MARROW 
 
 OF 
 
 MODERN DIVINITY 
 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 THK COVENANT OF WORKS AND THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 PART II. 
 AN EXPOSITION OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 
 
 BY EDWARD FISHER, A.M. 
 
 WITH NOTES 
 BY THE REV. THOMAS BOSTON, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, ETTRICK. 
 
 A NEW EDITION. ' 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG AND SON, 73, CHEAPSIDE; 
 
 R. GRIFFIN & CO., GLASGOW; T. T. & H. TEGG, DUBLIN; 
 AND J. WHETHAM, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 1837. 
 
LONDON : 
 BALNE, FRINTKR, GRACECHIRCH-STREET. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 The Preface Page ix 
 
 The Dedication xiii 
 
 Address to the Reader xv 
 
 Introduction. — Sect. I. Difference about the law, 1. — 2. A threefold law, 2 
 
 Chap. I.— Of the Law of Works, or Covenant of Works. 
 
 Sect. I. The nature of the covenant of works, 7. — Sect. II. Adam's fall, 
 13. — Sect. III. The sinfulness and misery of mankind by the fall, 14. — 
 Sect. IV. No recover}' by the law, or covenant of works, 16. — Sect. V. 
 The covenant of works binding, though broken, 19. 
 
 Chap. II. — Of the Law of Faith, or Covenant of Grace. 
 
 Sect. I. Of the eternal purpose of grace, 20. — Sect. II. Of the promise, 
 24. — 1. The promise made to Adam, ib. — 2. The promise renewed to 
 Abraham, 29. — 3. The law, as the covenant of works, added to the pro- 
 mise, 33. — 4. The promise and covenant with Abraham, renewed with 
 the Israelites, 45. — 5. The covenant of grace under the Mosaic dis- 
 pensation, 48. — 6. The natural bias towards the covenant of works, 64. 
 — 7. The Antinomian faith rejected, 74. — 8. The evil of legalism, 78. — 
 Sect. III. Of the performance of the promise, 80. — 1. Christ's fulfilling 
 of the law in the room of the elect, 81. — 2. Believers dead to the law 
 as the covenant of works, 89. — 3. The warrant to believe in Christ, 
 106. — 4. Evangelical repentance a consequent of faith, 122. — 5. The 
 spiritual marriage with Jesus Christ, 120. — 6. Justification before faith, 
 refuted, 136. — 7. Believers freed from the commanding and condemning 
 power of the covenant of works, 138. 
 
 Chap. III.— Of the Law of Christ. 
 
 Sect. I. The nature of the law of Christ, 152. — 2. The law of the ten 
 commandments a rule of life to believers, 156. — 3. Antinomian objec- 
 tions answered, 160. — 4. The necessity of marks and signs of grace, 
 166. — 5. Antinomian objections answered, 170. — 6. Holiness and good 
 works attained to only by faith, 172.— 7. Slavish fear and servile hope 
 not the springs of true obedience, 180.— 8. The efficacy of faith for 
 holiness of heart and life, 187. — 9. Use of means for strengthening of 
 faith, 196. — 10. The distinction of the law of works, and law of Christ, 
 applied to six paradoxes, 197. — 11. The use of that distinction in prac- 
 tice, 201. — 12. That distinction a mean betwixt legalism and Antino- 
 mianism, 213. — 13. How to attain to assurance, 214. — 14. Marks and 
 evidences of true faith, 217. — 15. How to recover lost evidences, 219. 
 — 16. Marks and signs of union with Christ, 220. 
 
iv CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. IV. — Of the Heart's Happiness, or Soul's Rest. 
 
 Sect. I. No rest for the soul till it come to God, 224. — 2. How the soul 
 is kept from rest in God, 227. — 3. God in Christ the only true rest for 
 the soul, 234. 
 
 The Conclusion 240 
 
 PART H. 
 
 Dedication 245 
 
 The Author to the Reader 247 
 
 Introduction 249 
 
 Ignorant men confine the meaning of the ten commandments . . 250 
 
 The ten commandments an epitome of the law of God .... 251 
 
 Six rules for the right expounding of the ten commandments . . 251 
 
 The sum of the first commandment, &c 252 
 
 Wherein the first and second commandments differ, &c 258 
 
 Wherein the second and third commandments differ, &c 263 
 
 The difference between the third and fourth commandments, &c. . 271 
 
 The sum of the fifth commandment 274 
 
 The sum of the sixth commandment 282 
 
 The sum of the seventh commandment 285 
 
 The sum of the eighth commandment 287 
 
 The sum of the ninth commandment 290 
 
 The sum of the tenth commandment 292 
 
 The Lord requireth perfect obedience to all the ten commandments 295 
 
 All men by nature under sin, wrath, and eternal death 297 
 
 Christ hath redeemed believers from the curse of the law .... ib. 
 
 Every man's best actions are corrupted and defiled with sin . . . 300 
 
 The least sinful thought makes man liable to eternal damnation . 303 
 Though man cannot be justified by his obedience to the law, yet 
 
 shall not his obedience be in vain 305 
 
 Man is naturally apt to think he must do something towards his 
 
 own justification, and act accordingly 307 
 
 Christ requires that believers do desire and endeavour to yield 
 
 perfect obedience to all the ten commandments 311 
 
 Believers shall be rewarded for their obedience, and with what . 312 
 After what manner believers are to make confession of their sins 
 
 upon a day of humiliation 314 
 
 Why and to what end believers are to receive the sacrament of the 
 
 Lord's Supper 3Hi 
 
 The Difference Between the Law and the Gospel . 317 
 
RECOMxAIENDATIONS. 
 
 I HAVE perused this ensuing Dialogue, and find it tending to peace 
 and holiness ; the authoi* endeavouring to reconcile and heal those un- 
 happy diflFerences, which have lately broken out afresh amongst us, about 
 the points therein handled and cleared ; for which cause I allow it to be 
 printed, and recommend it to the reader, as a discourse stored with 
 many necessary and seasonable truths, confirmed by Scripture, and avowed 
 by many approved writers : all composed in a familiar, plain, moderate 
 style, without bitterness against, or uncomely reflections upon others, — 
 which flies have lately corrupted many boxes of otherwise precious 
 ointment. 
 
 May 1, 1645. Jos. Caryl. 
 
 The marrow of the second bone is like that of the first, sweet and 
 good. The commandments of God are marrow to the saints, as well as 
 the promises ; and they shall never taste the marrow of the promise who 
 distaste the commandments. This little treatise breaketh the bone, the 
 hard part of commandments by a plain exposition, that so all, even babes 
 in Christ, yea, such as are yet out of Christ, may suck out and feed upon 
 the marrow by profitable meditation. 
 
 Sept. 6, 1648. Jos. Caryl. 
 
 If thou wilt please to peruse this little book, thou shalt find great 
 worth in it. There is a line of a gracious spirit drawn through it, which 
 has fastened many precious truths together, and presented them to thy 
 view : according to the variety of men's spirits, the various ways of pre- 
 senting known truths are profitable. The grace of God has helped this 
 author in making his work. If it in like manner help thee in reading, 
 thou shalt have cause to bless God for these truths thus brought to thee, 
 and for the labours of this good man, whose ends, I believe, are very 
 sincere for God and thy good. 
 
 Jer. Burroughs. 
 
 Occasionally lighting upon the dialogue, under the approbation of 
 a learned and judicious divine, I was thereby induced to read it, and 
 afterwards, on a serious consideration of the usefulness of it, to commend 
 it to the people in my public ministry. 
 
 Two things in it especially took with me : First, The matter; the main 
 substance being distinctly to discover the nature of the two covenants, 
 upon which all the mysteries, both of the law and Gospel, depend. To 
 see the first Adam to be primus fcederatus in the one, and the second 
 Adam in the other : to distinguish righly betwixt the law standing alone 
 as a covenant, and standing in subordination to the Gospel as a servant : 
 this I assure myself to be the key which opens the hidden treasure of the 
 Gospel. As soon as God had given Luther but a glimpse hereof, he pro- 
 fesses that he seemed to be brought into paradise again, and the whole 
 face of the Scripture to be changed to him : and he looked upon every 
 truth with another eye. 
 
 Secondhj, The manner; because it is an irenicum, and tends to an ac- 
 
vi RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 commodation and a right understanding. Times of reformation have 
 always been times of division. Satan will cast out a flood after the 
 woman, as knowing that more die by the disagreement of the humours of 
 their own bodies, than by the sword ; and that, if men be once engaged, 
 they will contend, if not'for truth, yet for victory. 
 
 Now, if the difference be in things of lesser consequence, the best way 
 to quench it were silence. But if the difference be of greater concern- 
 ment than this is, the best way to decide it, is to bring in more light, 
 which this autlior has done with much evidence of Scripture, backed with 
 the authority of most modern divines. So that whosoever desires to 
 have his judgment cleared in the main controversy between us and tlis 
 Antinomians, with a small expense, either of money or time, he may 
 here receive ample satisfaction. This I testify upon request, professing 
 myself a friend both to truth and peace. 
 
 W. Strong. 
 
 This book, at first well accommodated with so valuable a testimony as 
 Mr. Caryl's, besides its better approving itself to the choicer spirits every 
 where, by the speedy distribution of the whole impression ; it might seem 
 a needless or superfluous thing to add any more to the praise thereof; 
 yet meeting with detracting language from some few, by reason of some 
 phrases, by them either not duly pondered, or not rightly understood, it 
 is thought meet, in this second impression, to relieve that worthy testi- 
 mony, which still stands to it, with fresh supplies, not for any need the 
 truth therein contained hath thereof, but because either the prejudice or 
 darkness of some men's judgments does require it. I, therefoi-e, having 
 thoroughly perused it, cannot but testify, that if I have any the least 
 judgment, or relish of truth, he that finds this book finds a good thing, 
 and not unworthy of its title ; and may account the saints to have ob- 
 tained favour witii the Lord in the ministration of it, as that which, with 
 great plainness and evidence of truth, comprises the chief if not all the 
 differences that have been lately engendered about the law. It has, I 
 must confess, not only fortified my judgment, but also warmed my heart 
 in the reading of it; as indeed inculcating, throughout the whole dia- 
 logue, the clear and familiar notion of those things by which we live, as 
 Ezek. xvi. speaks in another case ; and it appears to me to be written 
 from much experimental knowledge of Christ, and teaching of the Spirit. 
 Let all men that taste the fruit of it confess, to the glory of God, he is 
 no respecter of persons; and endeavour to know no man henceforth after 
 the flesh, nor envy the compiler thereof the honour to be accounted, as 
 God has made liim in this point a healer of breaches, and a restorer of 
 the overgrown paths of the Gospel. As for my own ])art, I am so satis- 
 fied in this testimony I lend, that I reckon whatever credit is thus pawned, 
 will be a glory to the name that stands by and avows this truth, so long 
 as the book shall endure to record it. 
 
 JosuuA Sprigge. 
 
 I HAVE, according to your desire, read over your bonk, and find it full 
 of evangelical light and life ; and I doubt not but the oftcner I read it, the 
 more true comfort I shall find in the knowledge of Christ thereby; the 
 matter is pun-, the method is apostolical, Miiercin the works of love," in the 
 right place, alter the life of faith, hv. elfeclually required. God has en- 
 dowed hit Fisher with the net of a trying understanding, and discerning 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS. vii 
 
 judgment and discretion, whereby, out of the christaline streams of the 
 well of life, you have taken a mess of the sweetest and wholesomest fish 
 that the world can afford, which, if I could daily have enough of, I should 
 not care for the flesh, or the works thereof. 
 
 Samuel Prettie. 
 
 This book came into my hand by a merciful and most unexpected 
 disposure of providence, and I read it with great and sweet complacence. 
 It contains a great deal of the marrow of revealed and Gospel truth, 
 selected from authors of great note, clearly enlightened, and of most di- 
 gested experience ; and some of them were honoured to do eminent and 
 heroical services in their day. Thus the Christian reader has the flower 
 of their labours communicated to him very briefly, yet clearly and 
 powerfully. And the manner of conveyance, being by way of amicable 
 conference, is not only fitted to afford delight to the judicious reader, but 
 lays him also at the advantage of trying, through grace, his own heart 
 the more exactly, according to what echo it gives, or how it relishes, or 
 is displeased with the several speeches of the communers. Here we 
 have the greatest depths, and most painted delusions of hell, in opposi- 
 tion to the only way of salvation, discovered with marvellous brevity and 
 evidence, and that by the concurring suffrages of burning and shining 
 lights, men of the clearest experience, and honoured of God to do emi- 
 nent service in their day, for advancing the interests of our Lord's king- 
 dom and Gospel. 
 
 The reluctance of Gospel light Kas been the choice mean blessed by the 
 Lord, for the effecting of great things, in the several periods of the 
 Church, since that light brake up in paradise, after our first sin and fall ; 
 and ever since, the balance has swayed, and will sway, according to the 
 better or worse state of matters in that important regard. When Gospel 
 light is clear, and attended with power, Satan's kingdom cannot stand 
 before it ; the prince and powers of darkness must fall as lightning from 
 heaven. And upon the contrary, according to the recessions from thence, 
 Christian churches went off, by degrees, from the only foundation, even 
 from the rock Christ, until the man of sin, the great antichrist, did mount 
 the throne. Nevertheless, while the world is wandering after the beast, 
 behold ! evangelical light breaks forth in papal darkness, and hereupon 
 antichrist's throne shakes, and is at the point of falling ; yet his wounds 
 are cured, and he recovers new strength and spirits, through a darkening 
 of the glorious Gospel, and perversion thereof, by anti-evangelical errors 
 and heresies. 
 
 That the tares of such errors are sown in the reformed churches, and by 
 men who profess reformed faith, is beyond debate ; and these, who lay to 
 heart the purity of Gospel doctrine. Such dregs of antichristianism do 
 yet remain, or are brought in amongst us. Herein the words of the apostle 
 are veiified, viz. " Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse 
 things, to draw away disciples after them :" and as this renders the 
 essays for a further diffusion of evangelical light the more necessary and 
 seasonable, so there is ground to hope, that in these ways the churches 
 of Christ will gradually get the ascendant over their eneiuies, until the 
 great antichrist shall fall, as a trophy before a Gospel dispensation. For 
 the Lord will " destroy him by the breath of his mouth, and with the 
 brightness of his coming." That this excellent and spiritual piece may 
 be blessed to the reader, is the prayer of their sincere well-wisher and 
 servant in the work of the Gospel, 
 
 Carnock, December 3, 1717. James Hog. 
 
viii RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 The Act about the " Marrow" occasioned great thoughts of heart 
 among us. I have been acquainted with that book about 18 or 19 years, 
 and many times have admired the gracious conduct of holy Providence 
 vv^hich brought it to my hand, having occasionally lighted upon it in a 
 house of the parish where I was first settled. As to any distinct uptak- 
 in^s of the doctrine of the Gospel I have, such as they are, I owe them 
 to'^that hook.— E.itract of a Letter from Mr. Boston to Mr. Hog. 
 
 I NEVER read tl)e " Marrow" with Mr. Boston's Notes, till this present 
 time 1755 ; and I find, by not having read it, I have sustained a consider- 
 able loss. It is a most valuable book ; the doctrines it contains are the 
 life of my soul, and the joy of my heart. Might my tongue or pen be 
 made instrumental to recommend and illustrate, to support and propa- 
 gate such precious truths, I should bless the day wherein I was born. Mr. 
 Boston's Notes on the " Marrow" are, in my opinion, some of the most 
 judicious and valuable that ever were penned. — Ejctract of a Letter 
 from Mr. Hervey to Mr. William Hog. 
 
 I HAVE frequently perused, with great satisfaction, the " Marrow of 
 Modern Divinity," first and second parts ; and, as far as I can judge, it 
 will be found, by those that read it, very useful for illustrating the differ- 
 ence between the law and the Gospel, and preventing them from split- 
 ting, either on the rock of legality on the one hand, or that of Antinomi- 
 anism on the other ; and, accordingly, recommend it (by desire) as a 
 book filled with precious, seasonable, and necessary truth, clearly founded 
 upon the sacred oracles. 
 
 Falkirk, December 9, 1788. John Belfrage. 
 
 It is considered necessary to add the following account of the author of 
 " The Marrow ofModern Divinity" from Wood's AtheuK Oxoniensis,vol.ii. 
 p_ i«jg. — "Edward Fisher, the eldest son of a knight, became a gentle- 
 man-commoner of Brasen-nose College, August 25, 1()27, took on his degree 
 in arts, and soon after left that house. Afterwards, being called home 
 by his relations, who were then, as I have been informed, much in debt, 
 he improved that learning which he had obtained in the university so 
 much, that he became a noted person among the learned, for his great 
 reading in ecclesiastical history, and in the fathers, and for his admirable 
 skill in the Greek and Hebrew languages. His works are, — 1. ' An Ap- 
 peal to the Conscience, as thou wilt answer it at the great and dreadful 
 day of Jesus Christ.' Oxford, Kill. Quarto.— 2. 'The Marrow of Mo- 
 dern Divinity.' 1(J4(). Octavo. — .'>. 'A Christian Caveat to Old and New 
 Sabbatarians'.' 1(>50. — 1. 'An Answer to Sixteen Queries, touching the 
 Rise and Observation of Christmas.' 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Whosoever thou art into whose hands this book shall 
 come, I presume to put thee in mind of the Divine command, 
 binding on thy conscience, Deut. i. 17 : " Ye shall not respect 
 persons in judgment ; but you shall hear the small as well as 
 the great." Reject not the book with contempt, nor with in- 
 dignation neither, when thou findest it entitled Tlie Marrow 
 of Modern Divinity, lest thou do it to thine own hurt. Re- 
 member, that our blessed Lord himself was "accounted a 
 friend of publicans and sinners," Matt. xi. 19. — "Many said 
 of him he hath a devil, and is mad ; why hear ye him ?" John 
 X. 20. The apostle Paul was slanderously reported to be an 
 Antinomian ; one who, by his doctrine, encouraged men to do 
 evil, and " make void the law," Rom. iii. 8. 31. And the first 
 martyr, in the days of the Gospel, was stoned for pretended 
 "blasphemous words against Moses and against the law," 
 Acts vi. 11. 13. 
 
 The Gospel method of sanctification, as well as of justifi- 
 cation, lies so far out of the ken of natural reason, that if all 
 the rationalists in the world, philosophers and divines, had con- 
 sulted together to lay down a plan for repairing the lost image 
 of God in man, they had never hit upon that which the Divine 
 wisdom had pitched upon : viz. that sinners should be sancti- 
 fied in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. i. 2, by faith in him. Acts xxvi. 
 18; nay, being laid before them, they would have rejected it 
 with disdain, as foohshness, 1 Cor. i. 23. 
 
 In all views which fallen man has towards the means of his 
 own recovery, the natural bent is to the way of the covenant 
 of works. This is evident in the case of the vast multitudes 
 throughout the world, embracing Judaism, Paganism, Maho- 
 nietanism, and Popery. All these agree in this one principle. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 that it is by doing men must live, though they hugely differ as 
 to the things to be done for life. 
 
 The Jews, in the time of Julian the apostate, attempted to 
 rebuild their temple, after it had lain many years in ruins, by 
 the decree of heaven never to be built again ; and ceased not? 
 till by an earthquake, which shook the old foundation and 
 turned all down to the ground, they were forced to forbear, as 
 Socrates the historian tells us. But the Jews were never more 
 addicted to that temple, than mankind naturally is to the build- 
 ing on the first covenant : and Adam's children will by no 
 means quit it, until Mount Sinai, where they desire to work 
 what they do work, be all on a fire about them. O that those 
 who have been frightened from it were not so ready to go back 
 towards it ! 
 
 Howbeit, that can never be the channel of sanctification, 
 whatsoever way men prepare it and fit it out for that purpose, 
 because it is not, by Divine appointment, the " ministration of 
 righteousness and life," 2 Cor. iii. 
 
 And hence it is always to be observed, that as the doctrine 
 of the Gospel is corrupted, to introduce a more rational sort of 
 religion, the flood of looseness and licentiousness swells propor- 
 tionably; insomuch that morality, brought in for doctrine, in 
 room and stead of the Gospel of the grace of God, never fails 
 to be, in effect, a signal for an inundation of immorality in 
 practice. A plain instance hereof is to be seen in the grand 
 apostacy from the truth and holiness of the Gospel, as exem- 
 jilified in Popery. And on the other hand, real and thorough 
 reformation in churches is always the effect of Gospel light, 
 l)reaking forth again, from under the cloud which had gone 
 over it; and hereof tlie Clmrch of Scotland, among others, 
 Jias, oftener than once, had comfortable experience. 
 
 TIk! real friends of true holiness, then, do exceedingly mis- 
 take their measures, in affording a handle, on any occasion 
 wliatsoever, for advancing the principles of legalism, for bring- 
 ing under contempt the good old way in which our fathers 
 found rest to their souls, and for removing the ancient land- 
 marks which thev set. 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 It is now above fourscore years since this book made its 
 first appearance into the world, under the title of The Marrotv 
 of Modern Divinity ^ at that time not unfitly prefixed to it ; 
 but it is too e^Jident it has outlived the fitness of that title. 
 The truth is, the divinity therein taught is now no longer the 
 modern, but the ancient divinity, as it was recovered from un- 
 derneath the Antichristian darkness ; and as it stood before the 
 tools of the late refiners on the Protestant doctrine were lifted 
 up upon it — a doctrine which, being from God, must needs 
 be according to godliness. 
 
 It was to contribute towards the preserving of this doctrine, 
 and the withstanding of its being run down, under the odious 
 name of Antinomianism, in the disadvantageous situation it 
 has in this book, whose undeserved lot it is to be every where 
 spoken against, that the following notes were written. 
 
 And herein two things chiefly have had weight : one is, lest 
 that doctrine, being put into such an ill name, should become 
 the object of the settled aversion of sober persons, and they be 
 thereby betrayed into legalism. The other is, lest in these 
 days of God's indignation so much appearing in spiritual judg- 
 ments, some taking up the principles of it, from the hand of 
 this author and ancient divines, for truths, should take the 
 sense, scope, and design of them, from (now) common fame ; 
 and so be betrayed unto real Antinomianism. 
 
 Reader, lay aside prejudices, — look and see with thine own 
 eyes, — call things by their own names, and do not reckon Anti- 
 Baxterianism or Anti-Neonomianism to be Antinomianism, 
 and thou shalt find no Antinomianism taught here ; but thou 
 wilt be perhaps surprised to find, that that tale is told of Luther 
 and other famous Protestant divines, under the borrowed name 
 of the despised Mr. Fisher, author of The Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity. 
 
 In the Notes, obsolete or ambiguous words, phrases, and 
 things are explained ; truth cleared, confirmed, and vindicated ; 
 the annotator making no scruple of declaring his dissent from 
 the author, where he saw just ground for it. 
 
 I make no question but he will be thought by some to have 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 constructed too favourably of several passages ; but, as it is 
 nothing strange that he inclines to the charitable side, the book 
 having been many years ago blessed of God to his own soul ; 
 so, if he has erred on that side, it is the safest of the two for 
 thee and me, judging of the words of another man, whose in- 
 tention, I believe, with Mr. Burroughs, to have been very sin- 
 cere for God and the reader's good. However, I am satisfied 
 he has dealt candidly in that matter, according to his light. 
 
 Be advised always to read over a lesser section of the book, 
 before reading any of the notes thereupon, that you may have 
 the more clear understanding of the whole. 
 
 I conclude this preface, in the words of two eminent pro- 
 fessors of theology, deserving our serious regard : — 
 
 " I dread mightily that a rational sort of religion is coming 
 in among us : I mean by it, a religion that consists in a bare 
 attendance on outward duties and ordinances, without the 
 power of godliness : and thence people shall fall into a way of 
 serving God, which is a mere deism, having no relation to Jesus 
 Christ and the Spirit of God."* 
 
 " I warn each one of you, and especially such as are to be 
 directors of the conscience, that you exercise yourselves in 
 study, reading, meditation, and prayer, so as you may be able 
 to instruct and comfort both your own and other's consciences 
 in the time of temptation, and to bring them back from the 
 law to grace, from the active (or working) righteousness, to 
 the passive (or received) righteousness ; in a word, from Moses 
 to Christ." t 
 
 * Memoirs of Mr. Halyburton's Life, page 199. 
 t Luth. Comment, in Epist. ad Gal. page 27. 
 
TO THE 
 
 HON. COLONEL JOHN DOWNES, 
 
 One of the Members of the Honourable House of Commons, &c. E. F. 
 wishes the true knowledge of God in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Most Honoured Sir 
 
 Although I do observe that new editions, accom- 
 panied with new additions, are sometimes published with 
 new dedications, yet so long as he who formerly owned 
 the subject does yet live, and has the same affections towards 
 it, I conceive there is no need of a new patron, but of a 
 new epistle. 
 
 Be pleased then, most honoured sir, to give me leave to 
 tell you, that your eminency of place did somewhat induce 
 me, both now and before, to make choice of you for its 
 patron ; but your endowments with grace did invite me to it, 
 God having bestowed upon you special spiritual blessings 
 in heavenly things in Christ : for it has been declared unto 
 me, by them that knew you when you were but a youth, how 
 Christ met with you then, and by sending his Spirit into your 
 heart, first convinced you of sin, as was manifest by those 
 conflicts which your soul then had both with Satan and 
 and itself, whilst you did not believe in Christ; secondly, of 
 righteousness, as was manifest by the peace and comfort 
 which you afterwards had, by believing that Christ was 
 gone to the Father, and appeared in his presence as your 
 advocate and surety that had undertaken for you; thirdly 
 of judgment, as has been manifest ever since, in that 
 you have been careful with the true godly man, Psalm 
 cxii. 5, to "guide your affairs with judgment," in walking 
 according to the mind of Christ. 
 
 I have not forgotten what desires you have expressed to 
 know the true difference between the covenant of works and 
 the covenant of grace ; and experimentally to be acquainted 
 b 
 
xir DEDICATION. 
 
 with the doctrine of free grace, the mysteries of Christ, and 
 the life of faith. Witness not only your high approving of 
 some heads of a sermon, which I once heard a godly minis- 
 ter preach, and repeated in your hearing, of the life of 
 faith ; but also your earnest request to me to write them 
 out fair, and send them to you into the country; yea, wit- 
 ness your highly approving of this dialogue, when I first 
 acquainted you with the contents thereof, encouraging me 
 to expedite it to the press, and your kind acceptance, together 
 with your cordial thanks for my love manifested in dedicating 
 it to your honourable name. 
 
 Since then, worthy sir, it has pleased the Lord to enable 
 me bo^h to amend and enlarge it, I hope your affection will 
 also be enlarged towards the matter therein contained, con- 
 sidering that it tends to the clearing of those forenamed 
 truths, and, through the blessing of God, may be a means 
 to root them more deeply in your heart. And truly, sir, I 
 am confident, the more they grow and flourish in any man's 
 heart, the more will all heart-corruptions wither and decay. 
 
 sir, if the truths contained in this Dialogue were but 
 as much in my heart, as they are in my head, I were a 
 happy man ; for then should I be more free from pride, vain 
 glory, wrath, anger, self-love, and love of the world, than I 
 am; and then should I have more humility, meekness, and 
 love, both to God and man, than I have. Oh! then should 
 
 1 be content with Christ alone, and live above all things in 
 the world ; — then sliould I experimentally know both how 
 to abound and how to want ; — and then should I be fit for 
 any comlition : nothing could come amiss to me. O that 
 the Lord would be pleased to write them in our hearts by his 
 blessed Spirit ! 
 
 Most liumbly beseeching you still to pardon my boldness, 
 and vouchsafe to take it into your patronage and protection, 
 I humbly take my leave of yon, and remain, your obliged 
 servant, to be commanded, 
 
 EDWARD IISHER. 
 
TO ALL SUCH HUMBLE-HEARTED READERS, 
 
 AS SEE ANY NEED TO LEARN EITHER TO KNOW THEMSELVES, OR 
 GOD IN CHRIST. 
 
 Loving Christians, 
 
 Consider, I pray you, that as the first Adam did, as a 
 common person, enter into covenant with God for all mankind, 
 and brake it, whereby they became sinful and guilty of ever- 
 lasting death and damnation ; even so Jesus Christ, the second 
 Adam, did, as a common person, enter into covenant with God 
 his Father, for all the elect,* that is to say, all those that have, 
 or shall believe on his name,f and for them kept it ;| whereby 
 they become righteous, and heirs of everlasting life and salva- 
 tion ;§ and therefore it is our greatest wisdom, and ought to be 
 our greatest care and endeavour, to come outjl and from the 
 iirst Adam, unto and into the second Adam ;^ that so we 
 " may have life through his name," John xx. 3L 
 
 And yet, alas ! there is no point in all practical divinity that 
 we are naturally so much averse and backward to as unto this; 
 neither does Satan strive to hinder us so much from doing any 
 thing else as this; and hence it is, that we are all of us*na- 
 turally apt to abide and continue in that sinful and miserable 
 state that the first Adam plunged us into, without either 
 taking any notice of it, or being at all affected with it, so far 
 are we from coming out of it. And if the Lord be pleased by 
 any means to open our eyes to see our misery, and we do 
 
 * " The covenant (viz. of works) being made with Adam, not only for 
 himself but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by or- 
 dinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first trans- 
 gression." Shorter Catechism, quest. 16. — " The covenant of grace was 
 made with Christ, as the second Adam, and in him, with all the elect, as 
 his seed." Larger Cat. quest. .31. 
 
 t See chap. 2. sect. 3. note.t 
 
 X Namely, by doing and dying for them, viz the elect. 
 
 § Thus the impetration or purchase of redemption, and the application 
 of it, are taught to be of the same extent ; even as Adam's representation, 
 and the ruins by his fall are : the former extending to the elect, as the 
 latter unto all mankind. 
 
 II Of. 
 
 ^ Uniting with Christ by faith. 
 
xvi TO THE READER. 
 
 thereupon begin to step out of it, yet, alas ! we are prone 
 rather to go backwards towards the first Adam's pure state,* 
 in striving and struggling to leave sin, and perform duties, and 
 do good works ; hoping thereby to make ourselves so righteous 
 and holy, that God will let us into paradise again, to eat of the 
 tree of life, and live for ever : and this we do, until we see 
 the " flaming sword at Eden's gate turning every way to keep 
 the way of the tree of life,"f Gen. iii. 24. Is it not ordinary', 
 when the Lord convinceth a man of his sin (either by means 
 of his word or his rod) to cry after this manner: O I am a 
 sinful man ! for I have lived a very wicked life, and therefore 
 surely the Lord is angry with me, and will damn me in hell I 
 O what shall I do to save my soul ? And is there not at hand 
 some ignorant, miserable comforter, ready to say. Yet do not 
 despair, man, but repent of thy sins, and ask God forgiveness, 
 and reform your life, and doubt not but he will be merciful 
 unto you ;:|: for he has promised, you know, " that at what 
 time soever a sinner repenteth him of his sins, he will forgive 
 him."§ 
 
 * That is, to the way of the covenant of works, which innocent Adam 
 was set upon. 
 
 t That is, till we be brought to despair of obtaining salvation in the 
 way of the covenant of works. Mark here the spring of legalism, namely, 
 the natural bias of man's heart towards the way of the law, as a covenant 
 of works, and ignorance of the law, in its spirituality and vast extent. 
 Rom. vii. 9 ; x. 2, 3. 
 
 X There is not one word of Jesus Christ the glorious Mediator, nor of 
 faith in his blood, in all the advice given by this casuist to the afflicted; 
 and agreeable thereto is the effect it has upon the afflicted, who takes 
 comfort to himself, without looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ at all, as 
 appears from tlie next paragraph. 
 
 Behold the Scripture pattern in such a case: Acts ii. 37, 38, " Men and 
 brethren, what shall we do ? Then Peter said unto them. Repent and be 
 baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission 
 of sins." Chap. xvi. 30, 31, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? ami 
 they said. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 And thus the Directory, title " Concerning Visitation of the Sick." " If 
 it appear that he hath not a due sense of his sins, endeavours ought to be 
 used to convince him of his sins — to make known the danger of deferring 
 repentance, and of salvation at any time otfered, to awaken the con- 
 science, and to rouse him out of a stuj)id and secure condition, to appre- 
 hend the justice and wrath of God;" — here this miserable comforter finds 
 the afflicted, and should have taught him concerning an offended God, as 
 there immediately follows — " before whom none can stand but he that, 
 being lost in himself, layeth hold upon Christ by faith." 
 
 § This sentence, taken from the English servire-l)ook, is in the " Prac- 
 tice of Piety," p. 122, cited from Ezek. xxxiii. 14, 16, and is reckoned 
 amongst these Scriptures, an ignorant mistake of which keeps back a sinner 
 
TO THE READER. xvii 
 
 And does he not hereupon comfort hiraself, and say in his 
 heart at least, O ! if the Lord will but spare my life, and 
 lengthen out my days, I will become a new man ! I am very 
 sorry that I have lived such a sinful life ; but I will never do 
 as I have done for all the world ! O I you shall see a great 
 change in me ! believe it. 
 
 And hereupon he betakes himself to a new course of life ; 
 and, it may be, becomes a zealous professor of religion, per- 
 forming all Christian exercises, both public and private, and 
 leaves off his old companions, and keeps company with reli- 
 gious men ; and so, it may be, goes on till his dying day, and 
 thinks himself sure of heaven and eternal happiness; and yet, 
 it may be, all this while is ignorant of Christ and his righteous- 
 ness, and therefore establisheth his own. 
 
 Where is the man, or where is the woman that is truly come 
 to Christ, that has not had some experience in themselves of 
 such a disposition as this ? If there be any that have reformed 
 their lives, and are become professors of religion, and have 
 not taken notice of this in themselves more, or less, I wish they 
 have gone beyond a legal professor, or one still under the 
 covenant of works. 
 
 Nay, where is the man or woman, that is truly in Christ, 
 that findeth not in themselves an aptness to withdraw their 
 hearts from Christ, and to put some confidence in their own 
 works and doings ? If there be any that do not find it, I wish 
 their hearts deceive them not. 
 
 Let me confess ingenuously, I was a professor of religion at 
 least a dozen of years before I knew any other way to eternal 
 life, than to be sorry for my sins, and ask forgiveness, and 
 strive and endeavour to fulfil the law, and keep the command- 
 ments, according as Mr. Dod and other godly men had ex- 
 pounded them; and truly, I remember I was in hope I should 
 at last attain to the perfect fulfilling of them; and, in the 
 mean time, I conceived that God would accept the will for the 
 deed; or what I could not do, Christ had done for me. 
 
 And though at last, by means of conferring with Mr. Thomas 
 Hooker in private, the Lord was pleased to convince me that 
 I was yet but a proud Pharisee, and to show me the way of 
 
 from the practice of piety. But the truth is, it is not to be found in the 
 Old or New Testament ; and therefore it was objected against, as stand- 
 ing in the service-book under the name of a " Sentence of Scripture," 
 pretended to be cited from Ezekiel xviii. 21, 22. — Reasons Showing the 
 Necessity of Reformation, &c. p. 26. 
 
xviii TO THE READER. 
 
 faith and salvation by Christ alone, and to give me, I hope, a 
 heart in some measure to embrace it ; yet, alas I through the 
 weakness of my faith, I have been, and am still apt to turn 
 aside to the covenant of works ; and therefore have not at- 
 tained to that joy and peace in believing, nor that measure of 
 love to Christ, and man for Christ's sake, as I am confident 
 many of God's saints do attain unto in the time of this life. 
 The Lord be merciful unto me, and increase my faith ! 
 
 And are there not others, though I hope but few, who be- 
 ing enlightened to see their misery, by reason of the guilt of 
 sin, though not by reason of the filth of sin, and hearing of 
 justification freely by grace, through the redemption which is 
 in Jesus Christ, do applaud and magnify that doctrine, follow- 
 ing them that do most preach and press the same, seeming to 
 be, as it were, ravished with the hearing thereof, out of a con- 
 ceit that they are by Christ freely justified from the guilt of 
 sin, though still they retain the filth of sin ?* These are they 
 that content themselves with a Gospel knowledge, with mere 
 notions in the head, but not in the heart ; glorying and rejoic- 
 ing in free grace and justification by faith alone; professing 
 faith in Christ, and yetaremot possessed of Christ ; — these are 
 they that can talk like believers, and yet do not walk like be- 
 lievers; — these are they that have language like saints, and yet 
 have conversation like devils; — these are they that are not 
 obedient to the law of Christ, and therefore are justly called 
 Antinomians. 
 
 Now, both these pathsf leading from Christ, have been 
 justly judged as erroneous; and to my knowledge, not only 
 a matter of eighteen or twenty years ago, but also within these 
 three or four years, there has been nmch ado, both by preach- 
 ing, writing, and disputing, both to reduce men out of them, 
 and to keep them from them; and hot contentions have been 
 on both sides, and all I fear, to little purpose : for has not the 
 strict professor according to the law, whilst he has striven to 
 reduce the loose professor according to the Gospel out of the 
 Antinomian path, entangled both himself and others the faster 
 
 * Mark here the sprinj^ of Antinomianism; namely, the \vant of a 
 sound conviction of tiie odiousness and lillhiness of sin, renJerTnp the 
 soul loathsome and ahoininahli' in the sight of a holy God. Hence, as 
 tlie sinner sees not his need of, so neither will he receive and rest on 
 Christ for all his salvation, l)ut will <ro about to halve it, grasping at his 
 justifying blood, neglecting his sanctifying Spirit, and so falls short of ail 
 part or lot in that matter. 
 
 t Namely, legalism and Antinomi^^nism. 
 
TO THE READER. xix 
 
 in the yoke of bondage? Galatians v. 1. And has not the 
 loose professor according to the Gospel, whilst he has striven 
 to reduce the strict professor according to the law out of the 
 legal path, " by promising liberty from the law, taught others, 
 and been himself the servant of corruption ?" 2 Peter ii. 19. 
 
 For this cause I, though I be nothing, have by the grace of 
 God endeavoured, in this Dialogue, to walk as a middle man 
 betwixt them both, in showing to each of them his erroneous 
 path, with the middle path (which is Jesus Christ received 
 truly, and walked in answerably)* as a means to bring them 
 both unto him, and make them both one in him ; and O ! that 
 the Lord would be pleased so to bless it to them, that it might 
 be a means to produce that effect! 
 
 I have, as you may see, gathered much of it out of known 
 and approved authors ; and yet have therein wronged no man ; 
 for I have restored it to the right owner again. Some part of 
 it my manuscripts have afforded me ; and of the rest I hope I 
 may say, as Jacob did of his venison. Gen. xxvii. 20, "the 
 Lord hath brought it unto me." Let me speak it without 
 vain glory, I have endeavoured herein to imitate the laborious 
 bee, who out of divers flowers gathers honey and wax, and 
 thereof makes one comb: if any souls feel any sweetness in it, 
 let them praise God, and pray for me, who am weak in faith, 
 and cold in love. 
 
 EDWARD FISHER. 
 
 * A short and pithy description of the middle path, the only pathway 
 to heaven — "Jesus Christ (the way, John xiv. 6.) received truly (by 
 faith, John i. 12 ; this is overlooked by the legalist) and walked in an- 
 swerably," by holiness of heart and life, Col. ii. 6 ; this is neglected by 
 the Antinomian. The Antinomian's faith is but pretended, and not 
 true faith, since he walks not in Christ answerably. The legalist's holi- 
 ness is but pretended, and not true holiness, since he hath not " received 
 Christ" trul3% and therefore is incapable of walking in Christ, which is the 
 only true holiness competent to fallen mankind. Thus, both the legalist 
 and Antinomian are each of them destitute of true faith and true holi- 
 ness ; forasmuch as there can be no walking in Christ, without a true 
 receiving of him ; and there cannot be a true receiving of him without 
 walking jn him : so both of them are off the only way of salvation, and, 
 continuing so, must needs perish. Wherefore it concerns every one 
 who has a value for his own soul, to take heed that he be found in the 
 middle path. 
 
A Catalogue of those Writer's' Names, out of whom I have collected 
 much of the matter contained in this ensuing Dialogue. 
 
 Mr. Ainsworth 
 
 Mr. Thos. Hooker 
 
 Dr. Ames 
 
 Mr. Laestanno 
 
 Bishop Babington 
 
 Mr. Lightfoot 
 
 Mr. Ball 
 
 Dr. Luther 
 
 Mr. Bastingius 
 
 Mr. Marbeck 
 
 Mr. Beza 
 
 Mr. Marshal 
 
 Mr. Robert Bolton 
 
 Peter Martyr 
 
 Mr. Samuel Bolton 
 
 Dr. Mayer' 
 
 Mr. Bradford 
 
 Wolfangius Musculus 
 
 Mr. Bullinger 
 
 Bernardine Ochin 
 
 Mr. Calvin 
 
 Dr. Pemble 
 
 Mr. Careless 
 
 Mr. Perkins 
 
 Mr. Caryl 
 
 Mr. Polanus 
 
 Mr. Cornwall 
 
 Dr. Preston 
 
 Mr. Cotton 
 
 Mr. Reynold 
 
 Mr. Culverwell 
 
 Mr. Bollock 
 
 Mr. Dent 
 
 Mr. Rouse 
 
 Mr. Diodate 
 
 Dr. Sibs 
 
 Mr. D. Dixon 
 
 Mr. Slater 
 
 Mr. Downhani 
 
 Dr. Smith 
 
 Mr. Du Plesse 
 
 Mr. Stock 
 
 Mr. Dyke 
 
 Mr. Tindal 
 
 Mr. Elton 
 
 Mr. Robert Town 
 
 Mr. Forbes 
 
 Mr. Vaughan 
 
 Mr. Fox 
 
 Mr. Vaumeth 
 
 Mr. Frith 
 
 Dr. Urban Regius 
 
 Mr. Gibbons 
 
 Dr. Ursinus 
 
 Mr. Thos. Godwin 
 
 Mr. Walker 
 
 Mr. Gray, jun. 
 
 Mr. Ward 
 
 Mr. Greenhnm 
 
 Dr. Willet 
 
 Mr. Grotius 
 
 Dr. Williams 
 
 Bishop Hall 
 
 Mr. Wilson 
 
THE 
 
 MARROW 
 
 OF 
 
 MODERN DIVINITY. 
 
 EvANGELiSTA, a Minister of the Gospel. 
 NoMiSTA, a Legalist. 
 Antinomista, an Antinomian. 
 Neophitus, a Young Christian. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Sect. 1. Differences about the Law. — 2. A threefold Law. 
 
 Nomista. Sir, my neighbour, Neophitus, and I having lately 
 had some conference with this our friend and acquaintance, 
 Antinomista, about some points of religion, wherein he, dif- 
 fering from us both, at last said, he would be contented to be 
 judged, by our minister : therefore, have we made bold to come 
 unto you, all three of us, to pray you to hear us, and judge of 
 our differences. 
 
 Evan. You are all of you very welcome to me ; and if you 
 please to let me hear what your differences are, I will tell you 
 what I think. 
 
 Sect. I . — Nom. The truth is, sir, he and I differ in very many 
 things; but more especially ahout the law: for I say, the law 
 ought to be a rule of life to a believer ; and he says, it ought not. 
 
 Neo. And surely, sir, the greatest difference betwixt him 
 and me, is this ; — he would persuade me to believe in Christ ; 
 and bids me rejoice in the Lord, and live merrily, though I 
 feel never so many corruptions in my heart, yea, though I be 
 never so sinful in my life ; the which I cannot do, nor, I think, 
 ought to do ; but rather to fear, and sorrow, and lament for 
 my sins. 
 
 £ 
 
2 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Ant. The truth is, sir, the greatest difference betwixt my 
 friend, Nomista, and I, is about the law ; and therefore that is 
 the greatest matter we come to you about. 
 
 Bvan. I remember the Apostle Paul vvilleth Titus to " avoid 
 contentions and strivings about the law, because they are un- 
 profitable and vain," Tit. iii. 9 ; and so I fear yours have been, 
 
 Nom. Sir, for my own part, I hold it very meet, that every 
 tru% Christian should be very zealous for the holy law of God ; 
 especially now^, when a company of these Antinomians do set 
 themselves against it, and do w'hat they can quite to abolish it, 
 and utterly to root it out of the church : surely, sir, I think 
 it not meet they should live in a Christian commonwealth. 
 
 Evan. I pray you, neighbour Nomista, be not so hot, neither 
 let us have such unchristian-like expressions amongst us ; but 
 let us reason together in love, and with the spirit of meekness, 
 1 Cor. iv. 21, as Christians ought to do. I confess with the 
 apostle, " It is good to be zealously affected always in a good 
 thing," Gal. iv. 18. But yet, as the same apostle said of the 
 Jews, so I fear I may say of some Christians, that " they are 
 zealous of the law," Acts xxi. 20 ; yea, some would be doctors 
 of the law, and yet neither understand " what they say, nor 
 whereof they affirm," 1 Tim. i. 7." 
 
 Nom. Sir, I make no doubt but that I both know what I say, 
 and whereof I affirm, when I say and affirm that the holy law 
 of God ought to be a rule of life to a believer ; for I dare 
 pawn my soul on the truth of it. 
 
 Evan. But what law do you mean ? 
 
 Nom. Why, sir, what law do you think I mean ? Are there 
 any more laws than one ? 
 
 Sect. 2. — Evan. Yea, in the Scriptures there is mention made 
 of divers laws, but they may all be comprised under these 
 three, viz. — the law of works, the law of faith, and the law of 
 Christ ;* llom. iii. 27, Gal. vi. 2 ; and, therefore, I pray you, 
 
 * These terms are scriptural, as appears from the whole texts quoted 
 by our author, namely, Kom. iii. 27, " Where is boasting then ? it is ex- 
 cluded. By what law ? of works ? nay :' but by the law of faith." — Gal. 
 vi. 2, " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." By 
 the law of works is meant the law of tlie ten commandments, as the co- 
 venant of works. By the law of faith, the gospel, or covenant of grace ; 
 for justification being the point upon which tiie apostle there states the 
 opposition betwixt these two laws, it is evident that the former only is the 
 law that doth not exclude boasting ; and that the latter only is it, by 
 which a sinner is justified in a way that doth exclude boasting. By the 
 
Introd. MODERN DIVINITY. 3 
 
 tell me, when you say the law ought to be a rule of life to a 
 believer, which of these three laws you mean. 
 
 Nom. Sir, I know not the difference betwixt them; but 
 this I know, that the law of the ten commandments, com- 
 monly called the moral law, ought to be a rule of life to a 
 believer. 
 
 law of Christ, is meant the same law of the ten commandments, as a rule 
 of life, in the hand of a Mediator, to believers already justified, and not 
 any one command of the law only ; for " bearing one another's burdens" 
 is a " fulfilling of the law of Christ," as it is a loving one another : but, 
 according to the Scripture, that love is not a fulfilling of one command 
 only, but of the whole law of the ten commands, Rom. xiii. 8 — 10. — " He 
 that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not com- 
 mit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear 
 false witness, thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other command- 
 ment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love 
 thy neighbour as thyself; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." It 
 is a fulfilling of the second table directly, and of the first table indirectly 
 and consequentially : therefore, by the law of Christ is meant, not one 
 command only, but the whole law. 
 
 The law of works is the law to be done, that one may be saved ; the 
 law of faith is the law to be believed, that one may be saved ; the law of 
 Christ is the law of the Saviour, binding his saved people to all the duties 
 of obedience, Gal. iii. 12 ; Acts xvi. 31. 
 
 The term law is not here used univocally ; for the law of faith is neither 
 in the Scripture sense, nor in the sense of our author, a law, properly so 
 called. The apostle uses that phrase only in imitation of the Jews' man- 
 ner of speaking, who had the law continually in their mouths. But since 
 the promise of the gospel proposed to faith, is called in Scripture *' the 
 law of faith," our author was sufiiciently warranted to call it so too. So 
 the law of faith is not a proper preceptive law. 
 
 The law of works, and the law of Christ, are in substance but one law,/ 
 even the law of the ten commandments — the moral law — that law AvhicW 
 was from the beginning, continuing still the same in its own nature, but| 
 vested with different forms. And since that law is perfect, and sin is 
 any want of conformity unto, or transgression of it, whatever form it be 
 vested with, whether as the law of works or as the law of Christ, all com- 
 mands of God unto men must needs be comprehended under it, and par- 
 ticularly the command to repent, common to all mankind, pagans not ex- 
 cepted, who doubtless are obliged, as well as others, to turn from sin unto 
 God ; as also the command to believe in Christ, binding all to whom the 
 gospel revelation comes, though, in the meantime, this law stands under 
 different forms to those who are in a state of union with Christ by faith, 
 and to those who are not so. The law of Christ is not a new, proper, pre-f 
 ceptive law, but the old, proper, preceptive law, which was from the be-/ 
 ginning, under a new accidental form. 
 
 The distinction between the law of works and the law of faith cannot 
 be controverted, since the apostle doth so clearly distinguish them, Rom. 
 iii. 27. 
 
 The distinction between the law of works and the law of Christ, as 
 above explained according to the Scriptures, and the mind of cur author, 
 is the same in effect with that of the law, as a covenant of works, and as 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE MARROW OF Part 1 
 
 Evan. But the law of the ten commandments, or moral law 
 may be either said to be the matter of the law of works, or the 
 matter of the law of Christ : and therefore I pray you tell me, 
 in whether of these senses you conceive it ought to be a rule 
 of life to a believer ? 
 
 Nom. Sir, I must confess, I do not know what you mean 
 
 a rule of life to believers, and ought to be admitted, (Westni. Confess, 
 chap. 19, art. 6.) For, (1.) Believers are not under, but dead to the law 
 of works, Rom. vi. 14, " For ye are not under the law, but under grace." 
 — Chap. vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the 
 law, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised 
 from the dead." — 1 Cor. ix. 21. "Being not without law to God, but under 
 the law of Christ." Some copies read here " of God," and "of Christ;" 
 which I mention, not out of any regard to that different reading, but that 
 upon the occasion thereof the sense is owned by the learned to be the 
 same either way. To be under the law to God is, without question, to 
 be under the law of God; whatever it may be judged to import more, it 
 can import no less ; therefore to be under the law to Christ, is to be under 
 the law of Christ. This text gives a plain and decisive answer to the 
 question, " How the believer is under the law of God ?" namely, as he is 
 under the law to Christ. (2.) The law of Christ is an " easy yoke," and 
 a " light burden," Matt. xi. 30 ; but the law of works, to a sinner, is an 
 insupportable burden, requiring works as the condition of justification 
 and acceptance with God, as is clear from the whole of the apostle's 
 reasoning, Rom. iii. (and therefore it is called the law of works, for other- 
 wise the law of Christ requires works too,) and cursing " every one that 
 continues not in all things written in it to do them," Gal. iii. 10. The 
 apostle assures us, that " what things soever the law saith, it saith to them 
 who are under the law," Rom. iii. 19. The duties of the law of works, 
 as such, are, as I conceive, called by our Lord himself, " heavy burdens, 
 and grievous to be borne," Matt, xxiii. 4. — " For they," viz. the Scribes 
 and Pharisees, " bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay 
 them on men's shoulders ; but they themselves will not move them with 
 one of their fingers." These heavy burdens were not human traditions, 
 and rites devised by men ; for Christ would not have commanded the 
 observing and doing of these, as in this case he did, verse 3, " Whatsoever 
 they bid you observe, that observe and do ;" neither were they the Mo- 
 saic rites and ceremonies, which were not then abrogated, for the Scribes 
 and Pharisees were so far from not moving these burdens with one of 
 their own fingers, that the whole of their religion was confined to them, 
 namely to the rites and ceremonies of Moses' law, and those of their own 
 devising. But the duties of the moral law they laid on others, binding 
 them on with the tie of the law of works, yet made no conscience of them 
 in their own practice : the which duties, nevertheless, our Lord Jesus 
 commanded to l)e observed and done. 
 
 I " He who hath believed on Jesus Christ, (though he be freed from the 
 curse of the law,) is not freed from the command and obedience of the 
 law, but tied ihereiitito by a ueu- oblia:ation, and a new command from 
 Christ. Which new command from Christ importeth help to obey the 
 command.'— Practical Use of Saving Knowledge, title, The Third War- 
 rant to Believe, fig. 5. 
 
Introd. MODERN DIVINITY. 5 
 
 by this distinction ; but this I know, that God requires that 
 every Christian should frame and lead his life according to 
 the ten commandments ; the which if he do, then may he ex- 
 pect the blessing of God both upon his own soul and body ; 
 and if he do not, then can he expect nothing else but his wrath 
 and curse upon them both. 
 
 Evan. The truth is, Nomista, the law of the ten command- 
 ments, as it is the matter of the law of works, ought not to be 
 a rule of life to a believer. But in thus saying, you have 
 affirmed that it ought ; and therefore therein you have erred 
 from the truth. And now, Antinomista, that I may also know 
 your judgment, when you say the law ought not to be a rule 
 of life to a believer, pray tell me what law you mean ? 
 
 Ant. Why, I mean the law of the ten commandments. 
 
 Evan. But whether do you mean that law, as it is the 
 matter of the law of works, or as it is the matter of the law of 
 Christ? 
 
 Ant. Surely, sir, I do conceive, that the ten commandments 
 
 What this distinction amounts to is, that thereby a difference is con- 
 stituted betwixt the ten commandments as coming from an absolute God 
 out of Christ unto sinners, and the same ten commandments as coming 
 from God in Christ unto them ; a difference which the children of God, 
 assisting their consciences before him to " receive the law at his mouth," 
 will value as their life, however they disagree about it in words and man- 
 ner of expression. But that the original indispensable obligation of the 
 law of the ten commandments is in any measure weakened by the be- 
 liever's taking it as the law of Christ, and not as the law of works ; or 
 that the sovereign authority of God the Creator, which is inseparable 
 from it for the ages of eternity, in what channel soever it be conveyed 
 unto men, is thereby laid aside, — will appear utterly groundless, upon an 
 impartial consideration of the matter. For is not our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 equally with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jehovah, the Sovereign, 
 Supreme, Most High God, Creator of the world } Isa. xlvii. 4 ; Jer. xxiii. 
 6; with Psalm Ixxxiii. 18; John i. 3; Rev. iii. 14. Is not the name (or 
 sovereign authority) of God in Christ? Exod. xxiii. 21. Is not he in the 
 Father, and the Father in him? John xiv. 11. Nay, doth not all the 
 fulness of the Godhead dwell in him ? Col. ii. 9. How, then, can the 
 original obligation of the law of the ten commandments, arising from the 
 authority of the Creator, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be weakened by 
 its being issued unto the believer from and by that blessed channel, the/ 
 Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 
 As for the distinction betwixt the law of faith and the law of Christ, 
 the latter is subordinated unto the former. All men by nature are under 
 the law of works; but taking the benefit of the law of faith, by belie\ing 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are set free from the law of works, and 
 brought under the law of Christ. — Matt. xi. 28, 29, " Come unto me, all 
 ye that labour and are heavy laden — take my yoke upon you." 
 
6 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 are no way to be a rule of life to a believer ; for Christ hath 
 delivered him from them. 
 
 Evan. But the truth is, the law of the ten commandments, 
 as it is the matter of the law of Christ, ought to be a rule of 
 life to a believer;* and therefore you having affirmed the con- 
 trary, have therein also erred from the truth. 
 
 * The law of the ten commandments, being the natural law, was writ- 
 ten on Adam's heart on his creation ; while as yet it was neither the law 
 of works, nor the law of Christ, in the sense wherein these terms are 
 used in Scripture, and by our author. But after man was created, and 
 put into the garden, this natural law, having made man liable to fall away 
 from God, a threatening of eternal death in case of disobedience, had also 
 a promise of eternal life annexed to it in case of obedience ; in virtue of 
 which he, having done his work, might thereupon plead and demand the 
 reward of eternal life. Thus it became the law of works, whereof the 
 ten commandments were, and are still the matter. All mankind being 
 ruined by the breach of this law, Jesus Christ obeys and dies in the room - 
 of the elect, that they might be saved ; they being united to him by faith, 
 are, through his obedience and satisfaction imputed to them, freed from 
 eternal death, and become heirs of everlasting life ; so that the law of 
 works being fully satisfied, expires as to them, as it would have done of 
 course in the case of Adam's having stood the time of his trial : howbeit it 
 ■remains in full force as to unbelievers. But the natural law of the ten 
 'commandments (which can never expire or determine, but is obligatory 
 kn all possible states of the creature, in earth, heaven, or hell) is, from 
 [the moment the law of works expires as to believers, issued forth to them 
 ((still liable to infirmities, though not to falling away like Adam) in the 
 'channel of the covenant of grace, bearing a promise of help to obey, 
 (Ezek. xxxvi. 27,) and, agreeable to their state before the Lord, having 
 innexed to it a promise of the tokens of God's fatherly love, for the sake 
 of Christ, in case of that obedience ; and a threatening of God's fatherly 
 pleasure in case of their disobedience. John xiv. 21, " He that hath my 
 commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and he that 
 loveth me, shall be loved of my Father ; and I will love liim, and will 
 Imanifest myself to him." — Psalm Ixxxix. 31 — 33, "If they break my sta- 
 tutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their trans- 
 Igression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my 
 loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithful- 
 ness to fail." Thus it becomes the law of Christ to them ; of which law 
 also the same ten commandments are likewise the matter. In the threat-ii 
 enings of this law there is no revenging wrath ; and in the promises of in 
 no proper conditionally of works ; but here is the order in the covenann 
 of grace, to which the law of Christ belongs ; a beautiful order of grace/ 
 ohedience, particular favours, and chastisements for disobedience. Thus 
 the ten commandments stand, both in the law of words and in the law of 
 Christ at the same time, being the common matter of both ; but as they 
 are the matter of (/. e. stand in) the law of works, they are actually a 
 part of the hiw of works ; howbeit, as they are the matter of, or stand in, 
 the law of Christ, they are actually a part, not of the law of works, but 
 of the law of Christ. And as they stand in the law of Chri.st, our author 
 expressly asserts, against the Antinomian, that they ought to be a rule of 
 
Chap. 1. MODERN DIVINITY. 7 
 
 Nom. The truth is, sir, I must confess, I never took any 
 notice of this threefold law, which, it seems, is mentioned in 
 the New Testament. 
 
 Ant. And I must confess, if I took any notice of them, I 
 never understood them. 
 
 Evan. Well, give me leave to tell you, that so far as any 
 man comes short of the true knowledge of this threefold law,* 
 so far he comes short both of the true knowledge of God and 
 of himself; and therefore I wish you both to consider of it. 
 
 Nom. Sir, if it be so, you may do well to be a means to in- 
 form us, and help us to the true knowledge of this threefold 
 law ; and therefore, I pray you, first tell us what is meant by 
 the law of works. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF THE LAW, OR COVENANT OF WORKS. 
 
 Sect. 1. The Nature of the Covenant of Works.— 2. Adam's Fall.— 3. The 
 Sinfulness and Misery of Mankind by the Fall. — 4. No Recovery by 
 the Law, or Covenant of Works. — 5. The Covenant of Works binding, 
 though broken. 
 
