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| Chapter 19 - Of the Law
of God |
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1. God gave to Adam a law of
universal obedience written in his heart, and a particular precept of not
eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; by which he
bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual
obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon
the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it.
Genesis 1:27; Ecclesiastes 7:29;
Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:10, 12
2. The same law that was first
written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness
after the fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments,
and written in two tables, the four first containing our duty towards God,
and the other six, our duty to man.
Romans 2:14, 15; Deuteronomy 10:4
3. Besides this law, commonly
called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel 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 being
appointed only to the time of reformation, are, by Jesus Christ the true
Messiah and only law-giver, who was furnished with power from the Father
for that end abrogated and taken away.
Hebrews 10:1; Colossians 2:17; 1
Corinthians 5:7; Colossians 2:14, 16, 17; Ephesians 2:14, 16
4. To them also he gave sundry
judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not
obliging any now by virtue of that institution; their general equity only
being of moral use.
1 Corinthians 9:8-10
5. The moral law doth for ever
bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof,
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.
Romans 13:8-10; James 2:8, 10-12;
James 2:10, 11; Matthew 5:17-19; Romans 3:31
6. 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 duty, it
directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful
pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, 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; 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 and
unallayed rigour thereof. The promises of it likewise shew them God's approbation
of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof,
though not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works; so as 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.
Romans 6:14; Galatians 2:16; Romans
8:1; Romans 10:4; Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7, etc; Romans 6:12-14; 1 Peter
3:8-13 |