Chap. XIX. VI. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned '; yet it is 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 dnty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; difcovering also the finful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives; foas, examining themselves thereby, they may come Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wife pafs from the law, till all be fulfilled. V. 19. Whofoever therefore fhall break one of these leaft command. ments, and fhall teach men fo, he fhall be called the leaft in the king. dom of heaven: but whofoever fhall do and teach them, the fame fhall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. James ii. 8. [See in letter before.] Romans 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. Know ing that a man is not juftified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jefus Chrift; even we have believed in Jefus Chrift, 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 thall no flesh be juftified. Gal. iii. 13. Chrift 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. 4. 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 to 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 which are in Chrift Jefus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. vii. 12. Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and juft, and good. V. 22. For 1 delight in the law of God after the inward man. V.25. I thank God, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself ferve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of fin. Pfalm exix. 4. Thou haft com. manded us to keep thy precepts diligently. V. 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy ftatutes! V. 6.Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. I 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 shalt not covet. Romans iii. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there fhall no flesh be ju ftified in his fight: for by the law is the knowledge of fin. • James to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against fin; together with a clearer fight of the need they have of Chrift, and the perfection of his obedience . It is likewise of ufe to the regenerate, to reftrain their corruptions, in that it forbids fin; 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 law. The promifes of it, in like manner, James i. 23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man be holding his natural face in a glafs: V. 24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and ftraightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. V. 25. But whofo looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man thall be bleffed 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 underfin. V.24. O wretched man that I am! who fhall deliver me from the body of this death? m P Gal. iii. 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmafter to bring us unto Chrift, that we might be juftified by faith. Rom. vii. 24. [See before in letter °. Verfe 25. in letter ] Romans 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 flefh: V. 4. That the righteoufnefs of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. James ii. 11. For he that faid, Do not commit adultery, faid fhew alfo, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a tranfgreffor of the law. Pfalm cxix. TOF. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might 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. Ezra ix. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trefpafs, seeing 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 commandments, and join in affinity with the people of thefe abominations, wouldeft not thou be angry with us, till thou hadft confumed us, fo that there fhould be no remnant nor escaping? Pfalm lxxxix. 30. If his children forfake my law, and walk not in my judgments; V.31. Ifthey break my ftatutes, and keep not my commandments; V. 32. Then will I vifit their tranfgref fion with the rod, and their ini quity with ftripes. V. 33. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor fuffer my faithfulness to fail. V. 34. My covenant will I not break, 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: fo 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. VII. Neither are the fore-mentioned ufes of the law contrary to the grace of the gofpel, but do fweetly comply break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. [Lev. xxvi. to the 14th Verfe.] With 2 Cor. vi. 16. And what agreement hath 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 mother, (which is the firft commandment with promife;) V. 3. That it may be well with thee, and thou mayeft live long on the earth. Pfalm xxxvii. 11. But the meek fhall inherit the earth; and fhall delight themfelves in the abundance of peace. With Mat. v. 5. Bleffed are the meek: for they shall 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 Chrift; even we have believed in Jefus Chrift, that we might be justified by the faith of Chrift, and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law fhall no flesh be juftified. Luke xvii. 1o. So likewife ye, when ye fhall have done all thofe things which are commanded you, Say, We are unprofitable fervants; with we have done that which was our duty to do. Romans vi. 12. Let not fin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye fhould obey it in the lufts thereof. V. 14. For fin fhall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 1 Pet. ii. 8. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having com paffion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: V. 9. Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwife, bleffing: knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye. fhould inherit a bleffing. V. 10. For he that will love life, and fee good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they fpeak no guile: V. 11. Let him efchew evil, and do good; let him feek peace, and enfue it. V. 12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. With Pfalm xxxiv. 12. What man is he that defireth life, and loveth many days, that he may fee good? V.13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from fpeakingguile. V.14. Depart from evil, and do good; feek peace, and purfue it. V. 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are apen with it; the Spirit of Chrift fubduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God revealed in the law requireth to be done *. CHAP. XX. Of Chriftian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience. HE liberty which Chrift hath purchased for believers guilt of fin, the condemning wrath of God, the curfe of the moral law; and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of fin, from open unto their cry. V. 16. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Heb. xii. 28. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may ferve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. V. 29. For our God is a confuming fire.. VII. Gal. iii. 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteoufnefs fhould have been by the law. caufe * Ezek. xxxvi. 27. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you to walk in my ftatutes, and ye fhall keep my judgments, and do them. Heb. viii. 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Ifrael; After those days, faith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they fhall be to me a people. With Jer. xxxi. 33. But this fhall be the covenant that I will make with the houfe of Ifrael; After thofe days, faith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts and the will be their God, and they shall be my people. a I. Tit. ii. 14. Who gave himfelf for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. I Theff. i. 1o. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jefus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Gal. i. 13. Chrift 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. b'Gal. i. 4. Who gave himself for our fins, that he might deliver us from this prefent evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. Col. i. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath tranflated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Acts xxvi. 18. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgivenefs of fins, and inheritance among them which are fanctified by faith that is in me. Rom. vi. 14. For fin fhall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. < Rom the evil of afflictions, the fting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation; as alfo in their free accefs to God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of flavish fear, but a child-like love, and willing mind. All which were common alfo to believers under the law; but under the new teftament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish church was fubjected, and in greater boldness Rom. viii. 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Pfalm cxix. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy ftatutes. I Cor. xv. 54. So when this corruptible fhall have put on incorruption, and this mortal fhall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pafs the faying that is written, Death is fwallowed up in victory. V. 55. O death! where is thy fting grave! where is thy victory? V. 56. The fting of death is fin; and the ftrength of fin is the law: V. 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jefus Chrift. Rom. viii. 1. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Chrift Jefus, who walk not after the Hefh, but after the Spirit. d Rom. v. 1. Therefore, being juftified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jefus Chrift. V. 2. By whom alfo we have accefs by faith into this grace wherein we ftand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Rom. viii. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the fons of God. V. 15. For ye have not received the fpirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. John iv. 18. There is no fear in love; but perfect love cafteth out fear; because fear hath torment: he that feareth is not made perfect in love. f Gal. ii.9. So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. V. 14. That the bleffing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jefus Chrift; that we might receive the promife of the Spirit through faith. 8 Gal. iv. t. 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 so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. V. 6. And because ye are fons, God hath fent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. V. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a fervant, but a fon, and if a fon, then an heir of God through Chrift. Gal. v. 1. Stand faft, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Chrift hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Acts xv. 10. Now, therefore, why temptye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the difciples, which neither |