 Sect. 1. — Evan. The law of works, opposed to the law of 
 faith, (Rom. iii. 27,) holds forth as much as the covenant of 
 works ; for it is manifest, says Musculus, that the word which 
 significes covenant, or bargain, is put for law : so that you see 
 the law of works is as much as to say, the covenant of works ; 
 the which covenant the Lord made with all mankind in Adam 
 before his fall ; the sum whereof was, " Do this, and thou 
 shalt live," Lev. xviii. 5 ; " and if thou do it not, thou shalt 
 die the death," Gen. ii. 17. In which covenant there was 
 contained, first, a precept, *' Do this ;" secondly a promise 
 joined unto it, " If thou do it thou shalt live ;" thirdly, a like 
 
 life to a believer ; but that they ought to be a rule of life to a believer, 
 as they stand in the law of works, he justly denies, against the legalist. 
 Even as when one and the same crime stands forbidden in the laws of 
 different independent kingdoms, it is manifest that the rule of life to the 
 subjects in that particular is the prohibition, as it stands in the law of 
 that kingdom whereof they are subjects respectively, and not as it stands 
 in the law of that kingdom of which they are not subjects. 
 
 * Not of the terms here used to express it by, but of the things thereby 
 meant, viz. the covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and the law as 
 a rule of life to believers, in whatever terms these things be expressed. 
 
8 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 threatening, " If thou do it not, thou shalt die the death." 
 Imagine, says Musculus, that God had said to Adam, Lo, to 
 the intent that thou mayest live, I have given thee liberty to 
 eat, and have given thee abundantly to eat : let all the fruits 
 of paradise be in thy power, one tree excepted, which see thou 
 touch not, for that I keep to mine own authority : the same is 
 " the tree of knowledge of good and evil ;" if thou touch it, 
 the meat thereof shall not be life, but death. 
 
 Norn. But, sir, you said, that the law of the ten command- 
 ments, or moral law, may be said to be the matter of the law 
 of works ; and you have also said, that the law of works is as 
 much as to say the covenant of works, whereby it seems to me, 
 you hold that the law of the ten commandments, was the mat- 
 ter of the covenant of works, which God made with all man- 
 kind in Adam before his fall. 
 
 Evan. That is a truth agreed upon by all authors and in- 
 terpreters that I know. And indeed the law of works (as a 
 learned author says,) signifies the moral law ; and the moral 
 law, strictly and properly taken, signifies the covenant of works.* 
 
 * The moral law is an ambiguous term among divines. (1.) The 
 moral law is taken from the decalogue, or ten commandments, simply. 
 So the law in the ten commandments is owned to be commonly called the 
 moral law, Westm. Confess, chap. xix. art. 2, 3. And thus our author 
 has hitherto used that term, reckoning the moral law not the covenant of 
 works itself, but only the matter of it. (2.) The moral law is taken for 
 the ten commandments, having the promise of life, and threatening of 
 death annexed to them; that is for the law, or covenant of works. Thus 
 the moral law is described to be, " The declaration of the will of God to 
 mankind, directing and binding every one to personal, perfect, and per- 
 petual conformity and obedience thereunto, in the frame and disposition 
 of the whole man, soul and body, and in performance of all these duties 
 of holiness and righteousness, wiiich he oweth to God and man, promising 
 life upon the fulfilling, and threatening death upon the breach of it." 
 Larger Catech. Quest. 93. That this is the covenant of works, is clear 
 from Westm. Confess, chap. xix. art. 1, " God gave to Adam a law, as a 
 covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to per- 
 sonal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience ; promised life upon the 
 fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it." And this our 
 author owns to be the sense of that tef m, strictly and properly taken ; 
 the reason whereof I conceive to be, that the moral law, properly signi- 
 fying the law of manners, answers to the Scripture term, the law of 
 worl<s, bv which is meant the covenant of works. And if he had added, 
 that in this sense believers are delivered from it, he had said no more 
 than the Larger Catechism doth, in these words : *' They that are rege- 
 nerate, and believe in Christ, be delivered from the moral law as a covenant 
 of works," Quest. 97. But, in the meantime, it is evident he does not 
 here use that term in this sense ; and in the next paragraph, save one, 
 he gives a reason why he did not so use it. 
 
Chap. 1. MODERN DIVINITY. 9 
 
 Norn. But, sir, what is the reason you call it but the matter 
 of the covenant of works ? 
 
 Evan. The reason why I rather choose to call the law of 
 the ten commandments the matter of the covenant of works, 
 than the covenant itself, is, because I conceive that the matter 
 of it cannot properly be called the covenant of works, except 
 the form be put upon it ; that is to say, except the Lord re- 
 quire, and man undertake to yield perfect obedience thereunto, 
 upon condition of eternal life and death. 
 
 And therefore, till then, it was not a covenant of works be- 
 twixt God and all mankind in Adam ; as, for example, you 
 know, that although a servant* have an ability to do a mas- 
 ter's work ; and though a master have wages to bestow upon 
 him for it, yet is there not a covenant betwixt them till they 
 have thereupon agreed. Even so, though a man at the first 
 had power to yield perfect and perpetual obedience to all the 
 ten commandments, and God had an eternal life to bestow upon 
 him ; yet was there not a covenant betwixt them till they were 
 thereupon agreed. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, you know there is no mention made in the 
 book of Genesis of this covenant of works, which, you say, 
 was made with man at first. 
 
 Evan. Though we read not the word " covenant " betwixt 
 God and man, yet have we there recorded what may amount 
 to as mudh ; for God provided and promised to Adam eternal 
 happiness, and called for perfect obedience ; which appears 
 from God's threatening, Gen. ii. 17; for if man must die if 
 he disobeyed, it implies strongly, that God's covenant was with 
 him for life, if he obeyed. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, you know the word '' covenant" signifies a 
 mutual promise, bargain, and obligation betwixt two parties. 
 Now, though it is impHed that God promised man to give him 
 life if he obeyed, yet we read not, that man promised to be 
 obedient. 
 
 Evan. I pray take notice, that God does not always tie 
 man to verbal expressions, but doth often contract the cove- 
 
 * Not a hired servant, for there is a covenant betwixt such an one and 
 the master, but a bond-servant, bought with money, of another person, 
 or born in the master's house, who is obHged to serve his master, and is- 
 liable to punishment in case he do not, but cannot demand wages, since 
 there is no covenant between them. 
 
 This was the case of mankind, with relation to the Creator, before 
 the covenant of works was made. 
 
 B 3 
 

 10 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 nant in real impressions in the heart and frame of the crea- 
 ture,* and this was the manner of covenanting with man at 
 the first ;f for God had furnished his soul with an understand- 
 ing mind, whereby he might discern good from evil, and right 
 '.U from wrong : and not only so, but also in his will was most 
 great uprightness, Eccl. vii. 29 ; and his instrujiientalparts;}: 
 were orderly framed to obedience. The "truth is, Cod did 
 engrave in man's soul wisdom and knowledge of his will and 
 works, and integrity in the whole soul, and such a fitness in 
 all the powers thereof, that neither the mind did conceive, nor 
 the heart desire, nor the body put in execution, any thing but 
 that whicli m as acceptable to God ; so that man, endued with 
 these qualities, was able to serve God perfectly. 
 
 Norn. But, sir, how could the law of the ten commandments 
 be the matter of this covenant of works, when they were not 
 written, as you know, tUl the time of Moses ? 
 
 Evan. Though they were not written in tables of stone until 
 the time of Moses, yet were they written in the tables of man's 
 heart in the time of Adam : for we read that man was created 
 in the image or likeness of God, Gen. i. 27. And the ten 
 commandments are a doctrine agreeing with the eternal wis- 
 dom and justice that is in God ; wherein he hath so painted 
 out his own nature, that it does in a manner express the very 
 image of God, Col. iii. 10. And does not the Apostle say, 
 (Eph. iv. 24.) that the image of God consists in knowledge, 
 righteousness, and true holiness. And is not knowledge, 
 righteousness, and true holiness, the perfection of both the 
 tables of the law ? And indeed, says Mr. Rollock, it could 
 not well stand with the justice of God, to make a covenant 
 with man, under tlie condition of holy and good works, and 
 perfect obedience to his law, except he had first created man 
 holy and })ure, and engraven his law in his heart, whence 
 those good works should proceed. 
 
 * The soul approving, embracing, and consenting to the covenant ; 
 which, without any more, is phiin hinguage, though not unto men, yet 
 unto God, who knowcth the heart, 
 
 t Tlie covenant being revealed to man created after God's own image, 
 he could not but perceive tlie equity and benefit of it ; and so heartily 
 approve, embrace, accept, and consent to it. And this accepting is plainly 
 intimated in Eve's words to the serpent, Gen. iii. 2, .i, " We may eat of 
 the fruit of the trees of the garden ; but of the fruit of the tree which is 
 in tlie midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither 
 bliall y(^ touch it, lest ye die." 
 
 X Executive fax;ulties and powers, whereby the good known and willed 
 was to be done. 
 
Chap. 1. MODERN DIVINITY. U 
 
 Norn. But yet I cannot but marvel that God, in making the 
 covenant with man, did make mention of no other command- 
 ment than that of the forbidden fruit. 
 
 Evan. Do not marvel at it : for by that one species of sin 
 the whole genus or kind is shown ; as the same law, being 
 more clearly unfolded, doth express, Deut. xxviii. 26 ; Gal. iii. 
 10. And, indeed, in that one commandment the whole wor- 
 ship of God did consist ; as obedience, honour, love, confi- 
 dence, and religious fear ; together with the outward abstinence 
 from sin, and reverend respect to the voice of God; yea, 
 herein also consisted his love, and so his whole duty to his 
 neighbour ;* so that, as a learned writer says, Adam heard as 
 much (of the law) in the garden, as Israel did at Sinai ; but 
 only in fewer words, and without thunder. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, ought not man to have yielded perfect obe- 
 dience to God, though this covenant had not been made be- 
 twixt them ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed ; perfect and perpetual obedience was 
 due from man unto God, though God had made no promise 
 to man ; for when God created man at first, he put forth an 
 excellency froni himself into him ; and therefore it was the 
 bond and tie that lay upon man to return that again unto 
 God ;-}- so that man being God's creature, by the law of crea-r 
 tion, he owed all obedience and subjection to God his creator) 
 
 Nom. Why, then, was it needful that the Lord should make 
 a covenant with him, by promising him life, and threatening 
 him with death ? 
 
 Evan. For answer hereunto, in the^r*^ place, I pray you 
 understand, that man was a reasonable creature ; and so, out 
 of judgment, discretion, and election, able to make choice of ^ 
 his way, and therefore it was meet there should be such a co- 
 venant made with him, that he might, according to God's ap- 
 pointment, serve him after a reasonable manner. Secondly^ 
 It was meet there should be such a covenant made with him, 
 
 * That one commandment was in effect a summary of the whole duty 
 of man, the which clearly appears, if one considers that the breach of it 
 was a transgressing of all the ten commandments at once, as our author 
 afterwards distinctly shows. 
 
 f God having given man a being after his own image, a glorious ex- 
 cellenc)'-, it was bis natural duty to make suitable returns thereof unto 
 the giver, in a way of duty, being, and acting for him ; even as the waters, 
 which originally are from the sea, do in brooks and rivers return to the 
 sea again. Man, being of God as his first cause, behoved to be to him as 
 his chief and ultimate end, Rom. xi. 36. 
 
12 THE MARROW OF Part L 
 
 to show that he was not such a prince on earth, but that he 
 had a sovereign Lord : therefore, God set a punishment upon 
 the breach of his commandment ;* that man might know his 
 inferiority, and that things betwixt him and God were not as 
 betwixt equals. Thirdly, It was meet there should be such a 
 covenant made with him, to show that he had nothing by per- 
 sonal, immediate, and underived right, but all by gift and 
 gentleness : so that you see it was an equal covenant,f which 
 God, out of his prerogative-royal, made with mankind in Adam 
 before his fall. 
 
 Nom. Well, sir, I do perceive that Adam and all mankind 
 in him were created most holy. 
 
 Evan. Yea, and most hapj^y, too : for God placed him in 
 paradise in the midst of all delightful pleasures and contents, 
 wherein he did enjoy most near and sweet communion with 
 his Creator, in whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose 
 right hand are pleasures evermore. Psalm xvi. 11. So that if 
 Adam had received of the tree of the life, by taking and 
 eating it, while he stood in the state of innocency before his 
 fall, he had certainly been established in a happy estate for 
 ever, and could not have been seduced and supplanted by 
 Satan, as some learned men do think, and as God's own words 
 seem to imply, Gen. iii. 22.J 
 
 * The punishment of death upon the breach of his commandment 
 touching the forbidden fruit. 
 
 ■f" That is, an equitable covenant, fair and reasonable. 
 
 X The author says, that some learned men think so, and that the words, 
 Gen. iii. 22, seem to imply so much ; but all this amounts not to a posi- 
 tive determination of the point. The words are these, "Behold, the man 
 is become as one of Us, to know good and evil ; and now, lest he put 
 forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever," 
 &c. Whether or not tliese words seem to imply some such things, I leave 
 to the judgment of the reader, whom I incline not to entertain with mine 
 own or others' conjectures upon this head ; but three things I take to be 
 plain, and beyond conjecture, in this text, (1.) That there is no irony 
 nor scoff here, as many think there is; but, on the contrary, a most pa- 
 thetic lamentation over fallen man. The literal version and sense of the 
 former part of the text runs thus : " Behold the man that was one of us," 
 &c. compare for the version. Lam. iii. 1, Psalm iii. 7 ; and for the sense, 
 Gen. i. 2(>, 27, " And God said, Let Us make man in Our image. — So 
 God created man in his own image," &c. The latter part of the text I 
 would read thus", " And eat that he may live for ever." Compare for this 
 version, Exod. iv. 2;5, 1 Sam. vi. 8. It is evident the sentence is broken 
 off abruptly; the words, "I will drive him out," being suppressed ; even 
 as in the case of a father, with sighs, sobs, and tears, putting his son out 
 of doors. (2.) That it was God's design, to prevent Adam's eating of the 
 tree of life, as he had of the forbidden tree, " lest he take also of the tree 
 
Chip. 1. MODERN DIVINITY. 13 
 
 Sect. 2. — Nom. But it seemeth that Adam did not con- 
 tinue in that holy and happy estate. 
 
 Evan. No, indeed; for he disobeyed God's express com- 
 mand, in eating the forbidden fruit, and so became guilty of 
 the breach of the covenant. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, how could Adam, who had his understand- 
 ing so sound, and his will so free to choose good, be so dis- 
 obedient to God's express command ? 
 
 Evan. Though he and his will were both good, yet were 
 they mutually good ; so that he might stand or fall, at his own 
 election or choice. 
 
 Nom. But why then did not the Lord create him immu- 
 table ? or, why did he not so over-rule him in that action, that 
 he might not have eaten the forbidden fruit.* 
 
 Evan. The reason why the Lord did not create him immu- 
 table, was because he would be obeyed out of judgment and 
 free choice, and not by fatal necessity and absolute determina- 
 tion ;f and withal, let me tell you, it was not reasonable to 
 restrain God to this point, to make man such an one as would 
 not, nor could not sin at all, for it was at his choice to create 
 him how he pleased. But why he did not uphold him with 
 strength of steadfast continuance ; that resteth hidden in God's 
 
 of life ;" thereby mercifully taking care that our fallen father, to whom 
 the covenant of grace was now proclaimed, might not, according to the 
 corrupt natural inclination of fallen mankind, run back to the covenant 
 of works for life and salvation, by partaking of the tree of life, a sacra- 
 ment of that covenant, and so reject the covenant of grace, by eating of 
 that tree now, as he had before broken the covenant of works, by eating 
 of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (3.) That at this time Adam 
 did think, that by eating of the tree of life he might live for ever. Farther 
 I dip not here in this matter. 
 
 * These are two distinct questions, both of them natively arising from 
 a legal temper of spirit : and I doubt if ever the heart of a sinner shall 
 receive a satisfying answer as to either of them, until it come to embrace 
 the Gospel-way of salvation ; taking up its everlasting rest in Christ, for 
 wisdom, righteousnesSjS anctification, and redemption. 
 
 t Immutability, properly so called, or absolute unchangeableness, is an 
 incommunicable attribute of God, Mai. iii. 6 ; James i. 17 ; and mutability, 
 or changeableness, is so of the nature of a creature, that it should cease 
 to be a creature, or a dependant being, if it should cease to be mutable. 
 But there is an immutability, improperly so called, which is competent to 
 the creature, whereby it is free from being actually liable to change in 
 some respect ; the which, in reference to man, may be considered two 
 ways. 1. As putting him beyond the hazard of change by another hand 
 than his own. 2. As putting him beyond the hazard of change by him- 
 self. In the former sense, man was indeed made immutable in point of 
 moral goodness; for he could only be made sinful or evil by himself, and 
 
14 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 secret council. Howbeit, this we may certainly conclude, 
 that Adam's state was such as served to take away from him 
 all excuse ; for he received so much, that of his own will he 
 wrought his own destruction ; * because this act of his was a 
 wilful transgression of a law, under the precepts whereof he 
 was most justly created ; and under the malediction whereof he 
 was as necessarily and righteously subject, if he transgressed : 
 for, as being God's creature, he was to be subject to his will ; 
 so by being God's prisoner, he was as justly subject to his 
 wrath ; and that so much the more, by how much the precept 
 was most just, the obedience more easy, the transgression 
 more reasonable, and the punishment more certain. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Nom. And was Adam's sin and punishment im- 
 puted unto his whole offspring ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed; for says the Apostle, Rom. v. 12, 
 " Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ;" or, in 
 whom all have sinned, that is, in Adam. The very truth is, 
 Adam by his fall threw down our whole nature f headlong 
 into the same destruction, and drowned his whole ofi'spring in 
 the same gulf of misery,:}: and the reason is, because, by God's 
 appointment he was not to stand or fall as a single person only, 
 but as a common public person, representing all mankind to 
 come of him :§ therefore, as all that happiness, all those gifts, 
 and endowments, which were bestowed upon him, were not 
 bestowed upon him alone, but also upon the whole nature of 
 man, and as that covenant which was made with him, was 
 made with the whole of mankind ; even so he by breaking 
 
 not by any other. If he had been made immutable in the latter sense, 
 that immutability behoved either to have been woven into his very nature, 
 or else to have arisen from confirming grace. Now God did not create 
 man thus immutable in his nature; which is it that the first question 
 aims ; and that for this very good reason, viz, that, at that rate, man 
 would have obeyed by fatal necessity and absolute determination, as one 
 not having so much as a remote power in his nature to change himself. 
 And neither glorified saints, nor angels, are thus immutable ; their im- 
 mutability in goodness entirely depending on confirming grace. As for 
 immutability by confirming grace, which is it that the second question 
 aims at, it is confern'd on glorified saints and angels ; but why it was not 
 afforded to Adam at his creation, our author wisely declines to give any 
 reason. "The reason, says he, why the Lord did not create him immu- 
 table was, because," &c. ; but why he did iiphold him with strength of 
 pteadfast continuance, that restcth hidden in God's secret counsel. 
 
 * Tliat is, he received so much strength, that it was not of weakness, 
 but willulncss, that he destroyed himself. 
 
 t 'I'liat is, ;i!l mankind. X With himself. 
 
 § liy virtue of the blessing of fruitfulness given before the fall. 
 
Chap. 1. MODERN DIVINITY. 15 
 
 covenant lost all, as well for us as for himself. As he re- 
 ceived all for himself and us, so he lost all both for himself 
 and us. 
 
 Nom. Then, sir, it seemeth by Adam's breach of covenant, 
 all mankind were brought into a miserable condition ? 
 
 Evan. All mankind by the fall of Adam received a t%vofold 
 damage : First, A deprivation of all original goodness. 
 Seco7idly, An habitual natural pronenessto all kind of wicked- 
 ness. For the image of God, after which they were created, 
 was forthwith blotted out ; and in place of wisdom, righteous- 
 ness, and true holiness, came blindness, uncleanness, falsehood, 
 and injustice. The very truth is, our whole nature * was 
 thereby corrupted, defiled, deformed, depraved, infected, made 
 infirm, frail, malignant, full of venom, contrary to God ; yea, 
 enemies and rebels unto him. So that, says Luther, this is 
 the title we have received from Adam : in this one thing we 
 may glory, and in nothing else at all ; namely, that every in- 
 fant that is born into this world, is wholly in the power of sin, 
 death, satan, hell, and everlasting damnation. Nay, says 
 Musculus, " The whirlpool of man's sin in paradise is bottorfl- 
 less and unsearchable." 
 
 Nom. But, sir, methinks it is a strange thing that so small 
 an offence, as eating of the forbidden fruit seems to be, 
 should plunge the whole of mankind into such a gulf of 
 misery. 
 
 Evan. Though at first glance it seems to be a small offence, 
 yet, if we look more wistfully -j- upon the matter it will appear 
 to be an exceeding great offence ; for thereby intolerable in- 
 jury was done unto God ; as,Jirst, His dominion and authority 
 in his holy command was violated. Secondly, His justice, 
 truth, and power, in his most righteous threatenings, were 
 despised. Thirdly, His most pure and perfect image, wherein 
 man was created in righteousness and true holiness, was 
 utterly defaced. Fourthly, His glory, which, -by an active 
 service, the creature should have brought to him, was lost and 
 despoiled. Nay, how could there be a greater sin committed 
 than that, when Adam, at that one clap, broke all the ten 
 commandments ? 
 
 Nom. Did he break all the ten commandments, say you ? 
 Sir, I beseech you show me wherein. 
 
 Evan. 1. He chose himself another God when he followed 
 the devil. 
 
 * That is, all mankind, t That is, earnestly. 
 
\6 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 2. He idolized and deified his own belly ;* as the apostle's 
 phrase is, " He made his belly his God." 
 
 3. He took the name of God in vain, when he believed him 
 not. 
 
 4. He kept not the rest and estate wherein God had set him. 
 
 5. He dishonoured his Father who was in heaven ; and 
 therefore his days were not prolonged in that land which the 
 Lord his God had given him. 
 
 6. He massacred himself and all his posterity. 
 
 7. From Eve he was a virgin, but in eyes and mind he 
 committed spiritual fornication. 
 
 8. He stole, like Achan, that which God had set aside not 
 to be meddled with ; and this his stealth is that which troubles 
 all Israel, — the whole world. 
 
 9. He bare witness against God, when he believed the wit- 
 ness of the devil before him. 
 
 10. He coveted an evil covetousness, like Amnon, which 
 cost him his life,-|- and all his progeny. Now, whosoever con- 
 siders what a nest of evils here were committed at one blow, 
 must needs, with Musculus, see our case to be such, that we 
 are compelled every way to commend the justice of God, J 
 and to condemn the sin of our first parents, saying, concerning 
 all mankind, as the prophet Hosea does concerning Israel, 
 " O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself," Hos. xiii. 9. 
 
 Sect. 4. — Noin. But, sir, had it not been possible for Adam 
 both to have helped himself and his posterity out of his misery, 
 by renewing the same covenant with God, and keeping it so 
 afterwards ? 
 
 Evan. No, by no means ; for the covenant of works was a 
 covenant no way capable of renovation. § When he had once 
 broken it, he was gone for ever ; because it was a covenant 
 
 * That is, as the apostle's, &c. f 2 Sam. xiii 
 
 X That is, to justify God, 
 
 § The covenant of works could by no means be renewed by fallen 
 Adam, so as thereby to helj) himself and his posterity out of his misery, 
 the which is the only thing in (juestion here ; otherwise, indeed, it might 
 have been renewed, which is evident by this sad token, that many do 
 actually renew it in their covenanting with God, being prompted thereto 
 by their ignorance of the high demands of the law, their own utter ina- 
 bility, and the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. And from the same 
 principle our legalist here makes no (piestion but Adam might have re- 
 newed it, and kept it too, for the after-time ; only, he questions whether 
 or not Adam might thereby have helped himself, and his posterity too, 
 out of the misery they were brought into by his sin. 
 
Chap. 1. MODERN DIVINITY. 17 
 
 between two friends, but now fallen man was become an ene- 
 my. And besides it was an impossible thing for Adam to have 
 performed the conditions which now the justice of God did 
 necessarily require at his hands ; for he was now become lia- 
 ble for the payment of a double debt, viz. the debt of satis- 
 faction for his sin committed in time past, and the debt of 
 perfect and perpetual obedience for the time to come ; and he 
 was utterly unable to pay either of them. 
 
 Nom. Why was he unable to pay the debt of satisfaction for 
 his sin committed in time past? 
 
 Evan. Because his sin in eating the forbidden fruit (for 
 that is the sin I mean)* was committed against an infinite and 
 eternal God, and therefore merited an infinite and eternal 
 satisfaction ; which was to be either some temporal punish- 
 ment, equivalent to eternal damnation, or eternal damnation 
 itself. Now Adam was a finite creature, therefore, between 
 finite and infinite there could be no proportion ; so that it was 
 impossible for Adam to have made satisfaction by any tem- 
 poral punishment ; and if he had undertaken to have satisfied 
 by an eternal punishment, he should always have been satis- 
 fying, and never have satisfied, as is the case of the damned in 
 hell. 
 
 Nom. And why was he unable to pay the debt of perfect 
 and perpetual obedience for the time to come ? 
 
 Evan. Because his former power to obey was by his fall 
 utterly impaired ; for thereby his understanding was both en- 
 feebled and drowned in darkness; and his will was made per- 
 verse, and utterly deprived of all power to will well ; and his 
 affections were quite set out of order ; and all things belonging 
 to the blessed life of the soul were extinguished, both in him 
 and us; so that he was become impotent, yea, dead, and 
 therefore not able to stand in the lowest terms to perform the 
 meanest condition. The very truth is, our father Adam fall- 
 ing from God, did, by his fall, so dash him and us all in pieces, 
 that there was no whole part left, either in him or us, fit to 
 ground such a covenant upon. And this the Apostle wit- 
 nesseth, both when he says " We are of no strength;" and, 
 " The law was made weak, because of the flesh," Rom. v. 6, 
 and viii. 3. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, might not the Lord have pardoned Adam's 
 sin without satisfaction ? 
 
 * That being the sin in which all mankind fell with him, Rom. v. 15. 
 
18 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Evan. O no ! for justice is essential in God, and it is a 
 righteous thing with God, that every transgression receive a 
 just recompence:* and if recompence be just, it is unjust to 
 pardon sin without satisfaction. And though the Lord had 
 pardoned and forgiven his former transgression, and so set him 
 in his former condition of amity and friendship, yet having no 
 power to keep the law perfectly, he could not have continued 
 therein.-j- 
 
 Nom. And is it also impossible for any of his posterity to 
 keep the law perfectly ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed, it is impossible for any mere man in the 
 time of this life to keep it perfectly ; yea, though he be a re- 
 generate man ; for the law requireth of man that he " love the 
 Lord with all his heart, soul, and might;" and there is not the 
 holiest man that lives, but he is flesh as well as spirit in all 
 parts and faculties of his soul, and therefore cannot love the 
 Lord perfectly. Yea, and the law forbiddeth all habitual con- 
 cupiscence, not only saying, " Thou shalt not consent to lust," 
 but, " Thou shalt not lust:" it doth not only command the bind- 
 ing of lust, but forbids also the being of lust: and who in this 
 case can say, " My heart is clean ? 
 
 Ant. Then, Nomista, take notice, I pray, that as it was al- 
 together impossible for Adam to return into that holy and 
 happy estate wherein he was created by the same way he went 
 from it,:}: so is it for any of his posterity; and therefore, I re- 
 member one :^ys very wittingly, " The law was Adam's lease 
 when God made him tenant of Eden; the conditions of which 
 bond when he kept not, he forfeited himself and all for us." 
 God read a lecture of the law to him before he fell, to be a 
 hedge to him to keep him in paradise ; but when Adam would 
 not keep within compass, this law is now become as the 
 
 • 2 Thess. i. fi, *' Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, to recom- 
 pence tribulation to them that trouble you." — Hel). ii. 2, " Every trans- 
 gression and disobedience received a just recompence." 
 
 t liut woiJld have sinned again, and so fallen under the curse Jinew. 
 
 X Walking back by the way of the covenant of works, which he left by 
 his sinning. 
 
 Object. "Do we then make void the law," (Rom. iii. 31.) leaving an 
 imputation of dishonour upon it, as a disregarded path, by pretending to 
 return another way? Aiis. Sinners being united to Christ by faith, re- 
 turn, being carried back the same way they came ; only their own feet 
 never touch the ground ; but the glorious Mediator, sustaining the per- 
 sons of them all, walked every l)it of the road exactly. Gal. iv. 4, 5. Thus, 
 in Christ, the way of free grace, and of the law, sweetly meet together ; 
 and through faith we establish the law. 
 
Chap. 1. MODERN DIVINITV. 19 
 
 flaming sword at Eden's gate, to keep him and his posterity- 
 out. 
 
 Sect. 5. — Nom. But, sir, you know, that when a covenant 
 is broken, the parties that were bound are freed and released 
 from their engagements; and, therefore, methinks, both Adam 
 and his posterity should have been released from the covenant 
 of works when it was broken, especially considering they have 
 no strength to perform the condition of it. 
 
 Evan. Indeed it is true, in every covenant, if either party 
 fail in his duty, and perform not his condition, the other party 
 is thereby freed from his part, but the party failing is not freed 
 till the other release him ; and, therefore, though the Lord be 
 freed from performing his condition, that is, from giving to man 
 eternal hfe, yet so is not man from his part; no, though strength 
 to obey be lost, yet man having lost it by his own default, the 
 obligation to obedience remains still ; so that Adam and his 
 offspring are no more discharged of their duties, because they 
 have no strength to do them, than a debtor is quitted of his 
 bond, because he wants money to pay it. And thus, Nomista, 
 I have, according to your desire, endeavoured to help you to 
 the true knowledge of the law of works. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE LAW OF FAITH, OR COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 Sect. 1. Of the eternal Purpose of Grace. — 2. Of the Promise. — 3. Of 
 the Performance of the Promise. 
 
 Ant. I BESEECH you, sir, proceed to help us to the true 
 knowledge of the law of faith. 
 
 Evan. The law of faith is as much as to say the covenant 
 of grace, or the Gospel, which signifies good, merry, glad, and 
 joyful tidings; that is to say, that God, to whose eternal 
 knowledge all things are present, and nothing past or to come, 
 foreseeing man's fall, before all time purposed,* and in time 
 
 * 2 Tim. i. 9, "Who hath saved us according to his own purpose and 
 grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." — 
 Eph. iii. 11, "According to the eternal purpose, which he proposed in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
20 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 promised,* and in the fulness of time performed,f the sending 
 of his Son Jesus Christ into the world, to help and deliver 
 fallen mankind.^ 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 OF THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GRACE. 
 
 Ant. I beseech you, sir, let us hear more of these things; 
 and first of all, show how we are to conceive of God's eternal 
 purpose in sending of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Evan. Why, here the learned frame is a kind of conflict in 
 God's holy attributes ; and by a liberty, which the Holy Ghost, 
 from the language of holy Scripture, alloweth them, they speak 
 of God after the manner of men, as if he were reduced to 
 some straits and difficulties, by the cross demands of his seve- 
 ral attributes. § For Truth and Justice stood up and said, 
 that man had sinned, and therefore man must die; and so 
 called for the condemnation of a sinful, and therefore worthily 
 a cursed creature ; or else they must be violated ; for thou 
 saidst, (said they to God) "In that day that thoueatest of the 
 tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt die the death." 
 Mercy^ on the other side, pleaded for favour, and appeals to 
 
 * Rom. i. 1, 2, '" The Gospel of God, which he had promised afore by 
 his prophets in the Holy Scriptures." 
 
 t Gal. iv. 4, 5, " But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent 
 forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them 
 that were under the law." 
 
 X These are the good tidings, this is the law of faith, i. e, the law to 
 be believed for salvation, which the apostle plainly teacheth. Rom. i. 16, 
 " The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that be- 
 lieveth ;" and, verse 17, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed 
 from faith to faith." In this last text, clouded with a great variety of 
 interpretations, I think there is a transposition of words to be admitted, 
 and would read the whole verse thus : " For therein is revealed the 
 righteousness of God by faith unto faith ; as it is written, But the just by 
 faith shall live." The key to this construction and reading of the words 
 in the former part of the verse, is, the testimony adduced by the apostle 
 in the latter part of it, from Hab. ii. 4, where the original text appears to 
 me to determine the version of that testimony as here offered. The sense 
 is, the righteousness which is by faith, namely, the righteoueness of 
 Christ, the only righteousness in which a sinner can stand before God, is 
 in the Gospel revealed unto faith, i. e. to be believed. See a like phrase, 
 1 Tim. iv. '^, translated after this manner. 
 
 § " How shall 1 give thee up, Epliraim ? How shall I deliver thee, 
 Israel .' How shall I make thee as Adinah ? How shall I set thee as Ze- 
 boim } Mine heart is turned within me, ray repentings are kindled to- 
 gether." Hosea xi. 8. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 21 
 
 the great court in heaven : and there it pleads, saying, Wisdom 
 and power, and goodness, have been all manifest in the crea- 
 tion ; and anger and justice, have been magnified in man's 
 misery that he is now plunged into by his fall: but I have not 
 yet been manifested.* O let favour and compassion be shown 
 towards man, wofully seduced and overthrown by Satan I O I 
 said theyf unto God, it is a royal thing to relieve the dis- 
 tressed ; and the greater any one is, the more placable and 
 gentle he ought to be. But Justice replied, If I be offended, 
 I must be satisfied and have my right ; and therefore I require, 
 that man, who hath lost himself by his disobedience, should, 
 for remedy, set obedience against it, and so satisfy the judg- 
 ment of God. Therefore the wisdom of God became an um- 
 pire, and devised a way to reconcile them ; concluding, that 
 before there could be reconciliation made, there must be two 
 things effected; (1.) A satisfaction of God's justice. (2.) A 
 reparation of man's nature: which two things, must needs be 
 effected by such a middle and common person that had both 
 zeal towards God, that he might be satisfied ; and compassion 
 towards man, that he might be repaired : such a person, as 
 having man's guilt and punishment translated on him, might 
 satisfy the justice of God, and as having a fulness of God's 
 Spirit and holiness in him, might sanctify and repair the nature 
 of man. I And this could be none other but Jesus Christ, 
 one of the Three Persons of the blessed Trinity ; therefore 
 
 * Mercy requires an object in misery. 
 
 t Favour and compassion. 
 
 X As man lay in ruins, by the fall guilty and unclean, there stood in the 
 way of his salvation, by mercy designed, 1. The justice of God, which 
 could not admit the guilty creature; and, 2. The holiness of God, which 
 could not admit the unclean and unholy creature to communion with him. 
 Therefore, in the contrivance of his salvation, it was necessary that provi- 
 sion should be made for the satisfaction of God's justice, by payment of 
 the double debt mentioned above ; namely, the debt of punishment, and 
 the debt of perfect obedience. It was also necessaiy that provision should 
 be made for the sanctification of the sinner, the repairing of the lost image 
 of God in him. And man being as unable to sanctify himself, as to satisfy 
 justice, (a truth which proud nature cannot digest,) the Saviour behoved, 
 not only to obey and suffer in his stead, but also to have a fulness of the 
 Spirit of holiness in him to communicate to the sinner, that his nature 
 might be repaired through sanctification of the Spirit. Thus was the 
 groundwork of man's salvation laid in the eternal counsel ; the sanctifica- 
 tion of the sinner, according to our author, being as necessary to his sal- 
 vation as the satisfaction of justice ; for indeed the necessity of the former, 
 as well as of the latter, ariseth from the nature of God, and therefore is 
 an absolute necessity. 
 
22 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 He, by his Father's ordination, his own voluntary offering, and 
 the Holy Spirit's sanctification, was fitted for the business. 
 Whereupon there was a special covenant, or mutual agree- 
 ment made between God and Christ, as is expressed, Isa. 
 liii. 1 0, that if Christ would make himself a sacrifice for sin, 
 then he should "see his seed, he should prolong his days, 
 and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper by him." So 
 in Psalm Ixxxix. 19, the mercies of this covenant between 
 God and Christ, under the type of God's covenant with 
 David, are set forth : " Thou speakest in vision to thy holy 
 One, and saidst, I have laid help upon One that is mighty :" 
 or, as the Chaldee expounds it, "One mighty in the law." 
 As if God had said concerning his elect, I know that these 
 will break, and never be able to satisfy me ; but thou art a 
 mighty and substantial person, able to pay me, therefore I 
 will look for my debt of thee.* As Parens well observes, 
 God did, as it were, say to Christ, What they owe me I re- 
 quire all at thy hands. Then said Christ, "Lo I come to 
 do thy will ! in the volume of the book it is written of me, 
 I delight to do thy will, O my God! yea thy law is in my 
 heart," Psalm xl. 7, 8. Thus Christ assented, and from ever- 
 lasting struck hands with God, to put upon him man's person, 
 and to take upon him his name, and to enter in his stead in 
 obeying his Father, and to do all for man that he should re- 
 quire, and to yield in man's flesh the price of the satisfaction 
 of the just judgment of God, and, in the same flesh, to sufter 
 the punishment that man had deserved ; and this he under- 
 took under the penalty that lay upon man to have undergone.f 
 And thus was justice satisfied, and mercy by the Lord Jesus 
 Christ; and so God took Christ's single bond; whence Christ 
 is not only called the "surety of tlie covenant for us," Heb. 
 vii. 22, but the covenant itself, Isa. xlix. 8. And God laid all 
 
 * That is, the debt which the elect owe to me. Tlius was the covenant 
 made betwixt the Father and the Son for the elect, that he should obey 
 for them, and die for them. 
 
 t The Son of God consented to put himself in man's stead, in obeying 
 his Father, and so to do all for man that his Father sliould require, that 
 satisfaction sliould be made : farther, he consented in man's nature, to sa- 
 tisfy and suffer the deserved punishment, that the same nature that sinned 
 might satisfy ; and yet farther, he undertook to bear the verj- same pe- 
 nalty that lay upon man, by virtue of the covenant of works, to have 
 undergone; so making himsilf a j)roper surety for them, who, as the au- 
 thor observes, must pay the sum of money that tlie debtor oweth. This 
 I take to be the author's meaning ; but the expression of "Christ's under- 
 taking under the penalty," &c. is harsh and unguarded. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 23 
 
 upon him, that he might be sure of satisfaction ; protesting 
 that he would not deal with us, nor so much as expect any 
 payment from us ; such was his grace. And thus did our 
 Lord Jesus Christ enter into the same covenant of works that 
 Adam did to deliver believers from it :* he was contented to 
 be under all that commanding, revenging authority, which that 
 covenant had over them, to free them from the penalty of it ; 
 and in that respect, Adam is said to be a type of Christ, as 
 you have it, Rom. v. 14, "Who was the type of him that was 
 to come." To .which purpose, the titles which the apostle 
 gives these two, Christ and Adam, are exceeding observable : 
 he calls Adam the "first man," and Christ our Lord the 
 "second man," 1 Cor. xv. 47; speaking of them as if there 
 never had been any more men in the world besides these two ; 
 thereby making them head and root of all mankind, they having, 
 as it were, the rest of the sons of men included in them. The 
 first man is called the "earthy man ;" the second man, Christ, 
 is called the "Lord from heaven," I Cor. xv. 47. The earthy 
 man had all the sons of men born into the world included in 
 him, and is so called, in confortnity unto them, the "first 
 man:"-|- the second Man, Christ, is called the "Lord from 
 heaven," who had all the elect included in him, who are said 
 to be the "first born," and to have their "names written in 
 heaven," Heb. xii. 23, and therefore are appositely called 
 "heavenly men;" so that these two, in God's account, stood 
 
 * Our Lord Jesus Christ became surety for the elect in the second cove-- 
 nant, Heb. viii. 22 ; and in virtue of that suretyship, whereby lie put him- 
 self in the room of the principal debtors, he came under the same cove- 
 nant of works that Adam did; in so far as the fulfilling of that covenant 
 in their stead was the very condition required of him, as the second Adam 
 in the second covenant. Gal. iv. 4, 5, " God sent forth his Son ; made 
 under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." Thus Christ 
 put his neck under the yoke of the law as a covenant of works, to redeem 
 them who were under it as such. Hence he is said to be the " end of the 
 law for righteousness to every one that believe th," Rom. x. 4 ; namely, 
 the end for consummation, or perfect fulfilling of it by his obedience and 
 death, which pre-supposeth his coming under it. And thus the law as a 
 covenant of works was magnified and made honourable; and it clearly 
 appears how "by faith we establish the law," Rom. iii. 31. How then is 
 the second covenant a covenant of grace .'' In respect of Christ, it was 
 most propei'ly and strictly a covenant of works, in that he made a proper, 
 real, and full satisfaction in behalf of the elect ; but in respect of them,i 
 it is purely a covenant of richest grace, in as much as God accepted the I 
 satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them ; pro- 1 
 vided the surety himself, and gives all to them freely for his sake. • 
 
 t And so, in relation to them, is called the "first man." 
 
24 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 for all the rest.* And thus you see, that the Lord, willing to 
 show mercy to the fallen creature, and withal to maintain the 
 authority of his law, took such a course as might best manl- 
 iest his clemency and severity. Christ entered into covenant, 
 and became surety for man, and so became liable to man's 
 engagements : for he that answers as a surety must pay the 
 same sum of money that the debtor oweth. 
 
 And thus have I endeavoured to show you, how we are to 
 conceive of God's eternal purpose in sending of Jesus Christ to 
 help and deliver fallen mankind. 
 
 SECT. II.— Of the Promise. 
 
 Sect. 1. The Promise made to Adam. — 2. The Promise renewed to Abra- 
 ham. — 2. The Law, as the Covenant of Works, added to the Promise. — 
 4. The Promise and Covenant with Abraham renewed with the Israelites. 
 — 5, The Covenant of Grace under the Mosaic Dispensation. — 6. The 
 natural bias towards the Covenant of Works. — 7. The Antinomian 
 Faith rejected. — 8. The evil of Legalism. 
 
 Sect. 1. — Ant. I beseech you, sir, proceed also to the se- 
 cond thing ; and first tell us, when the Lord began to make a 
 promise to help and deliver fallen mankind. 
 
 Evan. Even the same day that he sinned,-]- which, as I 
 suppose, was the very same day he was created.^ For Adam, 
 
 * Thus Adam represented all mankind in the first covenant, and Christ 
 represented all the elect in the second covenant. — See the first note on 
 the Preface. 
 
 f This our author does here positively assert, and afterwards confirm. 
 And there is plain evidence for it from the holy Scriptures, which deter- 
 mines the time of our Lord's calling our guilty first parents before him, 
 at the which time he gave them the promise. Gen. iii. 8. " And they 
 heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the 
 day;" CHeb. "At the wind of that day," as Junius and Tremellius, Pis- 
 cator and Picherellus, read it;) the which, as soon as it began to blow, 
 might convince them that their aprons of fig-leaves were not fit covers for 
 their nakedness. 
 
 X Our author is far from being singular in this opinion. The learned 
 Gataker (apud Pol. Synop. Crit. in Gen. iii. 2;?,) owns it to be the com- 
 mon opinion, though he himself is of another mind, '* That man fell, and 
 was cast out of paradise, the same day in which he was created." And 
 he tells us, (ibid, in Psalm xlix. l.i,) that "Hroughton does most confi- 
 dently assert Adam not to have stood in his integrity so much as one day ; 
 and that he saith, out of Maimonides, This is held by all tlie Jews, as also 
 by the (ircek fathers." That tliis opinion is less received than formerly, 
 is, if I mistake not, not a little owing to the cavils of the Deists ; who, to 
 weaken the credit of the insj)ired history, allege it to be incredible that 
 the events recorded. Gen. i. 24 — 2(), and ii. 7, 18, to the end of the third 
 chapter, could all be crowded into one day. (See Nichol's Conference 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 25 
 
 by his sin, being become the child of wrath, and both in body 
 and in soul subject to the curse, and seeing nothing due to him 
 but the wrath and vengeance of God, he was "afraid, and 
 sought to hide himself from the presence of God," Gen. iii. 10, 
 whereupon the Lord promised Christ unto him, saying to the 
 serpent, " I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
 between thy seed and her seed ;" he (that is to say, the seed 
 of the woman, for so is the Hebrew text), " shall break thy 
 head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This promise of Christ, 
 the woman's seed, (ver. 13,) was the Gospel ; and the only 
 comfort of Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and the rest of the 
 godly fathers, until the time of Abraham.* 
 
 with a Theist.) The rfeasons to support it, taken from the learned Sharp, 
 one of the six ministers banished in the year 1606. (Curs. Theol. Loc. 
 de Peccato.) 1. "Because of the devil's envy, who, it is likely, could not 
 long endure to see a man in a happy state. 2, If man had stood more 
 days, the blessing of marriage would have taken place, Adam would have 
 known his wife, and begot a child without original sin. 3. The Sabbath 
 was not so much appointed for meditating on the works of creation, as 
 on the work of redemption. 4. It appears from the words of the serpent, 
 and of the woman, that she had not yet tasted any fruit. 5. When the 
 Holy Ghost speaks of the sixth day, Gen. i, and of the day of the fall, it 
 is with He emphatic. (Compare Gen. i. ult. and iii. 8.) 6. He feels so 
 soon, that the work of redemption might be the more illustrious, since 
 man could not stand one day without the Mediator's help." How the 
 Sabbath was broken by Adam's sin, though conmiitted the day before, 
 may be learned from the Larger Catechism, on the fourth commandment, 
 which teaches, that "The Sabbath is to be sanctified — and to that end 
 we are to prepare our hearts — that we may be the more fit for the duties 
 of that day;" and that "the sins forbidden in the fourth commandment, 
 are all omissions of the duties required,"&c. 
 
 * In this promise was revealed, 1. Man's restoration unto the favour of 
 God, and his salvation; not to be effected by man himself, and his own 
 works, but by another. For our first parents, standing condemned for 
 breaking of the covenant of works, are not sent back to it, to essay the 
 mending of the matter, which they had marred before ; but a new cove- 
 nant is purposed, — a Saviour promised as their only hope. 2. That this 
 Saviour was to be incarnate, to become man, " the seed of the woman." 
 3. That he behoved to suffer; his heel, namely his humanity, to be 
 bruised to death. 4. That by his death he should make a full conquest 
 over the devil, and destroy his works, who had now overcome and de- 
 stroyed mankind ; and so recover the captives out of his hand : " he shall 
 bruise thy head, viz. while thou bruisest his heel." This encounter was 
 on the cross : there Christ treading on the serpent, it bruised his heel, 
 but he bruised its head. 5. That he should not be held by death, but 
 Satan's power should be broken irrecoverably : the Saviour being only 
 bruised in the heel, but the serpent in the head. 6. That the saving in- 
 terest in him, and his salvation, is by faith alone, believing the promise 
 with particular application to one's self, and so receiving him, forasmuch 
 as these things are revealed by way of a simple promise. 
 
 c 
 
26 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Nom. I pray you, sir, what ground have you to think that 
 Adam fell the same day he was created ? 
 
 Evan. My ground for this opinion is, Psalm xlix. 12 ; which 
 text Mr. Ainsworth makes to be the 13th verse, and reads it 
 thus, " But man in honour doth not lodge a night ; he is likened 
 unto beasts that are silenced."* That may be minded, says 
 he, both for the first man Adam, who continued not in his 
 dignity, and for all his children. 
 
 Ant. But, sir, do you think that Adam and those others did 
 understand that promised seed to be meant of Christ? 
 
 Evan. Who can make doubt, but that the Lord had ac- 
 quainted Adam with Christ, betwixt the time of his sinning 
 and the time of his sacrificing, though both on one day ? 
 
 Ant. But did Adam offer sacrifice ? 
 
 * " From this text the Hebrew doctors, also in Bereshit Rabba, do ga- 
 ther, that the glory of the first man did not night with him, and that in 
 the beginning of the Sabbath his splendour was taken away from him, 
 and he was driven out of Eden." — (Cartwright apud Pol. Synops. Crit. in 
 Loc.) The learned Leigh, (in his Crit. Sacr. in voc. Lun^ citing this 
 text, says, " Adam lodged not one night in honour, for so are the words, 
 if they be properly translated." He repeats the same in his annotations 
 on the book of Psalms, and points his reader to Ainsworth, whose version 
 does evidently favour this opinion, and is here faithfully cited by our 
 author, though without the marks of composition — "lodge a night," there 
 being no such marks in my copy of Ainsworth's version or annotations, 
 printed at London 1639. However the word hin may signify, to abide or 
 continue, it is certain the proper and primary signification of it is, to- 
 night (at, in, or with). I must be allowed the use of this word to express 
 the true import of the original one." Thus we have it rendered, Gen. 
 xxviii. 11, "tarried all night." — Judges xix. 9,10, 13, " Tariy all night — 
 tarry that night — lodged all night." And since this is the proper and 
 primary signification of the word, it is not to be receded from, without 
 necessity ; the which I cannot discover here. The text seems to me to 
 stand thus, word for word, the propriety of the tenses also observed ': 
 "Yet Adam in lionour could not night; he became like as the beasts, 
 they were alike." Compare the Septuagint, and the vulgar Latin ; with 
 which, according to Pool, (in Synop. Crit.) the Ethiopic, Syriac, and 
 Arabic, do agree, though unhappy in not observing the difference between 
 this and the last verse of the Psalm. Nothing can be more agreeable to 
 the scope and context. Worldly men boast themselves in the multitude 
 of their riches, verse (J, as if their houses should continue for ever, verse 
 1 1 ; and yet Adam, as hajjpy as he was in paradise, continued not one 
 night in hishonour ; it (juickly left him ; yea, he died, and in thatrespect 
 became like the beasts ; compare verse 14, " Like sheep they are laid in 
 the grave, death shall feed on them." And after showing that the worldly 
 man shall die, notwithstanding of his worldly wealth and honour, verse 
 19, this suital)le memorial for Adam's sons is repeated with a very small 
 variation, w?-4'e 20, 21, "Adam was in honour but could not understand; 
 he became," &c. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 27 
 
 Evan. Can you make any question, but that the bodies of 
 those beasts, whose skins went for a covering for his body, 
 were immediately before offered in sacrifice for his soul ? 
 Surely these skins could be none other but of beasts slain, and 
 offered in sacrifice ; for before Adam fell, beasts were not sub- 
 ject to mortality nor slaying. And God's clothing of Adam 
 and his wife with skins signified, that their sin and shame were 
 covered with Christ's righteousness. And, questionless, the 
 Lord had taught him, that his sacrifice did signify his acknow- 
 ledgment of his sin, and that he looked for the Seed of the 
 woman, promised to be slain in the evening of the world, 
 thereby to appease the wrath of God for his offence ; the which, 
 undoubtedly, he acquainted his sons, Cain and Abel with, 
 when he taught them also to offer sacrifice. 
 
 Ant. But how doth it appear that this his sacrificing was the 
 very same day that he sinned ? 
 
 Evan. It is said, John vii. 3, concerning Christ, " That they 
 sought to take him, yet no man laid hands on him, because 
 his hour was not yet come ;" but after that when the time of 
 his suffering was at hand, he himself said, John xii. 23, " The 
 hour is come ;" which day is expressly set down by the Evan- 
 gelist Mark to be the sixth day, and ninth hour of that day, 
 when " Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered up himself 
 without spot to God," Mark xv. 34, 42. Now, if you compare 
 this with Exod. xii. 6, you shall find that the paschal lamb, a 
 most lively type of Christ, was offered the very same day and 
 hour, even the sixth day, and ninth hour of that day, which 
 was at three of the clock in the afternoon : and the Scripture 
 testifies, that Adam was created the very same sixth day ; and 
 gives us ground to think that he sinned the same day. And 
 do not the before alleged Scriptures afford us warrant to be- 
 Heve that it was the very same hour of that day. Gen. i. 26 ; 
 when Christ entered mystically and typically upon the work 
 of redemption, in being offered as a sacrifice for Adam's sin ?* 
 
 * That the promise was given the same day that Adam sinned, was 
 e\'inced before : and from the history, Gen. iii, and the nature of the 
 thing itself, one may reasonably conclude, that the sacrifices were an- 
 nexed to the promise. And since the hour of Christ's death was all 
 along the time of the evening sacrifice, it is very natural to reckon that 
 it was also the hour of the first sacrifice ; even as the place on which the 
 temple stood was at first designed by an extraordinary sacrifice on that 
 spot, 1 Chron. xx. 18 — 28, and xxii. 1, "At three o'clock in the after- 
 noon, Christ yielded up the Ghost, (Mark xv. 34,) the very time when 
 Adam had received the promise of this his passion for his redemption." — 
 Lightfoot on Acts ii. 1. 
 
 C 2 
 
28 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 And surely we may suppose, that the covenant (as you heard) 
 being broken between God and Adam, justice would not have 
 admitted of one hour's respite, before it had proceeded to ex- 
 ecution, to the destruction both of Adam and the whole crea- 
 tion, had not Christ, at that very time, stood as the ram (or 
 rather the lamb) in the bush, and stepped in to perform the 
 work of the covenant. And hence I conceive it is, that Saint* 
 John calls him the " Lamb slain" from the beginning of the 
 world,f Rev. xiii. 8. For as the first state of creation was 
 confirmed by the covenant which God made with man, and all 
 creatures were to be upheld by means of observing the law 
 and condition of that covenant ; so that covenant being broken 
 by man, the world should have come to ruin, had it not been, 
 as it were, created anew, and upheld by the covenant of grace 
 in Christ. 
 
 Ant. Then, sir, you think that Adam was saved ? 
 
 Evan. The Hebrew doctors hold that Adam was a repent- 
 ant sinner, and say, that he was by wisdom (that is to say, by 
 faith in Christ,) brought out of his fall ; yea, and the Church 
 of God doth hold, and that for necessary causes, that he was 
 saved by the death of Christ ; yea, says Mr. Vaughan, it is 
 certain he believed the promise concerning Christ, in whose 
 commemoration he offered continual sacrifice; and in the 
 assurance thereof, he named his wife Hevah, that is to say, 
 
 * This word might well have been spared here ; notwithstanding that 
 we so read in the title of the book of the Revelation in our English 
 Bibles ; and in like manner, in the titles of other books in the New Tes- 
 tament, St. (?. e. Saint) Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, &c. ; it is evident, 
 there is not such a word to be found in the titles of these books in the 
 original Greek : and the Dutch translators have justly discarded it out of 
 their translations. If it is to be retained, because John, Matthew, Mark, 
 Luke, &c., were, without controversy, saints, why not on the same ground, 
 Saint Moses, Saint Aaron, (expressly called " the Saint of the Lord," Psalm 
 cvi. 16.) &c.? No reason can be given of the difference made in this 
 point, but that it pleased Antichrist to canonize these New Testament 
 saints, but not the Old Testament ones. Canonizing is an act or sentence 
 of the Pope, decreeing religious worship and honours to such men or 
 women departed, as he sees meet to confer the honour of saintship on. 
 These honours are seven, and the first of them is, " That they are enrolled 
 in the catalogue of saints, and must be accounted and called saints by 
 all."— Bellarmin Disp. torn. 1. Col. 14y(j. 
 
 t The benefits thereof (viz. of Christ's redemption) " were communi- 
 cated unto the elect from the beginning of the world in and by those pro- 
 mises, types, and sacrifices, wliercin he was revealed, and signified to be 
 the Seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent's head, and the 
 Lamb slain from the beginning of the world." — Westm. Confess, chap. 8, 
 art. ('). 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 29 
 
 life,* and he called his son Seth, settled or persuaded in 
 Christ. 
 
 Ant. Well, now, I am persuaded that Adam did understand 
 this seed of the woman to be meant of Christ. 
 
 Evan. Assure yourself, that not only Adam, but all the rest 
 of the godly fathers did so understand it, as is manifest in that 
 the Targum, or Chaldee Bible, which is the ancient transla- 
 tion of Jerusalem, has it thus : " Between thy son and her 
 son ;" adding further, by way of comment, " So long, O ser- 
 pent, as the woman's children keep the law, they kill thee ! 
 and when they cease to do so, thou stingest them in the 
 heel, and hast power to hurt them much ; but whereas for 
 their harm there is a sure remedy, for thee there is none ; for 
 in the last days they shall crush thee all to pieces, by means 
 of Christ their king." And this was it which did support and 
 uphold their faith until the time of Abraham. 
 
 Sect. 2. — Ant. What followed then ? 
 
 Evan. Why, then, the promise was turned into a covenant 
 with Abraham and his seed, and oftentimes repeated, that in 
 his seed all nations should be blessed,-)- Gen xii. 3; xviii. 18 ; 
 and xxii. 18; which promise and covenant was the very voice 
 itself of the Gospel, it being a true testimony of Jesus Christ; 
 
 * So the Septuagint expound it. Others, an enlivener, not doubting 
 but Adam, in giving her this name, had the promised life-giving Seed, 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, particularly in view, amongst the all living she 
 was to be mother of. 
 
 t The ancient promise given to Adam was the first Gospel, the cove- 
 nant of grace ; for man, by his fall, " having made himself incapable of 
 life by the covenant of works, the Lord was pleased to make a second, 
 commonly called the covenant of grace," Gen, iii. 15. Westm. Confess, 
 chap. 7, art. 3. When that promise or covenant, in which the persons it 
 respected were not expressly designed, was renewed, Abraham and his 
 seed were designed expressly therein ; and so it became a covenant with 
 Abraham and his seed. And the promise being still the same as to the 
 substance of it, was often repeated, and in the repetition more fully and 
 clearly opened. So Jesus Christ, revealed to Adam only as the seed of 
 the woman, was thereafter revealed to Abraham as Abraham's own seed ; 
 and thus was it believed and embraced unto salvation in the various reve- 
 lations thereof. " God did seek Adam again, call upon him, rebuke his 
 sin, convict him of the same ; and, in the end, made unto him a most 
 joyful promise, viz. that the seed of the woman should break down the 
 serpent's head ; that is, he should destroy the works of the devil ; which 
 promise, as it was repeated, and made more clear from time to time, so 
 was it embraced with joy, and may constantly (i. e. most steadfastly) be 
 received of all the faithful, from Adam to Noe, and from Noe to Abra- 
 ham, from Abraham to David, and so forth to the incarnation of Christ 
 Jesus." Old Confess, art. 4. 
 
30 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 as the Apostle Paul beareth witness, saying, the Scripture fore- 
 seeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith, 
 preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, Gal. iii. 8, say- 
 ing, " In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." 
 And the better to confirm Abraham's faith in this promise of 
 Chrisi, it is said, Gen. xiv. 19, that Melchisedec came forth 
 and met him, and blessed him. Now, says the Apostle, Heb. 
 vii. 1 — 3, and vi. 20, " This Melchisedec was a priest of the 
 most high God, and king of righteousness, and king of peace, 
 without father and without mother ; and so like unto the Son 
 of God, who is a priest for ever, after the order of Melchise- 
 dec ;" and both king of righteousness and king of peace, Jer. 
 xxiii. 6 ; Isa. ix. 6 ; yea, and without father us touching his 
 manhood, and without mother as touching his godhead. 
 Whereby we are given to understand, that it was the purpose 
 of God that Melchisedec should, in these particulars, resemble 
 the person and office of Jesus Christ the Son of God ; and so, 
 by God's own appointment, be a type of him to Abraham, to 
 ratify and confirm the promise made to him and his seed, in 
 respect of the eternal covenant,* namely, that he and his be- 
 lieving seed should be so blessed in Christ, as Melchisedec had 
 blessed him.f Nay, let me tell you more, some have thought 
 it most probable, yea, and have said, if we search out this 
 truth without partiality, we shall find that this Melchisedec, 
 which appeared unto Abraham, was none other than the Son 
 of God, manifest by a special dispensation and privilege unto 
 Abraham in the flesh, who is therefore said to have " seen his 
 day and rejoiced."^ John viii. 56. Moreover, in Gen. xv. we 
 read that the Lord did again confirm this covenant with Abra- 
 ham ; for when Abraham had divided the boasts, God came 
 between the parts like a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, 
 
 * That passed betwixt the Father and the Son from everlasting;. 
 
