of the Law The law Iustifies none we must therefore be either freed from the law or not at all Iustified 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 in the book of the Law to doe them Gal. 3.10 Deut. 27.26 But here is our freedome Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Hee became a curse for us and was made for our sakes as the greatest sinner he stood in place as David the Adulterer as Peter the Denyer as Paul the Persecutor Wee must see our Christ wrapped as well in our Sinnes as in our flesh He was numbred with the Transgressors and he bare the sinne of many Esa 53.12 He was made sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Thus is hee pleased to call our sinnes his and he speakes in David his Type Psal 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon mee so that I am not able to looke up they are more than the hayres of my head Christ standing thus a sinner the law accused him and after accusation kild him But hee hath satisfied and the Law is overcome we have learned to triumph O death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes be to God which giveth us the victory through Iesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. When the Law curseth sends out Writs sues out Attachements wee plead Immunity and send the law to Christ by whom we aree freed 2. From the power of sinne the other evill of servitude Yeeld your selves unto God Ante legem non pugnamus sub â—ege pugnamus sed vintimur sub gratia pugnamus vincimus in pace ne pugnamus quidem Aug. in Rom. 6. for Sinne shal not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under grace Rom. 6.14 They are incouraged to the Combat by a double motive the goodnesse of their cause the easinesse of their conquest When wee are freed from the Law which onely commands but gives no strength to obey rather takes away our strength addes strength to sinne then are we under grace which beside that it forgiveth that which is past Quae praeterquam prioradimittit ad futura quoque cavenda animat Chrys it doth arme us to take heed of that which is to come as Chrysostome sweetly expounds the Romans To whom the holy Apostle glorieth Rom. 8.2 The Law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made mee free from the Law of Sinne. From the a Osiander accusing the b Calvin power the c Lyranus bond the d Erasmus right the e Chrysost guilt of sinne the f P. Mart. law of the members 2. We are freed not only from the evils but from the burdens of servitude 1. From the Coaction of the Law for the Law doth burden a man and hinder the alacrity of his obedience A precept of the Law is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind with all thy strength To bee empty of all other loves to set the sole affection upon God Here the most perfect faile for though our love unto God be sincere yet we are many times drawne off with other lusts But the Law tels us He is cursed that continues not in all Now we see what ever we endevor we are still under the Curse our workes are Mala quia imperfecta therefore evill because not perfectly good This dulleth the heart and discourageth it from any offer The peevish eye of a froward Master makes the servant heartlesse What should I do any thing seeing whatsoever I doe I cannot please This is the burden of the Legally righteous the taske it set they must either doe it or smart for neglect The Israelites are beaten iâ— they bring not in their tale of bticke Exod. 5.14 But here is our Liberty God spareth us as a man spares his owne sonne that serveth him Mal. 3.17 The Command is given Let not sinne reigne in your mortall Body and the Promise is added with the Command Sinne shall not have dominion over you The Law cannot coact us but grace unloads us removes our burthens and sweetens our labours 2. Wee are freed from Indifferents when they prove burdens 1. Things The Iewes were bound to use and refuse many things the Vsing and Refusing of which had else beene Indifferent They must abstaine from Swine from things strangled and the like We have liberty of a freer use of Gods creatures being not subject to ordinances Touch not Taste not Handle not Col. 2.20.21 2. Men. We are not subjected to such commands as whereby they would bind the conscience Now the constitutions of men are either 1. Civill and politicall These wee have a rule for that wee must obey them though in 1 Cor. 7.23 hee seeme to give exemption Yee are bought with a price be yee not the servants of men yet Rom. 13.1.5 we have that other expounded Let every soule bee subiect to the higher powers for the powers that bee are ordained of God Who resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God Wherefore yee must needs bee subiect for conscience sake 2. Ecclesiasticall These concerne either 1 The matter of Gods worship then we renounce