Imatges de pàgina
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the four first commandments containing our duty towards God, and the other fix our duty to man c.

III. Befide this law, commonly called Moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Ifrael, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing feveral typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Chrift, his graces, actions, fufferings and benefits d; and partly holding forth divers in-. ftructions

eth 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 blefsed in his deed. James ii, 8. If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the fcripture, Thou fhalt love thy neighbour as thyfelf, ye do well. v. 10. For whofoever fhall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. v. 11. For he that faid, Do not commit adultery; faid alfo, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a tranfgreffor of the law. v. 12. So fpeak ye, and fo do, as they that fhall be judged by the law of liberty. Rom. xiii. 8, Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law. v. 9. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou fhalt not steal, Thou fhalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this faying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyfelf. Deut. v.

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mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the affembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. Exod. xxxiv. 1. And the Lord faid unto Mofes, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the firft; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest.

. Mat. xxii. 37. Jesus faid unto him, Thou fhalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind. v. 38. This is the first and great commandment. v. 39. And the fe cond is like unto it, Thou fhalt love thy neighbour as thyself. v. 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

III. d (Heb. ix. Chapter.) Heb. 1. 1. For the law having a fhadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with thofe facrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. Gal, iv. 1. Now I fay that the heir as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a fervant, though he be lord of all: v. 2. But is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the Father. v.3. Even fo we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. Col. ii. 17. Which are a fhadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

• 1 Cor.

ftructions of moral dutiese. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testamentf.

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

V. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified perfons. one body by the cross, having flain the enmity thereby.

1 Cor. v. 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened: for even Chrift our paffover is facrificed for us, 2 Cor. vi. 17. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye feparate, faith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. Jude 23. And others fave with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garments spotted by the flesh.

f Col. ii. 14. 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 crofs. v. 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in refpect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the fabbath days. v. 17. Which are a fhadow of things to come, but the body is of Chrift. Dan. ix. 27. And he fhall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the facrifice and the oblation to cease; and for the overspreading of abominations, he fhall make it defolate, even until the confummation, and that determined fhall be poured upon the defolate. Eph. ii. 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, con tained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain, one new man, fo making peace; v. 16. and that he might reconcile both unto God in

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IV. g (Exod. xxi. Chapter. Exod. xxii. 1, to the 29 verfe: See both in the Bible.) Gen. xlix. 10. The feeptre fhall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him fhall the gathering of the people be, With 1 Pet. ii. 13. Submit yourfelves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's fake, whether it be to the king, as fupreme; v. 14. or unto governors, as unto them that are fent by him, for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. Mat. v. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to deftroy, but to fulfil. With v. 38. Ye have heard, that it hath been faid, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: v, 39. But I fay unto you, that ye refift not evil: but whofoever fhall fmite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also, 1 Cor. ix. 8. Say I these things as a man? or faith not the law the fame alfo? v. 9. For it is written in the law of Mofes, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn: Doth God take care for oxen? v. 10. Or faith he it altogether for our fakes? for our fakes no doubt, this is written, that he that ploweth fhall plow in hope; and that he that threfheth in hope, fhould be partaker of his hope.

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perfons as others, to the obedience thereof b; and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in re, fpect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it i. Neither doth Chrift in the gospel any way diffolve, but much ftrengthen this obligation.

VI. Altho' true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned/; yet is it of great ufe 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

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V. Rom. xiii. 8, 9, (See above in letter b.) v. 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Eph. vi. Honour thy father and mother, which is the firft commandment with promife. 1 John ii. 3. And hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. v. 4. He that faith, I know him, and keep eth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. v. 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. v. 8. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now fhineth,

i James ii. 10, 11. (See in letter b.) * Mat. v. 17. (See in letter g.) v. 18. For verily, I fay unto you, Till heaven and earth país, one jot or one tittle shall in no wife pafs from the law, till all be fulfilled. v. 19. Whofoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and fhall teach men fo, he fhall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whofoever fhall do, and teach them, the fame fhall be caled great in the kingdom of heaven.