 •f" Melchisedec was unto Abraham a type, to confirm him in the faith, 
 that he and his l)elieving seed should be as really blessed in Christ, as he 
 was blessed by Melchisedec. 
 
 X This seems to me to be a more than groundless opinion, as being in- 
 consistent with the Scripture account of Melchisedec, Gen. xiv. 18; Heb. 
 vii. 1 — 4; howbeit it wants no patrons among the learned; the declaring 
 of which is no just ground to fix it on our author, especially after his 
 speaking so plainly of Christ and Melchisedec as two different persons a 
 little before. The text, (John viii. 5(5,) alleged by the patrons of that 
 opinion, makes nothing for their j)urpose : " for all (we mean the faithful 
 fathers under the law) did see (viz. by faith) the joyful day of Christ 
 Jesus, and did rejoice." Old Confess, art. 4. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 31 
 
 which,* as some have thought, did primarily typify the tor- 
 ment and rending of Christ ; and the furnace and fiery lamp 
 did typify the wrath of God running between, and yet did not 
 consume the rent and torn nature. And the blood of circum • 
 cision did typify the blood of Christ ;f and the resolved sacri- 
 ficing of Isaac on Mount Moriah, by God's appointment, did 
 prefigure and foreshow, that by the offering up of Christ, the 
 promised seed, in the very same place, all nations should be 
 saved. Now this covenant, thus made and confirmed with 
 Abraham, was renewed with Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 4, and made 
 known unto Jacob by Jesus Christ himself; for that man 
 which wrestled with Jacob was none other but the man Christ 
 Jesus ; for himself said, that Jacob should be called Israel, 
 a wrestler and prevailer with God ; and Jacob called the name 
 of the place Peniel, because he had " seen God face to face," 
 Gen. xxxii. 28, 30. And Jacob left it by his last will unto 
 his children, in these words, " The sceptre shall not depart 
 from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh 
 come," Gen. xlix. 10 ; that is to say. Of Judah shall kings 
 come one after another, and many in number, till at last the 
 Lord Jesus come, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords ; 
 or, as the Targum of Jerusalem and Onkelos do translate it, 
 until Christ the Anointed come. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, are you sure that this promised seed was 
 meant of Christ? 
 
 Evan. The Apostle puts that out of doubt. Gal. iii. 16, say- 
 ing, " Now unto Abraham and to his seed were the promises 
 made.J He says not — and to seeds, as of many, but as of 
 one, and to thy seed, which is Christ."§ And so no doubt 
 but these godly patriarchs did understand it. 
 
 Ant. But, sir, the great promise that was made to them, as 
 I conceive, and which they seemed to have most regard to, 
 was the land of Canaan. 
 
 * Namely, the passing of the furnace and burning lamp between the 
 pieces. 
 
 t Heb. ix. 22, " And almost all things are by the law purged with 
 blood : and without shedding of blood is no remission." Compare Gen. 
 xvii. 14, "The uncircumcised man-child shall be cut oflF from his people : 
 he hath broken my covenant." 
 
 X Namely, the promises of the everlasting inheritance, typified by the 
 land of Canaan : the which promises see Gen. xii. 7, and xiii. 15. 
 
 § That is, Christ mystical, Christ and the Church, the head and the 
 members ; yet so as the dignity of the head being still reserved — he is to 
 be understood here primarily, which is sufficient for our author's pur- 
 poses ; and his members seeoridarily only. 
 
32 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 Evan. There is no doubt but that these godly patriarchs 
 did see their heavenly inheritance (by Christ) through the 
 promise of the land of Canaan, as the Apostle testifies of 
 Abraham, Heb. xi. 9, 10, saying, "He sojourned in a strange 
 country, and looked for a city having foundations, whose 
 builder and maker is God." " Whereby it is evident," says 
 Calvin, (Instit. p. 204.) " that the height and eminency of 
 Abraham's faith was the looking for an everlasting life in 
 heaven." The like testimony he gives of Sarah, Isaac, and 
 Jacob, saying, " All these died in the faith,"* Heb. xi. 13 ; 
 implying that they did not expect to receive the fruit of the 
 promise till after death. And, therefore in all their travails 
 they had before their eyes the blessedness of the life to come ; 
 and which caused old Jacob to say at his death, " Lord, I 
 have waited for thy salvation," Gen. xlix. 18. The which 
 speech the Chaldee paraphrase expounds thus, " Our father 
 Jacob said not, I expect the salvation of Gideon, son of Joash, 
 which is a temporal salvation, nor the salvation of Samson, 
 son of Manoah, which is a transitory salvation, but the salva- 
 tion of Christ, the Son of David, who shall come, and bring 
 unto himself the sons of Israel, whose salvation my soul de- 
 sireth." And so you see that this covenant, made with 
 Abraham in Christ, was the comfort and support of these and 
 the rest of the godly fathers, until their departure out of 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 Ant And what followed then ? 
 
 Evan. Why, then, Christ Jesus was most clearly manifested 
 unto them in the passover lamb ; for, as that lamb was to be 
 without spot or blemish, Exod. xii. 5, even so was Christ, 
 i Pet. i. 19. And as that lamb was taken up the tenth day 
 of the first new moon in March, even so on the very same day 
 of the same month came Ciirist to Jerusalem to suffer his 
 passion. And as tliat lamb was killed on the fourteenth day 
 at even, just then, on the same day, and at the same hour, did 
 Christ give up the ghost ; and as the blood of that lamb was 
 to be sprinkled on the Israelites' doors, Exod. xii. 7, even so 
 is the blood of Christ sprinkled on believers' hearts by faith. 
 1 Pet. i. 2. And their deliverance out of Egypt was a figure 
 
 •f^That these three, toifetlior with Abraham, are here meant by the 
 Apostle, and not these mentioned in the first seven verses of the chapter, 
 if it is considered, that of them he spoke last, ver. •). 11. To none before 
 them was the promise of Canaan given; and they were the persons who 
 had opportunity to have returned to the country whence they came out» 
 yer. 15. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 33 
 
 of their redemption by Christ,* their passing through the Red 
 Sea was a type of baptism,f when Christ should come in the 
 flesh, and their manna in the wilderness, and water out of the 
 rock, did resemble the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; and 
 hence it is that the Apostle says, 1 Cor. x. 2 — 4, " They 
 did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same 
 spiritual drink ; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that fol- 
 lowed them, and that Rock was Christ." And when they 
 were come to Mount Sinai, the Lord delivered the ten com- 
 mandments unto them. 
 
 Sect. — 3. Ant. But whether were the ten commandments, 
 as they were delivered to them on Mount Sinai, the covenant 
 of works or no ? 
 
 Evan, They were delivered to them as the covenant of 
 works. J 
 
 * That is, the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt was a figure 
 of the redemption of believers by Christ. 
 
 t Not that it prefigured or represented baptism as a proper and pro- 
 phetical type thereof, though some orthodox divines seem to be of that 
 mind; but that, as the author expresses himself, in the case of the manna 
 and the water out of the rock, it resembled baptism, being a like figure 
 (or type) thereunto, as the Apostle Peter determines, concerning Noah's 
 ark with the waters of the deluge, 1 Pet. iii. 21, even as the printer's 
 types of the letters impressed on the paper, both signifying one and the 
 same word. For the ancient church is expressly said to have been " bap- 
 tized in the sea," 1 Cor. x. 1, 2, and as the rock, with the waters flowing 
 from it, did not signify the Lord's Supper, but the thing signified by that 
 New Testament Sacrament, namely, Christ, ver. 4, so theirj baptism in 
 the sea did not signify our baptism itself, but the thing represented thereby. 
 And thus it was a type or figure answering to and resembling the bap- 
 tism of the New Testament-church ; the one being an extraordinary sa- 
 crament of the Old Testament, and the other an ordinary sacrament of 
 the New, both representing the same thing. 
 
 X As to this point, there are diflFerent sentiments among orthodox di- 
 vines ; though all of them do agree, that the way of salvation was the 
 same under the Old and New Testament, and that the Sinai covenant, 
 whatever it was, carried no prejudice to the promise made unto Abraham, 
 and the way of salvation therein revealed, but served to lead men to Jesus 
 Christ. Our author is far from being singular in this decision of this 
 question. I adduce only the testimonies of three late learned writers. 
 " That God made such a covenant (viz. the covenant of works) with our 
 first parents, is confirmed by several parts of Scripture," Hos. vi. 7 ; Gal. 
 iv. 24, — Willison's Sacr. Cat. p. 3. The words of the text last quoted 
 are these : " For these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai 
 which gendereth to bondage." Hence it appears, that in the judgment 
 of this author, the covenant from Mount Sinai was the covenant of works, 
 otherwise there is no shadow of reason from this text for what it is ad- 
 duced to prove. The Rev. Messrs. Flint and M'Claren, in their elaborate 
 
 c3 
 
34 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Nom, But, by your favour, sir, you know that these people 
 were the posterity of Abraham, and therefore under that cove- 
 nant of grace which God made with their father; and therefore 
 I do not think that they were delivered to them as the cove- 
 nant of works ; for you know the Lord never delivers the cove- 
 nant of works to any that are under the covenant of grace. 
 
 Evan. Indeed it is true, the Lord did manifest so much 
 love to the body of this nation, that all the natural seed of 
 Abraham were externally, and by profession, under the cove- 
 nant of grace made with their father Abraham ; though, it is 
 to be feared, many of them were still under the covenant of 
 works made with their father Adam.* 
 
 Nom. But, sir, you know, in the preface to the ten com- 
 mandments, the Lord calls himself by the name of their God 
 
 and seasonable treatises against Professor Simpson's doctrine, (for which 
 I make no question but their names will be in honour with posterity,) 
 speak to the same purpose. The former having adduced the fore-cited 
 text, Gal. iv. 24, saj-s, Jam duafoedera, (^c, that is "Now here are two 
 covenants mentioned, the first the legal one, by sin rendered ineffectual, 
 entered into with Adam, and now again promulgate." (Exam. Doctr. Job. 
 Simp. p. 125.) And aftenvards, speaking of the law of works, he adds, 
 Atque hoc est illudfcRdus, ^c. that is, "And this is that covenant promul- 
 gate on Mount Sinai, which is called one of the covenants," Gal. iv. 24. 
 Ibid. p. 131. The words of the latter, speaking of the covenant of works, 
 are these, "Yea, it is expressly called a covenant," Hos. vi. and Gal. iv. 
 And Mr. Gillespie proves strongly, that Gal. iv. is understood of the cove- 
 nant of works and grace. See his Ark of the Testament, part 1. chap. 5. 
 p. 180. The New Scheme Examined, p. 176'. The delivering of the ten 
 commandments on Mount Sinai as the covenant of works, necessarily in- 
 cludes in it the delivering of them as a perfect rule of righteousness ; for- 
 f'asmuch as that covenant did always contain in it such a rule, the true 
 knowledge of which the Israelites were at that time in great want of, as 
 our author afterwards teaches. 
 
 * The strength of the objection in the preceding paragraph lies here, 
 namely, that at this rate, the same persons, at one and the same time, 
 were both under the covenant of works, and under the covenant of grace, 
 which is absurd. Ana. The unbelieving Israelites were under the cove- 
 nant of grace made with their father Abraham externally and by profes- 
 sion, in respect of their visible church state; but under the covenant of 
 works made with their father Adam internally and really, in respect of 
 the state of their souls before the Lord. Herein there is uo absurdity ; 
 for to this day many in the visible church are thus, in these different re- 
 spects, under both covenants. Farther, as to believers among them, they 
 were internally and really, as well as externally, under the covenant of 
 grace ; and only externally under the covenant of works, and that, not as 
 a covenant co-ordinate with, but subordinate and subservient unto, the 
 covenant of grace : and in this there is no more inconsistency than in the 
 former. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 35 
 
 in general ; and therefore it should seem that they were all of 
 them the people of God.* 
 
 Evan. That is nothing to the purpose ;f for many wicked 
 and ungodly men, being in the visible church, and under the 
 
 * As delivered from the covenant of works, by virtue of the covenant 
 of grace. 
 
 t That will not, indeed, prove them all to have been the people of God 
 in the sense before given, for the reason here adduced by our author. 
 
 Howbeit, the preface to the ten commandments deserves a particular 
 notice, in the matter, of the Sinai transaction, Exod. xx. 2, " I am the 
 Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egj'pt, out of 
 the house of bondage." Hence it is evident to me, that the covenant of 
 grace was delivered to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. For the Son of 
 God, the messenger of the covenant of grace, spoke these words to a select 
 people, the natural seed of Abraham, typical of his whole spiritual seed. 
 He avoucheth himself to be their God ; namely, in virtue of the promise, 
 or covenant made with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 7, "I will establish my cove- 
 nant — to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee : and their God, 
 which brought them out of the land of Egypt ; according to the promise 
 made to Abraham at the most solemn renewal of the covenant with him." 
 — Gen. XV. 14, "Afterwards shall they come out with great substance." 
 And he first declares himself their God, and then requires obedience, ac- 
 cording to the manner of the Covenant with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 1; "I 
 am the Almighty God (i. e. in the language of the covenant. The Al- 
 mighty God TO THEE, to make thee for ever blessed through the 
 promised seed) walk thou before me, and be thou perfect." 
 
 But that the covenant of works was also, for special ends, repeated and 
 delivered to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, I cannot refuse, 1. Because of 
 the apostle's testimony. Gal. iv. 24, "These are the two covenants; the 
 one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage." For the children 
 of this Sinai covenant the apostle here treats of, are excluded from the 
 eternal inheritance, as Ishmael was from Canaan, the type of it, ver. 30, 
 " Cast out the bond-woman and her son ; for the son of the bond-woman 
 shall not be heir with the son of the free woman;" but this could never be 
 said of the children of the covenant of grace under any dispensation, 
 though both the law and covenant from Sinai itself, and its children, were 
 even before the coming of Christ under a sentence of exclusion, to be 
 executed on them respectively in due time. 2. The nature of the covenant 
 of works is most expressly in the New Testament brought in, propounded, 
 and explained, from the Mosaical dispensation. The commands of it from 
 Exod. XX. by our blessed Saviour, Matt. xix. 17 — 19, "If thou wilt enter 
 into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him. Which? Jesus 
 said. Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, ' &c' 
 The promise of it, Rom. x. 5, "Moses describes the righteousness which is 
 of the law, that the man which doth these things shall live by them." 
 The commands and promise of it together, see Luke x. 25 — 28. The ter- 
 rible sanction of it, Gal. iii. 10. For it is written, (viz. Deut. xxvii. 26,) 
 " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written 
 in the book of the law to do them." 3. To this may be added the opposi- 
 tion betwixt the law and grace, so frequently inculcated in the New Testa- 
 ment, especially in Paul's epistles. See one text for all, Gal. iii. 12, "And 
 the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them." 
 
36 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 external covenant, are called the chosen of God, and the people 
 of God, though they be not so. In like manner were many of 
 these Israelites called the people of God, though indeed they 
 were not so. 
 
 4. The law from Mount Sinai was a covenant, Gal. iv. 24, " These are the 
 two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai ;" and such a covenant as 
 had a semblance of disannulling the covenant of grace. Gal. iii. 17, "The 
 covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was 
 430 years after, cannot disannul ;" yea, such a one as did, in its own na- 
 ture, bear a method of obtaining the inheritance, so far different from 
 that of the promise, that it whs inconsistent with it ; " For if the inhe- 
 ritance be of the law, it is no more of promise," Gal. iii. 18, wherefore 
 the covenant of the law from Mount Sinai could not be the covenant of 
 grace, unless one will make this last not only a covenant seeming to 
 destroy itself, but really inconsistent : but it was the covenant of works, 
 which indeed had such a semblance, and in its own nature did bear such 
 a method as before noted ; howbeit, as Ainsworth says, " The covenant of 
 the law now given could not disannul the covenant of grace," Gal. iii. 17, 
 Annot. on Exod. xix. 1. 
 
 Wherefore I conceive the two covenants to have been both delivered on 
 Mount Sinai to the Israelites. First, The covenant of grace made with 
 Abraham, contained in the preface, repeated and promulgate there unto 
 Israel, to be believed and embraced by f^ith, that they might be saved ; 
 to which were annexed the ten commandments, given by the Mediator 
 Christ, the head of the covenant, as a rule of life to his covenant people. 
 Secondly, the covenant of works made with Adam, contained in the same 
 ten commands, delivered with thunderings and lightnings the meaning of 
 ■which was afterwards cleared by Moses, describing the righteousness of 
 the law and sanction thereof, repeated and promulgate the Israelites 
 there, as the original perfect rule of righteousness, to be obeyed ; and yet 
 were they no more bound hereby to seek righteousness by the law than 
 the young man was by our Saviour's saying to him, Matt. xix. 17, 18, " If 
 thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments — Thou shalt do no 
 murder," &c. The latter was a repetition of the former. 
 
 Thus there is no confounding of the two covenants of grace and works; 
 but the latter was added to the former as subservient unto it, to turn their 
 eyes towards the promise, or covenant of grace : " God gave it to Abra- 
 ham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law ? it was added, because 
 of transgressions, till the Seed should come," Gal, iii. 18, 19. So it was 
 unto the promise given to Abraham, that this subservient covenant was 
 added ; and that promise we have found in the preface to the ten com- 
 mands. To it, then, was the subservient covenant, according to the 
 apostle, added, put, or set to, as the word properly signifies. So it was 
 no part of the covenant of grace, the which was entire to the fathers, be- 
 fore the time that it was set to it ; and yet is, to the New Testament 
 church, after that it is taken away from it : for, says the apostle, " It was 
 added till the seed should come." Hence it appears that the covenant of 
 grace was, both in itself, and in God's intention, the principal part of the 
 Sinai transaction : nevertheless, the covenant of works was the most con- 
 spicuous part of it, and lay most open to the view of the people. 
 
 According to this account of the Sinai transaction; the ten commands, 
 there delivered, must come under a twofold notion or consideration ; 
 
/' 
 
 Chap. 2, MODERN DIVINITY. 37 
 
 Nom. But, sir, was the same covenant of works made with 
 iera that was made with Adam ? 
 
 Evan. For the general substance of the duty, the law de- 
 livered on Mount Sinai, and formerly engraven on man's heart, 
 was one and the same ; so that at Mount Sinai the Lord de- 
 livered no new thing, only it came more gently to Adam 
 before his fall, but after his fall came thunder with it. 
 
 Nom. Ay, sir, but as yourself said, the ten commandments, 
 as they were written in Adam's heart, were but the matter of 
 the covenant of works, and not the covenant itself, till the 
 form was annexed to them, that, is to say, till God and man 
 were thereupon agreed : now, we do not find that God and 
 these people did agree upon any such terms at Mount Sinai. 
 
 Evan. No ;* say you so ? do you not remember that the 
 
 namely, as the law of Christ, and as the law of works : and this is not 
 strange, if it is considered, that they were twice written on tables of stone, 
 by the Lord himself, — the first tables the work of God, Exod. xxxii. 16, 
 which were broken in pieces, ver. 19, called the tables of the covenant, 
 Deut. ix. 11, 15, — the second tables the work of Moses, the typical 
 Mediator, Exod. xxxiv. 1, deposited at first (it would seem) in the taber- 
 nacle, mentioned chap, xxxiii. 7, afterward, at the rearing of the taber- 
 nacle with all its furniture, laid up in the ark within the tabernacle, chap. 
 XXV. 16 ; and whether or not some such thing is intimated, by the double 
 accentuation of the decalogue, let the learned determine ; but to the 
 ocular inspection it is evident, that the preface to the ten commands, 
 Exod. XX. 2 ; and Deut. v. 6 ; stands in the original, both as a part of a 
 sentence joined to the first commands and also as an entire sentence 
 separated from it, and shut up by itself. 
 
 Upon the whole, one may compare with this the first promulgation of 
 the covenant of grace, by the messenger of the covenant in paradise, 
 Gen. iii. 15, and the flaming sword placed thereby the same hand, " turn- 
 ing every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life." 
 
 * Here there is a large addition in the 9th edition of this book, Lon- 
 don, 1699. It well deserves a place, and is as follows : " I do not say, 
 God made the covenant of works with them, that they might obtain life 
 and salvation thereby ; no, the law was become weak through the flesh, as 
 to any such purpose, Rom. viii. 3. But he repeated, or gave a new 
 edition of the law, and that as a covenant of works, for their humbling 
 and conviction ; and so do his ministers preach the law to unconverted 
 sinners still, that they who ' desire to be under the law may hear what 
 the law says,' Gal. iv. 21. And as to what you say of their not agreeing 
 o this covenant, I pray take notice, that the covenant of works was made 
 with Adam, not for himself only, but as he was a public person repre- 
 senting all his posterity, and so that covenant was made with the whole 
 nature of man in him, as appears by Adam's sin and curse coming upon 
 all, Rom. V. 12, &c. Gal. iii. 10. Hence all men are born under that 
 covenant, whether they agree to it or no ; though, indeed, there is by 
 nature such a proneness in all to desire to be under that covenant, and 
 to work for life, 1;hat if natural men's consent were asked, they would 
 
38 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Lord consented and agreed, when he said, Lev. xviii. 5, 
 " Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which 
 if a man do, he shall live in them ;" and in Dent, xxvii. 26, 
 when he said, " Cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words 
 of this law, to do them ?" And do you not remember that 
 the people consented, Exod. xix. 8, and agreed, when they 
 said, " All that the Lord hath spoken we will do ?" And 
 doth not the Apostle Paul give evidence that these words were 
 the form of the covenant of works, when he says, Rom. x. 5, 
 " Moses describeth that righteousness which is of the law, that 
 the man that doeth these things shall live in them ;" and when 
 he says, Gal. iii. 10, " For it is written. Cursed is every one 
 that continueth not in all things wi-itten in the book of the law 
 to do them."* And in Deut. iv. 13, Moses, in express terms, 
 calls it a covenant, saying, " And he declared unto you his 
 covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten 
 commandments, and he wrote them upon tables of stone." 
 Now, this was not the covenant of grace ; for Moses after- 
 wards, Deut. V. 3, speaking of this covenant, says, " God 
 made not this covenant with your fathers, but with you ;" and 
 by " fathers" all the patriarchs unto Adam may be meant, 
 (says Mr. Ainsworth,) who had the promise of the covenant of 
 Christ.f Therefore, if it had been the covenant of grace, he 
 would have said, God did make this covenant with them, 
 rather than that he did not.J 
 
 readily (though ignorantly) take upon them to do all that the Lord re- 
 quireth ; for do you not remember," &c. 
 
 * That the conditional promise, Lev. xviii. 5, (to which agrees Exod. 
 xix. 8,) and the dreadful threatening, Deut. xxvii. 2(), were both given to 
 the Israelites, as well as the ten commands, is beyond question ; and 
 that according to the apostle, Rom. x. 5 ; Gal. iii. 10, they were the form 
 of the covenant of works, is as evident as the repeating of the words, and 
 expounding them so, can make it. How, then, one can refuse the cove- 
 nant of works to have been given to the Israelites, I cannot see. Mark 
 the Westminster Confession upon the head of the covenant of works : 
 
 (" The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein 
 life was promised to Adam, and in him to his posterity, upon condition 
 of perfect and personal obedience." And this account of the being 
 and nature of that covenant is there proved from these very texts among 
 others, Rom. x. f) ; Gal. iii. 10, chap. 7, art. 2. 
 
 t " But the covenant of the law (adds he) came after, as the apostle 
 observeth. Gen. iii. 17. — They had a greater benefit than their fathers; 
 for though the law could not give them life, yet it was a schoolmaster 
 unto [i. e.) to bring them unto, Christ." Gal. iii. 21 — 24. Ainsworth on 
 Deut. V. ^^. 
 
 X The transaction at Sinai or Horeb (for they are bi^t one mountain) 
 was a mixed dispensation ; there was the promise or covenant of grace, 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 39 
 
 Nom. And do any of our godly and modern writers agree 
 with you on this point. 
 
 Evan. Yes, indeed. Polonus says, " The covenant of 
 works is that in which God promiseth everlasting life unto a 
 man that in all respects performeth perfect obedience to the 
 law of works, adding thereunto threatenings of eternal death, 
 if he shall not perform perfect obedience thereto. God made 
 this covenant in the beginning with the first man Adam, 
 whilst he was in the first estate of integrity : the same cove- 
 nant God did repeat and make again by Moses with the people 
 of Israel." And Dr. Preston, on the New Covenant, (p. 31 7) | 
 says, " The covenant of works runs in these terms, ' Do this 
 and thou shalt live, and I will be thy God.' This was the 
 covenant which was made with Adam, and the covenant that 
 is expressed by Moses in the moral law." And Mr. Pemble 
 (Vind. Fid. p. 152) says, " By the covenant of works, we 
 understand what we call in one word ' the law,' namely, that 
 means of bringing man to salvation, which is by perfect obe- 
 dience unto the will of God. Hereof there are also two several 
 administrations : the first is with Adam before his fall, when 
 immortality and happiness were promised to man, and confirmed 
 by an external symbol of the tree of life, upon condition that 
 he continued obedient to God, as well in all other things, as 
 in that particular commandment of not eating of the tree of 
 knowledge of good and evil. The second administration of 
 this covenant was the renewing thereof with the Israelites at 
 Mount Sinai ; where, after the light of nature began to grow 
 darker, and corruption had in time worn out the characters of 
 religion and virtue first graven in man's heart,* God revived 
 the law by a compendious and full declaration of all duties 
 required of man towards God or his neighbour, expressed in 
 the decalogue; according to the tenor of which law God 
 
 and also the law ; the one a covenant to be believed, the other a cove- 
 nant to be done, and thus the Apostle states the difference betwixt these 
 two, Gal. iii. 12, " And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth 
 them shall live in them." As to the former, viz. the covenant to be be- 
 lieved it was given to their fathers as well as to them. Of the latter, viz. 
 the covenant to be done. Moses speaks expressly, Deut. iv. 12, 13, 
 " The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire, and he declared 
 unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform (or do) 
 even ten commandments." And chap. v. 3, he tells the people no less 
 expressly, that " the Lord made not this covenant; with their fathers." 
 * That is, had worn them out, in the same measure and degree as the 
 light of nature was darkened ; but neither the one nor the other was ever 
 fully done. Rom. ii. 14, 15. 
 
40 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 entered into covenant with the Israelites, promising to be their 
 God in bestowing upon them all blessings of life and happiness, 
 upon condition that they would be his people, obeying all 
 things that he had commanded ; which condition they accepted 
 of, promising an absolute obedience, Exod. xix. 8, 'All things 
 which the Lord hath said we will do ;' and also submitting 
 themselves to all punishment in case they disobeyed, saying, 
 ' Amen' to the curse of the law, ' cursed be every one that 
 confirmeth not all the words of the law : and all the people 
 shall say Amen.' " And Mr. Walker, on the Covenant, (p. 
 128,) says, that " the first part of the covenant, which God 
 made with Israel at Horeb, was nothing else but a renewing 
 of the old covenant of works,* which God made with Adam 
 in paradise." And it is generally laid down by our divines, 
 that we are by Christ delivered from the law as it is a cove- 
 nan t.f 
 
 Nom. But, sir, were the children of Israel at this time 
 better able to perform the condition of the covenant of works, 
 than either Adam or any of the old patriarchs were, that God 
 renewed it now with them, rather than before ? 
 
 Evan. No, indeed ; God did not renew it with them now, 
 and not before, because they were better able to keep it, but 
 because they had more need to be made acquainted what the 
 covenant of works is, than those before. For though it is true 
 the ten commandments, which were at first perfectly written 
 in Adam's heart, were much obliterated \ by his fall, yet some 
 impressions and relics thereof still remained ; § and Adam him- 
 self was very sensible of his fall, and the rest of the fathers 
 were helped by tradition ;|| and, says Cameron, "God did 
 
 * Wherein I differ from this learned author as to this point, ajid for 
 what reasons may be seen, p. 35. note f. 
 
 t But not as it is a rule of life, which is the other member of that dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 + Both in the heart of Adam himself, and of his descendants in the 
 first ages of the world. 
 
 § Both with him and them. 
 
 II The doctrine of the fall, with wliatsoever other doctrine was necessary 
 to salvation, was handed down from Adam, the fathers communicating 
 the same to their children and children's children. There were but eleven 
 patriarchs before the flood; 1. Adam, 2. Seth, '.\. Enos, 4. Cainan, 5. 
 Mahalaleel, 6. Jared, 7. Enoch, S.Methuselah, 9. Lamech, 10. Noah, ll. 
 Shem. Adam having lived 930 years. Gen. v. 5, was known to Lamech, 
 Noah's father, with whom he lived (>(> years, and much longer with 
 the rest of the fathers before him ; so that Lamech, and those before him, 
 might have the doctrine from Adam's own mouth. Methuselah lived 
 with Adam 243 years, and with Shem 98 years before the deluge. See 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 41 
 
 speak to the patriarchs from heaven, yea, and he spake unto 
 them by his angels :"* but now, by this time, sin had almost 
 obliterated and defaced the impressions of the law written in 
 their hearts ;f and by their being so long in Egypt, they were 
 , so corrupted, that the instructions and ordinances of their 
 fathers were almost worn out of mind ; and their fall in 'Adam 
 was almost forgotten, as the Apostle testifies, Rom. v. 13, 14, 
 saj^ng, " Before the time of the law, sin was in the world, but 
 sin is not imputed when there is no law." Nay, in that long 
 course of time betwixt Adam and Moses, men had forgotten 
 what was sin ; so, although God had made a promise of bless- 
 ing to Abraham, and to all his seed, that would plead interest 
 in it,:f yet these people at this time were proud and secure, and 
 heedless of their estate ; and though " sin was in them, and 
 death reigned over them," yet they being without a law to 
 evidence this sin and death unto their consciences,§ they did 
 not impute it unto themselves, they would not own it, nor 
 charge themselves with it ; and so, by consequence, found no 
 need of pleading the promise made to Abraham ;|| Rom. v. 20, 
 therefore, " the law entered," that Adam's offence and their 
 own actual transgression might abound, so that now the Lord 
 saw it needful, that there should be a new edition and publi- 
 cation of the covenant of works, the sooner to compel the elect 
 unbelievers to come to Christ, the promised seed, and that the 
 grace of God in Christ to the elect believers might appear the 
 more exceeding glorious. So that you see the Lord's inten- 
 tion therein was, that they, by looking upon this covenant 
 
 Gen. V. And what Shem, who, atter the deluge, lived 502 years, Gen. 
 xi. 10, 11, had learned from Methuselah, he had occasion to teach Ar- 
 phaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, 
 Gen. xxi. 5, and Jacob, to whose 51st year he (viz. Shem) reached. Gen. 
 xi. 10, and xxi. 5, and xxv. 26, compared. (Vid. Bail. Op. Hist. Chron. 
 p. 2, 3.) Thus one may perceive, how the nature of the law and cove- 
 nant of works given to Adam, might be far better known to them, than 
 to the Israelites after their long bondage in Egypt. 
 
 * That is, and besides all this, God spake to the patriarchs immediately 
 and by angels. But neither of these do we find during the time of the 
 bondage in Egypt until the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the 
 bush, and ordered him to go and bring the people out of Egypt, Exod. iii. 
 
 t The remaining impressions of the law on the hearts of the Israelites. 
 
 X E^' faith; believing, embracing, and appropriating it to themselves, 
 Heb. xi. 13 ; Jer. iii. 4. 
 
 § Inasmuch as the remaining impressions of the law on their hearts 
 were so weak, that they were not sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 II By faith proposing it as their only defence, and opposing it to the 
 demands of the law or covenant of works, as their only plea. 
 
42 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 might be put in mind what was their duty of old, when they 
 were in Adam's loins ; yea, and what was their duty still, if 
 they would stand to that covenant, and so go the old and 
 natural way to work ; yea, and hereby they were also to see 
 what was their present infirmity in not doing their duty :* 
 that so they seeing an impossibility of obtaining life by that 
 way of works, first appointed in paradise, they might be hum- 
 bled, and more heedfuUy mind the promise made to their father 
 Abraham, and hasten to lay hold on the Messiah, or promised 
 seed. 
 
 Nom. Then, sir, it seems that the Lord did not renew the 
 covenant of works with them, to the intent that they should 
 obtain eternal hfe by their yielding obedience to it? 
 
 Evan. No, indeed ; God never made the covenant of works 
 with any man since the fall, either with expectation that he 
 should fulfil it,f or to give him life by it ; for God never ap- 
 points any thing to an end, to the which it is utterly unsuit- 
 able and improper. Now the law, as it is the covenant of 
 works, is become weak and unprofitable to the purpose of sal- 
 vation \\ and, therefore, God never appointed it to man, since 
 the fall, to that end. And besides, it is manifest that the pur- 
 pose of God, in the covenant made with Abraham, was to give 
 life and salvation by grace and promise; and, therefore, his pur- 
 pose in renewing the covenant of works, was not, neither could 
 be, to give life and salvation by working ; for then there would 
 have been contradictions in the covenants, and instability in him 
 that made them. Wherefore let no man imagine that God 
 published the covenant of works on Mount Sinai, as though 
 he had been mutable, and so changed his determination in that 
 covenant made with Abraham ; neither yet let any man sup- 
 pose, that (jrod now in process of time had found out a better 
 way for man's salvation than \\v. knew before : for as the cove- 
 nant of grace made with Abraham had been needless, if the 
 covenant of works made with Adam would have given him and 
 his believing seed life ; so, after the covenant of grace was 
 once made, it was needless to renew the covenant of works, to 
 the end that righteousness of life should be had by the obser- 
 
 * How far they came short of, and could not reach unto the obedience 
 they owed unto God, according to the perfection of the holy law. ^ 
 
 •f" Nor before the fall neither, jiroperly speaking ; but the expression is 
 agreeable to Scripture style, Isa. v. 4, " Wherefore when I looked it 
 should l)ring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? " 
 
 X Rom. viii. 3, " For what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
 through the flesh ; God sending his own Son,'' &c. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 43 
 
 vation of it. The which will yet more evidently appear, if we 
 consider, that the apostle, speaking of the covenant of works 
 as it was given on Mount Sinai, says, " It was added because 
 of transgressions," Gal. iii. 19. It was not set up as a solid 
 rule of righteousness, as it was given to Adam in paradise, but 
 was added or put to;* it was not set up as a thing in gross by 
 itself. 
 
 Nom, Then, sir, it should seem that the covenant of works 
 was added to the covenant of grace, to make it more complete ? 
 
 Evan. O no ! you are not so to understand the apostle, as 
 though it were added by way of ingrediency as a part of the 
 covenant of grace, as if that covenant had been incomplete 
 without the covenant of works ; for then the same covenant 
 should have consisted of contradictory materials, and so it 
 should have overthrown itself; for, says the apostle, " If it be 
 by grace, then it is no more of works ; otherwise grace is no 
 more grace: but if it be of works, then it is no more of grace; 
 otherwise work is no more work," Rom. xi. 6. But it was 
 added by way of subserviency and attendance, the better to ad- 
 vance and make effectual the covenant of grace ; so that al- 
 though the same covenant that was made with Adam was 
 renewed on Mount Sinai, yet I say still, it was not for the same 
 purpose. For this was it that God aimed at, in making the 
 covenant of works with man in innocency, to have that which 
 was his due from man if but God made it with the Israelites 
 for no other end, than that man being thereby convinced of 
 his weakness, might flee to Christ. So that it was renewed 
 only to help forward and introduce another and a better cove- 
 nant; and so to be a manuduction unto Christ, viz. to discover 
 sin, to waken the conscience, and to convince them of their 
 own impotency, and so drive them out of themselves to Christ. 
 
 * It was not set up by itself as an entire rule of righteousness, to which 
 alone they were to look who desired righteousness and salvation, as it 
 was in the case of upright Adam, " For no man, since the fall, can attain 
 to righteousness and life by the moral law," Lar. Cat. ques. 94. But it 
 was added to the covenant of grace, that by looking at it men might see 
 what kind of righteousness it is by which they can be justified in the 
 sight of God ; and that by means thereof, finding themselves destitute of 
 that righteousness, they might be moved to embrace the covenant of grace, 
 in which that righteousness is held forth to be received by faith. 
 
 i" This was the end of the work, namely, of making the covenant of 
 works with Adam, but not of the repeating of it at Sinai ; it was also the 
 end or design of the worker, namely of God, who made that covenant 
 with Adam, to have his due from man, and he got it from the Man 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
44 THE MARROW OF Part 1, 
 
 Know it then, I beseech you, that all this while there was no 
 other way of life given, either in whole, or in part, than the 
 covenant of grace. All this while God did but pursue the 
 design of his own grace; and, therefore, was there no incon- 
 sistency either in God's will or acts; only such was his mercy, 
 that he subordinated the covenant of works, and made it sub- 
 servient to the covenant of grace, and so to tend to evangelical 
 purposes. 
 
 Nam. But yet, sir, methinks it is somewhat strange that the 
 Lord should put them upon doing the law, and also promise 
 them life for doing, and yet never intend it. 
 
 Evan. Though he did so, yet did he neither require of them 
 that which was unjust, nor yet dissemble with them in the 
 promise; for the Lord may justly require perfect obedience at 
 all men's hands, by virtue of that covenant which was made 
 with them in Adam ; and if any man could yield perfect obe- 
 dience to the law, both in doing and suffering, he should have 
 eternal life ; for we may not deny (says Calvin) but that the 
 reward of eternal salvation belongeth to the upright obedience 
 of the law.* But God knew well enough that the Israelites 
 were never able to yield such an obedience ; and yet he saw it 
 meet to propound eternal life to them upon these terms; that 
 so he might speak to them in their own humour, as indeed it 
 was meet: for they swelled with mad assurance in themselves, 
 saying, "All that the Lord commandcth we will do," and be 
 obedient, Exod. xix. 8. Well, said the Lord, if you will 
 needs be doing, why here is a law to be kept ; and if you can 
 fully observe the righteousness of it, you shall be saved: send- 
 ing them of purpose to the law, to awaken and convince them, 
 to sentence and Jmmble them, and to make them see their own 
 folly in seeking for life that way ; in short, to make them see 
 the terms under which they stood, that so they might be brought 
 out of themselves, and expect nothing from the law, in relation 
 to life, but all from Christ. For how should a man see his 
 need of life by Christ, if he do not first see that he is fallen 
 from the way of life? and how should he understand how far 
 he had strayed from tlie way of life, unless he do first find 
 what is that way of life? therefore it was needful that tiie 
 Lord should deal with them after such a manner to drive them 
 out of tliemsclves, and from all confidence in the works of the 
 
 * That is, the perfect obedience of the law j as it is said, Eccl. vii, 29, 
 God made man upright." 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 45 
 
 law ; that so, by faith in Christ, they might obtain righteous- 
 ness and life. And just so did our Saviour also deal with that 
 young expounder of the law, Mat. xix. 16, who, it seems, was 
 sick of the same disease: "Good Master," says he, "what shall 
 I do that I may inherit eternal life?" He doth not, says Calvin, 
 simply ask, which way or by what means he should come to 
 eternal life, but what good he should do to get it; whereby it 
 appears, that he was a proud justiciary, one that swelled in 
 fleshly opinion that he could keep the law, and be saved by it; 
 therefore he is worthily sent to the law to work himself weary, 
 and to see need to come to Christ for rest. And thus you see 
 that the Lord, to the former promises made to the fathers, 
 added a fiery law ; which he gave from Mount Sinai, in thun- 
 dering and lightning, and with a terrible voice, to the stubborn 
 and stiff-necked Israel ; whereby to break and tame them, and 
 to make them sigh and long for the promised Redeemer. 
 
 Sect. 4. — Ant. And, sir, did the law produce this effect in 
 them ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed, it did ; as will appear, if you consider, 
 that although, before the publishing of this covenant, they were 
 exceeding proud and confident of their own strength to do all 
 that the Lord would have them do; yet when the Lord came 
 to deal with them as men under the covenant of works, in 
 showing himself a terrible judge sitting on the throne of justice, 
 like a mountain burning with fire, summoning them to come 
 before him by the sound of a trumpet, (yet not to touch the 
 mountain without a mediator,) Heb. xii. 19, 20, they were not 
 able to endure the voice of words, nor yet to abide that which 
 was commanded, insomuch, as Moses himself did fear and 
 quake ; and they did all of them so fear, and shake, and shiver, 
 that their peacock-feathers were now pulled down. This ter- 
 rible show wherein God gave his law on Mount Sinai, says 
 Luther, did represent the use of the law : there was in the 
 people of Israel that came out of Egypt a singular holiness; 
 they gloried, and said, " We are the people of God ; we will 
 do all that the Lord commandeth." Moreover, Moses sancti- 
 fied them, and bade them wash their garments, and purify 
 themselves, and prepare themselves against the third day: 
 there was not one of them but was full of holiness. The 
 third day, Moses bringeth the people out of their tents to the 
 mountain in the sight of the Lord, that they might hear his 
 voice. What followed then? why, when they beheld the hor- 
 rible sight of the mountain smoking and burning, the black 
 
46 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 clouds, and the lightnings flashing up and down in this horri- 
 ble darkness, and heard the sound of the trumpet blowing long, 
 and waxing louder and louder, they were afraid, and standing 
 afar off, they said not to Moses as before, "All that the Lord 
 commandeth we will do; but talk thou with us, and we will 
 hear, but let not God talk with us, lest we die." So that now 
 they saw they were sinners, and had offended God; and, there- 
 fore, stood in need of a mediator to negotiate peace, and en- 
 treat for reconciliation between God and them; and the Lord 
 highly approved of their words, as you may see, Deut. v. 28, 
 where Moses, repeating what they had said, adds furtlier : 
 " The Lord heard the voice of your word, when ye spake to 
 me, and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the 
 words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee, they 
 have well said, all that they have spoken," viz. in desiring a 
 mediator. Wherefore, I pray you, take notice, that they were 
 not commended for saying, " All that the Lord commandeth 
 we will do." "No," says a godly writer, "they were not 
 praised for any other thing, than for desiring a mediator ;"* 
 whereupon the Lord promised Christ unto them, even as Mo- 
 ses testifies, saying, "The Lord thy God shall raise up unto 
 thee a prophet like unto me, from among you, even of your 
 brethren ; unto him shall you hearken, according to all that thou 
 desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the 
 assembly, when thou saidst, "Let me hear the voice of the 
 Lord my God no more, nor see this great fire any more, that 
 I die not: and the Lord said unto me. They have well spoken, 
 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like 
 
 * I see no warrant for restraining the sense of this text to their desir- 
 ing a mediator. The universal term, " all that they have spoken," in- 
 cludes also their engaging to receive the law at the mouth of the mediator, 
 which is joined with their desire, ver. 27: "Go thou near, and hear 
 all that the Lord our God shall say ; and speak thou unto us all that the 
 Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear and do," ver. 28. 
 And the Lord said, " They have well said all that they have spoken." 
 But there is a palpable difference between what they spoke, Exod. xix. 
 8, and what they spoke here, relative to their own practice. The for- 
 mer runs thus : " All that the Lord hath spoken we will do ;" the lat- 
 ter thus : " And we will hear and do ;" the original text bears no 
 more. The one relates to obedience only, the other to faith also, — 
 " We will HEAR," i. e. believe, Isa. Iv. '.i, John ix. 27. Hence the object 
 of faith, that which is to be believed, is called a report, properly a hear- 
 ing, Isa. liii. 1, Rom. x. 1(5. The former sneaks much blind self-conti- 
 dence;t,the latter a sense of duty and a willing mind, but with all a sense 
 of duty and fear of mismanagement. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. : 47 
 
 unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall 
 speak unto them all that I command him;" and to assure us 
 that Christ was the prophet here spoken of, he himself says 
 unto the Jews, John v. 46, "If you had believed Moses, you 
 would have believed me; for he wrote of me;" and that this 
 was it which he wrote of him, the Apostle Peter witnesses, 
 Acts iii. 22; and so doth the martyr Stephen, Acts vii. 37. 
 Thus you see, when the Lord had, by means of the covenant 
 of works made with Adam, humbled them, and made them 
 sigh for Christ the promised Seed, he renewed the promise 
 with them, yea, and the covenant of grace made with Abraham.* 
 
 Ant. I pray, sir, how doth it appear that the Lord renewed 
 that covenant with them? 
 
 Evan. It plainly appears in this, that the Lord gave them 
 by Moses the Levitical laws, and ordained the tabernacle, the 
 ark, and the mercy-seat, which were all types of Christ. 
 Moreover, Lev. i. 1, '•' The Lord called unto Moses and 
 spake unto him out of the tabernacle, "-j- and commanded him 
 to write the Levitical laws, and the tabernacle ordinances ; 
 telling him withal, Exod. xxxiv. 27, " That after the tenor of 
 these words, he had made a covenant with him, and with 
 Israel."! So Moses wrote those laws, Exod. xxiv. 4, not in 
 
 * Making a promise of Christ to them, not only as " the seed of the 
 woman," but as " the seed of Abraham," and yet more particularly, " as 
 " the seed of Israel : the Lord thy God will raise iip unto thee a prophet, 
 from the midst of thee, of thy brethren," Deut. xviii. 15. And here 
 it is to be observed, that this renewing of the promise and covenant of 
 grace with them was immediately upon the back of the giving of the law 
 on Mount Sinai, for at that time was their speech which the Lord com- 
 mended as well spoken: this appears from Exod. xx. 18, 19, compared 
 with Deut. V. 23 — 28, and upon that speech of theirs was that renewal 
 made, which is clear from Deut, xviii. 17, 18. 
 
 f From the mercy seat, which was within the tabernacle. The taber- 
 nacle was an eminent type of Christ, Heb. ix. 11. as the temple also 
 was, John ii. 19, 21. So this represented God's speaking in a Mediator, 
 in Jesus Christ. Here was a change agreeable to the people's desire on 
 Mount Sinai. God speaks, not from a burning mountain as before, but 
 out of the tabernacle : nor with terrible thunderings as at Sinai, but in a 
 still small voice, intimated to us, and intimated by the extraordinary 
 smallness of one letter in the original word rendered called, as the Hebrew 
 doctors do account for that irregularity of writing in that word. 
 
 X Moses exceedingly feared and quaked, Heb. xxii. 21, while he stood 
 amongst the rest of the Israelites at Mount Sinai during the giving of 
 the law, Exod. xix. 25, with chap. xx. 21. But here he is represented as 
 Israel's federal head in this covenant, he being the typical mediator ; 
 which plainly intimates the covenant of grace to have been made with ! 
 Christ, and with him in all the elect : " I have made a covenant with thee ? 
 
48 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 tables of stone, but in an authentical book,* says Ainsworth, 
 called the Book of the Covenant, which book Moses read in 
 the audience of the people, Exod. xxiv. 7, and the people 
 consented unto it. Then Moses having before sent young 
 men of tlie children of Israel, who were first born,-]- and there- 
 fore priests until the time of the Levites, to offer sacrifices of 
 burnt-offerings and peace-offerings unto the Lord, " he took 
 the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said. Behold the 
 blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you 
 concerning these things ;" whereby they were taught, that by 
 virtue of blood, this covenant betwixt God and them was con- 
 firmed, and that Christ, by his blood shed, should satisfy for 
 their sins ; for, indeed, the covenant of grace was, before the 
 coming of Christ, sealed by his blood in types and figures.;}: 
 
 Sect. 5. — Ant. But, sir, was this every way the same cove- 
 nant that was made with Abraham ? 
 
 Evan. Surely 1 do believe, that reverend Bullinger spake 
 very truly, when he said that God gave unto these people no 
 other religion, in nature, substance, and matter itself, differing 
 from the laws of their fathers ; though, for some respects, he 
 added thereunto many ceremonies and certain ordinances ; the 
 
 and with Israel," says the text. — See the first note on the preface, in the 
 Larger Catechism, quest. 31. 
 
 * Moses was twice on the Mount with God forty days. In the time of 
 the second forty days he received the order to write, mentioned Exod. 
 xxxiv. 27, as appears by comparing ver. 27 with 28. This comprehended 
 his writings of the Levitical laws, but not of the decalogue or ten com- 
 mandments ; for these last, God himself wrote on tables of stone, verse 
 28 compared with verse 1. This peremptory divine order, Moses, no 
 doubt, did obey ; understanding it of writing in a book, since he was not 
 commanded to write another way. So, in a like case, before he went up 
 into the Mount for the first forty days, he wrote Levitical hiws in a book 
 called the Book of the Covenant. Exod. xxxiv. 4, 7, " And Moses wrote 
 all the words of the Lord. And he took the book of the covenant and 
 read." Compare verse 18. This writing also comprehended Levitical 
 laws, but not the ten commandments. For all the words of the Lord 
 which Moses wrote, were all the words of the Lord which Moses told the 
 people. And what these were, appears from his commission received for 
 that effect : chap. xx. 21, 22, " And the people stood afar off, and Moses 
 drew near unto the thick darkness where God was ; and the Lord said 
 unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the cliildren of Israel," &c. So 
 all the words were these which follow to the end of the 23d chapter. 
 
 f In the original text, {verse 5,) they are called emphatically the 
 young men (or ministers, or servants, 1 Sam. ii. 13, 15 ; Esth. ii. 2,) of 
 the children of Israel, to signify that they were first-born. And so On- 
 kelos reads it *' the first-born of the children of Israel." 
 
 I The blood of the sacrifices representing the precious blood of Christ. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 49 
 
 which he did to keep their minds in expectation of the coming 
 of Christ, whom he had promised unto them ; and to confirm 
 them in looking for him, lest they should wax faint. And as 
 the Lord did thus by the ceremonies, as it were, lead them by 
 the hand to Christ ; so did he make them a promise of the 
 land of Canaan, and outward prosperity in it, as a type of 
 heaven, and eternal happiness ; so that the Lord dealt with 
 them as with children in their infancy and under age, leading 
 them on by the help of earthly things, to heavenly and spi- 
 ritual, because they were but young and tender,* and had not 
 that measure and abundance of the spirit which he had be- 
 stowed upon his people now under the Gospel. 
 
 Ant. And, sir, do you think that these Israehtes at this 
 time did see Christ and salvation by him in these types and 
 shadows ? 
 
 Evan. Yes ; there is no doubt but Moses and the rest of 
 the believers among the Jews did see Christ in them, " For," 
 says Tindal, " though all the sacrifices and ceremonies had a 
 star-light of Christ, yet some of them had the light of the 
 broad day, a little before the sun-rising ;" and did express him, 
 with the circumstances and virtue of his death, as plainly, as if 
 his passion had been acted upon a scaffold : " Insomuch," 
 says he, " that I am fully persuaded, and cannot but believe, 
 that God had showed Moses the secrets of Christ, and the very 
 manner of his death aforehand ;" and, therefore, no doubt 
 but that they offered their sacrifices by faith in the Messiah, as 
 the Apostle testifies of Abel, Heb. xi. 4. I say, there is no 
 question but every spiritual believing Jew, when he brought 
 his sacrifice to be offered, and according to the Lord's com- 
 mand laid his hands upon it whilst it was yet alive. Lev. i. 4, 
 he did, from his heart, acknowledge that he himself had de- 
 served to die ; but by the mercy of God he was saved,f and 
 his desert laid upon the beast ;:}: and as that beast was to die, 
 and be offered in sacrifice for him, so did he believe that the 
 Messiah should come and die for him, upon whom he put his 
 hands, that is, laid all his iniquities by the hand of faith.§ So 
 
 * The church was in her minority under the law, Gal. iv. 1 — 3. 
 
 t From the death he had deserved by his sin. 
 
 + Typically. 
 
 § "The mystical signification of the sacrifices, and especially this rite, 
 some think the Apostle means by the doctrine of ' laying on of hands,' 
 Heb. vi. 2, which typified evangelical faith." Henry on Lev. i. 4, It 
 is evident that the offerer, by laying his hand on the head of the sacrifice, 
 did legally unite with it ; laid his sin, or transferred his guilt upon it, iu 
 
 D 
 
50 THE MARROW OF f>art 1. 
 
 that, as Beza on Job i. says, " The sacrifices were to them 
 holy mysteries, in which, as in certain glasses, they did both 
 see themselves to their own condemnation before God,* and 
 also beheld the mercy of God in the promised Messiah, in time 
 to be exhibited :" " And therefore," says Calvin, Instit. p. 
 239, " the sacrifices and satisfactory offerings were called 
 Ashemoth, which word properly signifies sin itself, to show that 
 Jesus Christ was to come and perform a perfect expiation, by 
 giving his own soul to be an asham, that is, a satisfactory 
 oblation." 
 
 Wherefore, you may assure yourself, that as Christ was 
 always set before the fathers in the Old Testament, to whom 
 they might direct their faith, and as God never put them in 
 hope of any grace or mercy, nor ever showed himself good 
 unto them without Christ ;f even so the godly in the Old Tes- 
 tament knew Christ by whom they did enjoy these promises of 
 God, and were joined to him. J And, indeed, the promise of 
 salvation never stood firm till it came to Christ.§ And there 
 was their comfort in all their troubles and distresses, according 
 as it is said of Moses, Heb. xi. 26, 27, " He endured as seeing 
 him who is invisible, |1 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect to the 
 recompence of reward." 
 
 And so (as Ignatius says) the prophets were Christ's ser- 
 vants, who foreseeing him in spirit, both waited for him as 
 their master, and looked for him as their Lord and Saviour, 
 saying, " He shall come and save us." 
 
 And so says Calvin, (Institut. p. 207,) " So oft as the pro- 
 phets speak of the blessedness of the faithful, the perfect image 
 
 a typical or ceremonial way, Lev. xvi, 21 ; the substance and truth of 
 which ceremonial action plainly appears to be faith, or believing on Jesus 
 Christ, which is the soul's assenting, for its own part, to and acquiescing 
 in the glorious device of " the Lord's laying on him the iniquities of us 
 all," Isa. liii. (5. 
 
 * That is, they saw themselves, as in themselves condemned by the 
 holy law. 
 
 t That is, as an absolute God out of Christ, but always as a God in 
 Christ. 
 
 I To Christ, by faith. 
 
 § It stood, at first on ni.jn's own obedience : which ground quickly 
 failed : then it came to Cluist, where it stood firm. Gen. iii. 15. It 
 (namely, "the seed of the woman") *' shall bruise thy head," viz. the ser- 
 pent's head. 
 
 II " Faith presenting to his view at all times the great angel of the cove- 
 nant,' God the Son, the Redeemer of him and Israel." Suppl. Poole' $ 
 Annot. on the Text. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 51 
 
 that they have painted thereof was such as might ravish men's 
 minds out of the earth, and of necessity raise them up to the 
 consideration of the felicity of the life to come ;" so that we 
 may assuredly conclude, with Luther, that all the fathers, pro- 
 phets, and holy kings, were righteous, and saved by faith in 
 Christ to come ; and so, indeed, as Calvin says, (Institut. p. 
 198,) " were partakers of all one salvation with us." 
 
 Ant. But, sir, the Scriptures seem to hold forth as though 
 they were saved one way, and we another way ; for you know 
 the prophet Jeremiah makes mention of a twofold covenant ; 
 therefore it is somewhat strange to me, that they should be 
 partakers of one w ay of salvation with us. 
 
 Evan. Indeed, it is true, the Lord did bequeath unto the 
 fathers, righteousness, life, and eternal salvation, in and through 
 Christ the Mediator, being not yet come in the flesh, but pro- 
 mised : and unto us in the New Testament he gives and be- 
 queaths them to us in and through Christ, being already come, 
 and having actually purchased them for us ; and the covenant 
 of grace was, before the coming of Christ, sealed by his blood 
 in types and figures ; and at his death in his flesh,* it was 
 sealed and ratified by his very blood, actually, and in very deed 
 shed for our sins. And the old covenant, in respect of the 
 outward form and manner of sealing, was temporary and 
 changeable ; and therefore the types ceased, and only the sub- 
 stance remains firm ; but the seals of the new are unchange- 
 able, being commemorative, and shall show the Lord's death 
 until his coming again. And their covenant did first and 
 chiefly promise earthly blessingsf and in and under these it did 
 signify and promise all spiritual blessings and salvation ; but 
 Qur covenant promises Christ and his blessings in the first 
 place, and after them earthly blessings. 
 
 These, and some other circumstantial differences in regard 
 to administration, there w as betwdxt their way of salvation, or 
 covenant of grace, and ours ; which moved the author to the 
 Hebrew^s, Heb. viii. 8, to call theirs old, and ours new ; but, 
 in regard to substance, they were all one and the very same ;:J: 
 
 * *' Christ — being put to death in the flesh," 1 Pet. iii. 18. 
 
 t Chiefly ; in so far as, in that dispensation of the covenant of grace, 
 the promises of earthly blessings were chiefly insisted on ; and the pro- 
 mises of spiritual blessings and salvation more sparingly. 
 
 + " There are not, therefore, two covenants of grace, differing in sub- 
 stance; but one and the same under various dispensations." Westm. 
 Confess, chap. 7, art. 6. And their covenant of grace, confirmed by the 
 sprinkling of blood, Exod. xxiv; Heb. ix. 19, 20, (the which covenant 
 
 d2 
 
52 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 for in all covenants this is a certain rule, " If the subject 
 matter, the fruit and the conditions, be the same, then is the 
 covenant the same:" but in these covenants Jesus Christ is the 
 subject matter of both, salvation the fruit of both, and faith 
 the condition of both :* therefore, I say, though they be called 
 two, yet they are bat one ; the which is confirmed by two 
 faithful witnesses ; the one is the Apostle Peter, who says, 
 Acts XV. 11, " We believe, that through the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they ;" meaning 
 the fathers in the Old Testament, as is evident in the verse 
 next before. The other is the Apostle Paul, who says, Gal. 
 iii. 6, 7, " Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to 
 him for righteousness, know ye, therefore, that they which are 
 of faith, the same are the children of Abraham :" by which 
 testimony, says Luther, on the Galatians, p. 116, " we may 
 see that the faith of our fathers in the Old Testament, and 
 ours in the New, is all one in substance." 
 
 Aiit. But could they that lived so long before Christ, ap- 
 prehend his righteousness by faith for their justification and 
 salvation ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed ; for as Mr. Forbes, on Justification, 
 p. 90, truly says, it is as easy for faith to apprehend righteous- 
 ness to come, as it is to apprehend righteousness that is past : 
 wherefore, as Christ's birth, obedience, and death, were in the 
 Old Testament as effectual to save sinners, as they are now; 
 so all the faithful forefathers, from the beginning, did partake 
 of the same grace with us, by believing in the same Jesus 
 Christ, and so were justified by his righteousness, and saved 
 eternally by faith in him. It was by virtue of the death of 
 
 they brake, by their unbelief frustrating the manner in which it was ad- 
 ministered to them) was given to them when the Lord had led them out 
 of Egypt, and at Sinai too, as well as the ten commandments delivered to 
 them as the covenant of works. This is evident from Exod. xx. 1 — 17, 
 compared with Deut. v. 2 — 22, and Exod. xx. 20, 21, compared with 
 chap, xxiv, '.i — 8. See page 48, note *. 
 
