Christ Inviting Sinners to Come to Him for Rest, Treatise · Chapter 29
CHAP. XXIX.
The deliverance from the Law by Chriſt ſet out. 1. Privatively in five Particulars. 2. Poſitively in five Points more.
THe next burden that was upon Laden ſinners that Chriſt cals unto him, it was the burden of the Law, you that are under the burden of the Law, come to me, and I wil give you Reſt. I ſhewed in many Particulars, wherein the burden of the Law conſiſted, when I opened the former Point of the Load of ſinners, but now I am to come to ſhew, how Chriſt doth deliver ſinners from the burden of the law, for ſo certainly he doth, we are redeemed from the Law by Chriſt, this is a great Point, and the right underſtanding of this will help us exceeding much in the underſtanding of many truths in religion. Wherefore, firſt, I ſhall ſhew you, how far Chriſt hath not delivered us from the Law, that is, where it is, where it is not burdenſom, Chriſt hath not delivered us from that, but only from the Law ſo far as it is a Burden. Now you will ſay, in what reſpect may the Law be ſaid to be a Burden? Certainly in thoſe reſpects Chriſt cannot be ſaid to give us Reſt, in what reſpect the Law is good and not burdenſome to the Saints. The Law certainly is good as the Apoſtle ſaith, in Rom. 7. Even at that time when his Soul was mightily troubled with his Corruption, and he even cried out, Oh wretched man that I am, who ſhall deliver me from this Body of Sin? As it is in the latter end of the Chapter. But yet in the 12. verſe, He profeſſeth, that, The Law is holy, and the Commandement Holy, and Juſt, and good. Now then that that is Holy, and Juſt, and Good, certainly Chriſt did never come to deliver us from that, to redeem us from that, it can never be ſaid to be a burden to thoſe that are holy; that that is Holy, and Juſt, and good, cannot be a burden unto thoſe that are Holy, ſo far as it is Holy, and Juſt, and good.
Firſt, Therefore, we are to know, that the Law (I ſpeak of the morral Law, not of the ceremonial law now, But of the morral Law, For the Apoſtle ſpake of that here in this place) the Law it is indeed the very glaſs of Gods holineſs, I ſay, it is a glaſs of the holineſs of God, in the morral Law we may ſee the luſtre and the glory of the holineſs of God himſelf, and therefore we are not to be delivered from it, as it is the glaſs of Gods holineſs, wherein we may ſee the purity of Gods Nature, the Law of God ſhews God to be a holy God, different from all the Heathens, who have not a holy and Righteous Law as our God hath.
Secondly, The Law, it is an extract of the very Image that God made man in at the firſt, an extract of Gods Image, as it were a copy of the Image of God. What was the Image that God made man in at the firſt? But in the imperſſion of his Law in their Hearts, the very writing of the Law of God in their hearts, which is that we cal the moral law, in that conſiſted the very Image of God in mans ſoul at his firſt creation, when he was in his innocency, and therfore we cannot be ſaid to be delivered from that as it is a copy and extract of Gods Image in the heart of man, it is rather renewed by Chriſt than aboliſhed by Chriſt.
Thirdly, The Law, it is a glaſs wherein we are to ſee our own faces, wherein we are to ſee how far we are declined from the image in which we firſt were made, and ſo far Chriſt hath not delivered us from it neither, for he would have us ſtil to look into the law, as into a glaſs, to ſee how far we are come ſhort of that that God did require of us, and that God did inable us to do, that is a third conſideration of the Law.
Fourthly, the Law is a revelation of the wil of God, it reveales what is the holy and righteous wil of God towards his creature, and in that conſideration we are not delivered from it neither, we are to look into that to ſee what the wil of God is concerning us.
Laſtly, which follows from thence, the law is ſtil an authoritative rule for our converſation, to order our converſation; that the ſcripture is as cleer in, as in any one truth that is in the book of God, it is indeed a point, that were it not for a ſtrang kind of wantonneſs that hath poſſeſt the ſpirits of ſome, it were never needful to ſpend one quarter, or minuite of an houre upon it. That place in James 2.8. and ſo on, If you fulfil the royal law according to the ſcripture, thou ſhalt love thy neighbour as thy ſelf, ye do wel; Ye do wel in that. Now that, Thou ſhalt love thy neighbour as thy ſelf, is the ſum of the ſecond table of the ten commandements, and it is called the royal law, the law of the great King, But if you have reſpect to perſons you comit ſin, that is, you offend againſt this law, and are convinced of the Law as tranſgreſſors. The law convinceth you as tranſgreſſors, for whoſoever ſhal keep the whol Law, and yet offend in one point is guilty of al. For he that ſaid, thou ſhalt not commit adultery, ſaid alſo thou ſhalt not kil: now where are theſe comandements, but in the ten commandements? Do not commit adultery, do not kil: now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kil, thou art a tranſgreſſor of the law, of thoſe ten commandements.
