breach of it; and endued him with power keep it.1 and ability to 1 Gen. i. 26, 27; ii. 17; Rom. ii. 14, 15; x. 5; v. 12, 19; Gal. iii. 10, 12; Eccl. vii, 29; Job, xxviii, 28. 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 first four commandments containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man.2 1 James i. 25; ii. 8, 10-12; Rom. xiii. 8, 9; Deut. v. 32; x. 4; Exod. xxxiv. 1. Matt. xxii, 37-40. III. Besides 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 instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament.3 1(Heb. Chapter ix ;) x. 1; Gal. iv. 1-3; Col. ii. 17. vi. 17; Jude, verse 23. 3 Col. ii. 14, 16, 17; Dan. ix. 27; 21 Cor. v. 7; 2 Cor. Eph. ii. 15, 16. 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 require.1 1 (Exodus, Chapter xxi. ; xxii. 1-29; See both in the Bible;) Gen xlix. 10, with 1 Pet. ii, 13, 14; Matt. v. 17, 38, 39; 1 Cor. ix. 8-10. V. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof;1 and that not only in regard of the matter 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.3 1 Rom, xiii. 8, 9; (See Section II. note 1;) verse 10; Eph. vi. 2; 1 John ii. 3, 4, 7,8. 2 James ii. 10, 11.-(See Section II. note 1.) 3 Matt. v. 17; (See Section IV. note 1;) verse 18, 19; James ii. 8; (See Section II. note 1;) Rom. iii, 31. 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, hearts, and lives ;3 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.5 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, shew them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof, although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works :9 so as a man's doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law, and not under grace.10 1 Rom. vi. 14; viii. 1; Gal. ii. 16; iii. 13; iv. 4, 5; Acts xiii. 39. 2 Rom. VII. Neither are the forementioned uses of the law 1 Gal, iii, 21. * Ezek. xxxvi. 27; Heb. viii. 10, with Jer. xxxi. 33. CHAPTER XX. OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, AND LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 2 THE liberty which Christ hath purchased for be- 8 and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.9 1 Titus ii. 14; 1 Thess. i. 10; Gal. iii. 13. xxvi. 18; Rom. vi. 14. 3 Rom. Rom. viii. 1. 4 Rom. v. 1, 2. iii. 9, 14. x. 19-22. 2 Gal. i. 4; Col. i. 13; Acts viii. 28; Psalm cxix. 71; 1 Cor. xv. 54-57; 5 Rom. viii. 14, 15; 1 John iv. 18. 6 Gal. 7 Gal. iv. 1-3, 6, 7; v. 1; Acts xv. 10, 11. 8 Heb. iv. 14, 16; 9 John vii. 38, 39; 2 Cor. iii, 13, 17, 18. II. God alone is Lord of the conscience,1 and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship. So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience;3 and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also.1 1 James iv. 12; Rom xiv. 4. 2 Acts iv. 19; v. 29; 1 Cor. vii, 23; Matt. xxiii. 8-10; 2 Cor. i. 24; Matt. xv. 9. 3 Col. ii. 20, 22, 23; Gal, i. 10; ii. 4, 5; v. 1. 4 Rom. x. 17; xiv. 23; Isa. viii. 20; Acts xvii. 11; John ív. 22; Hosea v. 11; Rev. xiii. 12, 16, 17; Jer. viii. 9. III. They who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, do practise any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty: which is, that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.1 1 Gal, v. 13; 1 Peter ii. 16; 2 Peter ii. 19; John viii. 34; Luke i. 74, 75. IV. And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another; they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God. And for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation; or to the power of godliness; or such erroneous opinions or practices, as either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the church; they may lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against by the censures of the church,2 and by the power of the civil magistrate. 3 1 Matt. xii. 25; 1 Peter ii. 13, 14, 16; Rom. xiii 1-8; Heb. xiii. 17. 2 Rom. i. 22, with 1 Cor. v. 1, 5, 11, 13; 2 John 10, 11; 2 Thess. iii. 14, and 1 Tim. vi. 3-5, and Titus i, 10, 11, 13, and iii. 10, with Matt. xviii. 15-17; 1 Tim. i. 19, 20; Rev. ii. 2, 14, 15, 20; iii. 9. 3 Deut. xiii. 6-12; Rom. xiii. 3, 4, with 2 John 10, 11, (See Section IV., note 2 ;) Ezra vii. 23, 25-28; Rev. xvii. 12. 16, 17; Neh. xiii. 15, 17, 21, 22, 25, 30; 2 Kings xxiii. 5, 6, 9, 20, 21; 2 Chron. xv. 12, 13, 16; xxxiv. 33; Daniel iii. 29; 1 Tim. ii. 2; Isa. xlix. 23; Zech xiii. 2, 3, CHAPTER XXI. OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP AND THE SABBATH-DAY. THE light of nature sheweth that there is a God, who hath Lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doeth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representa |