 * Not in a strict and proper sense, as that, upon the performance of 
 which the right and title to the benefits of the covenant are founded and 
 pleaded; as perfect obedience was the condition of the covenant of 
 works. Clirist's fulfilling of the law, by his obedience and death, is the 
 only condition of the covenant of grace, in that sense. But in a large 
 and improper sense, as that whereby one accepts and embraces the cove- 
 nant and the proper condition thereof, and is savingly interested in Jesus 
 , Christ, the head of the covenant. " Tlie grace of God is manifested in 
 j the second covenant, in that he freely provideth and offereth to sinners a 
 f -Mediator, and life and salvation by him ; and requiring faith as the con- 
 ] dition to interest them in him," &.c. Lar. Cat. quest. 32. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 5a 
 
 Christ, that Enoch was translated that he should not see death ; 
 and Elias was taken up into heaven by virtue of Christ's re- 
 surrection and ascension. So that from the world's beginning 
 to the end thereof, the salvation of sinners is only by Jesus 
 Christ ; as it is written, " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and 
 to-day, and for ever," Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
 Ant. Why, then, sir, it seems that those who were saved 
 aniongst the Jews, were not saved by the works of the law ? 
 
 Evan. No, indeed ; they were neither justified nor saved, 
 either by the works of the moral law, or the ceremonial law. ' 
 For, as you heard before, the moral law being delivered unto 
 them with great terror, and under most dreadful penalties, 
 they did find in themselves an impossibility of keeping it ; and 
 so were driven to seek help of a Mediator, even Jesus Christ, 
 of whom Moses was to them a typical mediator :* so that the 
 moral law did drive them to the ceremonial law, which was 
 their gospel, and their Christ in a figure ; for that the cere- 
 monies did prefigure Christ, direct unto him, and require faith 
 in him, is a thing acknowledged and confessed by all men. | 
 
 Nom. But, sir, I suppose, though believers among the Jews 
 were not justified and saved by the works of the law, yet was 
 it a rule of their obedience ? 
 
 Evan. It is very true, indeed ; the law of the ten command- 
 ments was a rule for their obedience ;-|- yet not as it came from 
 Mount Sinai ;t but rather as it came from Mount Zion ; not 
 as it was the law or covenant of works, but as it was the law 
 of Christ. The which will appear, if you consider, that after 
 the Lord had renewed with them the covenant of grace, as 
 you heard before, (Exod. xxiv. at the beginning) the Lord 
 said unto Moses, verse 12, " Come up to me into the mount, 
 and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law 
 that thou mayest teach them ;"' and after the Lord had thus 
 written them the second time with his own finger, he delivered 
 them to Moses, commanding him to provide an ark to put 
 them into ; which was not only for the safe keeping of them, 
 Deut. ix. 10; x. 3; but also to cover the form of the covenant 
 of works that was formerly upon them, that believers might 
 not perceive it ; for the ark was a notable type of Christ ; and 
 
 * That is, a type, he being to them a typical Mediator. 
 
 f The obedience of the believing Jews. 
 
 X That is, in the sense of our author, not as the covenant of works, 
 but of the twofold notion or consideration under which the ten com- 
 mandments were delivered from Mount Sinai. See page 35, note f. 
 
54 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 therefore the putting of them therein did show that they were 
 perfectly fulfilled in him, Christ being " the end of the law for 
 righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x. 4. The 
 which was yet more clearly manifest, in that the book of the 
 law was placed between the cherubim, and upon the mercy- 
 seat, to assure believers that the law now came to them from 
 the mercy-seat ;* for there the Lord promised to meet Moses, 
 and to commune with him of all things which he would give 
 him in commandment to them, Exod. xxv. 22. 
 
 Ant. But, sir, was the form quite taken away, so as the ten 
 commandments were no more the covenant of works ? 
 
 Evan. Oh no ! you are not so to understand it. For the 
 form of the covenant of works,-}- as well as the matter (on 
 God's part,):j: came immediately from God himself, and so con- 
 sequently it is eternal, like himself; whence it is that our Sa- 
 viour says, Matt. v. 18, " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot 
 or one tittle shall in no ways pass from the law, till all be ful- 
 filled." So that either man himself, or some other for him, 
 must perform or fulfil the condition of the law, as it is the 
 covenant of works, ^or else he remains still under it in a damn- 
 able condition : but now Christ hath fulfilled it for all be- 
 lievers ; and therefore, I said, the form of the covenant of 
 works was covered or taken away, as touching the believing 
 Jews ; but yet it was neither taken away in itself, nor yet as 
 touching the unbelieving Jews. 
 
 Nam. Was the law then still of use to them, as it was the 
 covenant of works ? 
 
 ♦ From an atoned God in Christ, binding them to obedience with the 
 strongest ties, arising from their creation and redemption jointly; but not 
 with the bond of the curse, binding them over to eternal death in case of 
 transgression, as the law or covenant of works does with them who are 
 under it, Gal. iii. 10. The mercy-seat was the cover of the ark, and both 
 the one and the other types of Christ. Within the ark, under the cover 
 of it, were the tables of the law laid up. Thus was the the throne of 
 grace, which could not have stood on mere mercy, firmly established in 
 Jesus Christ; according to Psalm Ixxxix. 14, "Justice and judgment are 
 the habitation [marg. " establishment"] of thy throne." The word pro- 
 perly signifies a base, supporter, stay, or foundation, on which a thing 
 stands firm, Ezra ii, 63, and iii. 3 ; Psalm civ. 5. The sense is, O God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Psalm Ixxxix. 19, justice satisfied, 
 and judgment fully executed in the person of the Mediator, are the foun- 
 dation and base which thy throne of grace stands upon. 
 
 t Namely, the promissorj' and penal sanction of eternal life and death, 
 in which God's truth was engaged. 
 
 X Man's part was his consenting to the terms set before him by his 
 Creator. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 65 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed. 
 
 Ant. I pray you, sir, show of what use it was to them. 
 
 Evan. I remember Luther (on the Galatians, p. 171,) says, 
 " There be two sorts of unrighteous persons or unbelievers ; 
 the one to be justified, and the other not to be justified : even 
 so was there among the Jews." Now, to them that were to be 
 justified, as you have heard, it was still of use to bring them 
 to Christ : as the Apostle says. Gal. iii. 24, " The law was our 
 schoolmaster until Christ,* that we might be made righteous 
 by faith ;" that is to say, the moral lawf did teach and show 
 them what they should do, and so what they did not; and 
 this made them go to the ceremonial law ;J and by that they 
 were taught that Christ had done it for them ;§ the which 
 they beheving,|| were made righteous by faith in him. And 
 to the second sort it was of use, to show them what was good, 
 and what was evil ; and to be as a bridle to thfem, to restrain 
 them from evil, and as a motive to move them to good, for 
 fear of punishment,** or hope of reward in this life ; which, 
 though it was but a forced and constrained obedience, yet was 
 it necessary for the public commonwealth, the quiet thereof 
 being thereby the better maintained. And though thereby 
 they could neither escape death, nor yet obtain eternal life, 
 for want of perfect obedience, yet the more obedience they 
 yielded thereunto, the more they were freed from temporal 
 calamities, and possessed with temporal blessings, according 
 as tiie Lord promised and threatened, Deut. xxviii. 
 
 Ant. But, sir, in that place the Lord seemeth to speak to 
 his own people, and yet to speak according to the tenor of the 
 covenant of works, which has made me think, that believers 
 in the Old Testament were partly under the covenant of works. 
 
 Evan. Do you not remember how I told you before, that 
 the Lord did manifest so much love to the body of that nation, 
 that the whole posterity of Abrahamf f were brought under a 
 
 * That is, to bring us unto Christ, as we read it with the supplement. 
 
 t As the covenant of works, so the author uses that term here, as it is 
 used. Larg. Cat. quest. 93, above cited. 
 
 X Broken under the sense of guilt, the curse of the law, and their utter 
 inability to help themselves by doing or suffering. 
 
 § Christ's satisfying the law for sinners by his obedience and death, 
 being the great lesson taught by the ceremonial law, which was the Gospel 
 written in plain characters, to those whose eyes were opened. 
 
 II Appropriating and applying to themselves by faith Christ's satisfac- 
 tion held forth and exhibited to them in these divine ordinances. 
 
 ** Both in time and eternity. 
 
 ft Which were of that nation, according to Gen. xxi. 12, " In kaac 
 
56 THE MARROW OF Part I, 
 
 state-covenantor national church; so that for the believers' 
 sakes he infolded unbelievers in the compact ; whereupon the 
 Lord was pleased to call them all by the name of his people, 
 as well unbelievers as believers, and to be called their God? 
 And though the Lord did there speak according to the tenor 
 of the covenant of works, yet I see no reason why he might 
 not direct and intend his speech to believers also, and yet they 
 remain only under the covenant of grace. 
 
 Ant. Why, sir, you said that the Lord did speak to them out 
 of the tabernacle, and from the mercy-seat; and that, doubt- 
 less, was according to the tenor of the covenant of grace, and 
 not according to the tenor of the covenant of works. 
 
 Evan. I pray you take notice, that after the Lord had pro- 
 nounced all those blessings and curses, Deut. xxviii. in the be- 
 ginning of the 29th chapter, it is said, " These are the words 
 of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make 
 with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the 
 covenant which he made with tliem in Horeb." Whereby it 
 doth appear to me, that this was not the covenant of works 
 which was delivered to them on Mount Sinai ;* for the form 
 of that covenant was eternal blessings and curses,t but the 
 form of this covenant was temporal blessings and curses.;}: So 
 that this rather seems to be the pedagogy of the law, than the 
 covenant of works; for at that time these people seemed to be 
 carried by temporal promises into the way of obedience, and 
 
 shall thy seed be called." And chap, xxviii. 13, " I am the Lord God of 
 Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac ; the land whereon thou liest, 
 to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." 
 
 * The author does not make the covenant at Horeb distinct from that 
 at Sinai ; for he takes Horeb and Sinai for one and the same mountain, 
 according to the Holy Scriptures, Exod. xix. 20, compared with Deut. 
 V. 2, and, therefore, because the text speaks of this covenant in the land 
 of Moab as another covenant beside that in Horeb, he infers that it was 
 not the same ; not the covenant of works delivered on Mount Sinai, 
 otherwise called Horeb. And howbeit there are but two covenants con- 
 taining the only two ways to happiness, the author cannot, on that ac- 
 count, be justly blamed for distinguishing this covenant from them both, 
 unless temporal blessings do make men happy ; the which blessings, with 
 curses of the same kind, he takes to be the form of this covenant. 
 
 t Deut. xxvii. 2(5, " Cnrsed be he that confirmeth not all the words of 
 this law to do them." Compare Gal. iii. 10, " For as many as are of the 
 works of the law are under the curse;" for it is written, "Cursed is 
 every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law 
 to do them." 
 
 X See Deut. xxviii. throughout. Chap, xxix. 9, "Keep, therefore, the 
 words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye 
 do." And here ends a e:reat section of the law. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 57 
 
 deterred by temporal threatenings from the ways of disobe- 
 dience, God dealing with them as in their infancy and under 
 age, and so leads them on, and allures them, and fears them, 
 by such respects as these, because they had but a small mea- 
 sure of the Spirit. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, was not the matter of that covenant and this 
 all one? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed; the ten commandments were the mat- 
 ter of both covenants, only they differed in the forms. 
 
 Ant. Then, sir, it seems that the promises and threatenings 
 contained in the Old Testament were but temporary and ter- 
 restrial, only concerning the good and evil things of this life. 
 
 Evan. This we are to know, that like as the Lord, by his 
 prophets, gave the people in the Old Testament many exhorta- 
 tions to be obedient to his commandments, and many dehorta- 
 tions from disobedience thereunto ; even so did he back them 
 with many promises and threatenings, concerning things tem- 
 poral, as these and the like Scriptures do witness : Isa. i. 10, 
 " Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom ; give ear 
 unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah:" ver. 19, 20, 
 " If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good things of 
 the land ; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with 
 the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." And 
 Jer. vii. 3, 9, 20, " Amend your ways and your doings, and I 
 will cause you to dwell in this place. Will you steal, murder, 
 and commit adultery, and swear falsely by my name? There- 
 fore, thus saith the Lord God, behold mine anger and my fury 
 shall be poured out upon this place." And surely there be two 
 reasons why the Lord did so : Jirst, because, as all men are 
 born under the covenant of works, they are naturally prone to 
 conceive, that the favour of God, and all good things, do depend 
 and follow upon their obedience to the law,* and that the 
 wrath of God, and all evil things, do depend upon and follow 
 their disobedience to it,t and that man's chief happiness is to 
 be had and found in terrestrial paradise, even in the good 
 things of this life. So the people of the Old Testament being 
 nearest to Adam's covenant and paradise, were most prone to 
 such conceits. And secondly^ because the covenant of grace 
 and celestial paradise were but little mentioned in the Old Tes- 
 
 * Not a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. 
 
 t Not considering the great sin of unbelief ; and that the wrath of God, 
 due to them for disobedience, may be averted by their fleeing to Christ 
 for refuge. 
 
 d3 
 
58' THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 tament, thej^, for the most part,* had but a glimmering know- 
 ledge of them, and so could not yield obedience freely as sons.f 
 Therefore the Lord saw it meet to move them to yield obe- 
 dience to his laws by their own motives,^ and as servants or 
 children under age.§ 
 
 Ant. And were both believers and unbelievers, that is, such 
 as were under the covenant of grace, and such as were under 
 the covenant of works, equally and alike subject, as well to 
 have the calamities of this life inflicted upon them for their 
 disobedience, as the blessings of this life conferred upon them 
 for their obedience? 
 
 Evan. Surely the words of the preacher do take place here, 
 when he says, Eccl. ix. 2, "All things come alike to all; there 
 is one event to the righteous and to the wicked." Were not 
 Moses and Aaron, for their disobedience, hindered from enter- 
 ing into the land of Canaan, as well as others? Numb. xx. 12. 
 And was not Josiah, for his disobedience to God's command, 
 slain in the valley of Megiddo? 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, 22. There- 
 fore assure yourself, that when believers in the Old Testa- 
 ment did transgress God's commandments, God's temporal 
 wrath II went out against them, and was manifest in temporal 
 calamities that befel them as well as others, Numb. xvi. 46. 
 Only here was the difference, the believers' temporal calami- 
 ties had no eternal calamities included in them, nor following 
 of them ;** and the unbelievers' temporal blessings had no eter- 
 nal blessings included in them, and their temporal calamities 
 had eternal calamities included in them, and following of them.ff 
 
 * For the more eminent saints in the Old Testament times are to be 
 excepted, such as David and others. 
 
 t Having but a small measure of knowledge of the celestial paradise, 
 the eternal inheritance, and of the covenant of grace, (the divine disposi- 
 tion containing their right to do it,) they could not yield obedience freely, 
 in the measure that sons do, who are come of age, and know well their 
 own privileges ; but only as little children, who, in some measure yield 
 obedience freely, namely, in proportion to the knowledge of these things, 
 but (that measure being very small) must be drawn also to obedience by 
 motives of a lower kind. And this the Apostle plainly teaches, Gal. iv. 
 1 — 5. Compare Westm. Confess, chap. 20, art 1, "The liberty of Chris- 
 tians is further enlarged, in fuller communications of the free Spirit of 
 God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of." 
 
 X Promises and threatenings concerning things temporal. 
 
 § By fear of punishment and hope of reward. 
 
 II Tliat is, God's fatherly anger, whereby temporal judgments fall on 
 his own people. 
 
 ** By virtue of the covenant of grace which they were under. 
 
 ft By virtue of the covenant of works which they were under. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. o9 
 
 Ant. Then, sir, it seems that all obedience that any of the 
 Jews did yield to God's commandments, was for fear of tem- 
 poral punishment, and in hope of temporal reward? 
 
 Evan. Surely the Scriptures seem to hold forth, that there 
 were three several sorts of people amongst the Jews, who en- 
 deavoured to keep the law of God, and they did all of them 
 differ in their ends. 
 
 The first of them were true believers, who, according to the 
 measure of their faith, did believe the resurrection of their 
 bodies after death, and eternal life in glory, and that it was to 
 be obtained, not by the works of the law, but by faith in the 
 Messiah or promised seed; and answerably as they believed 
 this, answerably they yielded obedience to the law freely, with- 
 out fear of punishment or hope of reward: but, alas ! the spirit 
 of faith was very weak in most of them, and the spirit of bond- 
 age very strong, and, therefore, they stood in need to be in- 
 duced and constrained to obedience, by fear of punishment 
 and hope of reward.* 
 
 The second sort of them were the Sadducees and their sect, 
 and these did not believe that there was any resurrection, 
 
 * The author does not say, of believers under the Old Testament, sim- 
 ply, and without any qualification, that they "yield obedience to the law, 
 without fear of punishment or hope of reward," as if he minded to assert, 
 that they were not at all moved to their obedience by these ; the scope 
 of these words is to teach just the contrary. Compare page 58. But on 
 good grounds he affirms, that " answerable to their faith, their obedience 
 was yielded freely, without fear of punishment or hope of reward." And 
 thus, the freeness of their obedience always bearing proportion to the 
 measure of their faith ; the greater measure of faith any Old Testament 
 saint had attained unto his obedience was the less influenced by fear of 
 punishment or hope of reward, and the smaller his measure of faith was, 
 his obedience was the more influenced by these ; accordingly, such as 
 had no saving faith at all, were moved to obedience only by fear of pu- 
 nishment or hope of reward ;_and the meanest saint's faith, being once 
 perfected by the beatific vision in heaven, these ceased altogether to be 
 motives of obedience to him, though he ceases not to obey from the 
 strongest and most powerful motives. And thus the Apostle John teaches 
 concerning love which flows from faith, 1 John iv. 18, " Perfect love 
 casteth out fear, because fear doth torment : he that feareth, is not made 
 perfect in love." The more there is of the one, there is still less of the 
 other. In the meantime, according to our author, the measure of faith 
 in the most part of believers under the Old Testament was very small, 
 (and the strongest faith was imperfect,) and the servile and childish dis- 
 position, which moves to obedience from fear of punishment and hope of 
 reward, was very strong in them, Gal. iv. 1 — 5 ; and, therefore, as they 
 stood in need of such inducement and constraint, there could not fail to 
 be a great mixture of the influence of fear of punishment and hope of re- 
 ward in their obedience. 
 
60 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Matt. xxii. 23, nor any life but the life of this world; and yet 
 they endeavoured to keep the law, that God might bless them 
 here, and that it might go well with them in this present life. 
 
 The third sort, and indeed the greatest number of them in 
 the future ages after Moses, were the Scribes and Pharisees, 
 and their sects ; and they held and maintained, that there was 
 a resurrection to be looked for, and an eternal life after death, 
 and, therefore, they endeavoured to keep the law, not only to 
 obtain temporal happiness, but eternal also. For though it 
 had pleased the Lord to make known unto his people, by the 
 ministry of Moses, that the law was given, not to retain men 
 in the confidence of their own works, but to drive them out of 
 themselves, and to lead them to Christ the promised seed; yet 
 after that time, the priests and the Levites, who were the ex- 
 pounders of the law, and to whom the Scribes and Pharisees 
 succeeded, did so conceive and teach of God's intention in 
 giving the law, as though it had been, that they, by their obe- 
 dience to it, should obtain righteousness and eternal life; and 
 this opinion was so confidently maintained, and so generally 
 embraced amongst them, that in their book Mechilta, they say 
 and affirm, that there is no other covenant than the law ; and 
 so, in very deed, they conceived that there was no other way 
 to eternal life than the covenant of works. 
 
 Ant. Surely, then, it seems they did not understand and 
 consider that the law, as it is the covenant of works, does not 
 only bind the outward man, but also the inward man, even the 
 soul and spirit ; and requires all holy thoughts, motions, and 
 dispositions of the heart and soul? 
 
 Evan. O, no ; they neither taught it nor understood it so 
 spiritually; neither could they be persuaded that the law re- 
 nuires so much at man's hands. For they first laid this down 
 for a certain truth, that God gave the law for man to be justi- 
 fied and saved by his obedience to it ; and that, therefore, there 
 must needs be a power in man to do all that it requires, or else 
 God would never have required it; and, therefore, whereas 
 they should have first considered what a straight rule the law 
 of God is, and then have brought man's heart, and have laid 
 it to it, they, contrariwise, first considered what a crooked 
 rule man's heart is, and then sought to make the law like it: 
 and so indeed they expounded the law literally, teaching and 
 holding, that the righteousness which the law required was 
 but an external righteousness, consistiiiii: in the outward obser- 
 vation of the law, as you may see by the testimony of our Sa- 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 61 
 
 viour, Matt, v; so that, according to their exposition, it was 
 possible for a man to fulfil the law perfectly, and so to be jus- 
 tified and saved by his obedience to it. 
 
 Ant. But, sir, do you think the Scribes and Pharisees, and 
 their sect, did yield perfect obedience to the law, according to 
 their own exposition? 
 
 Evan, No, indeed, I think very few of them, if any at all. 
 
 Ant. Why, what hopes could they then have to be justified 
 and saved, when they transgressed any of the commandments? 
 
 Evan. Peter Martyr tells us, that when they chanced to 
 transgress any of the ten commandments,* they had their sa- 
 crifices to make satisfaction, (as they conceived ;) for they 
 looked upon their sacrifices without their significations, and so 
 had a false faith in them, thinking that the bare work was a 
 sacrifice acceptable unto God : in a word, they conceived that 
 the blood of bulls and goats would take away sin; and so what 
 they wanted of fulfilling the moral law, they thought to make 
 up in the ceremonial law. And thus they separated Christ 
 from their sacrifices, thinking they had discharged their duty 
 very well, when they had sacrificed and offered their offerings ; 
 not considering that the imperfection of the typical law, which, 
 as the Apostle says, made nothing perfect, should have led 
 them to find perfection in Christ, Heb. vii. 19 ; but they gene- 
 rally rested in the work done in the ceremonial law, even as 
 they had done in the moral law, though they themselves were 
 unable to do the one,f and the other was as insufficient to help 
 them. And thus " Israel, which followed the law of righteous- 
 ness, did not attain to the law of righteousness, because they 
 sought it not by faith," but, as it were, by the works of the 
 law. For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God, 
 and going about to establish their own righteousness, did not 
 submit themselves to the righteousness of God, Rom. ix. 31, 
 and X. 3. 
 
 Ant. Then, sir, it seems there were but very few of them:j: 
 that had a clear sight and knowledge of Christ? 
 
 Evan. It is very true indeed ; for generally there was such 
 a vail of ignorance over their hearts, or such a vail of blind- 
 ness over their minds, that it made their spiritual eye-sight so 
 weak and dim, that they were no more able to see Christ, the 
 
 * That is, according to their own exposition. 
 t To do any work of the moral law aright. 
 + Namely, of the Jews in general. 
 
62 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 son of righteousness, to the end of the law,* Mai. iv. 2, than 
 the weak eye of man is able to behold the bright sun when it 
 shineth in its full strength. And therefore we read, Exod. 
 xxxiv. 30, that when Moses' face did shine, by reason of the 
 Lord's talking with him, and telling him of the glorious riches 
 of his free grace in Jesus Christ, and giving unto him the ten 
 commandments, written in tables of stone, as the covenant of 
 works ;-|- to drive the people out of confidence in themselves, 
 and their own legal righteousness, unto Jesus Christ and his 
 righteousness, the people were not able to behold his face ; that 
 is to say, J by reason of the weakness and dimness of their 
 spiritual eye-sight, they were not able to see and understand 
 the spiritual sense of the law ; namely, that the Lord's end or 
 intent in giving them the law as a covenant of works, and as 
 the apostle calls it, "the ministration of condemnation and 
 death," 2 Cor. iii. 7, 9, was to drive them out of themselves 
 to Christ, and that then§ it was to be abolished to them, 
 as it was the covenant of works, verse 13, and therefore Moses 
 put the cloudy vail of shadowing ceremonies over his face. 
 Exodus xxxiv. 35, that they might be the better able to be- 
 hold it ; that is to say, that they might be the better able to 
 see through them, and understand, that " Christ is the end 
 of the law for righteousness to. every one that believeth," 
 Romans ix. 4. For Moses' face, says godly Tindal, is the 
 law rightly understood. And yet, alas! by reason that the 
 priests and Levites in former times, and the Scribes and 
 Pharisees in after times, " were the blind leaders of the blind," 
 Matt. XV. 14, the generality of them were so addicted to the 
 letter of the law, (and that both moral || and ceremonial) 
 that they used it not as a pedagogy to Christ, but terminated 
 their eye in the letter and shadow, and did not see through 
 them to the spiritual substance, which is Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 
 iii. 13, especially in the future ages after Moses : for at the 
 
 * That is, having in himself a fulness of righteousness, answering the 
 law to the utmost extent of its demands ; as the sun has a fulness of light. 
 
 f Therefore they are called by the apostle, the " ministration of death, 
 written and engraven on stones," 2 Cor. iii. 7. Now, it is evident, the 
 ten commandments are not the ministration of death, but as they are the 
 covenant of works. And, as sucli, they were given to Moses to be laid up 
 in the ark, to signify the fulfilling of them by Jesus Christ alone, and the 
 removing of that covenant-form from them, as to believers; and so they 
 served to drive sinners out of themselves to Christ. 
 
 + That is, this is the mystery of that typical event. 
 
 § When they should be driven out of themselves to Jesus Christ by it. 
 
 II As the covenant of works. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 63 
 
 time of Christ's coming in the flesh, I remember but two 
 namely, Simeon and Anna, that desired him, or looked for 
 him as a spiritual Saviour to save them from sin and wrath. 
 For though all of them had in their mouths the Messiah, (says 
 Calvin) and the blessed state of the kingdom of David ; yet 
 they dreamed that this Messiah should be some great monarch 
 that should come in outward pomp and power, and save and 
 deliver them from that bondage •which they were in under the 
 Romans, of which bondage they were sensible and weary; but 
 as for their spiritual bondage under the law, sin, and wrath, 
 they were not at all sensible ; and all because their blind guides 
 had turned the whole law into a covenant of works, to be done 
 for justification and salvation ;* yea, and such a covenant as 
 they were able to keep and fulfil, if not by the doing of the 
 niQacl law, yet by their offering sacrifices in the ceremonial 
 law. And for this cause, our Saviour, in his sermon upon the 
 mount, took occasion to expound the moral law truly and 
 spiritually, removing that false literal gloss which the Scribes 
 and Pharisees had put upon it, that men might see how im- 
 possible it is for any mere man to fulfil it, and so consequently to 
 have justification and salvation by it. And at the death of 
 Christ, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to 
 the bottom, to show, says Tindal, " that the shadows of Moses' 
 law should now vanish away at the flourishing light of the 
 gospel," Matt, xxvii. 51. And after the death of Christ, his 
 apostles did, both by their preaching and writing, labour to 
 make men understand, that all the sacrifices and ceremonies 
 were but types of Christ; and therefore he being now come, 
 they were of no further use: witness that divine and spiritual 
 epistle written to the Hebrews. Yet, notwithstanding, we may 
 say of the Jews at this day, as the apostle did in his time, 
 " even until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in 
 the reading of Moses." The Lord in mercy remove it in his 
 due time.f 
 
 * And so they quite perverted the great end of the giving of the law to 
 them. 
 
 t The history of the vail on Moses' face, is famous in the Old Testa- 
 ment, and the mystery of it in the New. The former, as I gather it from 
 the words of the inspired penman, Exod. xxxiv. stands thus briefly. 
 There was a shining glory on the face of Moses in the Mount ; but he 
 himself knew it not while God spake with him there, ver. 29, and that by 
 reason of the excelling divine glory, 2 Cor. iii. 10 ; Gr. even as the light 
 of a candle is darkened before the shining sun : but when " Moses, being 
 come forth from the excelling glory, was coming down from the Mount, 
 with the tables in his hand, his face shone so as to send forth rays like 
 
64 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Sect. 6 — Ant, Well, sir, I had thought that God's cove- 
 nant with the Jews had been a mixed covenant, and that they 
 had been partly under the covenant of works; but now I per- 
 ceive there was little difference betwixt their covenant of 
 grace and ours. 
 
 Evan. Truly the opposition between the Jews' covenant of 
 grace and ours was chiefly of their own making. They should 
 have been driven to Christ by the law: but they expected life 
 in obedience to it, and this was their great error and mistake. 
 
 Ant. And surely, sir, it is no great marvel, though they in 
 this point did so much err and mistake, who had the covenant 
 of grace made known to them so darkly; when many amongst 
 us, who have it more clearly manifested, do the like. 
 
 Evan. And, truly, it is no marvel, though all men naturally 
 do so: for man naturally doth apprehend God to be the great 
 Master of heaven, and himself to be his servant ; and that 
 therefore he must do his wofk before he can have his wages ; 
 and the more work he doth, the better wages he shall have. 
 And hence it was, that when Aristotle came to speak of bless- 
 
 horns," Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30, so that he could not but be conscious of it. 
 " Aaron and all the people perceiving Moses returning to them, went to 
 meet him ; but seeing an astonishing glory in his countenance, which 
 they were not able to look at, they were afraid, and retired," ver. 30. 31. 
 But Moses called to them to return, and goes into the tabernacle ; where- 
 upon the multitude not daring to return for all this, Aaron and the princes 
 alone return to him, being now in the tabernacle, ver. 31, the middle 
 part of which, 1 think, is to be read thus, "And Aaron and all the princes 
 returned unto him in the testimony," i. e. in the tabernacle of the testimony, 
 as it is called, chap, xxxviii, 21, Rev. xv. 5. From out of the tabernacle 
 Moses speaks to them, ordering (it would seem) the people to be gathered 
 together unto that place, ver. 31, 32. The people being convened at the 
 tabernacle, he preached to them all that he had received of the Lord on 
 the Mount, ver. 32. But in the meantime, none of them saw his face, 
 forasmuch as the tabernacle, within which he was, served instead of a 
 vail to it. Having done speaking, he puts a vail over his face, and comes 
 out to them, ver. 33. Marg. Heh. "And Moses ceased from speaking 
 with them, and put a vail on his face." Compare ver. 34, " But when 
 Moses went in before the Lord to speak with them, he took the vail off 
 until he came out." 
 
 The mystery of tliis ty))ical event the apostle treats of, 2 Cor. iii. The 
 shining glory of Moses' face did not prefigure nor signify the glory of 
 Christ; for " the glory of the Lord Christ," ver. 18, is evidently opposed 
 to the glory of Moses' countenance, ver. 7, and the open (or uncovered) 
 face of the former, ver. 18, (as Vetablus seems to me rightly to under- 
 stand it) to the vailed face of the latter, ver. 13. The glory of the one is 
 beheld as in a glass, ver. 18, the sight of the face itself being reserved for 
 heaven; but the glory of the face of the other was not to be beheld at 
 all, being vailed. But that glory signified the glory of the law given to 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 65 
 
 edness, and to pitch upon the next means to that end, he said, 
 "It was operation and working;" with whom also agrees Py- 
 thagoras, when he says, " It is man's fehcity to be like unto 
 God, (as how?) by becoming righteous and holy." And let us 
 not marvel that these men did so err, who never heard of 
 Christ, nor of the covenant of grace, when those to whom it 
 was made known by the apostles of Christ did the like ; wit- 
 ness those to whom the apostle Paul wrote his epistles, and 
 especially the Galatians : for although he had by his preach- 
 ing, when he was present with them, made known unto them 
 the covenant of grace ; yet after his departure, through the 
 seducement of false teachers, they were soon turned to the 
 covenant of works, and sought to be justified, either in whole 
 or in part by it ; as you may see if you seriously consider that 
 epistle. Nay, what says Luther? It is, says he, the general 
 opinion of man's reason throughout the whole world, that 
 righteousness is gotten by the works of the law ; and the reason 
 is, because the covenant was engendered in the minds of men 
 in the very creation,* so that man naturally can judge no other- 
 wise of the law than as of a covenant of works, which was 
 given to make righteous, and to give life and salvation. This 
 
 the Israelites, as the covenant of works, the glory of the ministration of 
 death, ver. 7, agreeable to what the author tells us from Tindal, namely, 
 that Moses' face is the law rightly understood. This Mosaic glory, while 
 it was most fresh, was darkened by the excelling glory of the Son of God, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, ver. 18, compared with Exod. xxxiv. 29, howbeit, 
 the discovery of it to sinners makes their hearts to tremble, they are not 
 able to bear it. That glorious form of the law must be hid in Christ the 
 true tabernacle, and from thence only must the law come to them, or 
 else they are not able to receive it ; though before that discovery is made 
 to them they are ready to embrace the law under that form, as the peo- 
 ple were to receive Moses with the tables in his hand, till they found 
 themselves unable to bear the shining glory of his face. The vail which 
 Moses put on his face, keeping the Israelites from beholding the glory of 
 it, signifies that their minds were blinded, ver. 14, not perceiving the 
 glory of the law given them as a covenant of works. And hence it was 
 " that the children of Israel fastened not their eyes, Luke iv. 20, Acts 
 iii. 4, on (Christ) the end of that which is abolished," 2 Cor. iii. 13, Gr. 
 for had they seen that glory to purpose, they would have fastened their 
 eyes on him, as a malefactor at the stake would fix his eyes on the face 
 of one bringing a remission. And that is the vail that is upon Moses' 
 face, and their hearts, unto this day, ver. 14, 15, which nevertheless, in 
 the Lord's appointed time, shall be taken away, ver. 16. 
 
 * This is not to be understood strictly of the very moment of man's 
 creation, in which the natural law was impressed on his heart, but with 
 some latitude, the covenant of works being made with man newly cre- 
 ated ; and so divines call it the covenant of nature, See Dickson's Therap. 
 Sacr. book 1. chap. 5. p. 116. 
 
66 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 pernicious opinion of the law, that it justifieth and maketh 
 righteous before God (says Luther again), "is so deeply 
 rooted in man's reason, and all mankind so wrapped in it, that 
 they can hardly get out ; yea, I myself, says he, have now 
 preached the gospel nearly twenty years, and have been exer- 
 cised in the same daily, by reading and writing, so that I may 
 well seem to be rid of this wicked opinion; yet, notwith- 
 standing, I now and then feel this old filth cleave to my heart, 
 whereby it cometh to pass that I would willingly have so to 
 do with God, that I would bring something with myself, be- 
 cause of which he should give me his grace." Nay, it is to 
 be feared, that, as you said, many amongst us, (who have more 
 means of light ordinarily, than ever Luther, or any before him 
 had,* yet notwithstanding) do either wholly, or in part, expect 
 justification and acceptation by the works of the law. 
 
 Ant. Sir, I am verily persuaded, that there be very many 
 in the city of London that are carried with a blind prepos- 
 terous zeal after their own good works and well-doings, secretly 
 seeking to become holy, just, and righteous, before God, by their 
 diligent keeping, and careful walking in all God's command- 
 ments ;+ and yet no man can persuade them that they do so : 
 and truly, sir, I am verily persuaded that this our neighbour 
 and friend, Nomista, is one of them. 
 
 Evan. Alas ! there are a thousand in the world that make 
 a Christ of their works; and here is their undoing, &c. They 
 look for righteousness and acceptation more in the precept than 
 in the promise, in the law than in the gospel, in working than 
 in believing ; and so miscarry. Many poor ignorant souls 
 amongst us, when we bid them obey and do duties, they can 
 think of nothing but working themselves to life ; when they 
 
 * Tliis is not to insinuate, that Luther had arrived but to a small mea- 
 sure of the knowledge of the doctrine of justification and acceptation of 
 a sinner before God, in comparison with those of later times ; I make no 
 question but he understood that doctrine as well as any man has done 
 since ; and doubt not but our author M'as of the same mind anent him : 
 but it is to show, that that great man of God, and others who went before 
 him, found their way out of the midnight darkness of Popery in that point, 
 with less means of light by far than men now have, who notwithstanding 
 cannot hold off from it. 
 
 t By which means they put their own works in the room of Christ, 
 " who of God is made unto us — righteousness and sanctification," 1 Cor. 
 i. 30. According to the Scripture plan of justification and sanctification, 
 a sinner is justified by his blood, Rom. v. 9, sanctified in Christ Jesus, 
 1 Cor. i. 2, through sanctification of the Spirit, 2 Thess. ii. 13, sanctified 
 by faith, Acts xxvi. 18. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 67 
 
 are troubled, they must lick themselves whole, when wounded, 
 they must run to the salve of duties, and stream of perform- 
 ances, and neglect Christ. Nay, it is to be feared that there 
 be divers who in words are able to distinguish between the law 
 and gospel, and in their judgments hold and maintain, that man 
 is justified by faith without the works of the law ; and yet in 
 effect and practice, that is to say, in heart and conscience, do 
 otherwise.* And there is some touch of this in us all ; other- 
 wise we should not be so up and down in our comforts and 
 believing as we are still, and cast down with every weakness 
 as we are.f But what say you, neighbour Nomista, are you 
 guilty of these things, think you ? 
 
 Nom. Truly, sir, I must needs confess, I begin to be some- 
 what jealous of myself that I am so; and because I desire your 
 judgment touching my condition, I would entreat you to give 
 me leave to relate it unto you. 
 
 Evan. With great good will. 
 
 Nom. Sir, I having been born and brought up in a country 
 where there was very little preaching, the Lord knoweth I 
 lived a great while in ignorance and blindness; and yet, 
 because I did often repeat the Lord's prayer, the Apostle's 
 creed, and the ten commandments, and in that I came some- 
 times to divine service, as they call it, and at Easter received 
 the communion, I thought my condition to be good. But at 
 last, by means of hearing a zealous and godly minister in this 
 city, not long after my coming hither, I was convinced that my 
 present condition was not good, and therefore I went to the 
 same minister, and told him what I thought of myself; so he 
 told me that I must frequent the hearing of sermons, and keep 
 the Sabbath very strictly, and leave off swearing by my faith 
 and troth, and such like oaths, and beware of lying, and all 
 idle words and communication; yea, and said he, you must 
 get good books to read on, as Mr. Dodd on the Command- 
 ments, Mr. Bolton's Directions for Comfortable Walking with 
 God, Mr. Brinsley's True Watch, and such like; and many 
 similar exhortations and directions he gave me, the which I 
 
 * It is indeed the practice of every unregenerate man, whatever be his 
 knowledge or professed principles ; for the contrarj' practice is the prac- 
 tice of the saints, and of them only. Matt. v. 3, " Blessed are the poor in 
 spirit." — Phil. iii. 3, "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the 
 spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in flesh. 
 
 t For these flow from our building so much on something in ourselves, 
 which is always very variable ; and so little on the " grace that is in 
 Christ Jesus," 2 Tim. ii. 1, which is an immoveable foundation. 
 
68 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 liked very well, and therefore endeavoured myself to follow 
 them. So I fell to the hearing of the most godly, zealous, and 
 powerful preachers that were in the city, and wrote their ser- 
 mons after them; and when God gave me a family, I prayed 
 with them, and instructed them, and repeated sermons to them, 
 and spent the Lord's day in public and private exercises, and 
 left off my swearing, and lying, and idle talking; and, accord- 
 ing to exhortation, in few words, I did so reform myself and 
 my life, that whereas before I had been only careful to per- 
 form the duties of the second table of the law, and that to the 
 end I might gain favour and respect from civil honest men, 
 and to avoid the penalties of man's law, or temporal punish- 
 ment, now I was also careful to perform the duties required 
 in the first table of the law, and that to gain favour and respect 
 from religious, honest men, and to avoid the penalty of God's 
 law, even eternal torments in hell. Now, w^hen professors of 
 religion observed this change in me, they came to my house, 
 and gave unto me the right hand of fellowship, and counted 
 me one of that number: and then I invited godly ministers to 
 my table, and made much of them; and then, with that same 
 Micah mentioned in the book of Judges, I was persuaded the 
 Lord would be merciful unto me, because I had gotten a 
 Levite to be my priest. Judges xvii. 13. In a word, I did 
 now yield such an outward obedience and conformity to both 
 tables of the law, that all godly ministers and religious honest 
 men who knew me, did think very well of me, counting me to 
 be a very honest man, and a good Christian; and indeed I 
 thought so of myself, especially because I had their approba- 
 tion. And thus I went on bravely a great while, even until I 
 read in Mr. Bolton's works, that the outward righteousness of 
 the Scribes and Pharisees was famous in those times ; for, be- 
 sides their forbearing and protesting against gross sins, as 
 murder, theft, adultery, idolatry, and the like, they were fre- 
 quent and constant in prayer, fasting, and alms-deeds, so that, 
 without question, many of them were persuaded that their doing 
 would purchase heaven and happiness. Whereupon I con- 
 cluded, that I had as yet done no more than they; and withal 
 I considered, that our Saviour says, " Except your righteous- 
 ness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Phai'isees, 
 you cannot enter into the kingdom of God," Matt. v. 20.; yea, 
 and I also considered that the A})()stle says, " He is not a Jew 
 that is one outwardly ; but he that is one inwardly, whose 
 praise is not of men, but of God," Rom. ii. 28, 29. Then did 
 
Chap. 1. MODERN DIVINITY. 69 
 
 I conclude that I was not yet a true Christian; for, said I in 
 my heart, I have contented myself with the praise of men, 
 and so have lost all my labour and pains in performing duties; 
 for they have been no better than outside performances, and, 
 therefore, they must all fall down in a moment. I have not 
 served God with all my heart; and, therefore, I see I must 
 either go further, or else I shall never be happy. Whereupon 
 I set about the keeping of the law in good earnest, and la- 
 boured to perform duties, not only outwardly, but also in- 
 wardly from my heart; I heard, and read, and prayed, and 
 laboured, to bring my heart, and forced my soul to every 
 duty; I called upon the Lord in good earnest, and told him, 
 that whatsoever he would have me to do, I would do it with 
 all my heart, if he would but save my soul. And then I also 
 took notice of the inward corruptions of my heart, the which 
 I had not formerly done, and was careful to govern my 
 thoughts, to moderate my passions, and to suppress the mo- 
 tions and risings of lusts, to banish pride and speculative wan- 
 tonness, and all vain and sinful desires of my heart; and then 
 I thought myself not only an outside Christian, but also an 
 inside Christian, and therefore a true Christian indeed. And 
 so I went on comfortably a good while, till I considered that 
 the law of God requires passive obedience as well as active: 
 and therefore I must be a sufferer as well as a doer, or else I 
 could not be a Christian indeed; Avhereupon I began to be 
 troubled at my impatience under God's correcting hand, and 
 at those inward murmurings and discontents which I found in 
 my spirit in time of any outward calamity that befel me; and 
 then I laboured to bridle my passions, and to submit myself 
 quietly to the will of God in every condition ; and then did I 
 also, as it were, begin to take penance upon myself, by absti- 
 nence, fasting, and afflicting my soul; and made pitiful lamen- 
 tations in my prayers, which were sometimes also accompanied 
 with tears, the which I was persuaded the Lord did take notice 
 of, and would reward me for it; and then I was persuaded 
 that I did keep the law, in yielding obedience both actively 
 and passively. And then was I confident I was a true Chris- 
 tian, until I considered, that those Jews, of whom the Lord 
 complains, Isa. Iviii. did as much as I; and that caused me 
 to fear that all was not right with me as yet. Whereupon I 
 went to another minister, and told him that though I had done 
 thus and thus, and suffered thus and thus; yet was I persuaded, 
 that I was in no better a condition than those Jews. O ves ! 
 
70 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 said he; you are in a better condition than they: for they 
 were hypocrites, and served not God with all their hearts as 
 you do. Then I went home contentedly, and so went on in 
 my wonted course of doing and suffering, and thought all was 
 well with me, until I bethougiit myself, that before the time 
 of my conversion, I had been a transgressor from the womb; 
 yea, in the womb, in that I was guilty of Adam's transgres- 
 sion: so that I considered that although I kept even with God 
 for the time present and to come, yet that would not free me 
 from the guiltiness of that which was done before; whereupon 
 I was much troubled and disquieted in my mind. Then I went 
 to a third minister of God's holy word, and told how the case 
 stood with me, and what I thought of my state and condition. 
 He cheered me up, bidding me be of good comfort: for how- 
 ever my obedience since my conversion would not satisfy for 
 my former sins; yet, inasmuch as, at my conversion, F had 
 confessed, lamented, deplored, bewailed, and forsaken them, 
 God, according to his rich mercy and gracious promise, had 
 mercifully pardoned and forgiven them. Then I returned 
 home to my house again, and went to God by earnest prayer 
 and supplication, and besought him to give me assurance of the 
 pardon and forgiveness of my guiltiness of Adam's sin, and 
 all my actual transgressions before my conversion; and as I 
 had endeavoured myself to be a good servant before, so I would 
 still continue in doing my duty most exactly; and so, being 
 assured that the Lord had granted this my request, I fell to 
 my business according to my promise; I heard, I read, I 
 prayed, I fasted, I mourned, I sighed, and groaned ; and 
 watched over my heart, my tongue, and ways, in all my doings, 
 actions, and dealings, both with God and man. 13ut after a 
 while, I growing better acquainted with the spiritualness of 
 the law, and the inward corruptions of my own heart, I per- 
 ceived that I had deceived myself, in thinking that I had kept 
 the law perfectly; for, do what I could, 1 found many imper- 
 fections in my obedience; for I had been, and was still sub- 
 ject to sleepiness, drowsiness, and heaviness, in prayers and 
 hearing, and so in other duties; I failed in the manner of per- 
 formance of them, and in the end why I performed them, 
 seeking myself in every thing I did: and my conscience told 
 me I failed in my duty to God in this, and in my duty to my 
 neighbour in that. And then I was nuich tro.ubled again: for 
 I considered that the law of God re(juires, and is not satisfied 
 without an exact and perfect obedience. And then I went to 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 71 
 
 the same minister again, and told him how I had purposed, 
 promised, striven, and endeavoured, as much as possibly I 
 could, to keep the law of God perfectly; and yet by woeful 
 experience I had found, that I had, and did still transgress in 
 many ways; and therefore I feared hell and damnation. "Oh! 
 but," said he, "do not fear; for the best of Christians have 
 their failings, and no man keepeth the law of God perfectly; 
 and therefore go on, and do as you have done, in striving to 
 keep the law perfectly ; and in what you cannot do, God will 
 accept the will for the deed ; and wherein you come short, 
 Christ will help you out." And this satisfied and contented 
 me very much. So I returned home again, and fell to prayer, 
 and told the Lord, that now I saw I could not yield perfect 
 obedience to his law, and yet I would not despair, because I 
 did believe, that what I could not do Christ had done for me: 
 and then I did certainly conclude, that I was now a Christian 
 indeed, though I was not so before: and so have I been per- 
 suaded ever since. And thus, sir, you see I have declared 
 unto you, both how it hath been with me formerly, and how 
 it is with me for the present ; wherefore I would entreat you 
 to tell me plainly and truly what you think of my condition.* 
 
 * It is not necessary, for saving this account of Nomista's case from 
 the odious charge of forgery, that the particulars therein mentioned should 
 have been real facts; more than (not to speak of scripture parables,) it is 
 necessary to save the whole book from the same imputation, that the 
 speeches therein contained should have passed, at a certain time, in a real 
 conference of four men, called Evangelista, Nomista, Antinomista, and 
 Neophitus ; yet I make no question but it is grounded on matters of fact, 
 falling out by some casuist's inadvertency, excess of charity to, or shifting 
 converse with, the afflicted, as to their soul exercise, or by means of cor- 
 rupt principles. And as the former are incident to good men of sound 
 principles at any time, which calls ministers on such occasions to take 
 heed to the frame of their own spirits, and to be much in the exercise of 
 dependence on the Lord, lest they do hurt to souls instead of doing them 
 good ; so the latter is at no time to be thought strange, since there were 
 found, even in the primitive apostolical churches, some who were reputed 
 godly, zealous Gospel ministers, especially by such as had little savour of 
 Christ on their own souls, who nevertheless, in their zeal for the law, per- 
 verted the gospel of Christ, Gal. i. 6, 7, and iv. 17. Whether Nomista was 
 of opinion, that the covenant of works was still in force or not, our Lord 
 Jesus Christ taught that it was, Luke x. 25 — 28 ; and so does the apostle, 
 Gal. iii. 10 ; and unbelievers will find it so to their everlasting ruin. For, 
 " our Lord Jesus, who now offers to be Mediator for them who believe 
 on him, shall, at the last day, come armed with flaming fire, to judge, 
 condemn, and destroy all them who have not believed God, have not re- 
 ceived the offer of grace made in the gospel, nor obeyed the doctrine 
 thereof, but remain in their natural state, under the law or covenant of 
 works." — Practical Use of Saving Knowledge, tit. For convincing a man 
 of Judgment hy the Latv, part. 2. 
 
72 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Evan. Why, truly, I must tell you, it appears to me by this 
 relation, that you have gone as far in the way of the cove- 
 nant of works as the apostle Paul did before his conversion ; 
 but yet, for aught I see, you have not gone the right way to 
 the truth of the Gospel ; and therefore I question whether you 
 be as yet truly come to Christ. ^ 
 
 Neoph. Good sir, give me leave to speak a few words. 
 By the hearing of your discourse concerning the covenant 
 of works, and the covenant of grace, I was moved to fear 
 that I was out of the right Avay ; but now having heard my 
 neighbour Nomista make such an excellent relation, and yet 
 you to question whether he truly be come to Christ or no, 
 makes me conclude absolutely, that I am far from Christ. 
 Surely, if he, upon whom the Lord hath bestowed such ex- 
 cellent gifts and graces, and who hath lived such a godly 
 life as I am sure he hath done, be not right, then woe be 
 unto me. 
 
 Evan. Truly, for aught I know, you may be in Christ 
 before him. 
 
 Nom. But, I pray you, sir, consider, that though I am now 
 thoroughly convinced, that till of late I went on in the way of 
 the covenant of works ; yet seeing that I at last came to see 
 my need of Christ, and have verily believed that in what I 
 come short of fulfilling the law he will help me out, methinks 
 I should be truly come to Christ. 
 
 Evan. Verily, I do conceive that this gives you no surer 
 evidence of your being truly come to Qhrist, than some of 
 your strict Papists have. For it is the doctrine of the Church 
 of Rome, that if a man exercise all his power, and do his best 
 to fulfil the law, then God, for Christ's sake, will pardon all 
 his infirmities, and save his soul. And therefore you shall 
 see many of your Papists very strict and zealous in the per- 
 formance of duties, morning and evening, so many Ave 
 Marias and so many Pater Nosters ; yea, and many of them 
 do great deeds of charity, and great works of hospitality ; and 
 all upon such grounds, and to such ends as these. The 
 Papists (says Calvin) cannot abide this saying, " By faith 
 alone;" for they think that their own works are in part a 
 cause of their salvation ; and so they make a hotch-potch and 
 mingle-mangle, that is neither fish nor flesh, as men say. 
 
 Nom. But stay, sir, 1 pray ; you are mistaken in me ; for 
 though I hold that God doth accept of my doing my best to 
 fulfil the law, yet I do not hold with the Papists, that my 
 doings are meritorious ; for I believe that God accepts not 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 73 
 
 what I do, either for the work or worker's sake, but only for 
 Christ's sake. 
 
 Evan, Yet do you but still go hand in hand with the Pa- 
 pists; for though they do hold that their works are meri- 
 torious, yet they say it is by the merit of Christ that they 
 become meritorious; or, as some of the moderate sort of 
 them say, " Our works, sprinkled with the blood of Christ, 
 become meritorious." But this you are to know, that as the 
 justice of God requires a perfect obedience, so does it re- 
 quire that this perfect obedience be a personal one ; viz. it 
 must be the obedience of one person only ; the obedience of 
 two must not be put together, to make up a perfect obe- 
 dience ; * so that, if you desire to be justified l3efore God, 
 you must either bring to him a perfect righteousness of your 
 own, and wholly renounce Christ ; or else you must bring 
 the perfect righteousness of Christ, and wholly renounce your 
 own. 
 
 Ant. But believe me, sir, I would advise him to bring 
 Christ's, and wholly renounce his own, as, I thank the Lord, 
 I have done. 
 
 Evan. You say very well ; for, indeed, the covenant of 
 grace terminates itself only on Christ and his righteousness ; 
 God will have none to have a hand in the justification and 
 salvation of a sinner, but Christ only. And to say as the 
 thing is, neighbour Nomista, Christ Jesus will either be a 
 whole Saviour, or no Saviour ; he will either save you alone, 
 or not save you at all. Acts iv. 12, " For among men there 
 is given no other name under heaven, whereby we must be 
 saved," says the apostle Peter; and Jesus Christ himself 
 says, John xiv. 6, " I am the way, the truth, and the life ; and 
 no man cometh to the Father but by me." So that, as Lu- 
 ther truly says, " besides this way Christ, there is no way but 
 wandering, no verity but hypocrisy, no life but eternal death." 
 And verily says another godly writer, " we can neither come 
 to God the Father, be reconciled unto him, nor have any 
 thing to do with him, by any other way or means, but only 
 by Jesus Christ ; for we shall not any where find the favour 
 of God, true innocency, righteousness, satisfaction for sin, 
 help, comfort, life, or salvation, any where but only in Jesus 
 
 ♦ For in that case, the obedience both of the one and of the other is 
 imperfect, and so is not conform to the law ; therefore it can in no wise 
 b6 accepted for righteousness : but according to justice proceeding upon 
 it, the soul that hath it must die, because a sinful soul, Ezek. xviii. 4. 
 
 E 
 
74 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Christ; he is the sum and centre of all divine and evangelical 
 truths : and therefore as there is no knowledge or wisdom so 
 excellent, necessary, or heavenly, as the knowledge of Christ, 
 as the apostle plainly gives usito understand, 1 Cor. ii. 2, that 
 he 'determined to know nothing amongst them, but only 
 Jesus Christ and him crucified;' so there is nothing to be 
 preached unto men, as an object of their faith, or necessary 
 element of their salvation which doth not in some way or 
 other, either meet in Christ, or refer unto him."* 
 
 Sect. 7. — Ant. O, sir, you please me wondrous well in 
 thus attributing all to Christ : and surely, though of late you 
 have not been so evangelical in your teaching as some others 
 in this city, which has caused me to leave off hearing you to 
 hear them, yet I have formerly perceived, and now also per- 
 ceive, that you have more knowledge of the doctrine of free 
 grace than many other ministers in this city have ; and to tell 
 you the truth, sir, it was by your means that I was first brought 
 to renounce mine own righteousness, and cleave only to the 
 righteousness of Jesus Christ.-|- And thus it was : after that 
 I had been a good while a legal professor, just like my friend 
 Nomista, and heard none but your legal preachers, who built 
 me up in works and doings, as they did him, and as their 
 manner is ; at last, a famihar acquaintance of mine, who had 
 some knowledge of the doctrine of free grace, did commend 
 you for an excellent preacher ; and at last prevailed with me 
 to go with him and hear you ; and your text that day, I well 
 remember, was Titus iii. 5, " Not by works of righteousness 
 which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us;" 
 whence you observed, and plainly proved, that man's own 
 
 * Eph. iv. 20, 21, " But ye have not so learned Christ ; if so be that 
 ye have lieard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus." 
 
 f What this is, in the sense of the speaker, he himself immediately 
 explains at large. In a word, in his sense, it is to be an Antinomian indeed. 
 The sum of his compliment made to Evangelista, or the author, which 
 you please, lies here ; namely, that he had left off hearing him, because 
 lie did not preach the gospel so purely as some others in the place ; yet 
 in his opinion, he understood it better than many others ; and (to carry the 
 compliment to the highest pitch) it was by his means he turned downright 
 Antinomian. One would think, that whatever was the measure of the au- 
 thor's pride or humility, self-denial, or self-seeking, he had as much 
 common sense as would render this address not very taking with him, or 
 at least would teach hin), that the publishing of it was none of the most 
 proper means for commending of himself. So that the publishing of it 
 may rather be imputed to the author's self-denial than to the want 
 thereof; though I presume the considering reader will neither impute it 
 to the one nor to the other. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 75 
 
 righteousness had no hand in his justification and salvation ; 
 whereupon you dehorted us from putting any confidence in 
 our own works and doings, and exhorted us by faith to lay hold 
 upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ only ; at the hearing 
 whereof it pleased the Lord so to work upon me, that I plainly 
 perceived that there was no need at all of my works and 
 doings, nor any thing else, but 'only to believe in Jesus Christ.* 
 And indeed my heart assented to it immediately, so that I 
 went home with abundance of peace and joy in believing, and 
 gave thanks to the Lord for that he had set my soul at liberty 
 from such a sore bondage as I had been under. And I told 
 all my acquaintance what a slavish life I had lived in, being 
 under the law ; for if I did commit any sin, I was presently 
 troubled and disquieted in my conscience, and could have no 
 peace till I had made humble confession thereof unto God, 
 craved pardon and forgiveness, and promised amendment. 
 But now I told them, that whatsoever sins I committed, I was 
 no whit troubled at them, nor indeed am I at this day ; for I 
 do verily believe that God, for Christ's sake, has freely and 
 fully pardoned all my sins, both past, present, and to come ; 
 so that I am confident, that whatsoever sin or sins I commit, 
 they shall never be laid to my charge, being very well assured, 
 that I am so perfectly clothed with the robe of Christ's 
 righteousness, that God can see no sin in me at all. And 
 
 *The preacher taught, according to his text, That man's own righteous- 
 ness had no hand in his justification and salvation; he dehorted, from 
 putting confidence in good works ; and exhorted, by faith to lay hold 
 on Christ's righteousness only. And this hearer thence inferred, that 
 there was no need at all of good works ; as if one should conclude, that 
 because it is the eye only that seeth, therefore there is no need at all of 
 hand or foot. So the apostle Paul's doctrine was misconstrued ; Rom. 
 iii. 8, " Some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come." 
 Yea, in the apostles' days, the doctrine of free grace was actually thus 
 abused to Antinomianism, by some " turning the grace of God into 
 lasciviousness," Jude 4. The apostle was aware of the danger on that 
 side, through the corruption of the hearts of men; Gal. v. 13, " Brethren, 
 ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to 
 the flesh." And ministers of Christ (who himself was accounted " a 
 friend to publicans and sinners," &c. Matthew xi. 19,) followers of Paul's 
 doctrine, which, in the eyes of carnal men, had a show and semblance 
 of favouring sinful liberty, ought to set the apostle's example in this 
 matter before them in a special manner ; with fear and trembling, keep- 
 ing a jealous eye on the danger from that part ; especially in this day, 
 wherein the Lord's indignation is visibly going out in spiritual strokes, 
 for a despised gospel ; knowing that the gospel of Christ is to some " the 
 savour of death unto death," 2 Cor. ii. 16, and that "there are who wrest 
 the Scriptures (themselves,) unto their own destruction." 2 Pet. ii. 17. 
 
 E 2 
 
76 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 therefore now I can rejoice evermore in Christ, as the apostle 
 exhorts me, and live merrily, though I be never so vile or sin- 
 ful a creature ; and indeed I pity them that are in the same 
 slavish condition I was in ; and would have them to believe as 
 I have done, that so they may rejoice with me in Christ.* 
 And thus, sir, you see I have declared unto you my condition ; 
 and therefore I entreat you to tell me what you think of me. 
 
 Evan. There is in this city, at this day, much talk about 
 Antinomians ; and though I hope there be but few that do 
 justly deserve that title, yet, I pray, give me leave to tell 
 you, that I fear I may say unto you in this case, as it was 
 once said unto Peter in another case, " Surely thou art one of 
 them, for thy speech bewrayeth thee," Matt. xxvi. 73. And 
 therefore, to tell you truly, I make some question whether 
 you have truly believed in Christ, for all your confidence ; and 
 indeed I am the rather moved to question it, by calling to 
 mind, that, as I have heard, " your conversation is not such as 
 becometh the gospel of Christ," Phil. i. 27. 
 
