Goodwill Towards Men, Part 1 · Section 6
Sect. 6.
PROP. VI. To the unchangeable Law of Nature, God (our Soveraign Lord) may add what Positive Laws his Divine Wisdome judgeth meet, whereby to try his Creatures Obedience. And there is no positive precept of His, given to Man, but Man is immediately bound to obey it; even by the Law of Nature, which requires this in general, that we obey God in all things.
THe Law of Nature (as we have heard) in special enjoyns what is good, or forbids what is evil in their own Natures.
Positive Laws are conversant about things neither good, nor evil in themselves, things of a middle Nature; which yet become Good when commanded of God, and evil when forbidden. Because it is good to obey God in all things; but very evil and sinful to disobey God in any thing. The goodness of God would never command any thing evil in it self. And what the Lord commandeth though indifferent before, yet being commanded (in regard of his Soveraign Authority and Dominion) it becomes a necessary duty. As what he forbiddeth, though lawful enough before; yet being under a Divine prohibition, it becomes sinful. Of such purely positive precepts we find this one given to Man in the state of Innocency for the tryal of his Obedience, Scil. this [of not eating of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,] whether any more are to be found, that were purely positive, and given to Man in that state, I know not.
And amongst all those Commands which our Lord Jesus Christ hath laid on his followers in the Gospel; some Inquisitive men have been able to discover no more than two (to wit, concerning Baptism and the Lords Supper) that are meerly positive institutions. And these two appointed not only to try our Obedience; but for other high ends, and gracious purposes, to be Seals of the new and better Covenant, and special helps and furtherances unto Christians (through Gods blessing upon the due use of them) as means of promoting both their Grace and Comfort, and a strong engagement on them to Duty and Obedience. So that they are not meer Arbitrary impositions, shewing only the will and Authority of him that appointed them, but also pledges of his Grace and favour towards us; and are our great priviledges: As the promise in the New Covenant speaks forth the wonderful Grace of God, so doth his instituting and annexing these Seals, to strengthen our faith in what he hath there promised.
As for the Law of the Sabbath, there hath been enough written, to prove, that it is not a purely positive precept. When God hath given us all our time, to Question, whether a considerable part of it be not due to his special solemn Worship, and Service, seems very unreasonable. Nay, it would seem to be but Occasional, viz. in regard of man's present state in this world, the necessities of the outward man, that call him to earthly employments, that he hath an allowance to follow these secular employments, when if it were not for this, his whole time would be due to God's more immediate Service; as the Saints in Heaven keep a perpetual, everlasting Sabbath.
Now what is noted here, may shew us the wonderful goodness of God towards us in Gospel times, in freeing us from the Law of Ceremonies, from such a multitude of burdensome impositions as the Jews were under. How easie is the yoke of Christ, compared with the yoke which was upon the necks of the Jews? So we may see here the reasonableness of the Christian-Religion. The Lord requires nothing of us in the Gospel, but what is indeed good in it self, or at least good for us; imposeth nothing on us in the Gospel, meerly to shew his absolute Authority over us: Even the Positive Institutions of the Gospel are such as speak his gracious condescension towards us.
Again by the way, we may here reflect upon the Tyranicalness of the man of Sin. What a multitude of strange impositions hath he brought into the Christian Church, as envying Souls that liberty we have under the Gospel.