The Law and the Gospel Reconciled, Title page – Dedication
THE LAW AND the Goſpell reconciled. OR The Euangelicall Fayth, and the Morall Law how they ſtand together in the ſtate of grace.
A treatiſe ſhewing the perpetuall vſe of the Morall Law vnderunder the Goſpell to beleeuers; in anſwere to a letter written by an Antinomi… … a faithfull Chriſtian. Alſo how the mora… of the 4th Commandement is continued in the Lords day, proued the Chriſtian Sabbath by diuine inſtitution.
…fe Catalogue of the Antinomian doctrinoc. By HENRY BVRTON.
1 TIM. 1.5.
The end of the Commandement is charity out of a pure heart, & of a good conſcience, and of fayth vnfained.
Vt Rota intra rotam currit: ſic lex intra Gratiam, et obſeruantia legis intra diuin… curriculum miſericordiae eſt. Ambros. de Iacob, &c, li. 2. cap: 11.
LONDON, Printed by J. N. for Thomas Slatter, and are to bee ſould at his ſhoppe in Blackfryars. 1631.
TO THE HIGH and Mighty Prince, Charles, by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Fayth, &c.
GRatious Soueraine, this ſmall treatiſe humbly pleades your Royall Patronage by a double title: the one, from the Author of it, your old ſeruant, who oweth all he is to your Maieſty; the other, from the worke it ſelfe, being a defence of the Morall Law of God againſt the Antinomian Libertines in theſe daies, who deny to beleeuers any more vſe thereof. And what one ſubiect can more iuſtly clame your Maieſties protection, then this of the Morall Law, ſith you are not only by a proper title, Defender of the fayth: but by a common truſt committed to Kings, keeper of both Tables? The diſcharge of which truſt as it tends much to the honour of the great Lawgiuer, who hath made you his Vicegerent to ſee his Lawes well executed: So it is the maine propp and pillar to ſupport and ſecure your royall Throne. The conſideration whereof, (when I ſaw theſe ſonnes of Belial thus vndermining the Kings Throne) hath prouoked my zeale both to God, and to your Maieſty, to write this ſimple Treatiſe. For to deny the Morall Law to be of any more vſe to belieuers, or to be ſo much as a rule of conuerſation, or that they owe obedience vntounto it in poynt of duety and conſcience: this ſtrikes at the very root, and cutts in ſunder the k…ot, not onelyonly of chriſtian charity, but euen of all ciuill ſociety, and happy vnion and communion betweene King and Subiects, Head and Members. For firſt, the rule of Gods true and vnmixed worſhip, commanded in the firſt Table, is taken away: Secondly, the rule of all chriſtian and ciuill duties betweene man and man, in whatſoeuer relation they ſtand, of equality or inequality, Commanded in the ſecond Table; and all this with one ſtroke of cutting off the Morall Law from belieuers. And particularly, theſe Antinomians cut off all dutifull and conſcionable obedience to Princes, grounded on the fift Commandement, wherein they being principall Parents, namely of our Country, all due honour and obedience in the Lord is commaunded to bee giuen them in the firſt place, as of children to their Father. Againe, on the other ſide, they breake downe the bankes, that God himſelfe hath pitched to confine the courſe of Kings, whoſe hearts in the Lords hand, like the riuers of waters, keeping within their bankes, refreſh the Land on eueryevery ſide with their ſweete ſtreames: but being without the bankes of Gods ſacred lawes, how ſoone might they ouerflow and drowne all? Therefore it was the care of the wiſe and good God (to the end he might prouide for the hapy welfare both of the King and People) to leaue it in charge to the King of Iſraell that he ſhould hauehave a coppy of the Law alwaies by him, to reade therein day and night,Deut 17.18, 19, 20. to learne thereby to feare the Lord his God, to walke humbly among his brethren, to doe iuſtice and iudgement, to the end hee may prolong his dayes in his Kingdome, hee and his Children in the middeſt thereof. But theſe Lawleſſe Antinomians, enemyes to God, to Kings and States, would robb Chriſtian Kings of this bleſſed Booke of Gods Law, that ſoe; if they could ſtrippe them of the grace and feare of God in their hearts, letting looſſe the reynes of all honeſtie and conſcience, they might vſurpe a gouernment after the luſt of man, not after the law of God, and ſo precipitate ineuitable ruine to Princes and Commonweales. For take away Gods Law, and what law of man can bynde the conſcience, eyther in poynt of obeying, or of commanding? For though it hath euer beene a Maxime among the very heathen, that humaine Lawes, and ſuch as were ratified by ſolemne oathes and couenants betweene Prince and people, they held ſacred and inuiolable, as that Law of the Medes and Perſians, the Kings writing and ſeale, &c. Dan. 6.16: Yet the maine ground that bore vp all the reſt, was the conſcience they had, by naturall inſtinct, of Gods eternall Law written in their hearts, accuſing or excuſing; knowing that God was an auenger of the breach of lawes, oathes, couenants, ſuch as were agreeable to his Law. This then being the strongeſt ligature to combine the Head and Body politicke in a firme ſociety, whereby it becomes inuincible, perpetuall, and glorious: theſe ſonnes of Belial would diſmember all. Wherein they plainely ſhew who is their ſyre, foreign that lawleſſe one, whoſe Motto is, Volumus et iubemus, wee will and command; which ſtyle Platina notes to be firſt taken vp by Boniface the third, who firſt vſurped the Papall Headſhip ouer the Church; So as caſting off all lawes of God and man, hee became that great Beaſt deſcribed in the Reuelation, whom no law or reaſon can bound or limit; accounting it a diſparagement to his tyrannicall greatneſſe, to bee confined within the liſts of any lawes, oathes, vowes, couenants, though neuer ſo iuſt and ſacred. Now the Lord Ieſus ſo bleſſe your Maieſty, that trampling this Antinomian Anomian hereſie, both ſyre and ſonnes, vnderunder your ſacred feete, you may long and happily raigne ouer your people, as a tender father ouer his children, while your chiefe care is firſt for the mayntenance of Gods pure worſhip without mixture, and for the execution of iuſtice and iudgement; theſe two being the ſumme of both the Tables, and the ſupporters of the Kings Throne, which the Lord euer defend from all Antinomian Anomian ſpirits.
In this Treatiſe alſo J hauehave occaſionally proued the diuine inſtitution of the Lords day, our Chriſtian Sabbath, denyed by ſome. And as your raigne hath beene honoured with a pious law, for the due obſeruation of this great Holyday of Christ: So, I truſt, that this my vindicating of it to its owne right of diuine inſtitution will not a little helpe to the better execution of that your Chriſtian law. Which that it may be more reuerently and religiouſly obſerued both in Court, City, and Country, to the purging out of profaneſſe, and to the increaſe of all chriſtian graces in your Maieſty, and vsus your people; it is, and ſhall bee the daily and dutyfull prayer of
Your Maieſties loyall ſubiect and old ſeruant. Henry Burton.