 Ant. Why, sir, do you think it is possible for a man to have 
 such peace and joy in Christ as I have had, and I thank the 
 Lord have still, and not to have truly believed in Christ ? 
 
 Evan. Yes, indeed, I think it is possible ; for does not our 
 Saviour tell us, that those hearers, to whom he resembles the 
 " stony ground, — immediately received the word with joy, and 
 yet had no root in themselves," Mark iv. 16, 17, and so in- 
 deed were not true believers ? and does not the apostle give 
 us to understand, that as there is a form of godliness without 
 the power of godliness ? 2 Tim. iii. 3, so there is a form of 
 faith, without the power of faith ; and therefore he prays that 
 God would grant unto the Thessalonians " the work of faith 
 with power," 2 Thess. i. 11. And as the same apostle gives 
 us to understand, "there is a faith that is not feigned," 1 Tim. 
 i. 5, so, doubtless, there is a faith that is feigned. And surely 
 when our Saviour says, Mark iv. 2(!> — 28, " the kingdom of 
 God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and 
 should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should 
 
 * How easy is the passage from legalism to Antinomianism ! Had this 
 poor man, under his trouble and disquiet of conscience, fled to Jesus 
 Christ for the purging of his conscience from guilt by his blood, and the 
 sanctifying of his nature by his Spirit ; and not put his own confessions 
 of sins, prayers for pardon, and promises of amendment, in the room of 
 Christ's atoning blood ; and his blind and faithless resolutions to amend, 
 in the room of the sanctifying spirit of Christ; he ha^ escaped this snare 
 of the devil, Ileb. ix. 14 ; Rom. vii. 4 — 6. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 77 
 
 spring up and grow, he knoweth not how, first the blade, 
 then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear ;" he giveth 
 us to understand, that true faith is produced by the secret 
 power of God, by little and little ; so that sometimes a 
 true believer himself neither knows the time when, nor the 
 manner how, it was wrought. So that we may perceive, that 
 true faith is not ordinarily begun, increased, and finished, all 
 in a moment, as it seems yours was, but grows by degrees, 
 according to that of the apostle, Rom. i. 17, " The righteous- 
 ness of God is revealed from faith to faith," that is, from one 
 degree of faith to another ; * from a weak faith to a strong 
 faith, and from faith beginning to faith increasing towards 
 perfection ; or from faith of adherence to faith of evidence ; 
 but so was not yours. And again, true faith, according to 
 the measure of it, produces holiness of life ; but it seems 
 yours does not so ; and therefore, though you have had, and 
 have still much peace and joy, yet that is no infaUible sign 
 that your faith is true ; for a man may have great raptures, 
 yea, he may have great joy, as if he were lifted up into the 
 third heaven, and have a great and strong persuasion that his 
 state is good, and yet be but a hypocrite for all that. And 
 therefore, I beseech you, in the words of the apostle, " examine 
 yourself, whether you be in the faith, prove your own self: 
 know you not your own self, how that Jesus Christ is in you, 
 except you be a reprobate?" 2 Cor. xiii. 5. — " And if Christ 
 is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life 
 because of righteousness,"f Rom. viii. 10. 
 
 Ant. But, sir, if my friend Nomista went wrong in seeking 
 to be justified by the works of the law, then, methinks I 
 should have gone right in seeking to be justified by faith ; and 
 yet you speak as if we had both gone wrong. 
 
 Evan. I remember Luther says, that in his time, if they 
 taught in a sermon, that salvation consisted not in our works 
 or life, but in the gift of God, some men took occasion thence 
 to be slow to good works, and to live a dishonest life. And 
 if they preached of a godly and honest life, others did by and 
 by attempt to build ladders to heaven.J And moreover, he 
 says, that in the year 1325, there were some fantastical spirits 
 that stirred up the rustical people to sedition, saying. That the 
 
 * See note %, page 20. 
 
 t This doctrine of our author is far from cherishing of presumption, 
 or opening of a gap to Hcentiousness. 
 
 + That is, to scale and get into it by their own good works. 
 
78 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 freedom of the gospel giveth liberty to all men from all man- 
 ner of laws ; and there were others that did attribute the force 
 of justification to the law. Now, says he, both these sorts 
 oiFend against the law ; the one on the right hand, who would 
 be justified by the law, and the other on the left hand, who 
 would be clean delivered from the law. Now, I suppose, this 
 saying of Luther's may be fitly applied to you two ; for it ap- 
 pears to me, iriend Antinomista, that you have offended on the 
 left hand, in not walking according to the matter of the law ; 
 and it is evident to me, neighbour Nomista, that you have 
 offended on the right hand, in seeking to be justified by your 
 obedience to it.* 
 
 Sect. 8. — Nom. But, sir, if seeking justification by the 
 works of the law be an error, yet it seems, that, by Luther's 
 own confession it is but an error on the right hand. 
 
 Evan. But yet I tell you, it is such an error, that, by the 
 apostle Paul's own confession, so far forth as any man is 
 guilty of it, " he makes his services his saviours, and rejects 
 the grace of God, and makes the death of Christ of none 
 effect, and perverteth the Lord's intention, both in giving the 
 law and in giving the gospel ; and keeps himself under the 
 curse of the law, and maketh himself the son of a bond- 
 woman, a servant, yea, and a slave, and hinders himself in the 
 course of well-doing," Gal. v. 4; iii. 19 ; i. 7; iii. 10; iv. 23; v. 
 7, and ii. 11 ; and in short, he goeth about an impossible thing, 
 and so loseth all his labour. 
 
 Nom. Why then, sir, it would seem that all my seeking to 
 please God by my good works, all my strict walking, accord- 
 ing to the law, and all my honest course of life, has rather 
 done me hurt than good ? 
 
 *The offences of these men here taxed, were both against the law (or 
 covenant) of works ; for they must needs have been against that law 
 which they were under, and not another ; and both of them were as yet 
 under the law, or covenant of works, as being both unbelievers, the 
 whicii was told Antinomista, page 77, as it was to Nomista, page 72 ; 
 wherefore it is manifest, that by the matter of tlie law here, is not meant 
 the law of Christ, but the matter of the law of works, that is, the ten 
 commandments, as they stand in the covenant of works, which Antinomista 
 had no regard to in his conversation, though they had all the authority 
 and l)inding force upon him found in that covenant. And as he offended 
 against the matter of it, so did Nomista against the form, in seeking to 
 be justified by his obedience; for the covenant of works never bound a 
 sinner to seek to be justified by his obedience to it ; but, on the contrary, 
 always condemned that as presumption, staking down the guilty under 
 the curse, without remedy, till satisfaction be made by another hand. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 79 
 
 Evan. The apostle says, that " -without faith it is impossible 
 to please God," Heb. xi. 6 ; that is, says Calvin, (Instit. 
 p. 370,) " Whatsoever a man thinketh, purposeth, or doeth, 
 before he be reconciled to God by faith in Christ, it is ac- 
 cursed, and not only of no value to righteousness, but of certain 
 deserving to damnation." So that, says Luther on Galatians, 
 p. 63, " Whosoever goeth about to please God with works 
 going before faith, goeth about to please God with sin ; which 
 is nothing else but to heap sin upon sin, to mock God, and to 
 provoke him to wrath. Nay, (says the same Luther, on the 
 Galatians, p. 23,) if thou be without Christ, thy wisdom is 
 double foolishness, thy righteousness is double sin and ini- 
 quity." And, therefore, though you have walked very strictly 
 according to the law, and led an honest life, yet if you have 
 rested and put confidence therein, and so come short of Christ, 
 then hath it indeed rather done you hurt than good. For, says 
 a godly writer, a virtuous life, according to the light of nature, 
 turneth a man further off from God, if he add not thereto the 
 effectual working of his spirit. And, says Luther, "they 
 which have respect only to an honest Hfe, it were better for 
 them to be adulterers and adulteresses, and to wallow in the 
 mire."* And surely for this cause it is, that our Saviour tells 
 the strict Scribes and Pharisees, who sought justification by 
 works, and rejected Christ, that " publicans and harlots should 
 enter into the kingdom of God before them," Matt. xxi. 3L 
 And for this cause it was that I said. For aught I know, my 
 neighbour Neophitus might be in Christ before you. 
 
 Nom. But how can that be, when, as you know, he hath 
 confessed that he is ignorant and full of corruption, and comes 
 far short of me in gifts and graces ? 
 
 Evan. Because, as the Pharisee had more to do before he 
 could come at Christ than the publican had, so I conceive you 
 have more to do than he hath. 
 
 Nom. Why, sir, I pray you, what have I to do, or what 
 would you advise me to do ? for truly I would be contented 
 to be ruled by you. 
 
 Evan. Why, that which you have to do, before you can 
 come to Christ, is to undo all that ever you have done already; 
 
 * This comparison is not stated betwixt these two, considered simply, 
 as to their different manner of hfe ; but in point of pliableness to receive 
 conviction, wherein the latter hath the advantage of the former; which 
 the Scripture oftener than once takes notice of, Matt. xxi. 31, quoted in 
 the following sentence, " I would thou wert cold or hot," Rev. iii. 15. The 
 passage is to be found in bis Sermon upon the Hymn of Zacharias, page 50. 
 
80 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 that is to say, whereas you have endeavoured to travel to- 
 wards heaven by the way of the covenant of works, and so 
 have gone a wrong way ; you must go quite back again all the 
 way you have gone, before you can tread one step in the right 
 way. And whereas you have attempted to build up the ruins 
 of old Adam, and that upon yourself, and so, like a foolish 
 builder, to build a tottering house upon the sands, — you must 
 throw down and utterly demolish all that building, and not 
 leave a stone upon a stone, before you can begin to build anew. 
 And whereas you have conceived that there is some sufficiency 
 in yourself, to help to justify and save yourself, you must con- 
 clude, that in that case there is not only in you an insufficiency, 
 but also a non-sufficiency :* yea, and that sufficiency that 
 seemed to be in you, to be your loss. In plain terms, you 
 must deny yourself, as our Saviour says, Matt. xvi. 24, that is, 
 " you must utterly renounce all that ever you are, and all that 
 ever you have done ;" all your knowledge and gifts ; all your 
 hearing, reading, praying, fasting, weeping, and mourning ; all 
 your wandering in the way of works, and strict walking, must 
 fall to the ground in a moment : briefly, whatsoever you have 
 counted gain to you in the case of justification, you must now, 
 with the Apostle Paul, Philip, iii. 7 — 9, "count loss for Christ," 
 and judge it to be, " dung, that you may win Christ, and be 
 found in him, not having your own righteousness, which is of 
 the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the 
 righteousness which is of God by faith." 
 
 SECT. III. — Of the Performance of the Promise. 
 
 Sect. 1. — Christ's fulfilling of the Law in the room of the Elect. — 2. Be- 
 lievers dead to the Law as the Covenant of Works. — 3. The warrant to 
 believe in Christ. — 4. Evangelical Repentance a consequent of Faith. — 
 5. The spiritual Marriage with Jesus Christ. — 6. Justification before 
 Faith refuted. — 7. Believers freed from the commanding and condemn- 
 ing Power of the Covenant of Works. 
 
 Neo. But, sir, what would you advise me to do ? 
 
 Evan. Why, man, what aileth you ? 
 
 Neo. Why, sir, as you have been pleased to hear those two 
 declare their condition unto you, so I beseech you to give me 
 leave to do the same ; and then you will perceive how it is with 
 
 * That is, you are not only unable to do enough, but also, that you are 
 not able to do any thing. " Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to 
 think any thing as of ourselves," 2 Cor. iii. .'). 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 81 
 
 me. Sir, not long since, it pleased the Lord to visit me with 
 a great fit of sickness ; so, that, indeed, both in mine own 
 judgment, and in the judgment of all that came to visit me, I 
 was sick unto death. Whereupon I began to consider whither 
 my soul was to go after its departure out of my body ; and I 
 thought with myself, that there were but two places, heaven 
 and hell; and therefore it must needs go to one of them. 
 Then my wicked and siniul life, which, indeed, I had lived, 
 came into my mind, which caused me to conclude, that hell 
 was the place provided for it ; the which caused me to be very 
 fearful, and to be very sorry that I had so lived ; and I desired 
 of the Lord to let me live a little longer, and I would not fail 
 to reform my life, and amend my ways ; and the Lord was 
 pleased to grant me my desire. Since which time, though, 
 indeed, it is true I have not lived so wickedly as formerly I 
 had done, yet, alas ! I have come far short of that godly and 
 religious life which I see other men live, and especially my 
 neighbour Nomista ; and yet you seem to conceive that he is 
 not in a good condition, and therefore surely I must needs be 
 in a miserable condition. Alas, sir ! what do you think will 
 become of me ? 
 
 Sect. L — Evan. I do now perceive that it is time for me 
 to show how God, in the fulness of time performed that which 
 he purposed before all time, and promised in time, concerning 
 the help and delivering of fallen mankind. And touching 
 this point, the Scripture testifies, that God " did, in the fulness 
 of time, send forth his Son, made of a woman, made under 
 the law, to redeem them that were under the law," &c. Gal. 
 iv. 4. That is to say, look how mankind by nature are under 
 the law, as it is the covenant of works ; so was Christ, as i 
 man's surety, contented to be ; so that now, according to that \ 
 eternal and mutual agreement that was betwixt God the Father 
 and him, he put himself in the room and place of all the faith- ' 
 ful,* Isa, liii. 6, " And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity 
 of us all." 
 
 Then came the law as it is the covenant of works, and 
 said; " I find him a sinner,f yea, such an one as hath taken 
 
 * That is, all those who have, or shall believe, or all the elect, which is 
 one and the same in reality, and in the judgment of our author, expressly 
 declared in the first sentence of his preface. 
 
 t By imputation and law-reckoning; no otherwise, as a sinner believ- 
 ing in him is righteous before God. (Thus Isaac Ambrose, speaking of 
 justification, says, " This righteousness makes a sinner sinless;" i. e. as 
 to guilt.) This must be owned to be the meaning of this expression, 
 
 e3 
 
82 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 upon him the sins of all men,* therefore let him die upon the 
 cross." Then ^id Christ, " Sacrifice and offering thou 
 wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me ; in burnt- 
 
 unless one will shut one's eyes to the immediately foregoing and following 
 words, — I find him a sinner, said the law ; such an one as hath taken sin 
 upon him. They are the words of Luther, and he was not the first who 
 spoke so. " He made him who was righteous to be made a sinner, that 
 he might make sinners righteous," says Chrysostom, on 2 Cor. v. Hom. 
 11. cit. Owen on Justification, p. 39. Famous Protestant divines have 
 also used the expression after him. "When our divines," says Ruther- 
 foi'd, " say, Christ took our place, and we have his condition, — Christ was 
 made us, and made the sinner; it is true, only in a legal sense. He 
 (Christ) was debitor /actus, — a sinner, a debtor by imputation, a debtor 
 by law, by place, by office." (Trial and Triumph of Faith, p. 245, 2.57.) 
 Charnock argues the point thus: " How could he die, if he were not a 
 reputed sinner ? Had he not first had a relation to our sin, he could not 
 in justice have undergone our punishment. He must, in the order of 
 justice, be supposed a sinner really, or by imputation. Really, he was 
 not; by imputation then he was," vol. ii. p. 547. Serm. on 1 Cor. v. 7. 
 " Though personally he was no siimer, yet by imputation he was," says 
 the Contin. of Poole's Annot. on 2 Cor. v. 21. " What Illyricus wrote, 
 (says Rivet,) that Christ might most truly be called a sinner, Bellarmine 
 calls blasphemy and cursed impudence. Now Bellarmine himself con- 
 tends, that Christ might attribute our sins to himself, therefore he might 
 also truly call himself a sinner, while in himself innocent, he did repre- 
 sent our person. What blasphemy, what impiety is here ? " Comment, on 
 Psalm xxii. 1. The Scripture phrase^to this purpose is more forcible ; 2 
 Cor. V. 21, '• For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that 
 we might be made the righteousness of God in him." For as it is more 
 to say we are made righteousness, than to say we are made righteous, 
 since the former plainly imports a perfection of righteousness, if I may be 
 allowed the phrase, righteousness not being properly capable of degrees; 
 so it is more to say, Christ was made sin for the elect world, than to say he 
 was made a sinner, since the first of these doth accordingly point at the 
 universality and complete tale of the elect's sins, from the first to the 
 last of them laid on our spotless Redeemer. Compare Lev. xvi. 21, 22, 
 " And Aaron shall confess over him (viz. the scape-goat, which the apostle 
 hath an eye to here) all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all 
 their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the 
 goat. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities," Isa. liii. 6. 
 " And the Lord {mai'y.) hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on {Heb. 
 in) him." These two texts give the just notion of the true import of that 
 phrase, " He was made sin for us." 
 
 * Our Lord Jesus Christ died not for, nor took upon him the sins of 
 all and every individual man, but he died for, and took upon him the 
 sins of all the elect, John x. 15 ; and xv. 13; Acts xx. 28; Eph. v. 25; Tit. 
 ii. 14, and no other doctrine is here taught by our autlior touching the 
 extent of the death of Christ. In the i)roce'(ling paragraph, where was 
 the proper place for giving his judgment on that head, he purposely de- 
 clares it. He had before taught, that Jesus Christ did from eternity be- 
 come man's surety in the covenant that passed betwixt him and the 
 Father, p. 22 — 24. A surety puts himself in the place of those for whom 
 he becomes surety, to pay their debt. Gen. xliv. 32,33; Prov. xxii. 26, 27. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 83 
 
 offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then 
 said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O Lord I" Heb. x. 5 — 7. 
 And so the law proceeding in full scope against him, set upon 
 
 And our author tells us, that now, when the prefixed time of Christ's ful- 
 filling the eternal covenant, paying the debt he had taken on him, and 
 purchasing man's redemption by his sufferings, was come, he did, accord- 
 ing to the tenor of that covenant, which stated the extent of his surety- 
 ship, put himself in the room and place, — he says not, of all men, but — 
 of all the faithful, or elect of God ; (see n.* p. 81,} Jesus Christ thus stand- 
 ing in their room and place, actually to take on the burden. " The Lord 
 laid on him the iniquities of us all ; the which Scripture text can bear no 
 other sense in the connexion of it here, than what is the genuine sense 
 of it, as it stands in the Holy Scripture, namely, that the Father laid on 
 Christ the iniquities of all the spiritual Israel of God, of all nations, ranks, 
 and conditions ; for no iniquities could be laid on him but theirs in whose 
 room and place he put himself to receive the burden, according to the 
 eternal and mutual agreement. These iniquities being thus laid on the 
 Mediator, the law came and said, I find him such an one as hath taken 
 on him the sins of all men. This is but an incident expression on the 
 head of the extent of Christ's death, and it is a scriptural one too. 1 Tim. 
 ii. 6, " Who gave himself a ransom for all," i. e. for all sorts of men, not 
 for all of every sort. Heb. ii. 9, " That he, by the grace of God, should 
 taste death for ever}' man," i. e. for every man of those whom the apostle 
 is there treating of, namely, sons brought or to be brought unto glory, 
 verse 10; those who are sanctified, Christ's brethren, verse 11 ; given to 
 him, wr^e 13 ; and the sense of the phrase, as used here by the author, can 
 be no other ; for the sins, which the law found that he had taken on him, 
 could be no other but the sins that the Lord had laid on him; and the 
 sins the Lord had laid on him were the sins of all the faithful or elect, 
 according to the author ; wherefore, in the author's sense, the sins of all 
 men which the law found in Christ were the sins of all the elect, accord- 
 ing to the genuine sense of the Scripture phraseology on that head. And 
 an incident expression, in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, and 
 determined in its connexion to the orthodox scriptural meaning, can 
 never import any prejudice to his sentiment upon that point purposely 
 declared before in its proper place. It is true, the author, when speaking 
 of those in whose room Christ put himself, useth not the word alone ; 
 and in the holy Scripture it is not used neither on that subject. And it 
 may be observed, that the spirit of God in the word, doth not open the 
 doctrine of election and reprobation, but upon man's rejecting or em- 
 bracing the gospel offer; the which different events are then seasonably 
 accounted for, from the depths of the eternal counsel of God. See Luke 
 X. 17 — 22 ; Matt. xxii. 1 — 14 ; Rom. ix. throughout; Eph. i. 3 — 5. To 
 every thing there is a season. The author hitherto hath been dealing 
 with the parties, to bring them to Christ ; and particularly here, he is 
 speaking for the instruction and direction of a convinced trembling sin- 
 ner, namely, Neophitus ; and, therefore, like a wise and tender man in 
 such a case, he useth a manner of speaking, which being warranted by 
 the word, was fitted to excite the awakening of the ordinary scruples in 
 that case, namely, " It may be I am not elected,— it may be Christ died 
 not for me ;" and which pointed at the duty of all, and the encourage- 
 ment that all have to come to Christ. And all this, after he had, in his 
 very first words to the reader, sufficiently provided for his using such a 
 
84 THE MARROW OF Part 1, 
 
 him, and killed him: and, by this means, was the justice of 
 God fully satisfied, his wrath appeased, and all true believers 
 acquitted from all their sins, both past, present, and to come.* 
 
 manner of expression, without prejudice to the truth. Further, the law 
 adds, "Therefore, let him die upon the cross." Wherefore.' For their 
 sins, of the laying of which upon him there is no mention made ; or for 
 the sins of those in whose room he is expressly said to have put himself, 
 according to the eternal agreement betwixt the Father and him. Then 
 said Christ, " Lo ! I come ;" viz. actually to pay the debt for which I 
 have become surety in the eternal compact ; the which, whose it was, 
 according to our author, is already sufficiently declared. The law then 
 set upon him, and killed him ; for whom, according to our author ? For 
 these, surely, in whose room and place he put himself, and so stood. If 
 one considers his account of the effect of all this, one does not find it to 
 Vbe, as Arminians say, "That Christ, by the merit of his death, hath so 
 Ifar forth reconciled God the Father to all mankind, that the Father, by 
 jreason of the wSon's merit,both could and would, and did enter and esta- 
 jblish a new and gracious covenant with sinful man, liable to condemna- 
 tion. " (Examination of Tilenus, p. 164. art. 2. sect. 2.) "And obtained 
 f£»" all and every man a restoration into a state of grace and salvation .) 
 so that none will be condemned, nor are liable to condemnation for ori- 
 ginal sin, but all are free from the guilt of that sin." (Teste Turret, loc. 
 14. ques. 14. th. 5.) Neither does he tell us, that Christ died to " render 
 sin remissible to all persons, and them saveable," as the Continuator of 
 Poole's Annotations on Hebrews, chapter ii. 9, says, with other Univer- 
 salists. By this means, says our author, " was the justice of God full}^ 
 satisfied, his wrath appeased, and all true believers acquitted." Compare 
 Westm. Confess, chap. 8. art. 4, 5. " This office (viz. of a surety) the 
 Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake, which that he might discharge, 
 he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfil it, endured most 
 grievous torments, &c. The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience, and 
 sacrifice of himself — hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father ; and 
 purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the 
 kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him. 
 Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all 
 those that are thus justified," Chap, xi. art. 3. Wherefore the author 
 does not here teach an universal redemption or atonement. Of this more 
 afterward. 
 
 * Pardon is the removing of the guilt of sin. Guilt is twofold: 1. The 
 guilt of eternal wrath, by which the sinner is bound over to the eternal 
 revenging wrath of God ; and this, by orthodox divines, is called the guilt 
 of sin by way of eminency. 2. The guilt of fatherly anger, whereby the 
 sinner is bound over to God's fatherly anger and chastisements for sin. 
 Accordingly, there is a twofold pardon : the one is the removal of the 
 guilt of eternal wrath, and is called legal pardon ; the other, the removal 
 of the guilt of fatherly anger, and is called Gospel pardon. As to the 
 latter, the believer is daily to sue out his pardon, since he is daily con- 
 tracting new guilt of that kind ; and this the author i)lainly teaches after- 
 v/ards in its proper place. As to the former, of which only he speaks 
 here, all the sins of a believer, past, present, and to come, are pardoned 
 together, and at once, in the first instance of his believing; that is to say, 
 the guilt of eternal wrath for sin then past and present is actually and 
 formally done away j the obligation to that wrath which he was lying 
 
/ 
 
 Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 85 
 
 So that the law, as it is the covenant of works, hath not 
 any thing to say to any true believer,* for indeed they are 
 dead to it, and it is dead to them. 
 
 under for these sins is dissolved, and the guilt of eternal wrath for sins 
 then to come is effectually prevented from that moment for ever, so 
 that he can never come under that kind of guilt any more ; and this pardon, 
 as it relates to these sins, is but a pardon improperly so called, being ra- 
 ther a not imputing of them, than a formal remission, forasmuch as a 
 formal remission being a dissolution of guilt actually contracted, agrees 
 only to sins already committed. Therefore our author here uses the 
 word acquitted, which is of a more extensive signification. All pardon 
 of sin is an acquittance, but all acquittance of sin is not a formal pardon 
 of it : " For at the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall 
 be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment." Short. 
 Cat. But they will not then be formally pardoned. Now, this is the 
 doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, Rom. iv. 48, " Even as David also de- 
 scribeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteous- 
 ness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are for- 
 given, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the 
 Lord WILL NOT IMPUTE siu." — Chap. viii. 1, " There is therefore now 
 no condemnation to tli^m which are in Christ Jesus." That is, not only 
 they shall never be actually damned, i. e. sent to hell, as that phrase is 
 ordinarily taken, for that is the privilege of all the elect, even before 
 they believe, while yet they are under condemnation according to the 
 Scripture ; but there is no binding over of them that are in Christ to 
 eternal wrath, no guilt of that kind to them. Compare John iii. 18, "He 
 that believeth on him is not condemned ; but he that believeth not is 
 condemned already." — " The one fviz. justification) doth equally free all 
 believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this 
 life, that they never fall into condemnation." Larg. Cat. quest. 77. "Al- 
 beit sin remain, and continually abide in these our mortal bodies, yet it 
 is not imputed unto us, but is remitted and covered with Christ's justice," 
 (i. e. righteousness.) Old Confess, art. 25. Q. "What then is our only 
 joy in life and death ? A. That all our sins, by past, present, and to 
 come, are buried ; and Christ only is made our wisdom, justification, 
 sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. i. 30. Craig's Cat. quest. 43. 
 " The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers, under the Gos- 
 pel, consists in their fx'eedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning 
 wrath of God, the curse of the moral law." Westm. Confess, chap, xx.^ 
 art. 1. See chap. xi. art. 5 ; chap. xvii. art. 3. " They (the Arminians) 
 do utterly deny, that no sins of the faithful, how great and grievous so- 
 ever they be, are imputed unto them, or that all their sins present and 
 future are forgiven them." Exam, of Tilen. p. 226, art. 5. sect. 5. 
 
 * " What things soever it saith, it saith to them who are under it," 
 Rom. iii. 19. But believers are not under it, not under the law of the 
 covenant of works, chap. vi. 14, therefore it saith nothing to them. As 
 such, it said all to Christ in their room and place ; and, without the Me- 
 diator's dishonour, it cannot repeat its demands on them which it made 
 upon him as their surety. Meanwhile the law, as a rule of life to be- 
 lievers, saith to them all, in the name and authority of God, the Creator 
 and Redeemer, Matt. v. 48, " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
 which is in heaven is perfect." Howbeit, they are under a covenant, 
 
86 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Nom, Bat, sir, how could the sufferings of Christ, which 
 in respect of time were but finite, make full satisfaction to the 
 justice of God, which is infinite? 
 
 Evan. Though the sufferings of Christ, in respect of time, 
 were but finite, yet in respect of the person that suffered, his 
 sufferings came to be of infinite value; for Christ was God 
 and man in one person, and therefore his sufferings were a 
 sufficient and full ransom for man's soul, being of more value 
 than the death and destruction of all creatures. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, you know that the covenant of works re- 
 quires man's own obedience or punishment, when it says, "He 
 that doeth these things shall live in them;" and "Cursed is 
 every one that continueth not in all things which are written in 
 the book of the law to do them:" how then, could believers 
 be acquitted from their sins by the death of Christ ? 
 
 Evan. For answer, I pray you consider, that though th 
 covenant of works requires man's own obedience or punish- 
 ment, yet it nowhere disallows or excludes that which is done 
 or suffered by another in his behalf ; neither is it repugnant to 
 the justice of God ; for so there be a satisfaction performed by 
 man, through a sufficient punishment for the disobedience of 
 man, the law is satisfied, and the justice of God permitteth 
 that the offending party be received into favour ; and God 
 acknowledges him, after such satisfaction made, as a just man, 
 and no transgressor of the law ; and though the satisfaction be 
 made by a surety, yet when it is done, the principal is, by the 
 law, acquitted. But yet, for the further proof and confirma- 
 tion of this point, we are to consider, that as Jesus Christ, 
 the second Adam, entered into the same covenant that the 
 first Adam did,* so by him was done whatsoever the first 
 Adam had undone. So the case stands thus, — that as what- 
 soever the first Adam did, or befel him, was reckoned as done 
 by all mankind, and to have befallen them, even so, whatso- 
 ever Christ did or befel him, is to be reckoned as to have been 
 done by all believers, and to have befallen them. So that as 
 sin Cometh from Adam alone to all mankind, as he in whom 
 all have sinned ; so from Jesus Christ alone cometh righteous- 
 ness unto all that are in him, as he in whom they all have 
 satisfied the justice of God ; for as being in Adam, and one 
 with him, all did, in him and with him, transgress the com- 
 
 under which though no jess is recjuifed, yet less is accented, for the sake 
 of Christ their covenant^head. 
 * See note f, page 35. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 87 
 
 mandment of God ; even so, in respect of faith, whereby be- 
 lievers are ingraited into Christ, and spiritually made one with 
 him, they did all, in him, and with him, satisfy the justice of 
 God, in his death and sufferings.* And whosoever reckons 
 
 * Namely, in the sense of the law ; for in the law-reckoning, as to the 
 payment of a debt, and fulfilling of a covenant, or any the like purposes, 
 the surety and the original debtor, the federal head or the representative, 
 and the represented, are but one person. And thus the Scripture deter- 
 mining Adam to be the figure (or type) of Christ, Rom. v. 14, teaches 
 upon the one hand, that all mankind sinned in Adam, verse 12, and died 
 in him, 1 Cor. xv. 22 ; and on the other hand, that believers were cruci- 
 fied with Christ, Gal. ii. 20, and raised up in him, Eph. ii. 6, "The co- 
 venant (of works) being made with Adam as a public person — all man- 
 kind — sinned in him." Lar. Cat. Quest. 22. "The covenant of grace 
 was made with Clirist as the second Adam," Quest. 31. " He satisfied 
 Divine justice, the which he did as a public person, the head of his 
 Church," Quest. 52. " that the righteousness of the law," says the apostle, 
 " might be fulfilled in us," Rom. viii. 4 ; so believers satisfied in him, as 
 they sinned in Adam. " The threatening of death. Gen. ii. 17, is fulfilled 
 in the elect, so that they die, and yet their lives are spared : they die, 
 and yet they live, for they are reckoned in law to have died when Christ 
 their surety died for them." Ferguson on Gal. ii. 20. "Although thou," 
 says Beza, " hast satisfied for the pain of thy sins in the person of Jesus 
 Christ," Beza's Confess, point 4, art 12. " What challenges Satan or con- 
 science can make against the believer — hear an answer ; I was condemned, 
 I was judged, I was crucified for sin, when my surety Christ was con- 
 demned, judged, and crucified for my sins. — T have paid all, because my 
 surety has paid all," Rutherford's Trial and Triumph of Faith, serm. xix. 
 p. 258. " As in Christ we satisfied, so likewise in Adam we sinned," 
 Flint. Exam. p. 144. This doctrine, and the doctrine of the formal im- 
 putation of Christ's righteousness to believers stand and fall together. 
 For if believers be reckoned in law to have satisfied in Christ, then his 
 righteousness, which is the result of his satisfaction, must needs be ac- 
 counted theirs, but if there be no such law-reckoning, Christ's righteous- 
 ness cannot be imputed to them otherwise than as to the effects of it, for 
 the judgment of God is always according to truth, Rom. ii. 2. This the 
 Neonomians are aware of, and deny both, reckoning them Antinomiaa 
 principles as they do many other Protestant doctrines. Hear Mr. Gib- 
 bons : " They (viz. the Antinomians) are dangerously mistaken in think- 
 ing that a believer is righteous in the sight of God, with the self-same 
 active and passive righteousness wherewith Christ was righteous, as though 
 believers suffered in Christ, and obeyed in Christ." Morn. Exer. Method, 
 sec. 19, p. 423. On the other hand, the Westminster divines teach both 
 as sound and orthodox principles, affirming Christ's righteousness, obe- 
 dience, and satisfaction, themselves to be imputed to believers, or rec- 
 koned their righteousness, obedience, and satisfaction. "Justification is 
 an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accept- 
 eth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ im- 
 puted to us." Short. Cat. — " Only for the perfect obedience and full 
 satisfaction of Christ by God imputed to them," Large. Cat. quest. 70. — 
 " By imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, Westm. 
 Confess, chap. xi. art. 1. 
 
88 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 thus, reckons according to Scripture ; for in Rom. v. 12, all 
 are said to have sinned in Adam's sin; in whom all have sin- 
 ned, says the text, namely, in Adam, as in a public person : all 
 men's acts were included in his, because their persons were 
 included in his. So likewise in the same chapter it is said, 
 " that death passed upon all men ;" namely for this, that 
 Adam's sin was reckoned for theirs. Even so, Rom. vi. 10, 
 the apostle, speaking of Christ, says, " In that he died, he died 
 unto sin ; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God :" so like- 
 wise, says he in the next verse, " Reckon ye yourselves to be 
 dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." And so, as touching the resurrection of Christ, the 
 apostle argues, 1 Cor. xv. 20, that all believers must and shall 
 arise, because " Christ is risen, and is become the first fruits 
 of them that sleep." Christ, as the first fruits, arises, and that 
 in the name and stead of all believers ; and so they rise in him 
 and with him ; for Christ did not rise as a private person, but 
 he arose as the public head of the church ; so that in his 
 arising all believers did virtually arise. And as Christ at his 
 resurrection was justified, and quitted from all the sins of all 
 believers, by God his Father, as having now fully satisfied for 
 them, even so were they.* And thus you see the obedience 
 of Christ being imputed unto believers by God for their right- 
 eousness, it puts them into the same estate and case, touching 
 righteousness unto life before God, f wherein they should 
 have been, if they had perfectly performed the perfect obe- 
 dience of the covenant of works, " Do this and thou shalt 
 live." t 
 
 * Virtually justified, not actually, in his justification, even as in his 
 resurrection they did virtually arise. That this is the author's meaning 
 is evident from his own words, when, speaking of Neophitus, he says ex- 
 pressly, " He was justified meritoriously in the death and resurrection of 
 Christ, but yet he was not justified actually, till he did actually believe 
 in Christ." 
 
 t So called to distinguish it from inherent righteousness, which is 
 righteousness from life. 
 
 X This is a weighty point, the plain and native result of what is said, 
 namely, that since Jesus Christ hath fully accomplished what was to have 
 been done by man himself for life according to the covenant of works, 
 and that the same is imputed to believers ; therefore, believers are in the 
 same state, as to righteousness unto life, that they would have been 
 in if man himself had stood the whole time appointed for his trial. And 
 here is the true ground in law of the infallible perseverance of the saints ; 
 tlit'ir time of trial for life is over in their Head the second Adam — the 
 jtriz'.; is won ! Hence the just by faith are entitled to the same benefit 
 which Adam by his perfect obedience would have been entitled to. Com- 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 89 
 
 Sect. 2. — Nom, But, sir, are all believers dead to the law, 
 and the law dead to them, say you ? 
 
 Evan. Believe it, as the law is the covenant of works, all 
 true believers are dead unto it, and it is dead unto them ;* for 
 they being incorporated into Christ, what the law or covenant 
 of works did to him, it did the same to them ; so that when 
 Christ hanged on the cross, all believers, after a sort, hanged 
 there with him. And therefore the Apostle Paul having said, 
 Gal. ii. 10, "I through the law am dead to the law," adds 
 in the next verse, " I am crucified with Christ ;" which words 
 the apostle brings as an argument to prove that he was dead 
 to the law, for the law had crucified him with Christ. Upon 
 which text, Luther on the Galatians, (p. 81) says, " I hke- 
 wise am crucified and dead to the law, forasmuch as I am 
 crucified and dead with Christ." And again, " I believing in 
 Christ, am also crucified with Christ." In like manner, the 
 
 pare Rom. x. 5, " The man which doeth these things shall live," with Hab. 
 ii. 4, "The just by his faith shall live;" the which is the true reading 
 according to the original. And here, for clearing of the following pur- 
 pose of the believer's freedom from the law, as it is the covenant of 
 works, let it be considered, that if Adam had stood till the time of his 
 trial had been expired, the covenant of works would indeed from that 
 time have remained his everlasting security for eternal life, like a contract 
 held fulfilled by the one party ; but, as in the same case, it could have no 
 longer remained to be the rule of Ixis obedience, namely, in the state of 
 confirmation. The reason is obvious, viz. that the subjecting of him still 
 to the covenant of works, as the rule of his obedience, would have been a 
 reducing him to the state of trial he was in before, and the setting him 
 anew to work for what was already his own, in virtue of his (supposed) 
 fulfilling of that covenant. Nevertheless it is absolutely impossible but 
 the creature, in any state whatsoever must be bound to and owe obe- 
 dience unto the Creator ; and being still bound to obedience, of necessity 
 he behoved to have had a rule of that obedience ; as to which rule, since 
 the covenant of works could not be it, what remains but that the rule of 
 obedience in the state of confirmation, would have been the law of nature, 
 suited to man's state of immutability, improperly so called, and so di- 
 vested of the form of the covenant of works, namely, its promise of eter- 
 nal life, and threatening of eternal death, as it is, and will be in heaven, 
 for ever. The application is easy, making always, as the rule of believers' 
 obedience, suitable reserves for the imperfection of their state, in respect 
 of inherent righteousness ; the which imperfection, as it leaves room for 
 promises of fatherly smiles, and threatenings of fatherly chastisements, 
 so it makes them necessary ; but these also shall be done away in heaven 
 when their real estate shall be perfect, as their relative state is now. 
 
 * Rom. vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to 
 the law." — Gal. ii. 19, "I through the law am dead to the law." And 
 this, according to the nature of correlates, concludes the law, as it is the 
 covenant of works ; to be dead also to believers. Col. ii. 14, " Nailing 
 it to his cross." 
 
90 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 apostle says to the believing Romans, " So ye, my brethren, 
 are dead also to the law by the body of Christ," Rom. vii. 4. 
 Now, by the body of Christ, is meant the passion of Christ 
 upon the cross, or, which is all one, the suffering of Christ in 
 his human nature. And, therefore, certainly we may conclude 
 with Tindal on the text, that all such are dead concerning the 
 law, as are by faith crucified with Christ. 
 
 Nom. But, I pray you, sir, how do you prove that the law 
 is dead to a believer ? 
 
 Evan. Why, as I conceive, the apostle affirms it, Rom. 
 vii. 1 — 6. 
 
 Nom, Surely, sir, you do mistake ; for I remember the 
 words of the first verse are, " how that the law hath dominion 
 over a man as long as he liveth ;" and the words of the sixth 
 verse are, " but now we are delivered from the law, that being 
 dead wherein we were held," &c. 
 
 Evan. I know right well, that in our last translation the 
 words are so rendered; but the learned Tindal renders it 
 thus : " Remember ye not, brethren, that the law hath do- 
 minion over a man as long as it endureth ?" And Bishop 
 Hall paraphrases upon it thus, " Know ye not, brethren, that 
 the Mosaical law hath dominion over a man that is subject 
 unto it, so long as the said law is in force ?" So likewise 
 Origen, Ambrose, and Erasmus, do all agreee, that, by these 
 words, while " he" or " it" liveth, we are to understand, as 
 long as the law remaineth. And Peter Martyr is of opinion, 
 that these words, while " he" or " it" liveth, are differently 
 referred, either to the law, or to the man ; for says he, " the 
 man is said to be dead," verse 4, " and the law is said to be 
 dead," verse 6. Even so because the word " he " or " it " 
 mentioned verse 1, signifies both sexes in the Greek, Chrysos- 
 tom thinks, that the death both of the law and the man is in- 
 sinuated. And Theophylact, Erasmus, Bucer, and Calvin, do 
 all understand the sixth verse, of the law being dead. And as 
 the death of a believer to the law was accomplished by the 
 death of Christ, even so also was the law's death to him ; as 
 Mr. Fox in his sermon of Christ crucified, testifies, saying, 
 " Here have we upon one cross two crucifixes, two of the 
 most excellent potentates that ever were, the Son of God and 
 the law of God, wrestling together about man's salvation — 
 both cast down and both slain upon one cross ; howbeit, not 
 after a like sort. First, the Son of God was cast down, and 
 took the fall, not for any weakness in himself, but was content 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 91 
 
 to take it for our victory. By this fall, the law of God, in 
 casting him down was caught in his own trip, and so was fast 
 nailed hand and foot to the cross, according as we read in St. 
 Paul's words," Col. ii. 14. And so Luther on the Galatians, 
 (p. 184,) speaking to the same point, says, " This was a won- 
 derful combat, where the law, being a creature, giveth such an 
 assault to his Creator, in practising his whole tyranny upon the 
 Son of God. Now, therefore, because the law did so horribly 
 and cursedly sin against his God, it is accused and arraigned, 
 and, as a thief and cursed murderer of the Son of God, loses 
 all its right, and deserves to be condemned. The law, there- 
 fore, is bound, dead, and crucified to me. It is not only over- 
 come, condemned, and slain unto Christ, but also to me, be- 
 lieving in him unto whom he hath freely given this victory."* 
 
 * This is cited from Luther on the Epistle to the Galatians, according 
 to the English translation, and is to be found there, fol. 184, p. 1, 2, fol. 
 185. p. 1, fol. 82, p. 1. His own words from the Latin original, after he 
 had lectured that epistle a second time, as I find them in my copy, printed 
 at Frankfort 1563, are here subjoined. " Hoc profecto mirabile duellum 
 est, ubi lex creatura cum Creatore sic congreditur, et praater omne jus, 
 omnem tyrannidem suam in Filio Dei exercet, quam in nobis filiis irse 
 exercuit," Luth. Comment, in Gal. iv. 5, p. 598. *' Ideo lex, tanquam 
 latro et sacrilegus homicida Filii Dei, amittit jus, et meretur damnari," 
 lb. p. 600. " Ergo lex est mihi surda, ligata, mortua et crucifixa," lb. 
 cap. ii, 20, p. 280. " Conscientia apprehendens hoc apostoli verbum, 
 Christus a lege nos redemit — sancta quadam superbia insultat legi, dicens 
 — nunc in posterum non solum Christo victa et strangulata es, sed etiam 
 mihi credenti in eum, cui donavit banc victoriam," Page 600. That great 
 man of God, a third Elias, and a second Paul, (if I may venture the ex- 
 pression,) though he was no inspired teacher, was endued with a great 
 measure of the spirit of them both, being raised up of God for the extra- 
 ordinary work of the Reformation of religion from Popery, while all the 
 world wandered after the Beast. The lively savour he had of the truths 
 of the Gospel in his own soul, and the fervour of his spirit in delivering 
 them, did indeed carry him as far from the modern politeness of expres- 
 sion, as the admiration and affectation of this last are likely to carry us off 
 from the former. What he designed by all this triumph of faith is sum- 
 med up in a few words, immediately following these last cited : " This, 
 the law, (viz. as it is the covenant of works) is gone for ever as to us, 
 providing we abide in Christ." This he chose to express in such figura- 
 tive terms, that that great Gospel truth might be the more impressed on 
 his own heart, and the hearts of his scholars, being prompted thereto by 
 his experience of the necessity, and withal of the difiiculty of applying it 
 by faith to his own case, in his frequent deep soul exercises and conflicts 
 of conscience. " Therefore (says he) feeling thy terrors and threatenings, 
 O law ! I dip my conscience over head and ears, into the wounds, blood, 
 death, resurrection, and victory of Christ ; besides him I will see and 
 hear nothing at all. This faith is our victory, whereby we overcome the 
 terrors of the law, sin, death, and all evils, but not without a great con- 
 flict," Ibid. p. 597. And speaking on the same subject elsewhere, he 
 
92 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Now, then, although according to the Apostle's intimation, 
 (Rom. vii. at the beginning) the covenant of works, and man 
 by nature, be mutually engaged to each other, so long as they 
 both live; yet if, when the wife be dead the husband be free, 
 then much more when he is dead also. 
 
 has these remarkable words, " It is easy to speak these things, but happy 
 he that could know them aright in the conflict of conscience." Com- 
 ment, on Gal. ii. 19, p. 259. Now,, to turn outward the wrong side 
 of the picture of his discourse, to make it false, horrid, profane, and 
 blasphemous, is hard. At this rate, many Scripture texts must suffer, 
 not to speak of approved human writers. I instance only that of Elias, 
 1 Kings xviii. 27, " He (Baal) is a god ; either he is talking, or he is 
 pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must 
 be awaked." Yet I compare not Luther's commentary to the inspired 
 writing ; only where the holy Scripture goes before, one would think 
 he might be allowed to follow. Here is an irony, a rhetorical figure, 
 and there is a prosopopaia, or feigning of a person, another rhetorical 
 figure ; and the learned and holy man tells us withal, that Paul used it 
 before him on the same subject, representing the law " as a most potent 
 personage, who condemned and killed Christ, whom he (having overcome 
 death) did in the like manner conquer condemn, and kill ;" for which he 
 cites Eph. ii. and iv. epistles to the Rom, Cor. Col. p. 599. Now, albeit 
 the law, as it is the covenant of works, not being a person indeed, but a 
 most holy law of God, was incapable of real arraignment, sin, theft, or 
 murder ; yet one being allowed to speak figuratively of it, as such a per- 
 son before mentioned ; and finding the Spirit of God to teach that it was 
 crucified, Jesus Christ *' nailing it to his cross," Col. ii. 14. What im- 
 piety — what blasphemy is there in assigning crimes to it for which it was 
 crucified, crimes of the same nature with its crucifixion, that is, not really 
 and literally so, but figuratively only .'' And the crucifying of a person, as 
 it presupposeth his arraignment, accusation, and condemnation, so it 
 implies his binding and death; all which the decency of the parable re- 
 quires. And the same decency requiring the rhetorical feigning of crimes 
 as the causes of that crucifixion, they could be no other but these that are 
 assigned ; forasmuch as Jesus Christ is here considered, not as a sinner 
 by imputation, but as absolutely without guilt, though in the meantime 
 the sins of all the elect were really imputed to him, the which in reality 
 justified the holy law's procedure against him. Moreover, upon the cru- 
 cifixion, it may be remembered how the apostle proves Christ to have been 
 " made a curse for us;" for, says he, it is written, " Cursed is eveiy one that 
 hangeth on a tree," Gal. iii, 13 ; the which if any should apply to the law, 
 as the covenant of works, in a figurative manner, as its crucifixion must 
 be understood, it could import no more by reason of the nature of the 
 thing, than an utter abolition of it with respect to believers, which is a 
 great Gospel truth. And here one may call to mind the Scripture phrases, 
 Rom. vii. 5, "The motions of sins which were by the law ;" — chap. viii. 
 2, " The law of sin and death ;" — " The covenant of works, called the 
 law of sin and death," Confess, p. 382, fig. 3 ; " The strength of sin is the 
 law," 1 Cor. XV. 56. 
 
 After all, for my part, I would neither use some of these expressions of 
 Luther's, nor dare I so much as in my heart condemn them in him : the 
 reason is one ; because of the want of that measure of the influences of 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 93 
 
 Nom. But, sir, what are we to understand by this double 
 death, or wherein does this freedom from the law consist ? 
 
 Evan. Death is nothing else but a dissolution, or untying 
 of a compound, or a separation between matter and form ; and, 
 therefore, when the soul and body of man are separated, we 
 say he is dead ; so that by this double death, we are to under- 
 stand nothing else, but that the bargain or covenant, which 
 was made between God and man at first, is dissolved or un- 
 tied ; or that the matter and form of the covenant of works is 
 separated to a believer. So that the law of the ten command- 
 ments neither promises eternal life, nor threatens eternal death 
 to a believer, upon condition of his obedience or disobedience 
 to it :* neither does a believer, as he is a believer, either hope 
 
 grace which I conceive he had when he uttered these words. And the 
 same I would say of the several expressions of the great Rutherford, and 
 of many eminent ministers, in their day signally countenanced of God in 
 their administrations. Hear Luther himself, in his preface to that book, 
 page (mihi) 10, "These our thoughts," says he, "on this epistle do come 
 forth, not so much against those, (viz. the church's enemies) as for the 
 sake of our own, (viz. her friends) who will either thank me for my dili- 
 gence, or will pardon my weakness and rashness." It is a pity the 
 just expectation of one, whose name will be in honour in the church of 
 Christ, while the memory of the Reformation from Popery is kept up, 
 should be frustrated. 
 
 * The law of the ten commandments given to Adam, as the covenant 
 of works, promised eternal life, upon condition of obedience, and threatened 
 eternal death in case of disobedience ; and this was it that made it the 
 covenant of works. Now, this covenant frame of the law of the ten com- 
 mandments being dissolved as to believers, it can no more promise nor 
 threaten them at any rate. The Scripture indeed testifies, that " godli- 
 ness hath the promise, not only of the life that now is, but also of that 
 which is to come," 1 Tim. iv. 8, there being an infallible connexion be- 
 tween godliness and the glorious life in heaven established by promise in 
 the covenant of grace ; but in the meantime, it is the obedience and satis- 
 faction of Christ apprehended by faith, and not our godliness, that is the 
 condition upon which that life is promised, and upon which a real 
 Christian in a dj'ing hour will venture to plead for a share in that life. 
 It is likewise certain that not only are believers, in virtue of the covenant 
 of works which they remain under, liable to eternal death as the just re- 
 ward of sin, but there is by that covenant a twofold connexion established, 
 the one betwixt a state of unbelief, irregeneracy, impenitency, and un- 
 holiness, and eternal death ; the other, betwixt acts of disobedience and 
 eternal death. The former is absolutely indissoluble, and cannot but 
 eternally remain ; so that whosoever are in that state of sin, while they 
 are in it they must needs be in a state of death, bound over to the wrath 
 of God by virtue of the threatening of the law ; but then it is impossible 
 that believers in Christ can be in that state of sin. So these and the like 
 sentences, "He thatbeliveth not shall be damned," Mark xvi. 16. — "Ex- 
 cept ye repent ye shall all likewise perish," Luke xiii. 3. — " If ye live af- 
 ter the flesh ye shall die," Rom. viii. 2 ; do indeed bind over unbelievers 
 
94 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 for eternal life, or fear eternal death, upon any such terras.* 
 No ; " we may assure ourselves, that whatsoever the law saith," 
 on any such terms, it " saith to them who are under the law," 
 Rom. iii. 19 ; but believers "are not under the law, but under 
 grace," Rom. vi. 14, and so have escaped eternal death, and 
 obtained eternal life, only by faith in Jesus Christ ;f " for 
 by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which 
 
 to eternal death ; but they do no otherwise concern believers than as 
 they set before them a certain connexion of two events, neither of which 
 can ever be found in their case ; and yet the serious consideration of 
 them is of great and manifold use to believers, as a serious view of every 
 part of the covenant of works is, particularly to move them to grow up 
 more and more into Christ, and to make their calling and election sure. 
 As to the latter connexion, viz. betwixt acts of disobedience and eternal 
 death, it is dissoluble, and in the case of the believer, actually dissolved ; 
 so that none have warrant to say to a believer. If thou sin, thou shalt die 
 eternally ; forasmuch as the threatening of eternal death, as to the be- 
 liever, being already satisfied in the satisfaction of Christ, by faith appre- 
 hended and imputed of God to him, it cannot be renewed on him, more 
 than one debt can be twice charged, namely, for double payment. 
 
 * But on the having, or wanting of a saving interest in Christ. 
 
 t This is a full proof of the whole matter. For how can the law of 
 the ten commandments promise eternal life, or threaten eternal death, 
 upon condition of obedience or disobedience, to those who have already 
 escaped eternal death, and obtained eternal life by faith in Christ ? The 
 words which the Holy Ghost teaches, are so far from restraining the 
 notion of eternal life to glorification, and of eternal death to the misery 
 of the damned in hell, that they declare the soul upon its union with 
 Christ to be as really possessed of eternal life as the saints in heaven are ; 
 and without that state of union, to be as really under death, and the 
 wrath of God, as the damned in hell are, though not in that measure. 
 (The term "eternal death" is not, as far as I I'emember, used in Scrip- 
 ture.) And this agreeable to the nature of the things; for as there is no 
 medium betwixt life and death in a subject capable of either, so it is evident, 
 the life communicated to the soul, in its union with Christ, the quickening 
 Head, can never be extinguished for the ages of eternity, John xiv. 19 ; 
 and the sinner's death under the guilt and power of sin, is in its own na- 
 ture eternal, and can never end but by a work of Almighty power, which 
 raiseth the dead, and calleth things that are not, to be as if they were. 
 1 Thess. i. 10, "Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come." — 
 1 John iii. 14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life." — 
 John iii. 36, " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he 
 that believeth not on the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him." — Chap. v. 24, " He that believeth, hath everlasting life, 
 and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto 
 life." — Chap vi. 47, " He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." — 
 Verse 54, " Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal 
 life."— 1 John v. 12, 13, " He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that 
 hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto 
 you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that 
 ye have eternal life." — See Rom. viii. 1 j John iii. 16 — 18, and xvii. 3. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 95 
 
 they could not be justified by the law of Moses," Acts xiii. 39. 
 — "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life," John iii. 16. 
 
 And this is that covenant of grace, which, as I told you, 
 was made with the fathers by way of promise, and so but 
 darkly ; but now the fulness of time being come, it was more 
 fully opened and promulgated. 
 
 Ant. Well, sir, you have made it evident and plain, that 
 Christ hath delivered all believers from the law, as it is the 
 covenant of works ; and that therefore they have nothing at 
 all to do with it. 
 
 Evan. No, indeed ; none of Christ's are to have any thing 
 to do with the covenant of works, but Christ only. For al- 
 though in the making of the covenant of works at first, God 
 was one party, and man another, yet, in making it the second 
 time, God was on both sides : — God, simply considered in his 
 essence, was the party opposed to man ; and God, the second 
 person, having taken upon him to be incarnate, and to work 
 man's redemption, was on man's side, and takes part with 
 man, that he may reconcile him to God, by bearing man's 
 sins, and satisfying God's justice for them. And Christ paid 
 God * till he said he had enough ; he was fully satisfied, fully 
 contented, Matt. iii. 17, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
 am well pleased." Yea, God the Father was well pleased, and 
 fully satisfied from all eternity, by virtue of that covenant that 
 was made betwixt them. And thereupon all Christ's people 
 were given to him in their election. Eph. i. 4, " Thine they 
 were,"f says Christ, "and thou gavest them me," John xvii. 6. 
 
 * All the demands of the covenant of works on the elect world. 
 
 t That he, taking on their nature, might answer the demands of the 
 covenant of works for them, Eph. i. 4, " According as he has chosen us 
 in him." We are said to be chosen in Christ, not that Christ is the cause 
 of election, but that electing love, flowing immediately from God to all 
 the objects of it, the Father did, in one and the same degree of election, 
 choose the head and the members of the happy body ; yet Christ the 
 head first, (in the order of nature,) then all those who make up his body, 
 who were thereby given to him, to be redeemed and saved, by his obe- 
 dience and death ; the which, being by him accepted, he, as Elect-Me- 
 diator and Head of elect-men, had full power and furniture for the work 
 made over to him. And thus may we conceive the second covenant to 
 have been concluded, agreeably to the Scripture account of that mystery. 
 This, the author says, was done thereupon, not upon the Father's being 
 well pleased and fully satisfied, by virtue of the covenant made ; the 
 which is the effect of the covenant, whereas this is one of the transac- 
 tions or parts of the covenant, as all the following words brought to 
 
'Jfi THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 And again, says he, *' The Father loveth the Son, and hath 
 given all things into his hands," John iii. 35 ; that is, he hath 
 intrusted him with the economic and actual administration of 
 that power in the Church, which originally belonged unto him- 
 self. And hence it is that Christ also says, " The Father 
 judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the 
 Son," John v. 22. So that all the covenant that believers are to 
 have regard to, for life and salvation, is the free and gracious 
 covenant that is betwixt Christ (or God in Christ) and them.* 
 And in this covenant there is not any condition or law to be 
 performed on man's part, by himself ;f no, there is no more 
 for him to do, but only to know and believe that Christ hath 
 done all for him.;]: 
 
 illustrate it do plainly carry it ; but upon God the Son, being on the 
 other side in making of the second covenant, the which is the princi- 
 pal purpose in this paragraph, the explication whereof was interrupted 
 by the adding of a sentence, concerning the execution and etFect of the 
 glorious contrivance. In making of the second covenant, the second 
 person of the ever blessed Trinity, considered simply as such, is one of 
 the parties. Thereupon, in the decree of election, designing, as is said, 
 both head and members, he is chosen Mediator and Head of the election, 
 to be their incarnate Redeemer; the which headship accepted, he, as 
 Mediator and Head of the election, took upon him to be incarnate, and 
 in their nature to satisfy the demands of the covenant of works for them, 
 Isa. xlii. 1; Eph. i.4; Psalm xl. 6; Westm. Confess, chap, viii. art. 1; "It 
 pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, 
 his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man — the 
 Head and Saviour of his church — unto whom he did, from all eternity, 
 give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed," &c. 
 Chap. iii. art. .5; "Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life — 
 God hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace 
 and love." Compare what the author writes on this subject, p. 21 — 25. 
 
 * That is, the covenant of grace only, not the covenant of works. 
 
 t Namely, for life and salvation ; the same being already performed 
 by Jesus Christ ; he, having in the second covenant, undertaken to satisfy 
 all the demands of the covenant of works, did do all that was to be done 
 or wrought for our life and salvation. And if it had not been so, life 
 and salvation had remained eternally without our reach; for how is it 
 possible we should perform, do, or work, until we get life and salvation ? 
 what condition or law are we fit for performing of, while we are dead, 
 and not saved from, but lying under sin, the wrath and curse of God ? 
 See the following note. 
 