them as great presumptions for Divine worship cannot have institution from humane command 2. Or the manner of worship tending to decency Here Constitutions may order not bind order the carriage not binde the conscience But concerning both these and those Constitutions I meane both Ecclesiasticall and Civill I would deliver my selfe a little more fully and to that end wil present a few conclusions touching Indifferents their nature and extent 1. An Adiaphoron or Indifferent is Res media a middle thing which stands so to two extremes that it may alike incline to both And in the ordinary though not proper use of the word Medium Abnegationis Medium Participationis Aquin. it is a Medium betweene morall good and evill Now such a Medium is either of meere Abnegation so all Substances whether naturall or artificiall are Res mediae Indifferent things or of some participation which so farre agrees with either extreme as the extremes agree between themselves so no Substances are properly Indifferents but Actions only Actions therefore which are neither commanded nor forbidden and which in their intrinsicke nature have neither obedience nor disobedience are indifferent 2. Indifferent Actions in their owne intrinsicall nature nothing differ among themselves but are all equally far from good and evill But there are some which for the most part have evill circumstances accompanying them and therfore sound in the worse sense as if they did incline to evill as to be an accuser may be indifferently good or
Faith the Law is not Faith Therefore Righteousnesse is not by the Law No man is Iustified by the Law Coram Deo before or in the sight of God before men workes may Iustifie Was not Abraham our Father Iustified by workes when he had offered Isaak his sonne upon the Altar Iam. 2.21 Men iudge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to appearance but saith the Apostle Rom. 2.2 Wee are sure that the Iudgement of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Truth Therfore they that live before God that is attaine life must live by Faith This hee citeth from the Prophet Habakuk chap. 2. vers 4. A Scripture which Paul hath seemed much to have delighted in by his often Quotation of it Wee cannot live by the Law the reason is added The Covenant of it is to them that doe it Yee shall keepe my Statutes and my Iudgements which if a man doe he shall live in them I am the Lord. Lev. 18.5 He that hath walked in my Statutes and hath kept my iudgements to deale truly he is iust hee shall surely live saith the Lord God Ezek. 18.9 But the Covenant is other to Faith so that Legall and Evangelicall Iustification cannot meet together as this same Apostle disputes in another place Rom. 11.6 And if by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace But if it bee of workes then is it no more grace otherwise worke is no more worke It cannot be of both it must bee of one Now it is not of that therfore of this Not of that the Law for it is expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man is Iustified by the Law it is evident Argum. 8 8. The eighth Argument is in the thirteenth verse and fourteenth The Text. VERS 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree VVE are Iustified by that by which we have redemption from the Curse But by faith in Christ we have redemption Therefore by that are wee iustified The Minor proposition is the maine of the 13. and 14. verses The Consciences of the Galatians might have beene straightned and burdened with the mention of the Curse but are met and sweetned with this Confidite salva res est Be not dismayed there is a way of freedom found Christ hath Redeemed us This Argument is the summe of comfortable knowledge drawn from the marrow of the Gospell and delivers to our notice Hier. in Esa 50. Vide Ambr. in Loc. Et si propius aspicias videbis Christum maledictum torum factum a quibus eccisus est Crux enim Salvatâ—ris peccatum maledictum est Isdaeorum Septuag Aquilam Theodotionem Maledictio dei est qui suspensus est Symmachus Quia propter blasphemiam dei suspensus est those great mysteries 1. Who hath redeemed us Christ His was the worke and to him by the glorified is the prayse of the worke Thou art worthy for thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud Rev. 5 8. 