revived, and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair".

CHAPTER XIX.

Of the Law of God.

GOD gave to Adam a law, as to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it3.

¶ 1 John iii. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because ne is born of God. Luke xxii. 32. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. Job xiii. 15. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Psalm lxxiii. 15. and li. 8, 12. with Isa. 1. 10.

Micah vii. 7, 8, 9. Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. Isa. liv. 7, 8.

I. a Gen. i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Gen. ii. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Rom. ii. 14, 15. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another. Rom. x. 5. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Rom. v. 12, 19. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so

J

II. This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written in two tables; the four first commandments containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to mane.

III. Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers instruc

death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.-For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. See also Gal, iii. 10, 12. Eccl. vii. 29. and Job xxviii. 28.

II. James i. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James ii. 8, 10. If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Rom. iii. 19. Now we know, that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. Deut. v. 32. Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right-hand or to the left and chap. x. 4. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly and the Lord gave them unto me. Exod. xxxiv. 1. and Rom. xiii. 8, 9.

e • Mat. xxii. 37, 38, 39, 40. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt e love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Exod. xx. 3 to 18.

III. Heb. x. 1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with

tions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament'.

IV. To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any other, now, further than the general equity thereof may requires.

V. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard of the matthose sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. Gal. iv. 1, 2, 3. Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.-Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. Col. ii. 17. Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. Heb. 9th chap.

e 1 Cor. v. 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. 2 Cor. vi. 17. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

Col. ii. 14, 16, 17. Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.-Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink.--Which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ. Eph. ii. 15, 16. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.

IV.

verse.

See Exod. 21st chap. and 22d chap. 1st to the 29th Gen. xlix. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Mat. v. 38, 39. Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil. 1 Cor. ix. 8, 9, 10.

Vh Rom xiii. 8. 9.

See above in letter b. 1 John ii. 3,

ter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it'. Neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation.

VI. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned'; yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly"; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, 4, 7. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.-Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. Rom. iii. 31. and vi. 15. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. What then? shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

i Jam. ii. 10, 11. See in letter b.

Matt. v. 18, 19. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do anu teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. James ii. 8. Rom. iii. 31. VI. Rom. vi. 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law, but under grace. viii. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. See also Gal. iv. 4, 5. and Acts xiii. 39.

1

Rom.

m Rom. vii. 12. Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Psal. cxix. 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! 1 Cor. vi, 19. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Gal. v. 14, 18, 19, 20 21. 22, 23.

hearts, and lives"; so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin°; together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his obedience". It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions; in that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of it serve to shew what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law'. The promises of it, in like manner, show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they

a Rom. vii. 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. Rom. iii. 20.-For by the law is the knowledge of sin.

• Rom. vii. 9, 14, 24. For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.-O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

P Gal. iii. 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Rom. viii. 3, 4. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. vii. 24, 25.

q James ii. 11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. Psai. cxix. 128. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.

Ezra ix. 13, 14. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God, hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these