 X Namely, all that was to be done for life and salvation. And neither 
 repentance, nor sincere (imperfect) obedience, nay, nor yet believing it- 
 self, is of that sort : though all of these are indispensably necessary in 
 subjects capable of them. This expression bears a kind of imitation, 
 usual in conversation, and used by our blessed Saviour on this subject. 
 John vi. 28, 29, "Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we 
 might WORK tlie works of God ? Jesus answered and said unto them, 
 This is THE WORK of God, that ye believe." The design of it plainly is, 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 97 
 
 Wherefore, my dear Neophitus, to turn my speech particu- 
 larly to you, (because I see you are in heaviness,) I beseech 
 you to be persuaded that here you are to work nothing, here 
 you are to do nothing, here you are to render nothing unto 
 God, but only to receive the treasure, which is Jesus Christ, 
 and apprehend him in your heart by faith, although you be 
 never so great a sinner ;* and so shall you obtain forgiveness 
 
 to confront the humour that is naturally in all men, for doing and work- 
 ing for life and salvation, when once they begin to lay these things to 
 heart; there is no more, says the author, for him to do, but only to know 
 and believe that Christ hath done all for him; and therefore the expres- 
 sion is not to be strained besides its scope. However, this is true faith, 
 according to the Scripture, whether all saving faith be such a knowledge 
 and believing or not ; and that knowledge and believing are capable of 
 degrees of certainty, and may be mixed with doubting, without over- 
 turning the reality of them. Isaiah liii. 11, " By his knowledge shall my 
 righteous Servant justify many." — John xvii. 3, "This is eternal life, that 
 they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou 
 hast sent." — Gal. ii. 20, " I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved 
 me, and gave himself for me." — Rom. x. 9, " If thou shaltvbelieve in thine 
 heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." To 
 believe that God hath raised him from the dead is to believe that he has 
 perfected the work, and done all that was to be done for life and salva- 
 tion to sinners: but is this enough to constitute saving faith .-' Surely it 
 is not ; for devils may believe that : therefore, it must be believed with 
 particular application to oneself, intimated in the phrase, " Believing in 
 thine heart;" and this is what devils and reprobates never reach unto; 
 howbeit these last may pretend to know and believe, that Christ is raised 
 from the dead for them, and so hath done all for them, even as they also 
 may pretend to receive and rest on him alone for salvation. But in all 
 this, one who truly believes may yet have ground to say with tears, " Lord, 
 I believe ! help thou mine unbelief," Mark ix. 24. 
 
 Nevertheless, under this covenant there is much to do ; a law to be 
 performed and obeyed, though not for life and salvation, but from life 
 and salvation received ; even the law of the ten commandments in the 
 full^xtent thereof, as the author doth at large expressly teach, in its pro- 
 per place, in this and the second part. 
 
 This is the good old way, (according to the Scriptures, Acts xvi. 30, 31 ; 
 Matt. xi. 28, 29 ; Tit. ii. 11, 12,) if the famous Mr. John Davidson under- 
 stood the/ Protestant doctrine, "Q. Then the salvation of man," says he, 
 "is so fully wrought and perfectly accomplished by Christ in his' own 
 person, that nothing is left to be done or wrought by us in our per- 
 sons, to be any cause of the least part thereof.' A. That is most certain." 
 Mr. John Davidson's Catechism, Edin. edit. 1708, p. 15. " So we are 
 perfectly saved by the works which Christ did for us in his own person, 
 and no ways by the good works which he works in us, with and after 
 faith. {Marg. Here is the main point and ground of our disagreement 
 with the Papists.) Rests, then, any thing for us to do after that we are 
 perfectly justified in God's sight by faith in Christ.' Disciple. Yes, veiyj 
 much ; albeit no ways to merit salvation ; but only to witness, by the 
 effects of thankfulness, that we are truly saved." Ibid. p. 46, 48, 49. / 
 
 * See the two foregoing notes. And hear another passage from the 
 F 
 
98 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 of sins, righteousness, and eternal happiness ; not as an agent, 
 but as a patient, not by doing, but by receiving.* Nothing 
 here comes betwixt but faith only, apprehending Christ in the 
 promise.-j- This, then, is perfect righteousness, to hear nothing, 
 to know nothing, to do nothing of the law of works ; but only 
 to know and believe that Jesus Christ is now gone to the Fa- 
 ther, and sitteth at his right hand, not as a judge, but is made 
 unto you of God, w^isdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
 redemption. J Wherefore, as Paul and Silas said to the jailor, 
 so say I unto you, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thou shalt be saved ;" that is, be verily persuaded in your heart 
 that Jesus Christ is yours, and that you shall have life and 
 salvation by him ; that whatsoever Christ did for the redemp- 
 tion of mankind, he did it for you.§ 
 
 same book whence this is taken, namely, the English translation of Lu- 
 ther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatains, fol. 75 : " Good 
 works ought to be done ; the example of Christ is to be followed. Well, 
 all these things will I gladly do. What then followeth ? Thou shalt 
 then be saved, and obtain everlasting life. Nay, not so. I grant, indeed, 
 that I ought to do good works, patiently to suffer troubles and afflictions, 
 and to shed my blood also, if need be, for Christ's cause ; but yet am I 
 I not justified, neither do I obtain salvation thereby." 
 
 * This is the style of the same Luther, who useth to distinguish be- 
 twixt active and passive righteousness, i. e. the righteousness of the law, 
 and the righteousness of faith ; agreeably to Rom. iv. 5 : " But to him 
 that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his 
 faith is counted for righteousness." 
 
 f The passage at more length is this : " The marriage is made up with- 
 out all pomp and solemnity ; that is to say, nothing at all comes between ; 
 no law nor work is here required. Here is nothing else but the Father 
 promising, and I receiving ; but these things, without experience and 
 practice, cannot be understood." Luther ubi sup. fol. 194. 
 
 X These words also are Luther's, in his argument on the Epistle t^tbe 
 Galatians, p. 24 of the Latin copy, and fol. 7 of the translation; but what 
 our author reads, " Nothing of the law of works," is, in Luther's own 
 words, " Nothing of the law, or of works ;" the sense is the same. What 
 concerns the assurance in the nature of faith, which these words seem to 
 bear, we will meet with anon. 
 
 § In this definition of saving faith, there is the general nature or kind 
 of it, viz. a real persuasion, agreeing to all sorts of faith, divine and hu- 
 man, — " Be verily persuaded ;" the more special nature of it, an appro- 
 priating persuasion, or special application to oneself, agreeing to a con- 
 vinced sinner's faith or belief of the law's curse. Gal. iii. 10, as well as to 
 it. — " Be verily persuaded in your heart ;" thus, Rom. x. 9, " If thou shalt 
 believe in thine heart that God, &c. thou shalt be saved :" and, finally, 
 tfie most special nature of it, whereby it is distinguished from all other, 
 namely, an appropriating persuasion of Christ being yours, &c. And as 
 one's believing in one's heart, or appropriating persuasion of the dreadful 
 tidings of the law, imports not only an assent to them as true, but a 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 99 
 
 horror of them as evil ; so believing in the heart, or an appropriating 
 persuasion of the glad tidings of the gospel, bears not only an assent to 
 them as true, but a relish of them as good. 
 
 The parts of this appropriating persuasion, according to our author, 
 are, 1. " That Jesus Christ is yours," viz. by the deed of gift and grant 
 made to mankind lost, or (which is the same thing in other words) by the 
 authentic gospel offer, in the Lord's own word ; the which offer is the 
 foundation of faith, and the ground and warrant of the ministerial offer, 
 without which it could avail nothing. That this is the meaning, appears 
 from the answer to the question immediately following, touching the 
 warrant to believe. By this offer, or deed of gift and grant, Christ is ours 
 before we believe ; not that we have a saving interest in him, or are in a 
 state of grace, but that we have a common interest in him, and the com- 
 mon salvation, which fallen angels have not, Jude 3 ; so that it is lawful 
 and warrantable for us, not for them, to take possession of Christ and 
 his salvation. Even as when one presents a piece of gold to a poor man, 
 saying, " Take it, it is yours ;" the offer makes the piece really his in the 
 sense and to the effect before declared ; nevertheless, while the poor 
 man does not accept or receive it ; whether apprehending the offer too 
 gi-eat to be real, or that he has no liking of the necessary consequents of 
 the accepting ; it is not his in possession, nor hath he the benefit of it ; 
 but, on the contrary, must starve for it all, and that so much the more 
 miserably, that he hath slighted the offer and refused the gift. So this 
 act of faith is nothing else but to "believe God," 1 John v. 10 ; " to be- 
 lieve the Son," John iii. 36 ; " to believe the report" concerning Christ, 
 Isaiah liii. 1 ; or " to believe the gospel," Mark i. 15 ; not as devils be- 
 lieve the same, knowing Christ to be Jesus, a Saviour, but not their Sa- 
 viour, but with an appropriating persuasion, or special application, believ- 
 ing him to be our Saviour. Now, what this gospel report, record, or 
 testimony of God, to be believed by all, is, the inspired penman expressly 
 declares, " This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life ; and 
 this life is in his Son," 1 John v. 11. The giving here mentioned, is not 
 giving in possession in greater or lesser measure, but giving by way of 
 grant, whereupon one may take possession. And the party to whom, is 
 not the election only, but mankind lost. For this record is the gospel, 
 the foundation of faith, and warrant to all, to believe in the Son of God, 
 and lay hold on eternal life in him : but that God hath given eternal life 
 to the elect, can be no such foundation nor warrant ; for that a gift is 
 made to certain select men, can never be a foundation or warrant for all 
 men to accept and take it. The great sin of unbelief lies in not believing 
 this record or testimony, and so making God a liar : " He that believeth 
 not God, hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that 
 God gave his Son. And this is the record," &c. 1 John v. 10, 11. On 
 the other hand, " He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his 
 seal that God is true," John iii. 33. But the great sin of unbelief lies, 
 not in not believing that God hath given eternal life to the elect: for the 
 most desperate unbelievers, such as Judas and Spira, believe that, and 
 the belief of it adds to their anguish and torment of spirit ; yet they do 
 not set to their seal that God is true ; but, on the contrary they make 
 God a liar, in not believing that to lost mankind, and to themselves in 
 particular, God hath given eternal life in the way of grant, so as they, as 
 well as others, are warranted and welcome to take possession of it, so 
 fleeing in the face of God's record and testimony in the Gospel, Isaiah 
 ix. 6; John iii. 16 j Acts iv. 12; Prov. viii. 4; Rev. xxii. 17. In believ- 
 
 f2 
 
100 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 ing: of this, not in believing of the former, lies the difficulty, in the agonies 
 of conscience ; the which, nevertheless, till one do in greater or lesser 
 measure surmount, one can never believe on Christ, receive and rest upon 
 him for salvation. The truth is, the receiving of Christ doth necessarily 
 presuppose this giving of him. There may, indeed, be a giving where 
 there is no receiving, for a gift may be refused; and there may be a taking 
 where there is no giving, the which is a presumptuous action without 
 warrant ; but there can be no place for re(;eiving of Christ where there is 
 not a giving of him before. " In the matter of faith, (says Rollock, Lect. 
 X. on 2 Thess. p. 126,) there are two things ; first there is a giver, and 
 next there is a receiver. God gives, and the soul receives." The Scrip- 
 ture is express to this purpose : " A man can receive nothing, except it 
 be given him from heaven," John iii. 27. 
 
 2. " And that you shall have life and salvation by him ;" namely, a life 
 of holiness, as well as of happiness, — salvation from sin as well as from 
 wrath, — not in heaven only, but begun here and completed hereafter. 
 That this is the author's notion of life and salvation, agreeably to the 
 Scripture, we have had sufficient evidence already, and will find more in 
 our progress. Wherefore, this persuasion of faith is inconsistent with an 
 unwillingness to part with sin, a bent or purpose of heart to continue in 
 sin, even as receiving and resting on Christ for salvation is. One finds it 
 expressed almost in so many words: Acts xvi. 11, "^Ve believe that 
 through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved." It is 
 fitly placed after the former, for it cannot go before it, but follows upon 
 it. The former is a believing of God, or believing the Son : this is a be- 
 lie\ing on the Son, and so is the same with receiving of Christ, as that 
 receiving is explained; John i. 2," But as many as received him, to them 
 gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe 
 on his name." It doth also evidently bear the soul's resting on Christ for 
 salvation; for it is not possible to conceive a soul resting on Christ for 
 salvation, without a persuasion that it shall have life and salvation by him ; 
 namely, a persuasion which is of the same measure and degree as the 
 resting is. And thus it appears, that there can be no saving faith without 
 this persuasion in greater or lesser measure. But withal, it is to be re- 
 membered, as to what concerns the habit, actings, exercise, strength, 
 weakness, and intermitting of the exercise of saving faith, the same is 
 to be said of this persuasion in all points. 
 
 3. " That whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he did 
 it for you." — " I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and 
 gave himself for me," Gal. ii. 20. This comes in the last place ; and I 
 think none will question, but whosoever believes in the manner before 
 explained, may and ought to believe this, in this order. And it is be- 
 lieved, if not explicitly, yet virtually, by all who receive and rest on Christ 
 for salvatif)n. 
 
 From what is .said, it appears that this definition of faith is the same, 
 ff)r substance and matter, though in different words, with that of the 
 Shorter Catechism, which defines it, by " receiving and resting upon 
 Christ alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the Gospel." In which, 
 though the offer to us is mentioned last, yet it is evident it is to be be- 
 lieved first. 
 
 Object. But the author's definition makes assurance to be of the es- 
 sence of faith .' 
 
 Ahsw. Be it so : however, he iises not the word asmrance or assured 
 in his definition ; nor will any thing contained in it amount to the idea 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 101 
 
 now commonly affixed to that word, or to what is now in our days com- 
 monly understood by assurance. And, (1.) He doth not here teach that 
 assurance of faith whereby believers are certainly assured that they are 
 in the state of grace, the which if founded upon the evidence of grace, of 
 which kind of assurance the Westminster Confession expressly treats, 
 chap. 18, art. 1 — 3 ; but an assurance which is in faith, in the direct acts 
 thereof, founded upon the word allenarly, Mark xvi. 15, 16; John iii. 16; 
 and this is nothing else but a fiducial appropriating persuasion. (2.) He 
 doth not determine this assurance or persuasion to be full, or to exclude 
 doubting : he says not, be fully persuaded, but, be verily persuaded, which 
 speaks only the reality of the persuasion, and doth not at all concern the 
 degree of it. And it is manifest, from his distinguishing between faith of 
 adherence, and faith of evidence, (p. 79,) that, according to him, saving faith 
 may be without evidence. And so one may have this assurance or per- 
 suasion, and yet not know assuredly that he hath it, but need marks to 
 discover it by ; for though a man cannot but be conscious of an act of his 
 own soul as to the substance of the act, yet he may be in the dark as to 
 the specifical nature of it, than which nothing is more ordinary among 
 serious Christians. And thus, as a real saint is conscious of his own 
 heart's moving in aflFection towards God, yet sometimes doth not as- 
 suredly know it to be the true love of God in him, but fears it to be an 
 hypocritical flash of affection ; so he may be conscious of his persuasion, 
 and yet doubt if it is the true persuasion of faith, and not that of the 
 hypocrite. 
 
 This notion of assurance, or persuasion in faith, is so agreeable to the 
 nature of the thing called believing, and to the style of the holy Scrip- 
 ture, that sometimes where the original text reads faith or believing, 
 we read, assurance, according to the genuine sense of the original phrase ; 
 Acts xvii. 31, " Whereof he hath given assurance;" on'^. "faith," as is 
 noted in the margin of our Bibles. Deut. xxviii. ^6, "Thou shalt have 
 none assurance of thy life;" orig. "Thou shalt not believe in thy life." 
 This observati(,n shows, that to believe, in the style of the holy Scripture, 
 as well as in the common usage of mankind in all other matters, is to be 
 assured or persuaded, namely, according to the measure of one's believing. 
 
 And the doctrine of assurance, or an appropriating persuasion in saving 
 faith, as it is the doctrine of the holy Scripture, Rom. x. 9 ; Acts xv. 11 ; 
 Gal. ii. 20, so it is a Protestant doctrine, taught by Protestant divines 
 against the Papists, and sealed with the blood of martyrs in Popish flames; 
 it is the doctrine of reformed Churches abroad, and the doctrine of the 
 Church of Scotland. 
 
 The natui'e of this work will not allow multiplying of testimonies on all 
 these heads. Upon the first, it shall suffice to adduce the testimony of 
 Essenius, in his Compendium Theologiee, the system of divinity taught 
 the students in the College of Edinburgh by Professor Campbell, "There 
 is, therefore," says he, " in saving faith, a special application of Gospel 
 benefits. This is proved against the Papists, (1.) From the profession of 
 believ^ers. Gal. ii. 20, ' I live by that faith of the Son of God, who loved 
 me, and gave himself for me.' — Psalm xxiii. 1, ' The Lord is my shepherd, 
 I shall not want ; in cotes of budding grass he makes me to lie down, ike. 
 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear 
 evil; for thou art with me,' &c. And Job xix. 25; Phil. i. 21 — 23; 
 Rom. viii. 33—39, x. 9, 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 1—6, with 2 Cor. iv. 13, &c." 
 Essen. Comp. Theol. chap. ii. sect. 12. And speaking of the method of 
 faith, he says, it is "4. That according to the promises of the Gospel, out 
 
102 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 of that spiritual desire, the Holy Spirit also bearing witness in us, we ac- 
 knowledge Christ to be our Saviour, and so receive and apply him, every 
 one to ourselves, apprehending him again, who first apprehended us, 
 2 Cor. iv. 13 ; Rom. viii. 16 ; John i. 12 ; 2 Tim. i. 12 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; Phil, 
 iii. 12. The which is the formal act of saving faith. 5. Furthermore, 
 that we acknowledge ourselves to be in communion with Christ, par- 
 takers of all and every one of his benefits. The which is the latter act of 
 saving faith, yet also a proper and elicit act of it. 7. That we observe 
 all these acts above mentioned, and the sincerity of them in us ; and 
 THENCE gather, that we are true believers, brought into the state of 
 grace," &c. Ibid. sect. 21. Observe here the two kinds of assurance be- 
 fore distinguished. 
 
 Peter Burlie, burnt at Tournay, anno 1545, when he was sent for out 
 of prison to be examined, the friars interrogating him before the magis- 
 trate, he answered, — " How it is faith that bringeth unto us salvation ; 
 that is, when we trust unto God's promises, and believe steadfastly, that 
 for Christ his Son's sake our sins are forgiven us." Sleid. Comment, in 
 English book 16, fol. 217. 
 
 Mr. Patrick Hamilton, burnt at St. Andrews about the year 1527. 
 " Faith," says he, " is a sureness ; faith is a sure confidence of things 
 which are hoped for, and a certainty of things which are not seen. The 
 faith of Christ is to believe in him, that is, to believe in his word, and to 
 believe that he will help thee in all thy need, and deliver thee from all 
 evil." Mr. Patrick's Articles, Knox's History, 4to. p. 9. 
 
 For the doctrine of foreign churches on this point, I shall instance only 
 in that of the Church of Holland, and the Reformed Church of France : 
 " Q. What is a sincere faith .'' A. It is a sure knowledge of God and his 
 promises revealed to us in the Gospel, and a hearty confidence that all 
 my sins are forgiven me for Christ's sake." Dutch Brief Compend. of 
 Christian Religion, Vra. 19, bound up with the Dutch Bible. 
 
 "Minister. Since we have the foundation upon which the faith is 
 grounded, can we rightly from thence conclude what the true faith is } 
 Child. Yes ; namely, a certain and steady knowledge of the love of God 
 towards us, according as, by his Gospel, he declares himself to be our 
 Father and Saviour, by the means of Jesus Christ." Catechism of the 
 Reformed Church of France, bound up with the French Bible, Dimanche 
 18. To obviate a common prejudice, whereby this is taken for an easy 
 effort of fancy and imagination, it will not be amiss to subjoin the ques- 
 tion immediately following there. 
 
 "M. Can we have it of ourselves, or cometh it from God .^ C. The 
 Scripture teacheth us that it is a singular gift of the Holy Spirit, and ex- 
 perience also showeth it." Ibid. 
 
 Follows the doctrine of the Church of Scotland on this head. 
 
 " Regeneration is wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost, working 
 in the hearts of the elect of God an assured faith in the promise of God, 
 revealed to us in his word ; by which faith we apprehend Christ Jesus, 
 with the graces and benefits promised in him." Old Confess, art. 3. 
 
 " This our faith, and the assurance of tlie same, proceeds not from flesh 
 and blood, that is to say, from no natural powers within us, but is the 
 inspiration of the Holy Gliost." Ihid. art. 12. 
 
 For the better understanding of this, take the words of that eminent 
 servant of Christ, Mr. John I)avidson, minister of Salt-Preston, alias 
 Preston-Pans (of whom see the fulfilling of the Scripture, p. 361,) in his 
 Catechism, p. 20, as follows : " And certain it is, that both the enlight- 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 103 
 
 ening of the mind to acknowledge the truth of the promise of salvation 
 to us in Christ, and the sealing up of the certainty thereof in our hearts 
 and minds, (of the which two parts, as it were, faith consists) are the 
 works and effects of the Spirit of God, and neither of nature nor art." 
 
 The Old Confession above mentioned is, " The Confession of Faith, pro- 
 fessed and believed by the Protestants within the realm of Scotland, pub- 
 lished by them in Parliament, and by the estates thereof ratified and 
 approved, as wholesome and sound doctrine, grounded upon the infalli- 
 ble truth of God," Knox's Hist. lib. 3. p. 263. It was ratified at Edin- 
 burgh, July 17, 1560, Ibid. p. 279. And this is the Confession of our 
 Faith, mentioned and sworn to in the national covenant, framed about 
 twenty years after it. 
 
 In the same national covenant, with relation to this particular head of 
 doctrine, we have these words following, viz. " We detest and refuse the 
 usurped authority of that Roman antichrist — his general and doubtsome 
 faith." However the general and doubtsome faith of the Papists may be 
 clouded, one may, without much ado, draw these two plain conclusions 
 from these words: 1. That since the Popish faith abjured is a doubtsome 
 faith, the Protestant faith, sworn to be maintained, is an assured faith, 
 as we heard before from the Old Confession, to which the covenant refers. 
 2. That since the Popish faith is a general one, the Protestant faith must 
 needs be an appropriating persuasion, or a faith of special application, 
 which, we heard already from Essenius, the Papists do deny. As for a 
 belief and persuasion of the mercy of God in Christ, and of Christ's 
 ability and willingness to save all that come unto him, as it is altogether 
 general, and hath nothing of appropriation or special application in it, 
 so I doubt if the Papists will refuse it. Sure, the Council of Trent, 
 which fixed and established the abominations of Popery, affirms that no 
 pious man ought to doubt the mercy of God, of the merit of Christ, nor 
 of the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments." Concil. Trid. cap. 9. I 
 hope none will think the council allows impious men to doubt of these ; 
 but withal they tell us, " It is not to be affirmed, that no man is ab- 
 solved from sin and justified, but he who assuredly believes, that he him- 
 self is absolved and justified." Here they overturn the assurance and 
 appropriation, or special application of saving faith maintained by the 
 Protestants ; and they thunder their anathemas against those who hold 
 these in opposition to their general and doubtsome faith. " If any shall 
 say, that justifying faith is nothing else but a confidence of the mercy of 
 God pardoning sins for Christ's sake, or that that confidence is it alone 
 by which they are justified, let him be accursed." Ibid. cap. 13, can. 12. 
 ** If any shall say, that a man is absolved from sin, and justified by that, 
 that he assuredly believes himself to be absolved and justified, let him 
 be accursed." Ibid. can. 14. 
 
 Moreover, iu the national covenant, as it was renewed in the years 
 1638 and 1639, mention is made of public catechisms, in which the true 
 religion is expressed in the Confession of Faith (there) above written, 
 (t. e. the national covenant, otherwise called the Confession of Faith) 
 and former Large Confession, (viz. the Old Confession,) is said to be set 
 down. The doctrine on this head, contained in these catechisms, is 
 here subjoined. 
 
 " M. Which is the first point } C. To put our whole confidence in 
 God. M. How may that be? C. When we have assured knowledge 
 that he is almighty, and perfectly good. M. And is that sufficient ? C. 
 No. M. What is then further required } C. That every one of us be 
 
104 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 fully assured in his conscience, that he is beloved of God, and that he 
 will be both his Father and Saviour." Calvin's Cat. used by the kirk of 
 Scotland, and approved by the first book of discipline, quest. 8 — 12. 
 This is the catechism of the Reformed Church of France, mentioned 
 before. " M, Since we have the foundation whereupon our faith is 
 builded, we may well gather hereof what is the right faith .' C Yea, 
 verily ; that is to say, it is a sure persuasion and steadfast knowledge of 
 God's tender love towards us, according as he hath phxinly uttered in his 
 Gospel, that he will be both a Father and a Saviour unto us, through 
 the means of Jesus Christ." Ibid, quest. 111. 
 
 ^^ M. By what means may we attain unto him there .^ C. By faith, 
 which God's Spirit worketh in our hearts, assuring us of God's promises 
 made to us in his holy Gospel." The manner to examine children before 
 they be admitted to the supper of the Lord, quest. 16. This is called 
 the Little Catechism, Assembly 1592, sess. 10. " Q. What is true faith ? 
 A. It is not only a knowledge, by which I do steadfastly assent to all 
 things which God hath revealed unto us in his word ; but also an 
 assured affiance, kindled in my heart by the Holy Ghost, by which I rest 
 upon God, making sure account, that forgiveness of sins, everlasting 
 righteousness, and life, are bestowed, not only upon others, but also upon 
 me, and that freely by the mercy of God, for the merit and desert of 
 Christ alone." The Palatine Catechism, printed by public authority, for 
 the use of Scotland. This famous Catechism is used in most of the 
 Reformed Churches and schools ; particularly in the Reformed Churches 
 of the Netherlands, and is bound up with the Dutch Bible. *' As for 
 the Church of Scotland, the Palatine Catechism," says Mr. Wodrow, in 
 the dedication to his History, " was adopted by us, till we had the hap- 
 piness to join with the venerable Assembly at Westminster. Then in- 
 deed it gave place to the Larger and Shorter Catechisms in the Church : 
 nevertheless it continued to be taught in grammar schools." 
 
 " Q. What thing is faith in Christ } A. A sure persuasion that he is 
 the only Saviour of the world, but ours in special, who believe in him." 
 Craig's Catechism, approved by the General Assembly, 1592. 
 
 To these may be added the three following testimonies. " Q. What is 
 faith } A. When 1 am persuaded that God loves me and all his saints, and 
 freely giveth us Christ, with all his benefits." Summula Catechismi, still 
 annexed to the Rudiments of the Latin tongue, and taught in grammar 
 schools to this day, (1720) since the Reformation. 
 
 " What is thy faith ? My sure belief that God both may and will save 
 me in the blood of Jesus Christ, because he is almighty, and has promised 
 so to do." Mr. James Melvil's Catechism, in his IVopine of a Pastor to 
 his People, p. 44, published in the year 1598. 
 
 " Q. What is this faith, that is the only instrument of this strait con- 
 junction between Christ crucified and us.' A. It is the sure persuasion 
 of the heart, that Christ by his death and resurrection halh taken away 
 our sins, and clothing as with his own righteousness, has thoroughly re- 
 stored us to the favour of God." Mr. John Davidson's Catechism, 
 p. 46. 
 
 In the same national covenant, as it was renewed 1638 and 1639, is 
 expressed an agreement and resolution to labour to recover the purity of 
 the Gospel, as it was established and professed before the (there) fore- 
 said novations; the which, in the lime of Prelacy, then cast out, had 
 been corrupted by a set of men in Scotland addicted to the faction of 
 Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. Jn the year 1640, Mr. Robert Baily» 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 105 
 
 then minister of Kilwinning, afterwards one of the Commissioners from 
 Scotland to the Westminster Assembly, wrote against that faction, 
 proving them guilty of Popery, Arminianism, &c. : and on the head of 
 Popery, thus represents their doctrine concerning the nature of faith, 
 viz. " That faith is only a bare assent, and requires no application, no 
 personal confidence ; and that that personal application is mere pre- 
 sumption, and the fiction of a crazy brain." Hist. Motuura in Regno 
 Scotiae, p. 517. 
 
 • Thus, as above declared, stood the doctrine of the Church of Scotland, 
 in this point, in her confessions, and in public catechisms, confirmed by 
 the renewing of the National Covenant, when in the year 1643, it was 
 anew confirmed by the first article of the Solemn League and Covenant, 
 binding to (not the Reformation, but) the preservation of the Reformed 
 Religion in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, &c. and that before the 
 Westminster Confession, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, were in being. 
 
 When the Westminster Confession was received, anno 1647, and the 
 Larger and Shorter Catechisms, anno 1648, the General Assembly did, 
 in their three acts, respectively approving them, expressly declare them 
 to be in nothing contrary to the received doctrine of this Kirk. And put 
 the case they were contrary thereto in any point, they could not in that 
 point be reckoned the judgment of the Church of Scotland, since they 
 were received by her, as in nothing contrary to previous standards of 
 doctrine, to which she stands bound by the covenants aforesaid. But 
 the truth is, the doctrine is the same in them all. 
 
 " This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong ; growing in many 
 to the attainment of a full assurance." Westm. Confess, chap. 14. art. 
 3. Now, how faith can grow in any to a full assurance, if there be no 
 assurance in the nature of it, I cannot comprehend. 
 
 " Faith justifies a sinner — only as it is an instrument, by which he re- 
 ceiveth and applieth Christ and his righteousness." Larg. Cat. Q. 73. — 
 " By faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and 
 all the benefits of his death." Ibid. Q. 170. 
 
 " Q. When do we by faith receive and apply to ourselves the body of 
 Christ crucified } A. While we are persuaded, that the death and cruci- 
 fixion of Christ do no less belong to us, than if we ourselves had been 
 crucified for our own sins ; now this persuasion is that of true faith." 
 Sum. Catech. 
 
 " Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest 
 upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the Gospel." 
 Short. Cat. 
 
 Now, to perceive the entire harmony betwixt this and the old defini- 
 tions of faith, compare with it, as to the receiving therein mentioned, 
 the definition above cited from the Old Confession, art. 3. viz. " An as- 
 sured faith in the promise by which they apprehend Christ," &c. Mr. 
 John Davidson joins them thus : " Q. What is faith ? A. It is an hearty 
 assurance, that our sins are freely forgiven us in Christ. Or after this 
 manner : It is the hearty receiving of Christ offered in the preaching of 
 the word and sacraments, by the working of the Holy Spirit, for the re- 
 mission of sins, whereby he becomes one with us, and we one with him, 
 he our head, and we his members." Mr. John Davidson's Catechism, 
 p. 24. As to the resting mentioned in the Westminster definition, com- 
 pare the definition above cited from the Palatine Catechism, viz. " A 
 sure confidence whereby I rest in God, assuredly concluding, that to 
 me is given forgiveness," &c. quest. 21. See also Larger Catechism, 
 
 f3 
 
106 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Neo. But, sir, hath such a one as I any warrant 
 to believe in Christ? 
 
 Evan. I beseech you consider, that God the Father, as he 
 is in his Son Jesus Christ, moved with nothing but with 
 his free love to mankind lost, hath made a deed of gift and 
 grant unto them all, that whosoever of them all shall believe 
 in this his Son, shall not perish, but have eternal life.* And 
 
 quest, last. " We by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he 
 would, and quietly to rely upon him that he will, fulfil our request; and 
 to testify this our desire and assurance, we say. Amen." In which words, 
 it is manifest, that quietly to rely upon him that he will, &c. (the same 
 with resting on him for, &c.) is assurance in the sense of the Westminster 
 divines. 
 
 * Mr. Culverwell's words, here cited, stand thus at large : " The mat- 
 ter to be believed unto salvation is this, that God the Father, moved by 
 nothing but his free love to mankind lost, hath made a deed of gift and 
 grant of his Son Christ Jesus unto mankind, that whosoever of all man- 
 kind shall receive this gift, by a true and lively faith, he shall not perish, 
 but have everlasting life." Dr. Gouge, in his preface to this treatise of 
 that author, has these remarkable words concerning him, " Never any 
 took such pains to so good purpose, in and about the foundation of 
 faith, as he hath done." 
 
 This deed of gift and grant, or authentic gospel-oflFer (of which see the 
 preceding note) is expressed in so many words, John iii. 16, "For God 
 so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Where 
 the gospel comes, this grant is published, and the ministerial offer made ; 
 and there is no exception of any of all mankind in the grant. If there 
 was, no ministerial offer of Christ could be warrantably made to the party 
 excepted, more than to the fallen angels: and, without question, the 
 publishing and proclaiming of Heaven's grant unto any, by way of minis- 
 terial offer, pre-supposeth the grant, in the first place, to be made to 
 them : otherwise, it would be of no more value than a crier's oflfering of 
 the king's pardon to one who is not comprehended in it. This is the good 
 old way of discovering to sinners their warrant to believe in Christ; and 
 it doth indeed bear the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ for all, and 
 that Christ crucified is the ordinance of God for salvation unto all man- 
 kind, in the use-making of which only they can be saved ; but not an 
 universal atonement or redemption. "What is thy faith? My sure 
 belief that God both may and will save me, &c. Tell me the promise 
 whereon thou leanest assuredly.' 'Whosoever (says God) will believe in 
 the death of my Son Jesus, shall not perish, but get eternal life.'" Mr. 
 James Melvil's Cat. ubi sup. " He freely offereth unto sinners life 
 and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they 
 may be saved," Mark xvi. 15, 16"; John iii. 16; Westm. Confess, chap. 7. 
 art. .1 "The visible Church hath the privilege of enjoying offers of 
 grace by Christ to all the members of it in the ministry of the gospel, 
 .testifying that whosoever believes in him s'liall be saved." Larger Ca- 
 techism, quest. 6.'i. "This general offer, in substance, is equivalent to a 
 special offer made to every one in particular, as appears by the apostle 
 making use of it, Acts xvi. .'il. The reason of which offer is given, John 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 107 
 
 hence it was, that Jesus Christ himself said unto his dis- 
 ciples, Mark xvi. 15, "Go and preach the gospel to every 
 creature under heaven:"* that is. Go and tell every man 
 without exception, that here is good news for him; Christ 
 is dead for him ; and if he will take him, and accept of his 
 righteousness, he shall have him.f Therefore, says a godly 
 
 iii. 16." Pract. Use of Sav. Knowledge ; Conf. p. 380. The Synod of 
 Dort may be heard without prejudice on this head. " It is the promise 
 of the gospel (say they,) that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified 
 should not perish, but have life everlasting: which promise, together 
 with the injunction of repentance and faith, ought promiscuously, and 
 without distinction, to be declared, and published to all men and people, 
 to whom God in his good pleasure sends the Gospel," Chap. 2, art. 5. 
 But forasmuch as many, being called by the gospel, do not repent nor*, 
 believe in Christ, but perish, in their infidelity, this comes not to pass for; 
 want of, or by any insufficiency, of the sacrifice of Christ offered upon / 
 the cross, but bv their own default," art. 6. 
 
 * That is, from this deed of gift and grant it was that the ministerial 
 offer was appointed to be made in the most extensive terms. 
 
 t That the reader may have a more clear view of this passage, which 
 is taken from Dr. Preston's treatise of faith, I shall transcribe the whole 
 paragraph in which it is found. That eminent divine, speaking of that 
 righteousaess by which alone we can be saved, and having shown that it 
 is communicated by gift, says, " But when you hear this righteousness is 
 given, the next question will be, to whom is it given ? If it be only given 
 to some, what comfort is this to me ? But, (which is the ground of all 
 comfort,) it is given to every man, — there is not a man excepted ; for 
 which we have the sure word of God, which will not fail. When you 
 have the charter of a king well confirmed, you reckon it a matter of great 
 moment: what is it then when you have the charter of God himself, 
 which you shall evidently see in those two places, Mark xvi. 15, ' Go and 
 preach the gospel to every creature under heaven;' What is that? Go 
 and tell every man, without exception, that here is good news for him ; 
 Christ is dead for him ; and if he will take him, and accept of his righ- 
 teousness, he shall have it ; restraint is not ; but go tell every man under 
 heaven. The other text is. Rev. xxii. 17, ' Whosoever will, let him 
 come, and take of the water of life freely.' There is a quicunque vult, 
 whosoever will come (none excepted) may have life, and it shall cost 
 him nothing. Many other places of Scripture there be to prove the 
 generality of the offer; and having a sure word for it, consider it," p. 7, 8. 
 The words 'under heaven' are taken from Col. i. 23. The scope here*. 
 is the same with that of our author, not to determine concerning the ex- 
 tent of Christ's death, but to discover the warrant sinners have to believe . 
 ilT Christ, namely, that the offer of Christ is general, the deed of gift or 
 grant is to every man. This necessarily supposeth Christ crucified to be 
 the ordinance of God for salvation, to which lost mankind is allowed 
 access, and not fallen angels, for whom there is none provided : even as 
 the city of refuge was the ordinance of God for the safety of the man- 
 slayer, who had killed any person unawares. Numb. xxxv. 16 ; and the 
 brazen serpent for the cure of those bitten by a serpent, chap. xxi. 8. 
 Therefore he says not, * Tell every man Christ died for him ;' but. Tell 
 every man ' Christ is dead for him ;' that is, for him to come to, and 
 
108 THE MARROW OF Part I. 
 
 writer, « Forasmuch as the Holy Scripture speaketh to all 
 in general, none of us ought to distrust himself, but believe 
 
 believe on ; a Saviour is provided for him ; there is a crucified Christ for 
 him, the ordinance of heaven for salvation for lost man, in the use-making 
 of vrhich he may be saved ; even as one had said of old, tell every man 
 that hath slain any person unawares, that the city of refuge is prepared 
 for him, namely, to flee to, that he may be safe ; and every one bitten 
 with a serpent, that the brazen serpent is set up on a pole for him, 
 namely, to look unto, that he may be healed. Both these were eminent 
 types of Christ ; and upon the latter, the Scripture is full and clear in this 
 very point. Numb. xxi. 8, * And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a 
 fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole ; and it shall come to pass, that 
 EVERY ONE that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.' — Johniii. 
 14 — 16, 'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
 must the son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth on him 
 should not perish but have eternal life.' ' For God so loved the world, 
 that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever,'" &c. 
 
 Thus, what (according to Dr. Preston and our author) is to be told 
 every man, is no more than what ministers of the gospel have in commis- 
 sion from their great Master, Matt. xxii. 4, " Tell them which are bidden, 
 Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, 
 and all things are ready, come unto the mairiage." There is a crucified 
 Saviour, with all saving benefits, for them to come to, feed upon, and 
 partake of freely. See also Luke ii. 30, 31 ; Prov. ix. 2 — 4 ; Isa. xxv. 6. 
 
 To confirm this to be the true and designed sense of the phrase in 
 question, compare the following three passages, of the same treatise, 
 giving the import of the same text, Mark xvi, " Christ hath provided a 
 righteousness and salvation, that is, his work that he hath done already. 
 Now, if ye will believe, and take him upon these terms that he is offered, 
 you shall be saved. This, I say, belongs to all men. This you have ex- 
 pressed in the gospel in many places : ' If you believe, you shall be saved ;' 
 as it is, Mark xvi, ' Go and preach the gospel to every creature under 
 heaven ; he that will believe shall be saved.' " Preston on Faith, p. 32. 
 " You must first have Christ himself, before you can partake of those 
 benefits by him : and that I take to be the meaning of that in Mark xvi, 
 ' Go preach the gospel to every creature under heaven ; he that believeth 
 and is baptised, shall be saved ;' that is, that he will believe, that Jesus 
 Christ is come in the flesh, and that he is offered to mankind for a Saviour, 
 and will be baptised ; that will give up himself to him, that will take his 
 mark upon him, shall be saved." Ibid. p. 46. " Go and preach the 
 gospel to every creature ; go and tell every man under heaven, that Christ 
 is offered to him, he is freely given to him by God the Father; and there 
 is nothing required of you but that you marry him, nothing but to accept 
 of him." Ibid. p. 75. 
 
 Thus, it appears, that universal atonement, or redemption, is not taught 
 here, neither by our author. Jiut that the candid reader may be satisfied 
 as to his sentiments touching the question, — " for whom Christ died ?" 
 let him weigh these two things: 
 
 1. Our author puts a man's being persuaded that Christ died for him 
 in particular, in the definition of saving faitli, and that as the last and 
 highest step of it. But Arminians, and other Universalists, might as well 
 put there a man's being persuaded that he was created, or is preserved by 
 Jesus Christ ; since in being persuaded that Christ died for him, he applies 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 109 
 
 no more to himself than what, according to their principles, is common to 
 all iftankind, as in the case of creation and preservation. Hear Grotius 
 upon this head : " Some," says he, " have here interpreted faith to be 
 persuasion, whereby a man believes that Jesus died for him in particular, 
 and to purchase salvation all manner of ways for him, or (what with 
 them is the same thing) that he is elected ; when, on the contrary, Paul 
 in many places teacheth, * that Christ died for all men ;' and such a faith 
 as they talk of, has not in it any thing true or profitable." Grotius apud 
 Pol. Synop. Those whom this learned adversary here taxes, are Protes- 
 tant anti-Arminian divines. Those were they who defined faith by such 
 a persuasion, and not the Universalists. On the contrary, he argues 
 against that definition of faith from the doctrine of universal atonement 
 or redemption. He rejects that definition of it, as in his opinion having 
 nothing in it true, namely, according to the principles of those who gave 
 it, viz. that Christ died, not for all and every man in particular, but for 
 the elect only, and as having nothing in it profitable ; that being, accord- 
 ing to his principles, the common privilege of all mankind. 
 
 2. He teaches plainly throughout the book, that they were the elect, 
 the chosen, or believers, whom Christ represented, and obeyed, and suf- 
 fered for. See among others, pages 22, 2.3, 54, 86. I shall repeat only 
 two passages ; the one, page 81 : " According to that eternal and mutual 
 agreement that was betwixt God the Father and him, he put himself in 
 the room and place of all the faithful." The other in the first sentence 
 of his own preface, viz. " Jesus Christ, the second Adam, did, as a com- 
 mon person, enter into covenant with God his Father for all the elect, 
 (that is to say, all those that have or shall believe on his name) and for 
 them kept it." What can be more plain than tliat, in the judgment of 
 our author, they were the elect whom Jesus Christ, the second Adam, 
 entered into covenant with God for ; that it was in the elects' room he 
 put himself when he came actually to obey and suffer, and that it was 
 for the elect he kept that covenant, by doing and suffering what was re- 
 quired of him as our Redeemer ? As for the description, or character he 
 gives of the elect, viz. that by the elect he understands all that have or 
 shall believe in it, he follows our Lord himself, John xvii. 20, " Neither 
 pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me ;" and 
 so doing, he is accompanied with orthodox divines. " Thus did the sins 
 of all God's elect, or all true believers," (for of such, and only such, he 
 there, viz. Isa. liii. 6, speaks) meet together upon the head of their com- 
 mon surety, the Lord Christ," Brinsley's Mesites, p. 64. " The Father 
 is well satisfied- with the undertakings of the Son, who entered Redeemer 
 and Surety to pay the ransom of believers," Pract. Use of Saving Knowl, 
 tit. 4. "The invisible church is the whole number of the elect that have 
 been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head," Larg. 
 Cat. quest. 64. " Christ's church, wherein standeth only remission of 
 sins, purchased by Christ's blood to all them that believe," The Confess, 
 of Faith used in Geneva, approved by the Church of Scotland, sect. 4. 
 sect. ult. But Arminians neither will nor can, in consistency with their 
 principles touching election and the falling away of believers, admit that 
 description or character of the elect, else they are widely mistaken by 
 one of their own, who tells us that, " Upon the consideration of his (viz. 
 Christ's) blood, as shed, he (viz. God) decreed, that all those who should 
 believe in that Redeemer, and persevere in that faith, should, through 
 mercy and grace, by him be made partakers of salvation," Exam, of Tilen. 
 p. 131. "Brought unto faith, and persevere therein; this being the 
 
110 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 that it doth belong particularly to himself.* And to the end, 
 that this point, wherein lies and consists the whole mystery of 
 our holy faith, may be understood the better, let us put the 
 case, that some good and holy king should cause a proclama- 
 tion to be made through his whole kingdom, by the sound of 
 a trumpet, that all rebels and banished men shall safely return 
 home to their houses : because that, at the suit and desert of 
 some dear friend of theirs, it has pleased the king to pardon 
 them; certainly, none of these rebels ought to doubt, but that 
 he shall obtain true pardon for his rebellion ; and so return 
 home, and live under the shadow of that gracious king. Even 
 so, our good King, the Lord of heaven and earth, has, for the 
 obedience and desert of our good brother Jesus Christ, par- 
 doned all our sins,-|- and made a proclamation throughout the 
 
 condition required in every one that is to be elected unto eternal life," 
 Ibid. p. 139. Behold the Arminian election: "They do utterly deny 
 that God did destine, by an absolute decree, to give Christ a Mediator 
 only to the elect, and to give faith to them alone," Ibid. p. 149. As for 
 Universalists, not Arminians, "They contend, that the decree of the 
 death of Christ did go before the decree of election, and that God, in 
 sending of Christ, had no respect unto some, more than others, but de- 
 stined Christ for a Saviour to all men alike." This account of their prin- 
 ciples is given us by Turretine, loc. 14. q. 14. th. 6. I leave it to the im- 
 partial reader to judge of the evident contrariety betwixt this and our 
 author's words above repeated. 
 
 * Namely, the deed of gift and grant, or the offer of Christ in the 
 word, of which our author is all along speaking. And if there be any 
 man to whom it doth not belong particularly, that man hath no warrant 
 to believe on Jesus Christ : and whosoever pretends to believe on him, 
 without believing that the grant or offer belongs to himself particularly, 
 does but act presumptuously, as seeing no warrant he has to believe on 
 Christ, whatever others may have. 
 
 f So far as he hath made the deed of gift and grant, or authentic 
 gospel-offer of the pardon of all our sins, as of all other saving benefits in 
 Christ. Such a thing, among men, is called the king's pardon, though, 
 in the mean time, none have the benefit of it but such as come in upon 
 its being proclaimed, and accept of it ; and why may]|not it be called the 
 King of Heaven's pardon ? The Holy Scripture warrants this manner of 
 expression. " And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal 
 life," 1 John v. 11 ; in which life, without question, the pardon of all our 
 sins is included : " Through this man is preached unto you the forgive- 
 ness of sins," Acts xiii. 38. The preaching of the Gospel is the proclaim- 
 ing of pardon to condemned sinners. But pardon of sin cannot be 
 preached or proclaimed, unless, in the first place, it be granted, even as 
 the king's pardon must be, before one can proclaim it to the rebels. 
 
 That this is all that is meant by pardon here, and not a formal per- 
 sonal pardon, is evident from the whole strain of the author's discourse 
 upon it. In the proposal of the simile, whereof this passage is the appli- 
 cation, he tells us, that after it hath pleased the king (thus) to pardon the 
 rebels, they ought not to doubt but they shall obtain pardon; and in the 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. Ill 
 
 whole world,* that every one of us may safely return to God in 
 Jesus Christ: wherefore I beseech you make no doubt of it, 
 but " draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith," 
 Heb. X. 22.t 
 
 Neo. O, but, sir, in this similitude the case is not alike. 
 For when the earthly king sends forth such a proclamation,it may 
 be thought, that he indeed intends to pardon all ; but it can- 
 not be thought that the King of Heaven does so : for do not the 
 Scriptures say, that " some men are ordained before to condem- 
 nation?" Jude 4. And does not Christ himself say, that 
 " many are called, but few are chosen ?" Matt. xxii. 14. And, 
 therefore, it may be, I am one of them that are ordained to 
 condemnation; and, therefore, though I be called, I shall 
 never be chosen, and so shall not be saved. 
 
 Evan, I beseech you to consider, that although some men 
 be ordained to condemnation, yet so long as the Lord has con- 
 cealed their names, and not set a mark upon any man in par- 
 ticular, but offers the pardon generally to all, without having 
 
 following paragraph he brings in Neophitus objecting, that in such a case 
 an earthly king doth indeed intend to pardon all, but the King of Hea- 
 ven doth not so ; the which Evangelista in his answer grants. So that, 
 for all this general pardon, the formal personal pardon remains to be ob- 
 tained by the sinner, namely, by his accepting of the pardon offered. And 
 in the foresaid answer, he expounds the pardon in question, of the Lord's 
 offering pardon generally to all. This, one would think, may well be 
 admitted as the fruit of Christ's obedience and desert, without supposing 
 an universal atonement or redemption. And to restrain it to any set of 
 men whatsoever under haven, is to restrain the authentic Gospel-offer : 
 of which before. 
 
 * Col. i. 23 : " The Gospel which ye have heard, and which was 
 preached to every creature which is under heaven." 
 
 \ Make no doubt of the pardon offered, or of the proclamation, bear- 
 ing, that every one of us may safely return to God in Christ ; but there- 
 upon draw near to him in full assurance of faith. That there can be no 
 saving faith, no acceptance with God, where there is any doubting, is 
 what can hardly enter into the head of any sober Christian, if it is not 
 under a grievous temptation, in his own soul's case, nor is it in the least 
 insinuated here. Nevertheless, the doubting mixed with faith is sin, and 
 dishonoureth God, and believers have ground to be humbled for it, and 
 ashamed of it, before the Lord; and therefore the full assurance of faith 
 is duty. The Papists indeed contend earnestly for doubting, and they know 
 very very well, wherefore they so do ; for doubting being removed, and the 
 assurance of faith in the promise of the Gospel brought into its room, their 
 market is marred, their gain by indulgences, masses, pilgrimages, &c. is 
 gone, and the fire of purgatory extinguished. But, as Protestant divines 
 prove against them, the Holy Scripture condemns it, Matt. xiv. 31, " O 
 thou of little faith ! wherefore didst thou doubt ?" Luke xii. 29, " Nei- 
 ther be ye of doubtful mind." 1 Tim. ii. 8, "Lifting up holy hands, 
 without wrath and doubting." 
 
112 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 any respect either to election or reprobation, surely it is great 
 folly in any man to say, It may be I am not elected, and 
 therefore shall not have benefit by it; and therefore I will not 
 accept of it, nor come in :* for it should rather move every 
 man to give diligence "to make his calling and election sure," 
 by believing it, 2 Pet. i. 10. For fear we come short of it,f 
 according to that of the apostle, " let us, therefore, fear, lest a 
 promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should 
 seem to come short of it," Heb. iv. I. Wherefore, I beseech 
 you, do not you wsay, it may be I am not elected, and therefore 
 I will not beheve in Christ ; but rather say, I do believe in 
 Christ, and therefore I am sure I am elected. J And check 
 your own heart for meddling with God's secrets, and prying 
 'into his hidden counsel, and go no more beyond your bounds, 
 as you have done, in this point : for election and reprobation 
 is a secret ; and the Scripture tells us, " that secret things be- 
 jlong unto God, but those things that are revealed belong unto 
 lus," Deut. xxix. 29. Now this is God's revealed will, for, in- 
 deed, it is his express command, " That you should believe on 
 the name of his Son," 1 John iii. 23 ; and it is his promise, 
 " That if you believe, you shall not perish, but have everlast- 
 ing Hfe," John iii. 16. Wherefore, you having so good a 
 warrant as God's command, and so great an encouragement 
 as his promise, do your duty ;§ and by the doing thereof you 
 may put it|| out of question, and be sure that you are also one 
 of God's elect. Say, then, I beseech you, with a firm faith. 
 The righteousness of Jesus Christ belongs to all that believe ; 
 but I believe,^ and therefore it belongs to me. Yea, say with 
 Paul, " I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, 
 
 * Had the author once dreamt of an universal pardon, otherwise than 
 that God offers the pardon generally to all, all this had been needless ; it 
 would have furnished him with a short answer, viz. That God hath par- 
 doned all already. 
 
 f By believing the offered pardon, with particular application to him- 
 self; without which one can never accept of it, but will undoubtedly 
 come short of it. 
 
 X Like that man mentioned Mark ix. 24, who at once did and said. 
 
 § Believe on the name of Christ. 
 
 II Namely, your believing. 
 
 ^ This is what is conjmonly called the reflex act of faith, which pre- 
 supposes, and here concludes the direct act, namely, a man's doing of his 
 duty, in obedience to the command to believe on Christ ; by reflecting 
 on which, he may put it out of question that he is a believer, one of God's 
 elect, and one of those for whom Christ died ; the which he insists upon 
 in the following words, See the foregoing note J. This passage is taken 
 out of Dr. Preston's Treatise of Faith, p. 8. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 113 
 
 and gave himself for me," Gal. ii. 20. " He saw in me (says 
 Luther on the text,) nothing but wickedness, going astray, and 
 fleeing from him. Yet this good Lord had mercy on me, and 
 of his mere mercy he loved me, yea, so loved me, that he gave 
 himself for me. Who is this me'^ Even I, wretched and 
 damnable sinner, was so dearly beloved of the Son of God, 
 that he gave himself for me." 
 
 O ! print this word " me" in your heart, and apply it to 
 your own self, not doubting but that you are one of those to 
 whom this " me" belongs.* 
 
 Neo. But may such a vile and sinful wretch as I am be per- 
 suaded that God commands me to believe, and that he hath 
 made a promise to me ?"f 
 
 Evan. Why do you make a question, where there is none 
 to be made? " Goy" says Christ, " and preach the gospel to 
 every creature under heaven," that is, go tell every man with- 
 out exception, whatsoever his sins be, whatsoever his rebellions 
 be, go and tell him these glad tidings, that if he will come in, 
 I will accept of him, his sins shall be forgiven him, and he 
 shall be saved ; if he will come in and take me, and receive 
 me, I will be his loving husband, and he shall be mine own 
 dear spouse. Let me, therefore, say unto you, in the words 
 of the apostle, " Now, then, I as an ambassador for Christ, as 
 though God did beseech you by me, I pray you, in Christ's 
 stead, be ye reconciled unto God ; for he hath made him to be 
 sin for you, who knew no sin, that you might be made the 
 righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v. 20, 2 L 
 
 Neo. But do you say, sir, that if I believe I shall be es- 
 poused unto Christ ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed, shall you : for faith coupleth the soul 
 with Christ, even as the spouse with her husband ; by which 
 means Christ and the soul are made one : for as, in corporal 
 marriage, man and wife are made one flesh, even so in this 
 spiritual and mystical marriage, Christ and his spouse are made 
 one spirit. And this marriage, of all others, is most perfect, 
 and absolutely accomplished between them ; for the marriage 
 between man and wife is but a slender figure of this union ; 
 
 * " This manner of applying," says Luther, " is the very true force and 
 power of faith." 
 
 f He had told him, that for his warrant to believe on Christ, he had 
 God's command, 1 John iii. 23. And for his encouragement, God's pro- 
 mise, John iii. 16. Thereupon this question is moved; the particular 
 application to oneself being a matter of no small difficulty, in the expe- 
 rience of many who lay salvation to heart. 
 
114 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 wherefore, I beseech you to believe it, and then you shall be 
 sure to enjoy it.* 
 
 Neo. But, sir, if David said, " Seemeth it to you a light 
 thing to be an earthlj king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a 
 poor man, and lightly esteemed ?" 1 Sam. xviii. 23 ; then 
 surely I have much more cause to say, Seemeth it a light thing 
 to be a Heavenly King's daughter-in-law, seeing that I am 
 such a poor sinful wretch ? Surely, sir, I cannot be persuaded 
 to believe it. 
 
 Evan. Alas, man, how much are you mistaken ! for you 
 look upon God, and upon yourself, with the eye of reason ; 
 and so as standing in relation to each other, according to the 
 tenor of the covenant of works : whereas, you being now in 
 the case of justification and reconciliation, you are to look both 
 upon God and upon yourself with the eye of faith ; and so 
 standing in relation to each other, according to the tenor of 
 the covenant of grace. For, says the apostle, " (^od was in 
 Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 
 sins unto them," 2 Cor. v. 19 ; as if he had said, Because as 
 God stands in relation to man, according to the tenor of the 
 covenant of works, and so out of Christ, he could not, without 
 prejudice to his justice, be reconciled unto them, nor have any 
 thing to do with them, otherwise than in wrath and indignation ; 
 therefore, to the intent that Justice and Mercy might meet 
 together, and Righteousness and Peace might embrace each 
 other, and so God stand in relation to man, according to the 
 tenor of the covenant of grace ; he put himself into his Son 
 Jesus Christ, and shrouded himself there, that so he might 
 speak peace to his people. Psalm Ixxxv. 8 — 10. Sweetly, 
 says Luther, "Because the nature of God was otherwise 
 higher than that we are able to attain unto it, therefore hath 
 he humbled himself for us, and taken our nature upon him, 
 and so put himself into Christ. Here he looketh for us, here 
 
 * Believe the word of promise, the offer of the spiritual marriage, which 
 is Christ's declared consent to be yours. Believe that it is made to you 
 in particular, and that it shall be made out to you ; the which is, to em- 
 brace the offer, to receive Christ, as the evangelist teaches, John i. 12, 
 (which was adverted to before ;) so shall you be indeed married or es- 
 poused to Christ. Thus the Holy Scripture proposes this matter, Isa. 
 Iv. 3, " Hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting 
 covenant with you ;" to persuade us of the reality of the covenant betwixt 
 God and the believer of his word, " the Father hath made a fourfold 
 gift," &c., Pract. Use of Sav. Knowl. tit. ; Warrant to Believe, fig. 7 ; 
 Compare Isa. liii. 1 ; Heb. iv. 1, 2. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 115 
 
 he will receive us ; and he that seeketh him here shall find 
 him."* " This," says God the Father, " is my beloved Son, 
 in whom I am well pleased," Matt. iii. 17 ; whereupon the 
 same Luther says in another place, " We must not think and 
 persuade ourselves that this voice came from heaven for Christ's 
 own sake, but for our sakes, even as Christ himself says, John 
 xii. 30, ' This voice came not because of me, but for your 
 sakes.' The truth is, Christ had no need that it should be 
 said unto him, ' This is my beloved Son,' he knew that from 
 all eternity, and that he should still so remain, though these 
 words had not been spoken from heaven ; therefore, by these 
 words, God the Father, in Christ his Son, cheers the hearts of 
 poor sinners, and greatly delights them with singular comfort 
 and heavenly sweetness, assuring them, that whosoever is 
 married unto Christ, and so in him by faith, he is as accept- 
 able to God the Father as Christ himself ;t according to that 
 of the apostle, " He hath made us acceptable in his beloved," 
 Eph. i. 6. Wherefore, if you would be acceptable to God, 
 and be made his dear child, then by faith cleave unto his be- 
 loved Son Christ, and hang about his neck, yea, and creep 
 into his bosom ; and so shall the love and favour of God be 
 as deeply insinuated into you as it is into Christ himself; and 
 so shall God the Father, together with his beloved Son, wholly 
 
 * An eminent type of this glorious mystery was that tabernacle so 
 often mentioned in the Old Testament under the name of the tabernacle 
 of the congregation, or rather the tabernacle of meeting, as the original 
 word bears ; and the Lord himself seems to give the reason of the name, 
 Exod. XXX. 36, " In the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will 
 meet with thee ;" or, " in the tabernacle of meeting, where I will be met 
 with by thee." — Chap, xxxiii. 7, " And it came to pass, that every one 
 which sought the Lord, went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation," 
 or meeting. 
 
 t The acceptation, love, and favour of God here treated of, do not re- 
 fer to the real state of believers, but to the relative state, to their justifi- 
 cation, reconciliation, and adoption : and so they have no respect to any 
 qualities inherent in them, good or evil, to be increased by the one, or 
 diminished by the other ; but they proceed purely upon the righteousness 
 of Christ, which is theirs in virtue of their union with him, and is im- 
 puted to them ; the which righteousness is the self-same righteousness 
 wherewith Christ, as Mediator and Surety for elect sinners, pleased the 
 Father. And therefore, says one, whom nobody suspects of Antino- 
 mianism, " We are as perfectly righteous as Christ the Righteous," citing 
 1 John iii. 7 : "He that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is 
 righteous," Isaac Ambrose's Media, chap. 1, sect. 2. p. 4. This I take to 
 be the true meaning of these passages of our author and Isaac Ambrose, 
 expressed in terms stronger than I would desire to use. There is a dan- 
 ger in expressing concerning God even what is true. 
 