2. Whom he hath redeemed Vs Abraham and Moses too None but by him 3. From what The Curse from active and passive from both wrath and paine 4. How it was done Hee was made a curse to omit the variety of reading and propriety of the word He derived unto himselfe what was our due being made of God and of himselfe Sinne for us Thus Christs death is our life his Crosse our Triumph his Malediction our Blessing 5. To what end all was wrought that the blessing might come The blessing of Abraham could not come unlesse the curse were taken away The blessing is the grace of Reconciliation Adoption Iustification and Life which hee cals againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The promise of the Spirit Spirituall grace 6. The meane by which His Ours faith That wee might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith We cannot but observe 1. The greatnesse and hainous nature of sinne such that it made Christ a Curse and put him to death That speare those nayles were thrust in not so much by the Iewes malice as by our sinnes At length let us learne the price of them and together to avoyd them How dare wee with so much secure boldnesse rush upon that which cost so deare a rate the bloud of Christ 2. The wisedome and goodnesse of Gods order Crux Christi amaras aquas vertit in dulcem saporem et securim perditam nissa influenta Iordanis levavit Hieron blessing by the Curse sweetnesse from the Crosse of Christ It was the wonder of Gods power and the glory of that wonder that in the Creation God did produce Aliquidex nihilo something out of nothing here is more good out of ill heaven out of hell the Blessing to us by Christ a Curse for us Argum. 9 9. The ninth and last Argument is added in the foure following verses The Text. VERS 25. Brethren I speak after the manner of men though it bee but a mans Covenant yet if it be confirmed no man disannulleth or addeth thereto VERS 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made Hee saith not And to seedes as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ VERS 17. And this I say That the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was foure hundred and thirty yeares after cannot disannull that it should make the promise of none effect VERS 18. For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of promise but God gave it to Abraham by promise The InheritaÌ„ce is of promise Ergo not of the Law That is the argument and the conclusion in the 18. verse Hee frames it by an occupatory Apostrophe turning his speech as it were more directly to them to answer an Objection they might make Obiect The Inheritance was of promise before the Law was given but after the Law given it came to be of the Law for the latter Sanction doth derogate from the binding of the former Hee answers 'T is true unlesse the former were ratified or confirmed VVest par prim Symb. l. 2. sect 50. Fitz de nat â—re fo 169. B. 116. Vlpian l. pactum H. de polâ—â—cit In our Common-Law we call a ratification or confirmation a strengthening of an estate formerly had and yet voydable though not presently voyd But the Inheritance by promise was confirmed and foure hundred and thirty yeares before the Law was given vers 16 17. Brethren whom before hee called Fooles now hee cals Brethren we must lay aside the spirit of bitternesse and though there may be a division of Iudgements yet there should not be of hearts I speake after the manner of men with humane and popular similitudes and expressions Our Sermons may have somewhat of the Scholler and of the Orator though wee speake Gods Word yet in mans language when either the
world in regard of the oldnesse of the flesh stil remaining in them That therfore they are said not to sinne is spoken of them as they are the sonnes of God that they are commanded to confesse that they still have sinne in them is spoken of them as they are the children of this world All which is true as he intended it against the Pelagians but not to the minde of this place 5. But what the same Father delivers in another place is consented to by others understanding it of Reigning sinnes wasting the conscience This is a sinne unto death whereupon Saint Iohn distinguisheth and clears the obiection made from his owne writing cap. 3. All unrighteousnesse is sinne and there is a sinne not unto death Wee know that whosoever is borne of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth himselfe and that wicked one toucheth him not 1 Ioh. 5.17 18. Howsoever wee must admit of sinne Hee that is * Jmpossibile puto non contaminari extrema animae etiam in viris qui perfecti putantur Orig Aug. ad â—elâ—uâ— epist 108. cleane yet hath need that his feee be washed Ioh. 30.10 None of the Saints ever bragd that they were sinnelesse How shall I chuse out my words to reason with God whom though I were righteous yet would I not answer but I would make supplication to my Iudge saith that holy Patient Iob 9.14.15 And he who had the Testimony of a man to Gods heart yet bends If thou Lord shouldst marke Iniquity O Lord who shal stand Psal 130.3 Enter not into iudgment with thy servant for in thy sight shal no man living be iustified Ps 143.2 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne Prov. 20.9 And all these Iob David Salomon though they lived in the time of the Law had one â—nd the same Christ with us And the Iustified Paul I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not herby Iustified 1 Cor. 4.4 'T is that which the holy Spirits of the Ancients have inveighed against They say Basil lib. de câ—nstit Monast c 1. Greg. Mor. l. 5. c 7. 