It is true, as we ſhal heare afterwards, they come to us in, another way than formerly, they came to the Jews, but ſtill it is apparent, notwithſtanding any thing revealed in the Goſpel, though there may be a great deale of grace now mixed with every commandement that comes to us, and ſo the manner of bringing it to us may be a great deal more ſweet, and comfortable, than formerly it was, yet ſtill this abides as an everlaſting rule, That thoſe are tranſgreſſors of the law, and to be convinced of ſin even by the law, that do not in their converſation ſubmit unto the rules thereof; and what indeed is the very definition of ſin by St. John but this, ſin is, foreign, the tranſgreſſion of the law, ſo that in theſe five reſpects, as the Law is the glaſs of Gods holineſs, As it is the very coppy and extract of the image of God in which God made man at the firſt, As it is the glaſs in which we are to look to ſee our deformity, As it is the revelation of the wil of God, and as it is the authoritative rule for our converſation, ſo Chriſt doth not deliver us from it, but it ſtands in force in al theſe five reſpects, and there are no beleevers, no gracious godly ſoules, that do account the Law a burden in theſe reſpects, but bleſs God for the Law, and they account it their inheritance, and the joy of their ſoules, they bleſs God that ever they knew it, and their hearts lie under the power of it, and they are willing to order their lives by it.
Queſt. But then what are we delivered from in the Law by Chriſt?
Firſt, From the rigour of it, Chriſt delivers us from the load of the rigor of it, from this rigor, that it requires perfect obedience, ſo far we are delivered from the rigor of the Law; and yet this may be ſaid to be rigorous in regard of our weakneſs, for we had once power, but now the Lord doth take off the rigor in regard of our weaknes And ſo rigorous, in regard of the violent and rigorous way that it doth take to force on men unto obedience, we ſhal heare how we are delivered from that.
Secondly, beleevers are delivered from the bondage of the Law.
Queſt. You wil ſay, How is the Law a bondage unto thoſe that are Godly, being the law of God?
Anſ. It is a bondage not in it ſelf, but in regard of our inabil…ty, for it requires of us now, conſidering what eſtate we are in, ſuch things as we cannot do, and that is a bondage, to be put upon more than we are able to do, as the Iſraelites were by their taskmaſters: but yet ſtil God is righteous in this, becauſe it is not more than God did at firſt inable us unto in our firſt Creation, but in regard of that eſtate that now we are in, it is a bondage, in that it puts upon us, what we cannot do, and that upon pain of eternal death too.
Thirdly, we are delivered from the binding over power (as I may ſo ſay) the power of binding over the ſoul to the juſtice of God upon every breach of the Law. Now the binding-over power, the power of binding them over to anſwer to Gods juſtice upon the breach of it, that beleevers are delivered from in Chriſt; as a man that is bound over to the aſſize and ſeſſions to anſwer, afterwards when he comes to take out his bond, he thinks himſelf at much eaſe and at quiet, when the bond is taken out by which he was bound to anſwer; ſo Chriſt comes and takes out the bond by which beleevers were bound to anſwer to Gods juſtice for al their ſins.
Fourthly, They are delivered from the condemning power of the law, that the law hath not now power to bring a beleever, that ſins through frailty, unto condemnation: this is cleere from ſcripture, as I might ſhew ſeveral texts as we go along, You are not under the law (ſaith the Apoſtle) And there is no condemnation to them that are in Chriſt.
Laſtly, we are delivered from the Law as the covenant for life, the law at firſt was given as the covenant that God made with mankind for life, for God deales with the rational creature according to the nature of it, & becauſe it is capable of a covenant with God, therefore God deals with it in the way of a covenant, and as ſoon as man was made, the Lord entered into a covenant with mankind, now the covenant was no other than the law, Do and live, that was the covenant that God did enter into with mankind, and made our firſt parents Adam, the head of that Covenant, Do and live, upon thy doing ſhal thy life depend (ſaith God) thy preſent and thy eternal life. Now we are delivered from the law by Chriſt, that is, that now it doth remain no more unto beleevers, to be the covenant of life unto them, they being once in Chriſt, but they are brought under another Covenant, a better Covenant. So that in theſe five reſpects we may be ſaid to be delivered from the Law by Chriſt, from the rigor of it, from the bondage of it, from the binding-over power that is in it, from the condemning power, and from it as the Covenant of life. Now here is enough, one would think, if ſo be that the ſpirits of Men were not very wild and wanton, for the quieting of the ſoul in the deliverance of it from the law.