116 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 possess you, and be possessed of you; and so God, and Christ, 
 and you, shall become one entire thing, according to Christ's 
 prayer, " that they may be one in us, as thou and I are one," 
 John xvii. 21.* 
 
 And by this means you may have sufficient ground and 
 warrant to say, (in the matter of reconciliation with God, at 
 any time, whensoever you are disputing with yourself, how 
 God is to be found, that justifies and saves sinners) I know 
 no other God, neither will I know any other God, besides 
 this God, that came down from heaven, and clothed himself 
 with my flesh,-|- unto "whom all power is given, both in 
 
 * The original word, here rendered " one," indeed signifies " one thing." 
 And it is evident from the text, that believers are united to God as well 
 as to Christ. " Faith is that grace by which we are united to, and made 
 one with God and Christ," says the author of the Supplement to Poole's 
 Annot. on the place. See 1 John iv. 16; Cor. iv. 16, compared with 
 Eph. iii. 17. And whosoever owns Jesus Christ to be one with the Father, 
 must needs grant this, or else deny believers to be united to Christ. This 
 derogates nothing from the prerogative of our Lord Jesus, who is one 
 with the Father ; for he is one with him, as the Holy Ghost also is, by 
 the adorable substantial union ; but believers are so only by mystical 
 union. Neither does it intrench upon God's supremacy, more than their 
 confessed union with Christ does ; who, notwithstanding of believers' 
 union with him, remains to be, with the Father and Holy Spirit, the 
 only supreme, and most high God. 
 
 " Whosoever, therefore, deaveth to Christ tlirough faith, he abideth in 
 the favour of God, he also shall be made beloved and acceptable as Christ 
 is, and shall have fellowship with the Father and the Son." Luther's 
 Chosen Sermons, Sermon of the appearing of Christ, p. 23. " Here I 
 will abide in the arms of Christ, cleaving inseparably about his neck, and 
 creeping into his bosom, whatsoever the law shall say, and my heart shall 
 feel," Ibid. Sermon of the lost sheep, p. 8L "Seeing, therefore, that 
 Christ, the beloved Son, being in so great favour with God in all things 
 that he does, is thine; without doubt, thou art in the same favour and 
 love of God that Christ himself is in." And again, " the favour and love 
 of God are insinuated to thee as deeply as to Christ, that now God, to- 
 gether with his beloved Son, does wholly possess thee, and thou hast him 
 again wholly; that so God, Christ, and thou, do become as one certain 
 thing, — that they may be one in us, as thou and I are one, John xvii." 
 Ibid. Sermon of the appearing of Christ, p. 25. 
 
 t Luther, from whom this is taken in the place quoted by our author, 
 confirms it thus : " For he that is a searcher of God's majesty, shall be 
 overwhelmed of his glory. I know (adds he) by experience, what I say. 
 But these vain spirits, wliich so deal with God, that they exclude the 
 Mediator, do not believe me." And on Psalm cxxx, he has these re- 
 markable words, "Ego saepe, et libenter hoc inculco, ut extra Christum, 
 oculos et aures claudatis, et dicatis nullum vos scire Deum nisi qui fuit 
 in gremio Mariae, et suxit ubera ejus :" that is, " Often and willingly do 
 I inculcate this, that you should shut your eyes and your ears, and say, 
 you know no God oiit of Christ, none but he that was in the lap of 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 117 
 
 heaven and in earth," who is my judge ; " for the Father 
 judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the 
 Son," John v. 22. So that Christ may do with me whatso- 
 ever he liketh, and determine of me according to his own 
 mind ; and I am sure he hath said, " he came not to judge 
 the world but to save the world," John xii. 47. And there- 
 fore I do believe that he will save me.* 
 
 Neo. Indeed, sir, if I were so holy and so righteous as 
 some men are, and had such power over my sins and corrup- 
 tions as some men have, then I could easily believe it ; but 
 alas ! I am so sinful and so unworthy a wretch, that I dare 
 not presume to believe that Christ will accept of me, so as to 
 justify and save me. 
 
 Evan. Alas ! man, in thus saying, you seem to contradict 
 and gainsay both the Apostle Paul, and our Lord Jesus 
 Christ himself; and that against your own soul: for whereas 
 the Apostle Paul says, " that Christ Jesus came into the world 
 to save sinners," 1 Tim. i. 15, and doth justify the ungodly, 
 Rom. iv. 5, why, you seem to hold, and do in effect say, that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save the righteous, and 
 to justify the godly. And whereas our Saviour says, the 
 whole need not a physician, but the sick ; and that he came 
 not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Matt. ix. 
 12 ; why, you seem to hold, and do in effect say, that the 
 sick need not a physician, but the whole : and that he came, 
 not to call sinners, but the righteous to repentance. And in- 
 deed, in so saying, you seem to conceive, that Christ's spouse 
 must be purified, washed, and cleansed from all her filthi- 
 ness, and adorned with a rich robe of righteousness, before 
 he will accept of her; whereas he himself said unto her, 
 Ezek. xvi. 4 — 8, " As for thy nativity, in the day that thou 
 wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed 
 with water to supple thee; thou wast not swaddled at all, 
 nor salted at all. No eye pitied thee to do any of these things 
 unto thee ; but when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, 
 behold thy time was a time of love. And I spread my skirt 
 over thee, and covered thy nakedness ; yea, and I sware unto 
 
 Mary, and suckled her breasts." He means none out of him. Bur- 
 roughs on Hos, iii. 5. p. 729. 
 
 * This is the conclusion of that, which one, "by faith cleaving untoChrist, 
 and hanging about his neck," has by that means warrant to say, accord- 
 ing to our author. Whether or not there is sufficient warrant for it, ac- 
 cording to the Scripture, let the reader judge : what shadow of the doc- 
 trine of universal atonement, or universal pardon, is in it, I see not. 
 
118 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 thee, and entered into covenant with thee, and thon becamest 
 mine." — Hos. ii. 19, " And I will marry thee unto me for 
 ever ; yea, I will marry thee unto me in righteousness, and in 
 judgment, and in mercy, and compassion." 
 
 Wherefore, I beseech you, revoke this your erroneous opinion, 
 and contradict the word of truth no longer; but conclude for 
 a certainty, that it is not the righteous and godly man, but 
 the sinful and ungodly man,* that Christ came to call, justify, 
 and save ; so that if you were a righteous and godly man, you 
 were neither capable of calling, justifying, or saving by Christ; 
 but being a sinful and ungodly man, I will be bold to say unto 
 you, as the people said unto blind Bartimeus, Mark x. 49, 
 " Be of good comfort ; arise, he calleth thee," and will justify 
 and save thee.f Go then unto him, I beseech you ; and if he 
 come and meet thee, (as his manner is) then do not you un- 
 advisedly say, with Peter, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful 
 man, O Lord !" Luke v. 8 ; but say, in plain terms, O come 
 unto me ! for I am a sinful man, O Lord ! Yea, go on fur- 
 ther, and say, as Luther bids you. Most gracious Jesus and 
 sweet' Christ, I am a miserable, poor sinner, and, therefore, 
 do judge myself unworthy of thy grace ; but yet I, having 
 learned from thy word that thy salvation belongs unto such a 
 one, therefore do I come unto thee, to claim that right which, 
 through thy gracious promise, belongs unto me.J Assure 
 yourself, man, that Jesus Christ requires no portion with his 
 spouse ; no, verily, he requires nothing with her but mere 
 poverty : " the rich he sends empty away," Luke i. 53 ; but 
 the poor are by him enriched. And, indeed, says Luther, 
 " the more miserable, sinful, and distressed a man doth feel 
 himself, and judge himself to be, the more willing is Christ to 
 receive him and relieve him." So that, says he, in judging thy- 
 self unworthy, thou dost thereby become truly worthy ; and so, 
 indeed, hast gotten a greater occasion of coming to him. 
 Wherefore, then, in the words of the apostle, I do exhort and 
 beseech you to " come boldly unto the throne of grace, that 
 
 * That is, such as are really so, and not in their own opinion, only re- 
 spectively. 
 
 t As the people, observing Christ's call to Bartimeus, bid him be of 
 good comfort, (or be confident) and arise; intimating, that upon his going 
 so unto Christ, he would cure him ; so one, observing the Gospel call, 
 may with all boldness bid a sinner comply with it confidently ; assuring 
 him that thereupon Christ will justify and s<ive him. 
 
 t See the note on the Definition of Faith, fig. 1. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 119 
 
 you may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," 
 Heb. iv. 16. 
 
 Neo. But, truly, sir, my heart, as it were, trembles within 
 me, to think of coming to Christ, after such a bold manner ; 
 and surely, sir, if I should so come unto him, it would argue 
 much pride and presumption in me. 
 
 Evan. Indeed, if you should be encouraged to come unto 
 Christ, and to speak thus unto him, because of any godliness, 
 righteousness, or worthiness, that you conceive to be in you ; 
 that, I confess, were proud presumption in you. But to come 
 to Christ, by believing that he will accept of you, justify, and 
 save you freely by his grace, according to his gracious pro- 
 mise, this is neither pride nor presumption :* for Christ having 
 tendered and offered it to you freely, believe it, it is true hu- 
 mility of heart to take what Christ offers you. 
 
 Nom. But, by your favour, sir, I pray you give me leave to 
 speak a word by the way. I know my neighbour, Neophitus, 
 it may be, better than you do ; yet I do not intend to charge 
 him with any sin, otherwise than by way of supposition, as 
 thus, suppose he has been guilty of the committing of gross 
 and grievous sins, will Christ accept of him, and justify and 
 save him for all that ? 
 
 Evan. Yes, indeed ; for there is no limitation of God's 
 grace in Jesus Christ, except the sin against the Holy Ghost.f 
 
 * It is to believe the offer of the Gospel, with particular application ; 
 to embrace it, and therein to receive Christ. And no man can ever re- 
 ceive and rest on Christ for salvation, without believing, in greater or 
 lesser measure, that Christ will accept of him to justification and salva- 
 tion. Remove that Gospel-truth, that Christ will accept of him, and his 
 faith has no ground left to stand upon. See the note on the Definition 
 of Faith, fig. 1, 2. 
 
 t I doubt if the sin against the Holy Ghost can justly be said to be a 
 limitation of God's grace in Jesus Christ. For in the original authentic 
 Gospel-offer, in which is the proper place for such a limitation (if there 
 was any) that grace is so laid open to all men without exception, that no 
 man is excluded ; but there is free access to it for every man in the way 
 of believing, John iii. 15, 16; Rev. xxii. 17; and this offer is sometime 
 intimated to these reprobates who fall into that sin, else they should not 
 be capable of it. It is true, that sin is a bar in the way of the guilty, so 
 as they can never partake of the grace of God in Christ ; for it shall 
 never be forgiven. Matt. xii. 31 ; Mark iii. 29; and any further ministe- 
 rial application of the offer to them seems to cease to be lawful or war- 
 ranted, 1 John V. 16. But all this arises from their own wilful, obstinate, 
 despiteful, and malicious rejecting of the offer : and fighting against the 
 Holy Ghost, whose ofl&ce it is to apply the grace of Christ ; and not from 
 any limitation, or exclusive clause in the offer, for still it remains true, 
 " Whosoever shall believe, shall not perish." 
 
120 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Christ " stands at the door and knocks," Rev. iii. '20. And if 
 any murdering Manasseh, or any persecuting and blaspheming 
 Saul, 1 Tim. i. 13, or any adulterous Mary Magdalene, " will 
 open unto him, he will come in," and bring comfort with him, 
 " and will sup with him." " Seek from the one end of the 
 heavens to the other," says Hooker; "turn all the Bible over, 
 and see if the words of Christ be not true, ' Him that cometh 
 unto me, I will in no ways cast out,' " John vi. 37. 
 
 Nom. Why, then, sir, it seems you hold, that the vilest sin- 
 ner in the world ought not to be discouraged from coming 
 unto Christ, and believing in him, by reason of his sins. 
 
 Evan. Surely, if " Christ came into the world to seek, and 
 call, and save sinners, and to justify the ungodly," as you 
 have heard ; and if the more sinful, miserable, and distressed 
 a man judge himself to be, the more willing Christ is to re- 
 ceive him and relieve him ; then I see no reason why the 
 vilest sinner should be discouraged from believing on the name 
 of Jesus Christ by reason of his sins. Nay, let me say more ; 
 the greater any man's sins are, either in number or nature, the 
 more haste he should make to come unto Christ, and to say 
 with David, "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine ini- 
 quity, for it is great!" Psalm xxv. 11. 
 
 Ant. Surely, sir, if my friend Neophitus did rightly consider 
 these things, and were assuredly persuaded of the truth of 
 them, methinks he should not be so backward from coming to 
 Christ, by beheving on his name, as he is ; for if the greatness 
 of his sin should be so far from hindering his coming to Christ, 
 that they should further his coming, then I know not what 
 should hinder him. 
 
 Evan. You speak very truly indeed. And therefore I be- 
 seech you, neighbour Neophitus, consider seriously of it ; and 
 neither let your own accusing conscience, nor Satan the accuser 
 of the brethren, hinder you any longer from Christ. For 
 what though they should accuse you of pride, infidelity, covet- 
 ousness, lust, anger, envy, and hypocrisy ? yea, what though 
 they should accuse you ©f whoredom, theft, drunkenness, and 
 such like ? yea, do what they can, they can make no worse a 
 man of you than a sinner, or chief of sinners, or an ungodly 
 person; and so, consequently, such an one Christ came to 
 justify and save ; so that in very deed, if you do rightly con- 
 sider of it, they do you more good than hurt by their accusa- 
 tions.* And therefore, I beseech you, in all such cases or 
 * Which may put you in mind, that you aie one of that sort which 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 121 
 
 conflicts, take the counsel of Luther, who, on the Galatians, 
 (p. 20,) says, " When thy conscience is thoroughly afraid with 
 the remembrance of thy sins past, and the devil assaileth thee 
 with great violence, going about to overwhelm thee with heaps, 
 floods, and whole seas of sins, to terrify thee, and to draw thee 
 from Christ ; then arm thyself with such sentences as these : 
 Christ the Son of God was given, not for the holy, righteous, 
 worthy, and such as were his friends ; but for the wicked sin- 
 ners, for the unworthy, and for his enemies. Wherefore, if 
 the devil say, Thou art a sinner, and therefore must be 
 damned, then answer thou, and say. Because thou sayest I am 
 a sinner, therefore will I be righteous and saved. And if he 
 reply, Nay, sinners must be damned; then answer thou, and 
 say. No, for I flee to Christ, who hath given himself for my 
 sins ; and, therefore, Satan, in that thou sayest I am a sinner, 
 thou givest me armour and weapons against thyself, that with 
 thine own sword I may cut thy throat, and tread thee under 
 my feet."*> And thus you see it is the counsel of Luther, that 
 your sins should rather drive you to Christ than keep you 
 from him. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, suppose he hath not as yet truly repented 
 for his many and great sins, hath he any warrant to come unto 
 Christ by believing, till he has done so ? 
 
 Evan. I tell you truly, that whatsoever a man is, or what- 
 soever he hath done or not done, he hath warrant enough to 
 come unto Christ by believing, if he can;t for Christ makes 
 
 " Christ Jesus came into the world to save," 1 Tim. i. 15 ; and in pleading 
 for mercy, may furnish you with such an argument as David used, Psalm 
 XXV. 11, and the woman of Canaan, Matt. xv. 27, "yet the dogs eat of 
 the crumbs," &c. 
 
 * He adds, in the place quoted, these weighty words, " I say not this 
 for nought, for I have often-times proved by experience, and I daily find 
 what an hard matter it is, to believe (especially in the conflict of con- 
 science) that Christ was given, not for the holy, righteous, worthy, and 
 such as were his friends ; but for wicked sinners, for the unworthy, and 
 for his enemies." 
 
 t It is not in vain added, " if he can ;" for there is, in this matter, a 
 great difference betwixt what a sinner may do, in point of warrant, and 
 what he will or can do, in point of the event. " If we say to a man, the 
 physician is ready to heal you ; before you will be healed, you must have 
 a sense of your sickness : this sense is not required by the physician (for 
 the physician is ready to heal him) ; but if he be not sick, and have a 
 sense of it, he will not come to the physician." Preston on Faith, p. 12. 
 I make no question, but before a sinner will come to Christ by believing, 
 he must be an awakened, convinced, sensible sinner ; pricked in his heart 
 with a sense of his sin and misery; made to groan under his burden, to 
 
 G 
 
122 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 n. general proclamation^ sayingy " Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
 ronie ye to the waters; and he that hath no money,. come, 
 buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money, 
 and without price." Tiiis, you see, is the condition, " buy 
 wine and milk," ihat is, grace and salvation, " without money," 
 that is, without any sufficiency of your own ;* only " incline 
 your ear and hear, and your souls shall live ;" yea, live by 
 hearing that " Christ will make an everlasting covenant with 
 you, even the sure mercies of David." 
 
 Sect. 4. — Nam. But yet, sir, you see that Christ requires 
 a thirsting, before a man come unto him, the which, I con- 
 ceive cannot be without true repentance. 
 
 Evan. In the last chapter of the Revelations, verse 17, 
 
 despair of relief from the law himself, or any other creature, and to desire 
 and thirst after Christ and his righteousness ; and this our author teaches 
 afterwards on this subject. These things also are required of the sinner 
 in point of duty. And, therefore, the law must be preached by all those 
 who would preach Christ aright. But that these, or any otlicr things 
 in the sinner, are required to warrant him, that he may come to Christ by 
 believing, is what I conceive the Scripture teaches not ; but the general 
 otter of the Gospel, of which before, warrants every man that he may 
 come. And in practice, it will be found, that requiring of such and such 
 qualifications in sinners to warrant them to believe in Christ, is no great 
 help to them in their way towards him ; forasmuch as it engages them in 
 a doubtful disputation, as to the being, kind, measure, and degree of 
 their qualifications for coming to Christ ; the time spent in whicli might 
 be better improved in their going forward to Christ for all, by believing. 
 And since no man can ever believe in Christ, without knowing that he 
 has a warrant for believing in him, otherwise he can but act presump- 
 tuously : to tell sinners, that none may come to Christ, or have warrant 
 to believe, but such as have a true repentance, must needs in a special 
 manner, entangle distressed consciences, so as they dare not believe, un- 
 til they know their repentance to be true repentance. This must in- 
 evitably be the issue in that case ; unless tliey do either reject that prin- 
 ciple, or else venture to believe without seeing their warrant. For, liow- 
 beit they hear of Christ and his salvation ofi'ered in the Gospel, these will 
 he to them as forbi(Ulen fruit, which they are not allowed to touch, till 
 once they are persuaded, that they have true rejjentance. And before 
 they can attain to this, it must be made out of their consciences, that 
 their repeiitauce is not legal but evangelical, having such characters as 
 distinguish it from the repentance of the Ninevites, ,ludas, and many re- 
 probates. So that, one would think the suggesting of this principle, is 
 l)ut a bad office done to a soul brought to " tlie place of the breaking 
 forth of children." Let no nian say, that, arguing at this rate, one must 
 know also the truth of his faith, before he can come to Christ; for faith 
 is not a qualification for coming to Christ, but the coming itself, which 
 will have its saving effects on the sinner, whether he knows the truth of 
 it or not. 
 
 * Take them freely, and possess them; which every one sees to be no 
 proper condition. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 12:i 
 
 Christ makes the same general proclamation, saying, " Let 
 iiim that is athirst come ;" and as if the Holy Ghost had so 
 long since answered the same objection that yours is, it follows 
 in the next words, " And whosoever will, let him take of the 
 water of life freely," even without thirsting, if he will ; for 
 " him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast out,"* John 
 vi. 37. But because it seems you conceive he ought to repent 
 before he believe, I pray tell me what you do conceive repent- 
 ance to be, or wherein does it consist ? 
 
 Nom. Why, I conceive that repentance consists in a man's 
 humbling himself before God, and sorrowing and grieving for 
 offending him by his sins, and in turning from them all to 
 the Lord. 
 
 Evan. And would you have a man to do all this trulyf 
 before he come to Christ by believing? 
 
 * That Gospel-offer, Isa. Iv. 1, is the most solemn one to be found in 
 all the Old Testament; and that recorded, Rev. xxii. 17, is the parting 
 offer made to sinners by Jesus Christ, at the closing of the canon of the 
 Scripture, aud manifestly looks to the former; in the which I can see no 
 ground to think, that the thirsting therein mentioned does any way re- 
 strict the offer; or that the thirsty there invited, are convinced, sensible 
 sinners, who are thirsting after Christ and his righteousness ; the which 
 would leave without the compass of this solemn invitation, not only the 
 far greater part of mankind, but even of the visible church. The context 
 seems decisive in this point; for the thirsting ones invited, are such as 
 are " spending money for that which is not bread, and their labour for 
 that which satisfieth not," verses 1, 2 ; but convinced, sensible sinnens 
 who are thirsting after Christ and his righteousness, are not spending their 
 labour and money at that rate ; but, on the contrary, for that which is 
 bread and satisfieth, namely, for Christ. . Wherefore, the thirsting there 
 mentioned, must be more extensive, comprehending, yea, and principally 
 aiming at that thirst after happiness and satisfaction, which, being na- 
 tural, is common to all mankind. Men pained with this thirst or hunger 
 are naturally running, for quenching thereof, to the empty creation, and 
 their fulsome lusts ; so " spending money for that which is not bread, 
 and their labour for that which satisfieth not," their hungry souls find no 
 food, but what is meagre and lean, bad and unwholesome, and cannot 
 satisfy their appetite. Compare Luke xv. 16. In this wretched case 
 Adam left all mankind, and Christ finds them. Whereupon the Gospel- 
 proclamation is issued forth, inviting them to come away from the broken 
 cisterns, filthy puddles, to the waters of life, even to Jesus Christ, where 
 they may have bread, fatness, what is good, and will satisfy that their 
 painful thirst, John iv. 14, and vi. 35. 
 
 f That is, in such a manner as it shall be true evangelical repentance, 
 a gracious humiliation, sorrow, and turning, acceptable in the sight of 
 God. This question (grounded on Nomista's pretending that Neophitus 
 had no warrant to believe, \mless he had truly repented) supposes that 
 there is a kind of repentance, humiliation, sorrow for sin, and turning 
 from it, which goes before faith, but that they are not " after a godly 
 sort," as the apostle's phrase is, 2 Cor. vii. 11. 
 
 g2 
 
124 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Nom. Yea^ indeed, I think it is very meet he should. 
 
 Evan. Why, then, I lell you truly, you would have him to 
 do that which is impossible.* 
 
 For, first of all, godly humiliation, in true penitents, pro- 
 ceeds from the love of God their good Father, and so from the 
 hatred of that sin which has displeased him ; and this cannot 
 be without faith.f 
 
 2dlij. Sorrow and grief for displeasing God by sin, neces- 
 sarily argue the love of God ; and it is impossible we should 
 ever love God, till by faith we know ourselves loved of 
 God.t 
 
 * I think it nothing strange to find the author so very peremptory in 
 this point, which is of greater weight than many are aware of. True re- 
 pentance is a turning unto God, a coming back to him again ; a return- 
 ing even unto the Lord, according to an usual Old Testament phrase, 
 found, Hos. xiv. 1, and rightly so translated, Isa. xix. 22. But no man 
 can come unto God "but by Christ;" Heb. vii. 25, " He is able also to 
 save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." — John xiv. 6, 
 " No man cometh unto the Father but by me." We must take Christ 
 in our way to the Father, else it is impossible that we guilty creatures 
 can reach unto him. And no man can come unto Christ, but by believ- 
 ing in him, John vi. 35, therefore it is impossible that a man can truly 
 repent before he believe in Christ. " Him hath God exalteth with his 
 right hand, to be a Prince (or leader) and a Saviour, for to give repent- 
 ance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins," Acts v. 31. One would think 
 this to be a sufficient intimation, that sinners not only may, but ought to 
 go to him for true repentance ; and not stand off from him until they get 
 it to bring along with them : especially since repentance, as Avell as re- 
 mission of sin, is a part of that salvation, which he as a Saviour is exalted 
 to give, and consequently, which sinners are to receive and rest upon him 
 for; and likewise that it is that by which he, as a leader, doth lead back 
 sinners even unto God, from whom they were led away in the first Adam, 
 the head of the apostacy. And if one inquires antnt the way of his 
 giving repentance to Israel, the prophet Zechariah showed it before to be 
 by faith, Zech. xii. 10, " And they shall look upon me whom they have 
 pierced, and they shall mourn." 
 
 t This the Scripture teacheth, determining in the general, that with- 
 out faith one can do nothing acceptable in the sight of God, John xv. 5, 
 "Without me," i.e. separate from me," ye can do nothing." — Heb. xi. 6, 
 "Without faith it is impossible to please him :" and particularly with re- 
 spect to this case, Luke vii. 37 — 47, " And behold, a woman in the city, 
 which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat, stood at his 
 feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did 
 wipe tliem with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet. And he turned 
 to the woman, and said unto Simon : Her sins which are many, are for- 
 given, for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth 
 little." — " It is an argument gathered of the effect following, whereby 
 any thing is proved by signs ensuing." Calvin. Inst, lib, 3. cap. 4. sect. 37. 
 
 X There is a knowledge in faith, as our divines teach against the Papists, 
 and the Scripture maketh manifest. Isa. liii. 11, "By his knowledge 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 125 
 
 Sdly. No man can turn to God, except he be first turned of 
 God ; and after he is turned, he repents ; so Ephraim says, 
 " After I was converted, I repented,"* Jer. xxxi. 19. The 
 truth is, a repentant sinner first beheves that God will do that 
 which he promiseth, namely, pardon his sin, and take away 
 his iniquity; then he rests in the hope of it; and from that, 
 and for it, he leaves sin, and will forsake his old course,f be- 
 
 shall my righteous Servant justify many." — Heb. xi. 3, "Through faith 
 we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." Now, 
 saving faith, being a persuasion that we shall have life and salvation by 
 Christ, or a receiving and resting on him for salvation, includes in it a 
 knowledge of our being beloved of God : the former cannot be without 
 the latter. In the meantime, such as the strength or weakness of that 
 persuasion is, the steadiness or unsteadiness of that receiving and resting, 
 just so is this knowledge, clear or unclear, free of, or unaccompanied 
 with doublings. They are still of the same measure and degree. So that 
 this is no more in effect, but that faith in Christ is the spring of true love 
 to God; the which, how it is attained by a guilty soul, men will the bet- 
 ter know, if they consider well what it is. The true love of God is not a 
 love to him only for his benefits, and for our own sake, but a love to him 
 for himself, for his own sake ; a liking of, and a complacency in, his glo- 
 rious attributes, and perfections, his infinite, eternal, and unchangeable 
 being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. If a con- 
 vinced sinner is void of any the least measure of persuasion of life and 
 salvation by Christ, and of the love of this God to him ; but apprehends, 
 as he cannot miss to do in this case, that he hates him, is his enemy, and 
 will prove so at last ; this cannot fail of filling his whole soul with slavish 
 fear of God ; and how then shall this love of God spring up in one's heart, 
 in such a case } for slavish fear and true love are so opposite the one to 
 the other, that, according to the measure in which the one prevails, the 
 other cannot have access. 2 Tim. i. 7, " God hath not given us the spirit 
 of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind." 1 John iv. 18, 
 " There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear ; because fear 
 hath torment." But when once life and salvation, and remission of sin, 
 is with application believed by the convinced sinner, and thereby the love 
 of God towards him is known ; then, according to the measure of that 
 faith and knowledge, slavish fear of God is expelled, and the heart is 
 kindly drawn to love him, not only for his benefits, but for himself, having 
 a complacency in his glorious perfections. " We love him, because he 
 first loved us," 1 John iv. 19. The love of God to us is the inducement 
 of our love to him : but love utterly unknown to the party beloved can 
 never be an inducement to him to love again. Now, in consequence 
 hereof, the sinner's bands are loosed, and his heart, which before was still 
 hard as a stone, though broken in pieces by legal terrors, is broken in 
 another manner, softened, and kindly melted in sorrow for displeasing 
 this gracious God. 
 
 * God's turning of a sinner first brings him to Christ, John vi. 44, 45, 
 " No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw 
 him." And then he comes to God by Christ, John xiv. 26, " No man 
 Cometh unto the Father but by me." 
 
 •f In a right manner, in the manner immediately after-mentioned. 
 
126 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 cause it is displeasing to God; and will do that which is pleas- 
 ing and acceptable to him.* So that first of all, God's favour 
 is apprehended, and remission of sins believed ;-|- then upon 
 that Cometh alteration of life and conversation.;}: 
 
 * Faith Cometh of the word of God ; hope cometh of faith ; and charity 
 springeth of them both. Faith believes that word ; hope trusteth after 
 that which is promised by the word ; and charity doth good unto her 
 neighbour. Mr. Patrick Hamilton's Articles in Knox's Hist. p. 11. 
 
 f Not as that they are pardoned already ; but that one must so appre- 
 hend the favour of God, as to believe that God will pardon his sin, as 
 the author speaks expressly in the premises from whence this conclusion 
 is drawn ; or that God doth pardon his sin in the present time. See 
 note, chap. 3, sect, 6. Now, remission of sin is a part of that salvation 
 which faith receives and rests on Christ for. See the note on the Defini- 
 tion of Faith, fig. 2. As for the phrase the author uses to express this, it 
 is most agreeable to the Scripture phrase, " Remission of sins preached," 
 Luke xxiv. 47 ; Acts xiii. 38. 
 
 X Namely, such an alteration as is pleasing and acceptable in the sight 
 of God, the which he has described in the preceding sentence. Otherwise, 
 he has already taught us, that there are notable alterations of life and 
 conversation which do not proceed from faith ; and therefore are not 
 accepted of God. And of these we shall hear more anon. 
 
 It will not be amiss here to observe how our author, in his account of 
 the relation betwixt faith and repentance, treads in the ancient paths, ac- 
 cording to his manner. 
 
 " It ought to be out of question," says Calvin, " that repentance doth 
 not only immediately follow faith, but also spring out of it. As for them 
 that think that repentance doth rather go before faith, than flow or spring 
 forth of it, as a fruit out of a tree, they never knew the force thereof, and 
 are moved with too weak an argument, to think so. Christ and John, 
 (say they) in their preachings, first exhort the people to repentance, &c. 
 A man cannot earnestly apply himself to repentance, unless he know 
 himself to be of God : but no man is truly persuaded that he is of God, 
 but he that hath first received his grace. No man shall ever reverently 
 fear God, but he that trusteth that God is merciful to him : no man will 
 willingly prepare himself to the keeping of the law, but he that is per- 
 suaded that his services please him." Instit. b. 3. chap. 3. sec. 1, 2. 
 
 " How soon that ever the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, which God's elect 
 children receive by true faith, takes possession in the heart of any man, 
 so soon doth he regenerate and renew the same man. So that he begins 
 to hate that which before he loved, and begins to love that which before 
 he hated ; and from thence comes that continual battle which is betwixt 
 the flesh and the spirit." Old Confess, art. 13. 
 
 " Being in Christ, we must be new creatures — so that we must hate 
 and flee that which before we loved and embraced, and we must love and 
 follow that which before we hated and abhorred. All which is impos- 
 sible to them that have no faith, and have but a dead faith." Mr. John 
 Davidson's Cat. p. 29. 
 
 " Quest. When I shall ask you then what is craved of us, after that we 
 are joined to Christ by faith, and made truly righteous in him ? ye shall 
 answer: A. We must repent and become new persons, that we n)ay show 
 forth the virtues of him that hath called us." Ibid, p. 35. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 127 
 
 Norn. But, sir, as I conceive, the Scripture holds forth, 
 that the Lord has appointed repentance to go before faith ; 
 for, is it not said, Mark i. 15, " Repent and believe the 
 gospel ? " 
 
 Evan, To the intent that you may have a true and satis- 
 factory answer to this your objection, I would pray you to con- 
 sider two things : 
 
 First, That the word "repent" in the original, signifies a 
 change of our minds from false ways, to the right, and of our 
 hearts from evil to good :* as that son in the Gospel said, 
 " He would not go" work in his father's vineyard : yet after- 
 wards says the text, " he repented and went," Matt. xxi. 29 ; 
 that is, he changed his mind and went. 
 
 Secondly, That in those days, when John the Baptist and 
 our Saviour preached, their hearers were most of them erro- 
 neous in their minds and judgments ; for they being leavened 
 with the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, of which 
 our Saviour bade his disciples 4;ake heed and beware. Matt, 
 xvi. 6, 12, the most of them were of opinion, that the Messiah 
 
 " What is thy repentance ? The effect of this faith, working a sorrow 
 for my sins by-past, and purpose to amend in time to come." Mr. James 
 Melvil's Cat. in his Propine, &c. p. 44. 
 
 " Repentance unto Ufe is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of the 
 true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, 
 doth with grief and hatred of sin, turn from it unto God." Shorter Cat. 
 
 " M. This is then thy saying, That unto the time that God hath re- 
 ceived us to mercy, and regenerated us by his Spirit, we can do nothing 
 but sin ; even as an evil tree can bring forth no fruit but that which is 
 evil, Matt. vii. 17. C. Even so it is." Calvin's Cat. quest. 117. " He doth 
 receive us into his favour, of his bountiful mercy, through the merits of 
 our Saviour Christ, accounting his righteousness to be ours, and for his 
 sake imputeth not our faults unto us." Ibid, quest. 118. 
 
 " Quest. What is the first fruit of this union } (namely of union with 
 Christ by faith). A, A remission of our sins, and imputation of justice. 
 Q. Which is the next fruit of our union with him ? A. Our sanctifica- 
 tion and regeneration to the image of God." Craig's Cat. q. 24, 25. " Q. 
 What is sanctification? A. Sanctification is a work of God's grace, 
 thereby they are renewed in their whole man, after the image of God, 
 having the seeds of repentance unto life, and of all other saving graces, 
 put into their hearts." Larger Cat. quest. 75. 
 
 " We would beware of Mr. Baxter's order of setting repentance and 
 works of new obedience before justification, which is indeed a new cove- 
 nant of works." Rutherford's Influences of the Life of Grace, p. 346. 
 
 * This is taken word for word out of the English Annotations on Matt, 
 iii. 2 ; which are cited for it b)'- our author under the name of the Last 
 Annotations, because they were printed in the year 1645, about which 
 time this book also was first published. How the author applies it, will 
 appear anon. 
 
128 THE MARROW OF Part L 
 
 whom they looked for should be some great and mighty 
 monarch, who should deliver them from their temporal bond- 
 age, as I showed before. And many of them were of the 
 opinion of the Pharisees, who held, that as an outward con- 
 formity to the letter of the law was sufficient to gain favour 
 and estimation from men, so it was sufficient for their justifi- 
 cation and acceptation before God, and so, consequently, to 
 bring them to heaven and eternal happiness : and, therefore, 
 for these ends, they were very dihgent in fasting and prayer, 
 Luke xviii. 12 — 14, and very careful to pay tithes of mint, 
 anise, and cummin, and yet did omit the weightier matters of 
 the law, as judgment, mercy, faith, and the love of God, Matt, 
 xxiii. 23 ; Luke xi. 42. And so as our Saviour told them, 
 Matt, xxiii. 25, " they made clean the outside of the cup, and 
 of the platter, but within they were full of extortion and 
 excess." 
 
 And divers of them were of the opinion of the Sadducees, 
 Acts xxiii. 8, who held " that there was no resurrection, neither 
 angel, nor spirit ;" and so had all their hopes and comfort in 
 the things of this life, not believing any other. 
 
 Now our Saviour, preaching to these people, said, " The 
 time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand : repent 
 ye and believe the Gospel." As if he had said, The time set 
 by the prophets for the manifestation of the Messiah is fully 
 come; and his kingdom, which is a spiritual and heavenly 
 kingdom is at hand ; therefore change your minds from false 
 ways to right, and your hearts from evil to good ;* and do not 
 any longer imagine, that the Messiah you look for, shall be 
 one that shall save and deliver you from your temporal ene- 
 mies; but from your spiritual, that is, from your sins, and 
 from the wrath of God, and from eternal damnation ; and 
 therefore put your confidence no longer in your own righte- 
 ousness, thougli you walk never so exactly according to the 
 letter of the law ; but believe the glad tidings that are now 
 brought to you, namely, that the Messiah shall save you 
 from sin, wrath, the devil, and hell, and bring"you to eternal 
 life and glory. Neither let any of you any longer imagine, 
 that there is to be no resurrection of the dead, and so have 
 your hopes only in this life : but believe these glad tidings, 
 
 ♦ The word rendered repent, is, "To change one's mind, and to lay 
 aside false opinions, which they had drunk in, whether from the Phari- 
 sees, concerning the righteousness of works, traditions, worsliip, &c. ; or 
 from the Sadducees, concerning the resurrection," &c. Lucus Bnigen- 
 sis, apud. Pol. Synop. Crit. in Matt. iii. 2. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 129 
 
 that are now brought unto you, concerning the Messiah; 
 and he shall raise you up at the last clay, and give you an 
 eternal life. Now, with submission to better judgments, I do 
 conceive, that if there be in the book of God any repentance ex- 
 horted unto, before faith in Christ ; or if any repentance go, 
 either in order of nature or time, before faith in Christ, it is 
 only such a like repentance as this.* 
 
 Nom. But, sir, do you think that there is such a like re- 
 pentance, that goes before faith in Christ, in men now-a-days ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed, I think there is. As, for example, 
 when a profane sensual man (who lives as though, with the 
 Sadducees, he did not believe any resurrection of the dead, 
 neither hell nor heaven,) is convinced in his conscience, that 
 if he go on in making a god of his belly, and in minding only 
 earthly things ; his end shall be damnation ; sometimes such a 
 man thereupon changes his mind, and of a profane man, be- 
 comes a strict Pharisee, or (as some call them) a legal pro- 
 fessor ; but, being convinced, that all his own righteousness 
 will avail him nothing, in the case of justification, and that it 
 is only the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is available in 
 that case, then he changes his mind, and, with the apostle, 
 " desires to be found in Christ, not having his own righteous- 
 ness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of 
 Christ, even the righteousness which is of God through faith," 
 Philip, iii. 9. Now I conceive, that a man that does this, 
 changes his mind from false ways to the right way, and his 
 heart from evil to good ; and so, consequently, doth truly 
 repent.-f- 
 
 * That the reader may further see how little weight there is in the 
 objection raised from Mark i. 15, I subjoin the words of two learned 
 commentators on the text. " Repent ye, turn from the wickedness of 
 your ways and believe. There is a repentance that must go before faith, 
 that is, the applicative of the promise of pardoning mercy to the soul ; 
 though true evangelical repentance, which is a sorrow for sin, flowing 
 from the sense of the love of God in Christ, be the fruit and effect of 
 faith." Contin. of Poole's Annot. on the Place. — " Faith or believing, in 
 oi-der of the work of grace, is before repentance, that being the first and 
 mother grace of all others ; yet is here and in other places, named the 
 latter : first, because though faith be first wrought, yet repentance is first 
 seen and evidenced," &c. Lightfoot's Harmony, part 3. p. 164. 4to. 
 
 t That is, his repentance islrue in its kind, though not saving. There 
 is a change of his mind and heart, in that, upon a conviction, he turns 
 from profanity to strictness of life, and upon farther conviction, from a 
 conceit of his own righteousness to a desire after the righteousness of 
 Christ : nevertheless, all this is but selfish, and cannot please God while 
 the man is void of faith, Heb. xi. 6. 
 
130 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, do not you hold, that although repentance, 
 according to my definition, goes not before faith in Christ, yet 
 it follows after ? 
 
 Evan. Yes, indeed ; I hold, that although it go not before, 
 as an antecedent of faith, yet it follows as a consequent. For 
 when a man believes the love of God to him in Christ, then 
 he loves God because he loved him first ; and that love con- 
 strains him to humble himself at the Lord's foot-stool, and to 
 acknowledge himself to be less than the least of all his mercies; 
 yea, and then \\\\\ he " remember his own evil ways and do- 
 ings, that were not good, and will loathe himself in his own 
 sight for his iniquities, and for his abominations," Ezek. xxxvi. 
 31 ; yea, and then will he also cleanse himself from all filthi- 
 ness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, 
 having respect unto all God's commandments,* 2 Cor. vii. 1 ; 
 Psalm cxix. 6. 
 
 Nom. Well, sir, I am answered. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Neo. And truly, sir, you have so declared and 
 set forth Christ's disposition towards poor sinners, and so an- 
 swered all my doubts and objections, that I am now verily 
 persuaded that Christ is willing to entertain me ; and surely I 
 am willing to come unto him, and receive him ; but, alas ! I 
 want power. 
 
 Evan. But tell me truly, are you resolved to put forth all 
 your power to believe, and so to take Christ Pf 
 
 * See the note tj P- 124. 
 
 t His conviction of his lost and undone state was before represented in 
 its proper place. After much disputing whether such a vile and sinful 
 wretch as he had any warrant to come to Christ, he appears, in his imme- 
 diately foregoing speech, to be so far enlightened in the knowledge of 
 Christ, that he is verily persuaded that Christ is willing to entertain him ; 
 and to have his heart andwill so overcome by divine grace, that he is willing 
 to come unto Christ: yet, after all, he, through weakness of judgment, 
 apprehends himself to want power to believe ; whereas it is by these very 
 means that a soul is persuaded, and enabled too, to believe in Jesus Christ. 
 Hereupon the author waving the dispute anent his power to believe, 
 wisely asks hui, If he was resolved to put forth tlie power he had? for- 
 asmuch as it was evident from the account given of the present condition 
 of his soul, that it had folt "a day of power," Psalm ex. 3, and th*t he 
 was "drawn of the Father, and, therefore, could come to Christ," John 
 vi. 44. For " effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby con- 
 vincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the know- 
 ledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us 
 to embrace Jesus Christ." Shorter Catechism. — " Savingly enlightening 
 their minds, renewing, and powerfully determining their wills, so as they 
 are hereby made willing and able." Larg. Cat. quest. ()7. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 131 
 
 Neo, Truly, sir, methinks my resolution is much like the re- 
 solution of the four lepers, who sat at the gate of Samaria ; 
 for as they said, " If we enter into the city, the famine is in 
 the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we 
 die also ; now, therefore, let us fall into the host of the Sy- 
 rians ; if they save us, we shall live, and if they kill us, we 
 shall but die," 2 Kings vii. 4 ; even so say I in mine heart, if I 
 go back to the covenant of works to seek justification thereby, 
 I shall die there ; and if I sit still and seek it no way, I shall 
 die also ; now, therefore, though I be somewhat fearful, yet 
 am I resolved to go unto Christ ; and if I perish, I perish.* 
 
 Evan, Why, now I tell you, the match is made ; Christ is 
 yours, f and you are his, "this day is salvation come to your 
 house," (your soul I mean :) for, what though you have not 
 that power to come so fast to Christ, and lay such firm hold 
 on him, as you desire ; yet coming with such a resolution to 
 take Christ, as you do, you need not care for power to do it, 
 inasmuch as Christ will enable you to do it -,% for is it not said, 
 John i. 12, " But as many as received him, to them gave he 
 power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe 
 on his name ?"§ O therefore, I beseech you, stand no longer 
 disputing ; but be peremptory and resolute in your faith, and 
 
 * See the foregoing note. This is the concluding point in this matter ; 
 the man being drawn by efl&cacious grace, though he is not without doubts 
 and fears as to the event, yet is no more in doubt, whether to embrace 
 the offer or not. And the inward motion of his heart breaking through 
 the remaining doubts and fears, after a long struggle, unto Jesus Christ, 
 in the free promise, being in itself indiscernible, but to God and one's 
 own soul, it is agreeably enough to one's way in that case : discovei-ed in 
 that expression of a conquered soul, Now am I resolved to go unto 
 Christ, now am I determined to believe ; the which cannot but represent 
 to him who deals with the exercised person, the whole soul going out 
 unto Jesus Christ. Hence the match may justly thereupon be declared 
 to be made, as our author does in the words immediately following. 
 Thus Job, in his distress, expresseth his faith, Job xiii. 15, "Though he 
 slay me, yet will I trust in him." Compare Acts xi. 33, " That with pur- 
 pose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." 
 
 t In possession. 
 
 X That is, you need not, holding back your hand, stand disputing with 
 yourself how you will get power ; but with the power given, stretch 
 forth the withered hand, and Christ will strengthen it, and enable you to 
 take a firm hold. John xii. 32, " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth 
 will draw all men unto me." — Isa. xl. 29, " He giveth power to the faint ; 
 and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." 
 
 § The power here mentioned, seems rather to denote right or privilege 
 (as the original word is rendered in the margin of our Bibles) than 
 strength or ability. 
 
132 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 in casting yourself upon God in Christ for mercy; and let the 
 issue be what it will. Yet let me tell you, to your comfort, 
 that such a resolution shall never go to hell.* Nay, I will 
 say more ; if any soul have room in heaven, such a soul shall ; 
 for God cannot find in his heart to damn such a one. I might, 
 then, with as much true confidence say unto you, as John 
 Careless said to John Bradford, in a letter to him, " Hearken, 
 
 heavens, and thou O earth, give ear, and bear me witness, 
 at the great day, that I do here faithfully and truly declare the 
 Lord's message unto his dear servant and singularly beloved 
 John Bradford, saying, ' John Bradford, thou man so specially 
 beloved of God, I do pronounce and testify unto thee, in the 
 word and name of the Lord Jehovah, that all thy sins what- 
 soever they be, though never so many, grievous, or great, be 
 fully and freely pardoned, released, and forgiven thee, by the 
 mercy of God in Jesus Christ, the only Lord and sweet Saviour, 
 in whom thou dost undoubtedly believe ; as truly as the Lord 
 liveth, he will not have thee die the death; but hath verily 
 purposed, determined, and decreed, that thou shalt live with 
 him for ever.' " 
 
 Neo. O, sir, if I have as good warrant to apply this saying 
 to myself as Mr. Bradford had to himself, then I am a happy 
 man! 
 
 Evan. I tell you from Christ, and under the hand of the 
 Spirit, that your person is accepted, your sins are done away, 
 and you shall be saved ; and if an angel from heaven should 
 tell you otherwise, let him be accursed. Therefore, you may 
 (without doubt) conclude that you are a happy man; for by 
 means of this your matching with Christ, you are become one 
 with him, and one in him, you " dwell in him, and he in you," 
 
 1 John iv. 13. He is " your well-beloved, and you are his," 
 Cant. ii. 16. So that the marriage-union betwixt Christ and 
 you is more than a bare notion or apprehension of your mind ; 
 for it is a special, spiritual, and real union : it is an union be- 
 twixt the nature of Christ, God and man, and you ;f it is a 
 knitting and closing, not only of your apprehension with a 
 Saviour, but also of your soul with a Saviour. Whence it 
 must needs follow that you cannot be condemned, except 
 Christ be condemned with yon ; neither can Christ be saved, 
 
 * See the preceding note, *. 
 
 t Tliat is, an nnion with the whole Christ, God-Man; 1 Cor. vi. IT, 
 " He that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit."— Eph. v. 38, *' For we are 
 members of his body, of his fiesh, and of his bones." 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 13.3 
 
 except you be saved with him.* And as by means of corporeal 
 marriage all things become common betwixt man and wife ; 
 even so, by means of this spiritual marriage, all things become 
 common betwixt Christ and you; for when Christ hath mar- 
 ried his spouse unto himself, he passeth over all his estate unto 
 her; so that whatsoever Christ is or hath, you may boldly 
 challenge as your own. "He is made unto you, of God, wis- 
 dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. 
 i. 30. And surely, by virtue of this near union it is, that as 
 Christ is called " the Lord our righteousness," Jer. xxxiii. 6, 
 even so is the church called, " the Lord our righteousness," 
 verse 16. I tell you, you may, by virtue of this union, boldly 
 take upon yourself, as your own, Christ's watching, abstinence, 
 travails, prayers, persecutions, and slanders; yea, his tears, 
 his sweat, his blood, and all that ever he did and suffered in 
 the space of three and thirty years, with his passion, death, 
 burial, resurrection, and ascension ; for they are all yours. 
 And as Christ passes over all his estate unto his spouse, so 
 does he require that she should pass over all unto him. Where- 
 fore, you being now married unto Christ, you must give all 
 that you have of your own unto him ; and truly you have no- 
 thing of your own but sin, and, therefore, you must give him 
 that. I beseech you, then, say unto Christ with bold confi- 
 dence, I give unto thee, my dear husband, my unbelief, my 
 mistrust, my pride, my arrogancy, my ambition, my wrath, 
 and anger, my envy, my covetousness, my evil thoughts, afiec- 
 
 * Jesus Christ and the believer, being one person in the eye of the law, 
 there is no separating of them in law, in point of life and death. John 
 xiv. 19, "Because I live, ye shall live also." I have adventured this 
 once to add one syllable to the text of the author ; and so to read " con- 
 demned" for " damned." The words are of the same signification ; only, 
 the latter has an idea of horror affixed to it, which the former has not ; 
 and which perhaps it had not neither, in the days of our forefathers, when 
 godly Tindal used the expression, as our author informs us. And I take 
 this libertj', the rather that a like expression of John Careless, in a letter 
 to William Tyms, seems to me to run more smooth, by means of the 
 same addition, though I doubt if the word stood so in the original copy. 
 " Christ (says he) is made unto us holiness, righteousness, and justifica- 
 tion ; he hath clothed us in all his merits and taken to himself all our 
 sin — so that, if any should be now condemned for the same, it must needs 
 be Jesus Christ, who hath taken them upon him." The Sufferer's Mirror, 
 p. 66. And the Old Confession of Faith, art. 9, according to the ancient 
 copies, it is said, " The clean, innocent Lamb of God was damned in the 
 presence of an earthly judge, that we should be absolved before the 
 tribunal-seat of our God." But in the copy standing in Knox's History, 
 reprinted at Edinburgh, anno 1644, it is read " condemned." 
 
134 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 tions, and desires ; I make one bundle of these and all my 
 other offences, and give them unto thee.* And thus was 
 Christ made " sin for us, that knew no sin, that we might be 
 made the righteousness of God in him,"-|- 2 Cor. v. 21. " Now 
 then," says Luther, "let us compare these things together, and 
 we shall find inestimable treasure. Christ is full of grace, life, 
 and saving health; and the soul is freight-full of all sin, death, 
 and damnation ; but let faith come betwixt these two, and it 
 shall come to pass, that Christ shall be laden with sin, death, 
 and hell; and unto the soul shall be imputed grace, life, and 
 
 * This gift would indeed be a very unsuitable return, for all the bene- 
 fits received from Christ by virtue of the spiritual marriage, if he did not 
 deal with us in the way of free grace ; like unto a physician who desires 
 nothing of a poor man full of sores, but that he will employ him in the 
 cure of them. But this gift, such as it is, as it is all we have of our own 
 to give, so one needs make no question but it will be very acceptable. 
 Psalm Iv. 22, " Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee ;" 
 not only thy burden of duty, suffering, and success, but of sin too, where- 
 with thou art heavy laden, Matt. xi. 28. We are allowed, not only to 
 give him our burden, but to cast it upon him. He knows very well that 
 all these evils mentioned, and many more, are in the heart of the best : 
 yet doth he say, Prov. xxiii. 26, " My son, give me thine heart ;" not- 
 withstanding of the wretched stuff he knows to be in it. In the language 
 of the Holy Ghost, these things, as black as they are, are a gift by Divine 
 appointment to be given. Lev. xvi. 21, speaking of the scape-goat, an 
 eminent type of Christ, he says, " And Aaron shall confess over him all 
 the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and 
 all their sins : and he shall give them upon the head of the goat." Thus 
 the original expresses what we read, *' putting them," &c. View again 
 p. 49, and note §. 
 
 Now, the end for which the sinner is to give these to Christ is twofold ; 
 (1.) For removing of the guilt of them. (2.) For the mortifying of them. 
 And though this is not an easy way of mortification, since the way of 
 believing is not easy, but more difficult than all the Popish austerities, 
 forasmuch as these last are more agreeable to nature, yet indeed it is the 
 short way to mortification, because it is the only way ; without which, 
 the practice of all other directions will be but as so many cyphers, with- 
 out a figure standing at their head, signifying nothing, for true Christian 
 mortification. Acts xv. 9, " Purifying their hearts by faith." — Rom. 
 vi. 6, "Knowing tliis, that our old man is crucified with him." And 
 viii. 13, " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye 
 shall live." — Gal. v. 24, " And they that are Christ's, have crucified the 
 flesh, with the affections and lusts ; namely, nailing them to the cross of 
 Christ by faith. 
 
 t Thus, namely, by the giving of our sins to him, not by believers, but 
 by his Father, as says the text, " He (not we) made him to be sin for us." 
 Nevertheless, the Lord's laying our iniquities upon Christ is good warrant 
 for every believer to give his sins in particular upon him ; the latter be- 
 ing a cordial falling in with, a practical approbation, and taking the bene- 
 fit of the former. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 135 
 
 salvation. Who then is able to value the royalty of this mar- 
 riage accordingly? who is able to comprehend the glorious 
 riches of his grace, where this rich and righteous husband, 
 Christ, doth take unto wife this poor and wicked harlot, re- 
 deeming her from all devils, and garnishing her with all his 
 own jewels ? So that you, through the assuredness of your faith 
 in Christ, your husband, are delivered from all sins, made safe 
 from death, guarded from hell, and endowed with the ever- 
 lasting righteousness, life, and saving health of this your hus- 
 band, Christ." And, therefore, you are now under the cove- 
 nant of grace, and freed from the law, as it is the covenant of 
 works ; for (as Mr. Ball truly says) at one and the same time, 
 a man cannot he under the covenant of works and the cove- 
 nant of grace. 
 
 Neo. Sir, I do not well know how to conceive of this free- 
 dom from the law, as it is the covenant of works ; and there- 
 fore I pray you make it as plain to me as you can. 
 
 Evan. For the true and clear understanding of this point, 
 you are to consider, that when Jesus Christ, the second Adam, 
 had, in the behalf of his chosen, perfectly fulfilled the law, as 
 it is the covenant of works ;* divine justice delivered that 
 bond in to Christ, who utterly cancelled that hand-writing, 
 Col. ii. 14 ; so that none of his chosen were to have any more 
 to do with it, nor it with them. And now, you, by your be- 
 lieving in Christ, having manifested that you are one, who was 
 chosen in him " before the foundation of the world," Eph. i. 4, 
 his fulfilling of that covenant, and cancelling that hand-writ- 
 ing, is imputed unto you ; and so you are acquitted and ab- 
 solved from all your transactions against that covenant, either 
 past, present, or to come ;f and so you are justified, as the 
 
 * Namely, by doing perfectly what it demanded to be done, by virtue 
 of its commanding power, and suffering completely what it demanded to 
 be borne, by virtue of its condemning power. 
 
 f Although believers in the first moment of their union with Christ by 
 faith, are delivered from the law, as it is the covenant of works, and 
 therefore their after sins neither are, nor can be formally transgressions 
 of that covenant ; yet they are interpretatively so, giving a plain proof of 
 what they would have done against that covenant, had they been under 
 it still. And forasmuch as they could never have been freed from it, had 
 not the glorious Mediator wrought their deliverance, by fulfilling it in 
 their room and stead ; all their sins whatsoever, from their birth to their 
 death, after as well as before their union with Christ, were charged upon 
 him, as transgressions against that covenant ; and such as are pardoned 
 to them in their justification. Even as he who redeems a slave must pay 
 in proportion to the service which it is supposed he would have done his 
 
136 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 apostle says, " freely by his grace, through the redemption 
 that is in Jesus Christ," Rom. iii. 24. 
 
 Sect. 6. — Ant. I pray you, sir, give me leave to speak a 
 word by the way ; was not he justified before this time ? 
 
 Evan, If he did not believe in Christ before this time, as I 
 conceive he did not, then certainly he was not justified before 
 this time. 
 
 Ant. But, sir, you know, as the apostle says, " it is God 
 that justifieth ;" and God is eternal ; and, as you have shown, 
 Christ may be said to have fulfilled the covenant of works 
 from all eternity, and if he be Christ's now, then was he 
 Christ's from all eternity. And therefore, as I conceive, he 
 was justified from all eternity. 
 
 Evan. Indeed, God is from all eternity, and in respect of 
 God's accepting of Christ's undertaking to fulfil the covenant 
 of works, he fulfilled it from all eternity : and in respect of 
 God's electing of him, he was Christ's from all eternity. And 
 therefore it is true, in respect of God's decree, he was justified 
 from all eternity ;* and he was justified meritoriously in the 
 
 master during life ; and the slave is loosed from all obligation to these 
 several pieces of service unto that master, upon the ransom paid, in com- 
 pensation of all and every one of them. And thus our author says, that 
 a believer, in his justification, is acquitted from all his transgressions 
 against the covenant of works, not only past and present, but to come. 
 So that he leaves no ground to question, but Christ satisfied for all the 
 sins of believers whatsoever, whether in their state of regeneracy or irre- 
 generacy. Nor does he make the least insinuation, that the sins of be- 
 lievers, after their union with Christ, are not properly transgressions of 
 that law which was (yea, and to unbelivers still is) in the covenant of 
 works : but, on the contrary, expressly teaches, that it is the very same 
 law of the ten commands which is the law of Christ, and which the be- 
 liever transgresseth, that was, and is in the covenant of works. And al- 
 though the revenging wrath of God, and eternal death, are not threatened 
 against the sins of believers after their union with Christ ; and that for 
 this one reason, That that wrath, and that death (the eternity whereof 
 rose not from the nature of the thing, but the infirmity of the sufferer, 
 and therefore could have no place in the Son of God) were not only 
 threatened before, but executed too upon their surety Jesus Christ, to 
 whom they are united : it is manifest, that there was great need of 
 Christ's being made a curse for these sins of believers, as well as for those 
 preceding their union with him. 
 
 * " The sentence of justification was, as it were, conceived in the mind 
 of God by the decree of justifying, Gal. iii. 8, ' The Scripture foreseeing 
 that God would justify the heathen through faith.' " Ames. Med. cap. 
 xxxvii. sec. 9. — " In which sense grace is said to be given us in Christ 
 before the world began." 2 Tim. i. [). Turret, loo. Ki. i\. 9.th. 11. — "Sins 
 were pardoned from eternity in the mind of God." Rutherford's Exer. 
 Apolog. ex. 1. cap. 2. sec. 21. p. 53. The same Rutherford adds, " It is 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 137 
 
 death and resurrection of Christ;* but yet he was not justified 
 actually, till he did actually believe in Christ; for, says the 
 apostle. Acts xiii. 39, " By him all that believe are justi- 
 fied."f So that in the act of justifying, faith and Christ must 
 have a mutual relation, and must always concur and meet 
 together ; faith as the action which apprehendeth, and Christ 
 the object which is apprehended ; for neither doth Christ 
 justify without faith, neither doth faith, except it be in Christ. 
 
 Ant. Truly, sir, you have indifferently well satisfied me in 
 this point ; and surely I like it marvelously well, that you con- 
 clude no faith justifies, but that whose object is Christ. 
 