James ii. 8. (See in letter b before.) Rom. iii. 31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

VI. Rom. vi. 14. For fin fhall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Gal. ii. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jefus Chrift, even we have believed in Jefus Chrift; 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 fhall no flesh be justified. Gal. iii. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for us: for it is written, Curfed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Gal. iv. But when the fulness of the time was come, God fent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, v. 5. to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons. Acts xiii. 39. And by him all that believe are juftified from all things, from the which ye could not be justified by the law of Mofes. Rom viii. 1.There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Chrift Jefus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

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directs and binds them to walk accordingly m; discovering alfo the finful pollutions of their nature, hearts and lives n; fo as, examining themfelves thereby, they may come to further conviction of humiliation for, and hatred against fino; together with a clearer fight of the need they have of Christ, anằ the perfection of his obediencep. It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruption; in that it forbids finq;

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Rom. vii. 12. Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just and good. v. 22. For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. v. 25. I thank God through Jefus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of fin. Pfal. cxix. 4. Thou haft commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. v. 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy ftatutes! v. 6. Then fhall I not be a fhamed, when I have refpect unto all thy commandments. 1 Cor. vii. 19. Circumcifion is nothing, and uncircumcifion is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Gal. v. 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. See in the Bible.

Rom. vii. 7. What fhall we fay then? Is the law fin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known fin, but by the law: for I had not known luft, except the law had faid, Thou fhalt not covet. Rom. iii. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law, there fhall no flesh be justified in his fight: for by the law is the knowledge of fin.

Jamesi. 23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glafs: v. 24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. v. 25. But whofo looketh into the perfect Jaw of liberty, and continueth there

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in, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Rom. vii. 9. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, fin revived, and I died. · v. 14. For we know that the law is fpiritual: but I am carnal, fold under fin. v. 24. 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 school-mafter, to bring us unto Chrift, that we raight be juf tified by faith. Rom. vii. 24. (See before in the letter o. v. 25. in letter m) Rom. viii. 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God fending his own Son in the likeness of finful flesh, and for fin condemned fin in the flesh: v. 4. that the righteoufnefs of the law raight be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, butafter the Spirit.

James ii. 11. For he that faid, Do not commit adultery, faid alfo, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a tranfgreffor of the law, Pfal. cxix. 101. I have refrained my feet from every evil way: that I may keep thy word. v. 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every falfe way. v. 128. Therefore I efteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every falfe way.

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and the threatenings of it ferve to fhew what even their fins deferve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curfe thereof threatened in the lawr. The promises of it, in like manner, fhew them God's approbation of obedience, and what bleffings they may expect upon the performance thereof, although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works t. So as a man's doing good, and refraining from evil, becaufe the law encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law, and not under grace v. VII. Nei

Ezra ix. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trefpafs, feeing that thou our God haft punished us less than our iniquities deferve, and haft given us fuch deliverance as this; v. 14. Should we again break thy co nmandments, and join in affinity whh the people of these abominations? wouldft not thou be angry with us, till thou hadft confumed us, fo that there fhould be no remnant or escaping? Pfal. Ixxxix. 30. If his children forfake my law, and walk not in my judgments; v. 3 1. if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: v. 3 2. then will I vifit their tranfgreffiot with the rod, and their iniquity with 1 ftripes. v. 33. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor fuffer my faith fulness to fail. v. 34. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thi ag that is gone out of my lips.

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(Lev. xvi. to the 14. verfe.) With 2 Cor. vi. 16. And what agreement hat h the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath faid, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God,

and they fhall be my people. Eph. vi. 2. Honour thy father and thy mother, (which is the first commandment with promife.) v. 3. That it may be well with thee, and thou mayeft live long on the earth. Pfal. xxxvii. 11. But the meek fhall inherit the earth: and fhall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. With Mat. v. 5. Bleffed are the meek, for they' fhall inherit the earth. Pfal. xix. 11. Moreover, by them is thy fervant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Gal. ii. 16. Knowing that a man is not juftified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jefus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be juftified by the faith of Chrift, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law fhall no flesh be justified. Luke xvii. 10. So likewise ye, when ye fhall have done all thofe things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable fervants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

v Rom. vi. 12. Let not fin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye fhould obey it in the luits thereof. v. 14. For fin fhall not have do

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