8. 23 Cassian coll 22. c. 7. The Regenerate cannot sinne the flesh onely can But what Is it not their flesh Where are themselves when the flesh sinnes Or if they bee Regenerate are they not also men 'T is true that the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh these are contrary the one to the other Gal. 5.17 But the word Flesh is here taken not phusically for the musculous substance of the flesh but theologically for the vitiousnesse of nature And supposing it true in their literall sense yet the very flesh which is called the vessel must he kept holy This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstaine from fornication That every one of you should know how to possesse his vessell in Sanctification and Honour for God hath not called us unto uncleannesse but unto holinesse 1 Thes 4.3.4.7 I endure not to mention those filthy those filthy doctrines of David Georg concerning Spirituall marriage and the lawfulnesse of having many Spirituall wives Ad augendam prolem Doctrines contrary to an expresse Apostolike Rule 1 Cor. 7.2 And more Bestiall and impure than the uncleane heresies of the Valentinians and Gnostickes They have another conceit suitable to the former That in their prayers they will not make confession of their sinnes nor petition for pardon And therefore would have the petition of Remttte debita Forgive our Trespasses wiped out of the Lords praiers Ah bold presumers Did Christ teach it and shall they despise it Are they so rich with Laodicea that they stand in need of no pardon Wee may say of them as Tully against his Anthony O te miserum Wretched Anthony And by so much more wretched because thou knowest not that thou art so The estate of such is more dangerous than of the most prophane those are diseased with a feaver these with a Lethargy The violence of the seaver may make the man sensible that he needs physicke an open course of profanenesse often strikes a man at his private and separated times But the Lethargy is a dull disease and the man nor sees nor cares They cannot have heaven Conc. Afr. Conc Miler Aug de Spir et lit cap. 2. Basil Hom. de poenit Amb. in Luc 1. Idem lib. de fuga Saculi Gennad de eccl Dogm cap. 31. unlesse they have pardon 'T was an ancient error and anciently opposed All these severall errors flow from the opposition of the Law or the unjust maintenance The Iewes doe unjustly maintaine The Antinomists the Enthusiasts the Anti-vetera testamentaries the Sinnelesse Anabaptists doe as unjustly oppose it We wil not longer pursue them but proceed in the last place by way of conclusion of the whole Tractate to another use III. An use of exhortation Let us not reject the Law but make of it its owne proper use God will not have it contemned there is morality in that command Deutr. 32.46 47. Set your hearts to all the words which I command you this day for it is not a vaine thing for you And the man is described to bee blessed who meditates in the Law of God and doth exercise himselfe therein day and night Psal 1.2 Let not Moses take the place of Christ but yet make a right use of Moses when workes come in their owne place wee can never performe enough of them if we use them as our life this were indeede to trample the blood of Christ under our feet and to set Moses in the chaire but let the seruant follow his Master let Moses follow Christ let the Law follow Grace let Workes follow Faith that all may act their proper and designed parts Let me call for workes that God may be Honoured that your owne consciences may be comforted that wandrers may be called that weake ones may be incouraged 'T is an end of our being an end of our redemption wee are intended for action wee are created to good works wee are redeemed that wee might serve All those all these considerations doe call for working Let mee instance but the worke of Redemption because most agreeing to the argument in hand Being delivered from the hand of our enemies we must serve him in holinesse and r ghteousnesse all the dayes of our lives Luk. 1.74 75. Let us contemplate the state of our misery the estate of our deliverance A poore Gally-slave that is wearied out by his continuall tugging at the Oare whose Armes doe grow Brawny with excessive labour and nothing more ordinary to him than strokes and hard usage so that he spinnes a poore and wearisome life worse than death it selfe if a ransome bee freely paid for him by one who commiserats his case would he not gladly spend himselfe in the service of his Ransomer 'T is our case wee are the men In what a slavish thraldome were