he thinkes to be tyed by way of duty will not stand with his free grace but I say againe we trust in no duty as causes of our salvation but we obey and doe these duties as the way to salvation neither did they ever heare those worthy Divines whom they villefie with the termes of legall Teachers presse any duties to merit salvation for the doing of them but let the sonnes of Belial know that if they slight their duties to the law of God they may purchase damnation by it neither can there be any salvation for that man till he humble himselfe and freely yeeld to the commanding power of the law of God and count it his duty to give all the power of body and soule in obedience to it but this yoke is too heavy for the sonnes of Belial they will be tyed to nothing but upon free love and currisie that they may leave it when they list they have gotten free grace He saith they put us upon these duties to try and to prove our selves by the performance of them as by markes and signes of grace within I answer if Christ be in the soule there must needs be fignes of his presence we need not goe by heare-say or from a bare Testimony or suggestion they told Jacob that Joseph was alive but that did not satisfie him till he saw the Wagons Gen. 45.27.28 so now if the eyes of the soule be opened to see our duty written in the law it is Christ that hath done it Acts 16.14 whose heart the Lord opened Doe ye aske whence he is and yet he hath opened mine eyes John 9.30 Acts 26.17 18. Secondly the worke must arise from a true justifying faith that knits them to Christ and makes their person accepted Rom. 5.1 Gen. 4.4 this faith must take hold of that promise that is made to them that doe this duty Exod. 20.6 Thirdly in our duties we must aime at Gods glory 1 Cor. 10.31 thus by any duty we may try our selves whether we doe it by vertue of Gods command without us and whether it be acted by an inward principle of faith within us and whether it tend to Gods glory as the utmost end of it he that hath thesemarkes and signes the Spirit of God is in him this faith worketh by love and obedience Rom. 1.5.1 John 5.3 neither can he say what a fearfull thing it is to presse these things as duties upon our consciences that belongs to the sons of Belial that cannot abide the yoke of Gods saw