 Evan. The very truth is, though a man believe that God is 
 
 one thing for a man to be justified in Christ, and that from eternity : and 
 another for a man to be justified in Christ in time, according to the Gos- 
 pel-covenant. Faith is not so much as the instrument of the eternal and 
 immanent justification and remission of sins." Ibid. p. 55, 
 
 * " Justification may be considered as to the execution of it in time ; 
 and that again, either as to the purchase of it, which was made by the 
 death of Christ on the cross, concerning which it is said, Rom. v. 9, 10, 
 * That we are justified and reconciled to God by the blood of Christ; and 
 that Christ reconciled all things unto God by the blood of the cross,' 
 Col. i. 20. And elsewhere, Christ is said to be ' raised again for our jus- 
 tification,' Rom. iv. 25. Because, as in him dying, we died, so in him 
 raised again and justified, we are justified ; that is, we have a certain and 
 undoubted pledge and foundation of our justification. Or as to the ap- 
 plication of it," &c. Turret, ubi sup. — " The sentence of justification 
 was pronounced in Christ our head, risen from the dead," 2 Cor. v. 19. 
 Ames, ubi sup. — " We were virtually justified, especially when Christ 
 having finished the purchase of our salvation, was justified, and we in 
 him as our head," 1 Tim. iii. 16; 2 Cor. v. 19. Essen. Comp. cap, xv. 
 sec. 25. 
 
 t " Actual justification is done in time, and follows faith." Turret, 
 loc. 16. q. 7. th. 3. — " Justification is done formally when an elect man, 
 effectually called, and so apprehended of Christ, apprehends Christ 
 again," Rom. viii. 30. Essen, ubi supra. — " The sentence of justification 
 is pronounced virtually from that first relation which ariseth from faith," 
 Rom. viii. 1. Ames, ubi supra. 
 
 Upon the whole, it is evident our author keeps the path trodden by 
 orthodox divines on the subject : and though, in order to answer the ob- 
 jections of his adversary, he uses the school terms, of being justified in 
 respect of God's decree, meritoriously, and actually, agreeably to the 
 practice of other sound divines ; yet otherwise he begins and ends his 
 decision of this controversy, by asserting in plain and simple terms, with- 
 out any distinction at all, " That a man is not justified before he believe, 
 or without faith." So his answer amounts just to this, " That God did, 
 from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect ; and Christ did, in the 
 fulness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification : 
 nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth in due 
 time actually apply Christ unto them." Westm. Confess, cap. 11. 
 art. 4. 
 
138 THE MARROW OF Part 1 
 
 merciful and true to his promise, and that he has his elect 
 number from the beginning, and that he himself is one of that 
 number, yet if this faith do not eye Christ, if it be not in God 
 as he is in Christ, it will not serve the turn ; for God cannot 
 be comfortably thought upon out of Christ our Mediator ; 
 " for if we find not God in Christ," says Calvin, Instit. p. 155, 
 " salvation cannot be know^n." Wherefore, Neophitus, I will 
 say unto you, as Mr. Bradford said unto a gentlewoman in 
 your case, " Thus, then, if you would be quiet, and certain in 
 conscience, then let your faith burst forth through all things, 
 not only that you have within you, but also whatsoever is in 
 heaven, earth, and hell ; and never rest until it come to Christ 
 crucified, and the eternal sweet mercy and goodness of God 
 in Christ." 
 
 Sect. 7. — Neo, But, sir, I am not satisfied concerning the 
 point you touched before ; and therefore, I pray you, proceed 
 to show me how far forth I am delivered from the law, as it 
 is the covenant of works. 
 
 Evan. Truly, as it is the covenant of works, you are 
 wholly and altogether dehvered and set free from it; you are 
 dead to it, and it is dead to you; and if it be dead to you, then 
 it can do you neither good nor hurt; and if you be dead to it, 
 you can expect neither good nor hurt from it.* Consider, 
 
 * Concerning the deliverance from the law, which, according to the 
 Scripture, is the privilege of believei's purchased unto them by Jesus 
 Christ, there are two opinions equally contrary to the word of God, and 
 to one another. The one of the Legalist, That believers are under the 
 law, even as it is the covenant of works; the other of the Antinomian, 
 That believers are not at all under the law, no, not as it is a rule of life. 
 Betwixt these extremes, both of them destructive of true holiness and 
 Gospel-obedience, our author, with other orthodox divines, holds the 
 middle path ; asserting (and in the proper place proving) that believers 
 are under the law, as a rule of life, but free from it as it is the covenant 
 of works. To be delivered from the law as it is the covenant of works, 
 is no more but to be delivered from the covenant of works. And the 
 asserting, that believers are delivered from the law as it is the covenant 
 of works, doth necessarily import, that they are under the law, in some 
 other respects thereto contra-distinguished. And forasmuch as the author 
 teaches, that believers are under the law, as it is the law of Christ, and a 
 rule of life to them, it is reasonable to conclude that to be it. He must 
 needs, under the term, " the covenant of works," understand and com- 
 prehend the law of the ten commandments; because no man, under- 
 standing what the covenant of works is, can speak of it, but he must, 
 under that term, understand and comprehend the ten commandments, 
 even as none can speak of a man, with knowledge of a sense of that word, 
 but under that term must understand and comprehend an organic body, 
 as well as a soul. But it is manifest, that the law of the ten command- 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 139 
 
 man, I pray you, that, as I said before, you are now under 
 another covenant, viz. the covenant of grace; and you cannot 
 
 ments, without the form of the covenant of works upon It, is not the 
 thing he understands by that term, " the covenant of works." Neither 
 is the form of the covenant of works (which is no more the covenant 
 itself, than the soul without the body is the man) essential to the ten 
 commandments, so that they cannot be without it. (See p. 6, note *.) If 
 it be said, that the author, by the covenant of works, understands the 
 moral law, as it is defined, (Large. Cat. q. 92.) it is granted ; but then it 
 amounts to no more, but that, by the covenant of works, he understands 
 the covenant of works; for by the moral law there, is understood the 
 covenant of works, as has been already evinced. 
 
 The doctrine of believers' freedom from the covenant of works, or from 
 the law as that covenant, is of the greatest importance, and is expressly 
 taught. (Larg, Cat, q. 97.) " They that are regenerate, and believe in 
 Christ, be delivered from the moral law, as a covenant of works," Rom. vi. 
 14; Rom. vii. 4, 6; Gal. iv. 4, 5. Westm. Confess, chap. xix. art. 6. — 
 " True believers be not under the law as a covenant of works." To these 
 I subjoin one testimony, from the Pract. Use of Saving Knowledge, tit. 
 "For Strengthening the Man's Faith," &c. Rom. vii. fig. 3, "Albeit 
 the apostle himself (brought in here for example's cause) and all other 
 true believers in Christ, be by nature under the law of sin and death, or 
 under the covenant of works (called the law of sin and death, because it 
 bindeth sin and death upon us, till Christ set us free) yet the law of the 
 Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, or the covenant of grace, (so called be- 
 cause it doth enable and quicken a man to a spiritual life through Christ) 
 doth set the apostle, and all true believers, free from the covenant of 
 works, or the law of sin and death." See more, ibid. fig. 4. As also tit. 
 " For convincing a Man of Judgment by the Law," par. 2, and last. 
 And tit. " Evidences of true Faith. And tit. " For the First," &c. 
 fig. 4. 
 
 Now, delivering from a covenant being the dissolution of a relation 
 which admits not of degrees, believers being delivered from the covenant 
 of works, must be wholly and altogether set free from it. 
 
 This appears also from the believer's being dead to it, and it dead to 
 \ im, of which before at large. 
 
 There is a twofold death competent to a believer, with respect to the 
 law, as it is the covenant of works; and so to the law as such, with res- 
 pect to the believer. (1.) The believer is dead to it really, and in point 
 of duty, while he carries himself as one who is dead to it. And this I 
 take to be comprehended in that saying of the apostle, Gal. ii. 19, "I 
 through the law am dead to the law." In the best of the children of God 
 here, there are such remains of the legal disposition and inclination of 
 heart to the way of the covenant of works, that as they are never quite 
 free of it in their best duties, so at sometimes their services smell so rank 
 of it, as if they were alive to the law, and still dead to Christ. And 
 sometimes the Lord for their correction trial, and exercise of faith, 
 suffers the ghost of the dead husband, the law, as a covenant of works, to 
 come in upon their souls and make demands on them, command, threaten, 
 and affright them, as if they were alive to it, and it to them. And it is 
 one of the hardest pieces of practical religion, to be dead to the law in 
 such cases. This death to it admits of degrees, is not alike in all be- 
 
140 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 be under two covenants at once, neither wholl}^ nor partly; 
 and, therefore, as, before jou believed, you were wholly under 
 the covenant of works, as Adam left both you and all his 
 posterity after his fall; so now, since you have believed, you 
 are wholly under the covenant of grace. Assure yourself 
 then, that no minister, or preacher of God's word has any 
 warrant to say unto you hereafter, "Either do this and 
 this duty contained in the law, and avoid this and this 
 sin forbidden in the law, and God will justify thee and save 
 thy soul : or do it not, and he will condemn thee and damn 
 thee."* No, no, you are now set free both from the com- 
 manding and condemning power of the covenant of works.f 
 So that I will say unto you, as the apostle says unto the 
 
 lievers, and is perfect in none till the death of the body. But of this 
 
 kind of death to the law, the question proceeds not here. (2.) The 
 
 believer is dead to it relatively, and in point of privilege; the relation 
 
 betwixt him and it is dissolved, even as the relation between a husband 
 
 and wife is dissolved by death; Rom. vii. 4, "Wherefore, ray brethren, 
 
 . ye also are become dead to the law, by the body of Christ, that ye should 
 
 » be married to another." This can admit of no degrees, but it is perfect 
 
 \in all believers; so that they are wholly and altogether set free from it, 
 
 in point of privilege, upon which the question here proceeds, and in this 
 
 respect they can expect neither good nor hurt from it. 
 
 * See p. 93, and note*. "Believers be not under the law, as a cove- 
 nant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned." Westm. Confess, 
 chap 19. art. 6. 
 
 f From the general conclusion already laid down and proved, namely, 
 That believers are wholly and altogether set free from the covenant 
 of works, or from the law as it is that covenant, this necessarily follows. 
 But to consider particulars, for further clearing of this weighty point, (1.) 
 That the covenant of works hath no power to justify a sinner, in regard 
 to his utter inability to pay the penalty, and to fulfil the condition of it, 
 is clear from the apostle's testimony, Rom. viii. 3, "What the law 
 could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own 
 Son," &c. (2.) That the believer is not under the condemning power of 
 it, appears from Gal. iii. 13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse 
 of the law, being made a curse for us." — Rom. viii. 1, "There is, there- 
 fore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." — Verses 
 33, 34, "It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth .'" (3.) 
 As to his commanding power, believers are not under it neither ; for, 
 
 1. Its commanding and condemning power, in case of transgression, 
 are inseparable ; for, by the sentence of that covenant, every breaker of 
 its commands are bound over to death ; Gal. iii. 10, "Cursed is every 
 one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of 
 the law, to do them." — " And whatsoever it saith, it saith to them that 
 are under it," Rom. iii. 19. Therefore, if believers are under its command- 
 ing power, tliey must needs be under its condemning power, yea, and 
 actually bound over to death ; forasmuch as they are, without ques- 
 tion, breakers of its commands, if they be indeed under its commanding 
 power. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITi'. 141 
 
 believing Hebrews, Heb. xii. 18, 22, 24, " You are not 
 come to Mount Sinai that might not be touched, and that 
 burned with fire ; nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tem- 
 pests; but you are come unto Mount Zion, the city of the 
 living God : and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant." 
 So that (to speak with holy reverence) God cannot, by virtue 
 of the covenant of works, either require of you any obedience, 
 or punish you for any disobedience; no, he cannot, by virtue 
 of that covenant, so much as threaten you, or give you an 
 
 2. If, as to any set of men, the justifying and condemning power be 
 removed from that law which God gave to Adani as a covenant of works, 
 and to all mankind in him, then the covenant form of that law is done 
 away as to them ; so that there is not a covenant of works in being unto 
 them, to have a commanding power over them ; but such is the case of 
 believers, that law can neither justify them, nor condemn them ; there- 
 fore, there is no covenant of works in being betwixt God and them, to 
 have a commanding power over them ; our Lord Jesus " blotted 
 out the hand-writing, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross," 
 Col. ii. 14. 
 
 3. Believers are dead to the law, as it is the covenant of works, and 
 " married to another," Rom. vii. 4. Therefore they are set free from 
 the commanding power of the first husband, the covenant of works. 
 
 4. They are not under it; Rom. vi. 14, "Ye are not under the law, 
 but under grace :" how then can it have a commanding power over 
 them ? 
 
 5. The consideration of the nature of the commands of the covenant 
 of works may sufficiently clear this point. Its commands bind to per- 
 fect obedience, under the pain of the curse, which on every slip, is 
 bound upon the transgressor; Gal. iii. 10, "Cursed is every one who 
 continueth not in all things," &c. But Christ hath redeemed believers 
 from the curse, verse 13, and the law they are under speaks in softer 
 terms, Psalm Ixxxix. 31, 32, " If they break my statutes, then will I visit 
 their transgression with the rod," &c. Moreover, it commands obedience 
 upon the ground of the strength to perform, given to mankind in Adam, 
 which is now gone, and affords no new strength ; for there is no promise 
 of strength for duty belonging to the covenant of works; and to state 
 believers under the covenant of works, to receive commands for their 
 duty, and under the covenant of grace, for the promise of strength to 
 perform, looks very unlike to the beautiful order of the dispensation of 
 grace, held forth to us in the word; Rom. vi. 14, "Ye are not under 
 the law, but under grace." 
 
 Lastly. Our Lord Jesus put himself under the commanding power of 
 the covenant of works, and gave it perfect obedience, to deliver his 
 people from under it; Gal. iv. 4, 5, " God sent forth his Son, made of a 
 woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." 
 That they then should put their necks under that yoke again, cannot but 
 be highly dishonouring " to this crucified Christ, who disarmed the law 
 of its thunders, defaced the obligation of it as a covenant, and, as it were, 
 grinded the stones upon which it was wrought to powder." Charnock, 
 vol. 2. q. 531. 
 
142 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 angry word, or show you an angry look ; for indeed he can 
 see no sin in you, as a transgression of that covenant ; for, 
 says the apostle, " Where there is no law, there is no trans- 
 gression," Rom. iv. 15.* And therefore, though hereafter 
 you do through frailty transgress any of all the ten cominand- 
 ments,f yet do you not thereby transgress the covenant of 
 works: there is no such covenant now betwixt God and you.;}: 
 
 And therefore, though hereaftar you shall hear such a 
 voice as this, "If thou wilt be saved, keep the command- 
 ments;" or "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
 things which are written in the book of the law to do them ;" 
 nay, though you hear the voice of thunder and a fearful noise; 
 nay, though you see blackness and darkness, and feel a great 
 tempest; that is to say, though you hear us that are preachers, 
 according to our commission, Isa. Iviii. 1, "lift up your voice 
 like a trumpet," in threatening hell and damnation to sinners 
 and transgressors of the law; though these be the words of 
 God, yet are you not to think that they are spoken to you.§ 
 No, no ; the apostle assures you that there is no condemnation 
 to them that are in Christ Jesus, Rom. viii. 1. Believe it, 
 God never threatens eternal deatli, after he has given to a man 
 eternal life.|| Nay, the truth is, God never speaks to a be- 
 
 * And therefore since there is no covenant of works (or law of works, 
 as it is called, Rom. iii. 27.) betwixt God and the believer, it is manifest 
 there can be no transgi-essing of it, in their case. God requires obedience 
 of believers, and not only threatens them, gives them angry words and 
 looks, but brings lieavy judgments on them for their disobedience; but 
 the promise of strength, and penalty of fatherly wrath only, annexed to 
 the commands requiring obedience of them, and the anger of God against 
 them, purged of the curse, do evidently discover, that none of these come 
 to them, in the channel of the covenant of works. 
 
 t And though all the sins of believers are not sins of daily infirmity, 
 yet they are all sins of frailty; Gal. v. 17, " For the flesh lusteth against 
 the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, so that ye cannot do the 
 things that ye would ;" — Rom. vii. 19, "The evil which I would not, 
 that I do." See chap. v. 15, 17, and vi. 12. 
 
 t Thus far of the believer's complete deliverance from the covenant of 
 works, or from the law, namely, as it is the covenant of works. Follows 
 the practical use to be made of it by the believer. And, 1. In hearing 
 of the word. 
 
 § Though they are God's own sayings, found in his written word, and 
 spoken by his servants, as having commission from him for that eftect; 
 yet, forasmuch as they arc the language of the law, as it is his covenant 
 of works, they are directed only to those who are under that covenant, 
 Rom. iii. 11), and not to believers, who are not under it. 
 
 II And to believers he hath given eternal life already, according to the 
 Scripture. See p. 94, note f. 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 143 
 
 liever out of Christ ; and in Christ he speaks not a word in 
 the terms of the covenant of works.* And if the law, of 
 itself should presume to come into your conscience, and say, 
 " Herein and herein thou hast transgressed, and broken me, 
 and therefore thou owest so much and so much to Divine 
 justice, which must be satisfied, or else I will take hold on 
 thee;" then answer you and say, " O law ! be it known unto 
 thee, that I am now married unto Christ, and so I am under 
 covert ; and therefore if thou charge me with any debt, thou 
 must enter thine action against my husband, Christ, for the 
 wife is not sueable at the law, but the husband. But the truth 
 is, I through him am dead to thee, O law ! and thou art dead 
 to me; and therefore Justice hath nothing to do with me, 
 for it judgeth according to the law."-]- And if it yet reply, 
 
 * Follows, II. The use of it, in conflicts of conscience with the law in 
 its demands, sin in its guilt, Satan in his accusations, death in its terrors. 
 t.He begins with the conflict with the law ; for as the apostle teaches, 
 " the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin, is the law, 1 Cor. xv. 
 56. While the law retains its power over a man, death has its sting, and 
 sin its strength against him ; but if once he is dead to the law, wholly 
 and altogether set free from it, as it is the covenant of works ; then sin 
 hath lost its strength, death its sling, and Satan his plea against him. 
 That the author still speaks of the law as it is the covenant of works, 
 from the commanding and condemning power of which believers are de- 
 livered, and no otherwise, cannot reasonably be questioned, since he is 
 still pursuing the practical use of the doctrine anent it as such ; and hav- 
 ing before spoken of it as acting by commission from God, he treats of it 
 here, as acting, as it were, of its own proper motion, and not by any such 
 commission. To those who are under the law, the law speaks its demands 
 and terrors, as sent from God : but to believers, who are not under it, 
 it cannot so speak, but of itself. Rom. viii. 15, "For ye have not re- 
 ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear." See p. 139. note *. fig. 4. 
 
 Now, in the conflict the believer has with the law or covenant of works, 
 the author puts two cases ; in the which the conscience needs to be soundly 
 directed, as in cases of the utmost weight. 
 
 The first case is this. The law attempting to exercise its condemning 
 power over him, accusing him of transgression, demands of him satis- 
 faction to the justice of God for his sin, and threatens to hale him to 
 execution. In this case, the author dare not advise the afflicted to say, 
 with the servant in the parable. Matt, xviii. 26, " Have patience with 
 me, and I will pay thee all ;" but he teaches him to devolve his burden 
 wholly upon his surety : he bids him plead, that since " he is married to 
 Christ," whatever action the law may pretend to be competent to it, for 
 the satisfaction of justice, upon the account of his sin, it must lie betwixt 
 the law and Christ, the husband ; but that in very deed, there remains 
 no place for such action, forasmuch as, through Jesus Christ's suflfering 
 and satisfying to the full, he is set free from the law, and owes nothing to 
 justice, nor to the law upon that score. If any man will venture to deal 
 in other terms with the law in this case, his experience will at length 
 
144 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 and say, " Ay, but good works must be done and the com- 
 mandments must be kept, if thou wilt obtain salvation ;"* then 
 
 sufficiently discover his mistake. Now it is manifest that this relates to 
 the case of justification. 
 
 ♦ Here is the second case, namely, the law attempting to exercise its 
 commanding: power over the believer, requires him to do good works, and 
 to keep the commandments, if he will obtain salvation. This comes in 
 natively in the second place. The author could not, reasonably, rest 
 satisfied with the believer's being delivered from the curse of the cove- 
 nant of works, from the debt owing to Divine justice, according to its 
 penal sanction : if he had, he would have left the afflicted still in the 
 lurch, in the point of justification, and of inheriting eternal life : he would 
 have proposed Christ to him only as a half saviour, and left as much of 
 the law's plea behind without an answer as would have concluded him 
 incapable of being justified before God, and made an heir of eternal life ; 
 for the law, as it is the covenant of works, being broken, has a twofold 
 demand on the sinner, each of which must be answered, before he can 
 be justifisd. The one is a demand of satisfaction for sin, arising from, 
 and according to its penal sanction : this demand was made in the pre- 
 ceding case, and solidly answered. But there remains yet another, namely, 
 the demand of perfect obedience, arising from, and according to the set- 
 tled condition of that covenant; and the afflicted must have wherewith 
 to answer it also ; otherwise he shall still sink in the deep mire, where 
 there is no standing. For as no judge can absolve a man, merely on his 
 having paid the penalty of a broken contract, to which he was obliged, 
 by and attour the fulfilling of the condition, so no man can be justified 
 before God, nor have a right to life, till this demand of the law be also 
 satisfied in- his case. Then, and not till then, is the law's mouth stopped, 
 in point of his justification. Thus Adam, before his fall, was free from 
 the curse; yet neither was, nor could be justified and entitled to life, un- 
 til he had run the course of liis obedience, prescribed him by the law as a 
 covenant of works. Accordingly, we are taught that " God justifies sin- 
 ners, not only by imputing the satisfaction, but also the obedience of 
 Christ unto them," Westm. Confess, chap, 11, art. 1. And that "jus- 
 tification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he not only pardoneth all 
 our sins, but accepteth us as righteous in his sight," Short, Cat, 
 
 Here then is the second demand of the law, namely, the demand of 
 perfect obedience, respecting the case of justification, no less than the 
 demand of satisfaction for sin. And it is proposed in such terms as the 
 Scripture uses to express the self-same thing by, Luke x. 28, " This do, 
 and thou shalt live." — Matt, xix, 17, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep 
 the commandments." In both which passages our Lord proposeth this 
 demand of the covenant of works, for the conviction of the proud legal- 
 ists with whom he there had to do. And the truth is, that the terms in 
 which this demand stands here conceived, are so very agreeable to the 
 style and language of the covenant of works expressed in these texts, and 
 elsewhere, that the law, without receding in the least from the propriety 
 of expression, might have addressed innocent Adam, in the very same 
 terms ; changing only the word salvation into life, because he was not 
 yet miserable ; and so saying to him, Good works must be done, and the 
 commandments must be kept, if thou wilt obtain life, AVhat impropriety 
 there could have been in this saying, while as yet there was no covenant 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 14.5 
 
 answer you, and say, " I am already saved before thou earnest;* 
 
 known in the world, but the covenant of works, I see not. Even inno- 
 cent Adam was not, by his works to obtain life, in the way of proper 
 merit ; but in virtue of compact only. 
 
 Now, this being the case, one may plainly perceive, that in the true 
 answer to it, there can be no place for bringing in any holiness, righteous- 
 ness, good works, and keeping of the commandments, but Christ's only ; 
 for nothing else can satisfy this demand of the law. And if a believer 
 should acknowledge the necessity of his own holiness and good works, in 
 this point, and so set about them, in order to answer this demand ; then 
 he should grossly and abominably pervert the end for which the Lord 
 requires them of him ; putting his own holiness and obedience in the 
 room of Christ's imputed obedience ; and so should fix himself in the 
 mire out of which he could never escape, until he gave over that way and 
 betook himself again to what Christ alone has done for satisfying this 
 denland of the law. But that the excluding of our holiness, good-works, 
 and keeping of the commandments, from any part in this matter, mili- 
 tates nothing against the absolute necessity of holiness in its proper place, 
 (without which, in men's own persons, no man shall see the Lord,) is a 
 point too clear among sound Protestant divines, to be here insisted upon. 
 
 And hence our author could not instruct Neophitus to say, in this con- 
 flict with the law or covenant of works, " It is my sincere resolution, in 
 the strength of grace, to follow peace with all men, and holiness." Neither 
 would any sound Protestant divine have put such an answer into the 
 mouth of the afflicted in this case ; knowing that our evangelical holiness 
 and good works, (suppose we could attainunto them before justification) 
 would be rejected by the law, as filthy rags : forasmuch as the law ac- 
 knowledges no holiness, no good works, no keeping of the commandments, 
 but what is every way perfect, and will never be satisfied with sincere 
 resolutions, to do, in the strength of grace to be given ; but requires 
 doing in perfection, in the strength of grace given already. Gal. iii. 10. 
 Therefore our author sends the afflicted unto Jesus Christ, the surety for 
 all that is demanded of him by the law or covenant of works : and teaches 
 him in this case, to plead Christ's works, and keeping of the commands : 
 and this is the only safe way, which all true Christians will find them- 
 selves obliged to take at long run, in this conflict. 
 
 The difficulty raised on this head is owing to that anti-scriptural prin- 
 ciple, " That believers are under the commanding power of the covenant 
 of works ;" which is overthrown before. 
 
 The case itself, and the answer to it at large, is taken from Luther's 
 Sermon of the Lost Sheep, p. 11 ^ 78, and Sermon upon the Hymn of 
 Zacharias, p. 50. 
 
 * Saved, namely, really, though not perfectly ; even as a drowning man 
 is saved, when his head is got above the water, and he, leaning on his 
 deliverer, is making towards the shore ; in this case, the believer has no 
 more need of the law, or covenant of works, than such a man has of one, 
 who, to save him, would lay a weight upon him, that would make him 
 sink again beneath the stream. Observe the manner of speaking and 
 reasoning used on this head. Tit. iii. .5, " Not by works of righteous- 
 ness, which WE have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by 
 the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
 — Eph. ii. 8 — 10, " For by grace are ye saved, through faith, not of 
 WORKS, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, 
 
 H 
 
146 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 created in Christ Jesus, unto good works." Here (1.) It is undeniable, 
 especially according to the original words, that the apostle asserts believers 
 to be saved already. (2.) Denying that we are saved by works which 
 we have done, he plainly enough intimates, that we are saved by the 
 works which Christ has done. (3.) He argues against salvation by our 
 works, upon this very ground, that our good works are the fruit following 
 our being saved, and the end for which we are saved. Thus he at once 
 overthrows the doctrine of salvation by our good works, and establishes 
 the necessity of them, as of breathings and other actions of life to a man 
 saved from death. (4.) He shows, that inherent holiness is an essential 
 part of salvation, without which it can no more consist, than a man 
 without a reasonable soul ; for, according to the apostle, " We are saved 
 by our being regenerated, renewed, created in Christ Jesus, unto good 
 works." And so is our justification also, with all the privileges depend- 
 ing thereupon. In one word, the salvation bestowed on believers, com- 
 prehends both holiness and happiness. Thus the apostle Peter disproves 
 that principle. Acts xv. 1, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner 
 of Moses, ye cannot be saved," from his own observation of the con- 
 trary, namely, that God purified the hearts of the Gentiles by faith, ver. 9, 
 adding for the part of the Jews, who were circumcised, ver. 11, " We 
 believe, that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be 
 saved, even as they ;" that is, even as they vv^ere saved, namely, by faith 
 without the works of the law. And the apostle Paul, encountering the 
 same error, carries on the dispute in these terms, that a man is not justi- 
 fied by works, Gal. ii. and iii. From whence one may conclude, that 
 justification does no further differ from salvation, in the Scripture sense, 
 than an essential part from the whole. 
 
 This is the doctrine of holy Luther, and of our author after him, upon 
 this head, here and elsewhere. And the disuse of this manner of speak- 
 ing, and the setting of salvation so far from justification, as heaven is 
 from earth; are not without danger, as leaving room for works, to obtain 
 salvation by. 
 
 " They that believe, have already everlasting life, and therefore un- 
 doubtedly are justified and holy, without all their own labour." Luther's 
 Chos. Sermons, Serm. 10, page (mihi) 113. — " How has God, then, re- 
 medied thy misery ? He has forgiven all my sins, and freed me from the 
 reward thereof, and made me righteous, holy, and happy, to live for 
 ever, and that of his free grace alone, by the merits of Jesus Christ, and 
 working of the Holy Ghost." Mr. James Melvil's Cat. Propine of a Pas- 
 tor, p. 44. — " Now, being made truly and really partakers of Christ, and 
 his righteonsness, by faith only, and so justified, saved, and counted truly 
 righteous, we are to see what God craveth of us in our own part, to 
 witness our thankfulness." Mr. John Davidson's Cat. p. 27. See Palat. 
 Cat. q. 86. — " God delivereth his elect out of it (viz. the estate of sin and 
 misery) and bringeth them into an estate of salvation by the second co- 
 venant." Larg. Cat. q. 30. And surely one cannot be in a state of salva- 
 tion who is not really saved ; more than one can be in a state of health 
 and liberty, who is not really saved from sickness and slavery. " Those 
 whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only he is pleased, in 
 his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his word and 
 Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to 
 grace and salvation — effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ." Westm. 
 Confess, chap. 10. art. 1. Whence one may easily perceive, that a sinner 
 drawn to Jesus Christ, is saved ; though not yet carried to heaven. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 147 
 
 and therefore I have no need of thy presence,* for in Christ I 
 have all things at once ; neither need I any thing more that is 
 necessaryf to salvation. He is my righteousness, my treasure, 
 
 * A good reason why a soul united to Jesus Christ, and already saved 
 by him really, though not perfectly, hath no need of the presence of her 
 first husband, the law, or covenant of works : namely, because she hath 
 in Christ, her head and present husband, all things necessary to save her 
 perfectly, that is, to make her completely holy and happy. If it were 
 not so, believers might yet despair of attaining to it : since Christ shareth 
 his office of Saviour with none ; neither is there salvation in any other, 
 whether in whole or in part. Acts iv. 12. But surely believers have all 
 that is necessary to complete this salvation, in Jesus Christ : forasmuch 
 as he " of God is made unto'us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifi- 
 cation, and redemption ;" in the compass of which, there is sufficient pro- 
 vision for all the wants of all his people. It is the great ground of their 
 comfort, that " it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness 
 dwell," Col. i. 19. And it becomes them, with their whole hearts to ap- 
 prove of the design and end of that glorious and happy constitution, 
 namely, that " he that glorieth, glory in the Lord," 1 Cor. i. 31. It is 
 true, that fulness is so far from being actually conveyed, in the measure 
 of every part, into the persons of believers at once ; that the stream of 
 conveyance will run through all the ages of eternity, in heaven, as well 
 as on earth. Nevertheless, whole Christ, with all his fulness, is given 
 to them at once, and therefore they have all necessary for them at once, in 
 him as their head. 1 Cor. iii. 21, " All things are yours." — Philip, iv. 18, 
 " I have all, and abound." — 2 Cor. vi. 10, " As having nothing, yet pos- 
 sessing all things." — Col. ii. 10, " And ye are complete in him, which is 
 the Head." 
 
 t But are not personal holiness, and godliness, good works, and perse- 
 verance in holy obedience, jostled out at this rate as unnecessary ? No, 
 by no means. For Christ is the only fountain of holiness, and the cause 
 of good works, in those who are united to him ; so that, where union 
 with Christ is, there is personal holiness infallibly ; there they do good 
 works if capable of them and persevere therein ; and where it is not, all 
 pretences to these things are utterly vain. Therefore are ministers di- 
 rected to prosecute such doctrines, and make choice of such uses espe- 
 cially, " as may most draw souls to Christ, the fountain of light, holi- 
 ness, and comfort." Director}'-, tit. " Of the Preaching of the Word." 
 — " As we willingly spoil ourselves of all honour and glory of our own 
 creation and redemption, so do we also of our regeneration and sanctifi- 
 cation ; for of ourselves we are not sufficient to think one good thought ; 
 but he who has begun the work in us, is only he that continues us in the 
 same, to the praise and glory of his undeserved grace. So that the cause 
 of good works, we confess to be, not our free will, but the Spirit of the 
 Lord Jesus, who, dwelling in our hearts by true faith, bringeth forth 
 such works, as God has prepared for us to walk in. For this we must 
 boldly affirm, that blasphemy it is to say, that Christ abide th in the 
 hearts of such, as in whom there is no spirit of santification." Old Con- 
 fess, art. 12, 13.—" M. What is the effect of thy faith > C. That Jesus 
 Christ his Son came down into this world, and accomplished all things, 
 which were necessary for our salvation." The Manner to Examine Chil- 
 dren, &c. quest. 3. — " Whether we look to our justification or santi^- 
 
 H 2 
 
14S THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 and work ;* I confess, O law ! that I am neither godly nor 
 I'ighteous,-]- but yet this I am sure of, that he is godly and 
 
 cation, they are wholly wrought and perfected by Christ, in whom we 
 are complete, howbeit after a diverse sort." Mr. John Davidson's Cat. 
 p. .'-54. The truth is, personal holiness, godliness, and perseverance, are 
 parts of the salvation already bestowed on the believer, and good works 
 begun, the necessary fruit thereof. See the preceding note, and p. 94. 
 note.t And he hath, in Christ his head, what infallibly secures the con- 
 versation of his personal holiness and godliness : his bringing forth of 
 good works still, and perseverance in holy obedience, and the bringing of 
 the whole to perfection in another life, and so completing the begun sal- 
 vation. If men will, without warrant from the word, restrain the term 
 miration to happiness in heaven, then all these, according to the doctrine 
 here taught, are necessary to salvation, as what of necessity must go be- 
 fore it, in subjects capable ; since, in a salvation carried on by degrees, 
 what is by the unalterable order of the covenant first conferred on a 
 man, must necessarily go before that which, by the same unalterable 
 order, is conferred on him in the last place. But in the sense of Luther 
 and our author, all these are comprehended in the salvation itself. For 
 justifying of which, one may observe, that when the salvation is com- 
 pleted, they are perfected ; and the saints in glory work perfectly good 
 works, without interruption, throughout all eternity ; for they were the 
 great end God designed to bring about by the means or salvation. To 
 the Scripture-texts adduced, in the preceding note, add 2 Tim. ii. 10, 
 " I endure all things, for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the 
 salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory." Here is a spiri- 
 tual salvation, plainly distinguished from eternal glory. Compare 1 Pet. 
 i. 8, 9, " Believing, ye rejoice. Receiving the end of your faith, even 
 the salvation of your souls." This receiving of salvation, in the present 
 time, is but the accomplishment of that promise, in part ; Acts xvi. 31, 
 " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ;" which, I 
 make no question, bears a great deal of salvation, communicated on this 
 side death, as well as beyond it ; Matt. i. 21, " He shall save his people 
 from their sins." Thus, salvation comprehends personal holiness and 
 godliness. And the Scripture holds out good works, as things that ac- 
 company salvation, Heb. vi. 9, and as the frtiit of it, Luke i. 71 — 75, 
 " That we should be saved from our enemies — being delivered out of the 
 hands of our enemies, we might serve him without fear, in holiness and 
 righteousness before him, all the days of our life." For it is an ever- 
 lasting salvation, Isa. xlv. 17, importing a perseverance in holy obedience 
 to the end. 
 
 * My righteousness, upon which I am justified, my treasure, out of 
 which all my debt to the law, or covenant of works, is paid, and my 
 work, whence my righteousness arises, and which I can, with safety and 
 comfort, oppose to the law-demand of work. " The law of God we con- 
 fess and acknowledge most just, most eciual, most holy, most perfect, 
 commanding these things, which being wrouglit in perfection, were able 
 to give life, and able to hring man to etjual felicity. But our nature is 
 so corrupt, so weak, and so imperfect, that we are never able to fulfil the 
 works of the law in perfection, — and therefore it behoves us to appre- 
 hend Christ Jesus, with his justice i.e. righteousness and satisfaction, 
 who is the end and accomplishment of the law." Old Confess, art. 15. 
 
 t Namely, in the eve of the law, which acknowledgeth no godliness 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 149 
 
 righteous for me.* And to tell the truth, O law I I am now 
 with him in the bridechamber, where it maketh no matter 
 what I am,-|- or what I have done ; but what Christ, my sweet 
 husband, is, has done, and does for me ::J: and therefore leave 
 off law, to dispute with me, for by faith ' I apprehend him 
 who hath apprehended me,' and put me into his bosom. 
 Wherefore, I will be bold to bid Moses with his tables, and 
 all lawyers with their books, and all men with their works, 
 hold their peace and give place :§ so that I say unto thee, O 
 
 nor righteousness, but what is every way perfect ; Rom. iv. .5, " Be- 
 lieveth on him that justifieth the ungodly." And to plead any other 
 sort of godliness or righteousness, in the conflict of conscience with the 
 law, is vain. Gal. iii. 10. 
 
 * That is, Christ hath perfect purity of nature and life, which is all 
 that the law can demand in point of conformity and obedience to its 
 commandments ; he was born holy, and he lived holy in perfection. 
 Now, both these are imputed to believers, not in point of sanctification, 
 but of justification ; for without the imputation of them both, no flesh 
 could be justified before God, because the law demands of every man 
 purity of nature, as well as purity of life, and both of them in perfection ; 
 and since we have neither the one nor the other in ourselves, we must 
 have both by imputation, else we must remain under the condemnation 
 of the law. So, the Palatine Catechism. " Q. How art thou righteous 
 before God } A. The perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of 
 Christ is imputed and given unto me, as if I had neither committed any 
 sin, neither were there any blot or corruption cleaving unto me. Q. 60. 
 The use — If Satan yet lay to my charge, although in Christ Jesus thou 
 hast satisfied the punishment which thy sins deserved, and hast put on 
 his righteousness by faith, yet thou canst not deny, but that thy nature 
 is corrupt, so that thou art prone to all ill, and thou hast in thee the seed 
 of all vices. Against this temptation this answer is sufficient. That by 
 the goodness of God, not only perfect righteousness, but even the holi- 
 ness of Christ also, is imputed and given unto me," &c. Ibid. — " The 
 satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ alone is my righteous- 
 ness, in the sight of God." Ibid, quest. 61. 
 
 t Namely, to the law or covenant of works, which has no power over 
 me, who am now married to another. 
 
 I Luther expresses it thus, " What I am, or what I ought to do, and 
 what not to do ; but what Christ himself is, ought to do, and doth." 
 
 § Moses with his tables, here, is no more, in the sense of Luther and 
 our author, but the law, as it is the covenant of works; the which, whoso 
 in the conflict of conscience with it, can treat at this rate, he is strong in 
 faith, and happy is he. Consider the Scripture phrase, John v. 45, 
 " There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust." Com- 
 pare Rom. ii. 17, " Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the 
 LAW." By Moses here, is not meant the person of Moses, but Moses' 
 law, which the carnal Jews trusted to be saved and justisfied by; that is 
 plainly, by the law, as it is the covenant of works. And in our author's 
 judgment, the law was given on Mount Sinai as the covenant of works. 
 And he shows, that although Luther, and Calvin too, do thus exempt 
 a believer from the law, in the case of justification, and as it is the 
 
150 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 law ! be gone." And if it will not be gone, then thrust it out 
 by force, says Luther.* 
 
 And if sin offer to take hold of you, as David said his did 
 on him. Psalm xl. 12 ; then say you unto it, " Thy strength 
 O sin, is the law, 1 Cor. xv. 66, and the law is dead to me. 
 So that, O sin, thy strength is gone ; and therefore be sure 
 thou shalt never be able to prevail against me, nor do me any 
 hurt at all."-f- 
 
 And if Satan take you by the throat, and by violence draw 
 you before God's judgment-seat, then call to your husband, 
 Christ, and say, " Lord, I suffer violence, make answer for 
 me, and help me." And by his help you shall be enabled to 
 plead for yourself, after this manner : O God the Father ! I 
 am thy Son Christ's ; thou gavest me unto him, and thou hast 
 given unto him " all power, both in heaven and in earth, and 
 hast committed all judgment to him ;" and therefore I will 
 stand to his judgment, who says, " he came not to judge the 
 world, but to save it ;" and therefore he will save me, accord- 
 covenant of works, yet do they not so out of the case of justification, and 
 as it is the law of Christ. P. 164 — 166. And so, at once, clears them 
 and himself from that odious charge which some might find in their 
 hearts to fix upon them from such expressions. 
 
 * Luther's words are, " Then it is time to send it (the law) away, and 
 if it will not give place," &c. See the preceding note. 
 
 t Here is the use to be made of the same former doctrine, in the con- 
 flict of conscience with sin. Guilt, even the guilt of revenging wrath, is 
 the handle by which, in this conflict, sin offers to take hold of the be- 
 liever, as it did of David, Psalm xl. 12. Who, in that Psalm, speaks as 
 a type of Christ, on whom the guilt of the elects' sin was laid. " Now, in 
 respect of that guilt, the strength of sin is the law, or covenant of works, 
 with its cursing and condemning power, from which, since believers are 
 delivered, that strength of sin is gone as to them ; they are free from the 
 guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God." Westm. Confess, chap. 
 20. art. 1. — " The revenging Avrath of God, and that perfectly in this 
 life." Larg. Cat. quest. 11 . Whence it necessarily follows, that sin, in 
 this attack, can never prevail nor really hurt them in this point, since 
 there neither is, nor can be, any such guilt remaining upon them. How 
 sin may othenvise prevail against a believer, and what hurt it may do him 
 in other respects, the author expressly teaches here and elsewhere. In 
 the manner of expression, he follows famous divines, whose names are 
 in honour in the church of Christ. " God saith unto me, I will forgive 
 thee thy sin, neither shall thy sins hurt thee." Luther, Chos. Serm. 
 p. 40. — " Forasmuch as Jesus Christ hath, by one infinite obedience, 
 made satisfaction to the infinite majesty of God, it followeth, that my 
 iniquities can no more fray nor trouble me, my accounts being assuredly 
 razed by the precious blood of Christ." Keza, Confess, point 4. art. 10. — 
 " Even as the viper that was upon Paul's hand, though the nature of it 
 was to kill presently, yet when God had charmed it, you see it hurt him 
 
Chap. 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 151 
 
 ing to his office. And if the jury* shouldf bring in their ver- 
 dict that they have found you guilty, then speak to the Judge, 
 and say, in case any must be condemned for my transgres- 
 sions, it must needs be Christ, and not I ;^ for albeit I have 
 committed them, yet he hath undertaken and bound himself 
 to answer for them, and that by the consent and good-will of 
 God his Father : and indeed he hath fully satisfied for them. 
 And if all this will not serve the turn to acquit you, then add, 
 moreover, and say, " As a woman, that is conceived with 
 child, must not suffer death because of the child that is within 
 her, no more must I, because I have conceived Christ in my 
 heart, though I have committed all the sins in the world." § 
 
 And if death creep upon you, and attempt to devour you ; 
 then say, " Thy sting, O death ! is sin ; and Christ my hus- 
 band has fully vanquished sin, and so deprived thee of thy 
 sting; and therefore do I not fear any hurt that thou, O 
 death! canst do unto me." And thus you may triumph 
 with the apostle, saying, " Thanks be unto God, who hath 
 given me the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ," 
 1 Cor. XV. 56, 57. 
 
 And thus have I also declared unto you how Christ, in the 
 fulness of time, performed that which God before all time 
 purposed, and in time promised, touching the helping and 
 delivering of fallen mankind. 
 
 And so have I also done with the " Law of Faith." 
 
 not ; so it is with sin, though it be in us, and though it hang upon us, yet 
 the venom of it is taken away, it hurts us not, it condemns us not." Dr. 
 Preston on Faith, p. 51. Hear the language of the Spirit of God, Luke 
 X. 19 ; " And nothing shall by any means hurt you." — " Nothing shall 
 hurt their souls, as to the favour of God, and their eternal happiness," 
 says the author of the Supplement to Poole's Annot. on the Text. 
 
 * The ten commandments. 
 
 t By your own conscience. 
 
 X See page 133, note*. 
 
 § Gal. iv. 19, " My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, 
 until Christ be formed in you." — Col. i. 27, " Christ, in you, the hope 
 of gloiy." 
 
152 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE LAW OF CHRIST. 
 
 Sect. 1. The nature of the Law of Christ. — 2. The law of the ten com- 
 mandments a rule of life to believers. — 3. Antinomian objections an- 
 swered. — 4. The necessity of marks and signs of grace. — 5. Antinomian 
 objections answered. — 6. Holiness and good works attained to only by 
 faith. — 7. Slavish fear and servile hope not the springs of true obe- 
 dience. — 8. The efficacy of faith for holiness of heart and life. — 9. Use 
 of means for strengthening of faith. — 10. The distinction of the law of 
 works, and law of Christ, applied to six paradoxes. — IL The use of 
 that distinction in practice. — 12. That distinction a mean betwixt Le- 
 galism and Antinomianism. — 13. How to attain to assurance. — 14. 
 Marks and evidences of true faith. — 15. How to recover lost evidences. 
 — 16. Marks and §igns of union with Christ. 
 
 Sect. 1. — Nom. Then sir, I pray'you proceed to speak of the 
 law of Christ; and first let us hear what the law of Christ is. 
 
 Evan. The law of Christ, in regard of substance and 
 matter, is all one with the law of works, or covenant of works. 
 Which matter is scattered through the whole Bible, and 
 summed up in the decalogue, or ten commandments, com- 
 monly called the moral law, containing such things as are 
 agreeable to the mind and will of God, that is, piety towards 
 God, charity towards our neighbour, and sobriety towards 
 ourselves. And therefore was it given of God to be a true 
 and eternal rule of righteousness, for all men, of all nations, 
 and at all times. So that evangelical grace diercts a man to 
 no other obedience than that whereof the law of the ten com- 
 mandments is to be the rule.* 
 
 Nom. But yet, sir, I conceive, that though (as you say) 
 
 * The author here teaches, that the matter of the law of works and of 
 the law of Christ, is one, namely, the ten commandments, commonly 
 called the moral law. — See p. 8, note *. And that this law of the ten 
 (commandments was given of God, and so of Divine authority, to be a 
 rule of righteousness for men to walk by; a true rule agreeable in all things 
 to the Divine nature and will ; an eternal rule, indispensable, ever to con- 
 tinue, without interruption for any one moment; and that for all men, 
 good, bad, saints and sinners, of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, and at all 
 times, in all ages, from the moment of man's creation, before the fall, and 
 after the fall; before the covenant of works, under the covenant of works, 
 and under the covenant of grace, in its several periods. Thus he asserts this 
 great truth, in terms used by orthodox divines, but with a greater variety of 
 expression than is generally used upon this head, the which serves to 
 inculcate it the more. And speaking of the ten commandments, he 
 declares in these words, "That neither hath Christ delivered believers 
 any otherwise from them, than as they are the covenant of works." The 
 scope of this part of the book, is to show that believers ought to receive 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 153 
 
 the law of Christ, in regard of substance and matter, be all 
 one with the law of works, yet their forms do differ. 
 
 Evan. True, indeed ; for (as you have heard) the law of 
 works speaks on this wise, " Do this and thou shalt live ; 
 and if thou do it not, then thou shalt die the death :" but the law 
 of Christ speaketh on this wise, Ezek. xvi. 6, " And when I 
 passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, 
 I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live." — John xi. 
 26, " And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never 
 die."* — Eph. v. 1, 2, " Be ye therefore followers of God, as 
 
 them as the law of Christ, whom we believe to be with the Father, ^d 
 the Holy Ghost, the eternal Jehovah, the Supreme, the most High God ; 
 and consequently as a law having a commanding power, and binding force, 
 upon the believer, from the authority of God, and not as a simple pas- 
 sive rule, like a workman's rule, that hath no authority over him, to 
 command and bind him to follow its direction. Nay, our author owns 
 the ten commandments to be a law to believers, as well as others, 
 again and again commanding, requiring, forbidding, reproving, condemn- 
 ing sin, to which believers must yield obedience, and fenced with a 
 penalty, which transgressing believers are not to fear, as being under the 
 law to Christ. These things are so manifest, that it is quite beyond my 
 reach to conceive how, from the author's doctrine on this head, and es- 
 pecially from the passage we are now upon, it can be inferred that he 
 teaches, that the believer is not under the law as a rule of life; or can 
 be affirmed that he does not acknowledge the law's commanding power, 
 and binding force upon the believers, but makes it a simple passive rule 
 to him; unless the meaning be, that the author teaches, "That the 
 believer is not under the covenant of works as a rule of life ?" or, " That 
 the law, as it is the covenant of works, is not a rule of life to the believer; 
 and that he does not acknowledge the commanding power, and binding 
 force of the covenant of works, upon the believer ; nor that obedience is 
 commanded him upon the pain of the curse, and bound upon him with 
 the cords of the threatening of eternal death in hell." For, otherwise, it 
 is evident that he teaches the law of the ten commandments to be a rule 
 of life to a believer, and to have a commanding and binding power over 
 him. Now, if these be errors, the author is undoubtedly guilty ; and if 
 his sentiments on these heads were proposed in those terms, as the thing 
 itself doth require, no ^vrong would be done him therein; but that these 
 are Gospel-truths, appears from what is already said : and the contrary 
 doctrines do all issue out of the womb of that dangerous position, 
 " That the believer is not set free both from the commanding and con- 
 demning power of the covenant of works," — of which before. See p. 2, 
 note *, and p. 6, note *. 
 
 * These texts are adduced to show, that they to whom the law of the 
 ten commandments is given, as the law of Christ, are those who have 
 already received life, even life that shall never end ; and that of God's 
 free gift, before they were capable of doing good works ; who therefore 
 need not to work for life, but from life. " The preface to the ten com- 
 mandments teaches us, that because God is the Lord, and our God, and 
 Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments." 
 
 H 3 
 
154 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 dear children : and walk in love, as Christ hath loved us." 
 And "if ye love me, keep my commandments," John xiv. 15. 
 And "if they break my statutes, and keep not my command- 
 ments, then will I visit their transgression with a rod, and 
 their iniquity with stripes; nevertheless my loving-kindness 
 will I not utterly take away from him, nor suffer my faithful- 
 ness to fail," Psalm Ixxxix. 31 — 33. Thus, you see, that 
 both these laws agree in saying, " Do this." But here is the 
 difference ; the one saith, " Do this and live ;" and the other 
 saith, " Live, and do this ;" the one saith. Do this for life ; 
 the other saith. Do i\mfrom life : the one saith, " If thou do 
 it "^ot, thou shalt die ;" the other saith, " If thou do it not, 
 I will chastise thee with the rod."* The one is to be delivered 
 by God, as he is Creator out of Christ, only to such as are 
 out of Christ ; the other is to be delivered by God, as he is 
 a Redeemer in Christ, only to such as are in Christ.f Where- 
 fore, neighbour Neophitus, seeing that you are now in Christ, 
 
 Luke i. 74, "That we being deUvered out of the hands of our ene- 
 mies, might serve him without fear." — 1 Pet. i. 15, "Ashe that hath 
 called you is holy, so be ye holy; because it is written, be ye holy for I 
 am holy. Forasmuch as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with cor- 
 ruptible things — but with the precious blood of Christ." Short. Cat. 
 with the Scriptures at large. 
 
 * See pages 93, 94, notes *, f. Of this penalty of the law of Christ, 
 the author treats afterwards. 
 
 t To direct the believer how to receive the law of the ten command- 
 ments with application to himself, he assigns this difference betwixt the 
 law of works and the law of Christ. The one, namely, the law of works, 
 is the law of the ten commandments, but supposed to be delivered by 
 God as he is Creator out of Christ; and so standing in relation to man, 
 only as Creator, not as Redeemer ; the other, namely, the law of Christ, 
 is the same law of the ten commandments, but supposed to be delivered 
 by God, as he is not only Creator but Redeemer in Christ. And al- 
 though the notion of Creator doth not imply that of Redeemer, yet the 
 latter implies the former; as he is Redeemer, he is sovereign Lord Crea- 
 tor, else we are yet in our sins, for none of inferior dignity could remove 
 our offence or guilt ; but the word of truth secures this foundation of be- 
 lievers' safety and comfort ; Isa. xliv. 6, 24, " Thus saith the Lord, the 
 King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the First, and 
 I am the Last, and besides me there is no God. Thus saith the Lord, 
 thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord 
 that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that 
 spreadeth abroad the earth by myself." — Chap. liv. 5, "Thy Maker is 
 thine Husband." 
 
 Now, the law of the ten commandments is given, the former way, only 
 to unbelievers, or such as are out of Christ, the latter way to believers, 
 or such as are in Christ. And to prove whether this be a vain distinc- 
 tion or not, one needs but to consult the conscience, when thoroughly 
 awakened, whether it is all a case to it, to receive the law of the ten 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 155 
 
 beware that you receive not the ten commandments at the 
 hands of God out of Christ, nor yet at the hands of Moses, but 
 only at the hands of Christ ; and so shall you be sure to 
 ieceive them as the law of Christ.* 
 
 Nom. But, sir, may not God out of Christ deliver the ten 
 commandments, as the law of Christ ? 
 
 Evan. O no ! for God out of Christ stands in relation to 
 man, according to the tenor of the law as it is the covenant of 
 works ; and, therefore, can speak to man upon no other terms 
 than the terms of that covenant.f 
 
 commandments in the thunders from Mount Sinai, or in the still small 
 voice, out of the tabernacle, that is, from an absolute God, or from a 
 God in Christ. 
 
 It is true, unbelievers are not under the law, as it is the law of Christ ; 
 and that is their misery, even as it is the misery of the slaves, that the 
 commands of the master of the family, though the matter of them be the 
 very same to them, and to the children, yet they are not fatherly com- 
 mands to them, as they are to the children, but purely masterly. And 
 they are not hereby freed from any duty, within the compass of the per- 
 fect law of the ten commandments ; for these commands are the matter 
 of the law of works, as well as of the law of Christ. Neither are they 
 thereby exempted from Christ's authority and jurisdiction, since the law 
 of works is his law, as he is with the Father and the Holy Ghost, the 
 Sovereign Lord Creator : yea, and even as Mediator, he rules iu the 
 midst of his enemies, and over them, with a rod of iron. 
 
 * The receiving of the ten commandments at the hands of Christ, is 
 here opposed, (1.) To the receiving of them at the hands of God out of 
 Christ. (2.) To the receiving of them at the hands of Moses, namely, as 
 our Lawgiver. The first is a receiving of them immediately from God, 
 without a Mediator ; and so receiving of them as the law of works. The 
 second is a receiving of them from Christ, the true Mediator, yet imme- 
 diately by the intervention of a typical one, and so is a receiving of them 
 as a law of Moses, the typical Mediator, who delivered them from the 
 ark or tabernacle. To this it is, and not to the delivering of them from 
 Mount Sinai, that the author doth here look, as is evident from his own 
 words. Page 161. The former manner of receiving them is not agree- 
 able to the state of real believers, since they never were, nor are given in 
 that manner to believers in Christ, but only to unbelievers, whether under 
 the Old or New Testament. The latter is not agreeable to the state of 
 New Testament believers, since the true Mediator is come, and is sealed 
 of the Father, as the great Prophet, to whom Moses must give place, 
 Matt. xvii. 5 ; Acts iii. 22. See Turret, loc. 11. q. 24, th. 15. However, 
 the not receiving of Moses as the lawgiver of the Christian church, 
 caiTies no prejudice to the honour of that faithful servant ; nor to the 
 receiving of his writings, as the word of God, they being of divine inspi- 
 ration, yea, and the fundamental divine revelation. 
 
 t This plainly concludes, that to receive the law of the ten command- 
 ments from God, as Creator out of Christ, is to receive them as the law 
 (or covenant) of works ; unless men will fancy, that after God hath made 
 two covenants, the one of works, the other of grace, he will yet deal with 
 them neither in the way of the one, nor of the other. 
 
156 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Sect. 2. — Nom. But, sir, why may not believers amongst 
 the Gentiles receive the ten commandments as a rule of life, 
 at the hands of Moses, as well as the believers amongst the 
 Jews did ? 
 
 Evan, For answer hereunto, I pray you consider that, the 
 ten commandments being the substance of the law of nature* 
 engraven in the heart of man in innocency, and the express 
 idea, or representation of God's own image, even a beam of his 
 own holiness, they were to have been a rule of life both to 
 Adam and his posterity, though they never had been the cove- 
 nant of works ;-j- but being become the covenantof works, they 
 were to have been a rule of life to them, as a covenant of 
 works.t And then, being as it were raised out of man's heart 
 by his fall, they were made known to Adam, and the rest of 
 his believing fathers, by visions and revelations, and so were a 
 
 * Calling the ten commandments but the substance of the law of na- 
 ture, he plainly intimates, that they were not the whole of that law, but 
 that the law of nature had a penal sanction. Compare his speaking of 
 the same ten commands, still as the substance of the law of works, and of 
 the law of Christ, Pages 150, 151. Indeed, he is not of opinion, that a 
 penal sanction is inseparable from the law of nature. That would put the 
 glorified saints, and confirmed angels in heaven, (to say nothing more) 
 under a penal sanction too ; for without question, they are, and will re- 
 main for ever, under the law of nature. The truth is, the law of nature 
 is suited both to the nature of God, and to the nature of the creature ; 
 and tliere is no place for a penal sanction, where there is no possibility of 
 transgression. 
 
 t The ten commands being the substance of the law of nature, a 
 representation of God's image, and a beam of his holiness, behoved for 
 ever unalterably to be a rule of life to mankind, in all possible states, 
 conditions, and circumstances ; nothing but the utter destruction of hu- 
 man nature, and its ceasing to be, could divest them of that office, since 
 God is unchanging in his image and holiness. Hence, their being a 
 rule of life to Adam and his posterity, had no dependence on their be- 
 coming the covenant of works ; but they would have been that rule, though 
 there never had been any such covenant : yea, wliatever covenant was 
 introduced, whether of works or of grace, whatever form might be put 
 upon them, they behoved still to remain the rule of life ; no covenant, 
 no form whatsoever, could ever prejudice this their royal dignity. Now, 
 whether this state of the matter, or their being the covenant of works, 
 which was merely accessory to them, and might never have been at all, 
 is the firmer foundation, to build their being a rule of life upon, is no 
 hard question to determine. 
 
 X And would have been so always to them all, till they had perfectly 
 fulfilled that covenant, had they not been divested of that form, unto be- 
 lievers, through Jesus Christ their surety. To them they remain to be a 
 rule of life, but not under the form of the covenant of works ; but to un- 
 l)elievers they are, and still will be a rule, of life under that form. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 157 
 
 rule of life to him ;* yet not as the covenant of works, as 
 they were before his fall, and so continued until the time of 
 Moses. And as they were delivered by Moses unto the be- 
 lieving Jews from the ark, and so as from Christ, they were a 
 rule of life to them, until the time of Christ's coming in the 
 flesh.f And since Christ's coming in the flesh, they have 
 been, and are to be, a rule of life both to believing Jews and 
 believing Gentiles, unto the end of the world ; not as they are 
 deUvered by Moses, but as they are delivered by Christ : for 
 when Christ the Son comes and speaks himself, then Moses 
 the servant must keep silence ; according as Moses himself 
 foretold, Acts iii. 22, saying, " A prophet shall the Lord your 
 God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me ; him 
 shall ye hear in all things which he shall say unto you."| And, 
 therefore, when the disciples seemed to desire to hear Moses 
 
 * And to them. One will not think strange to hear, that the ten com- 
 mands wei'e, as it were, razed out of man's heart by the fall, if one 
 considers the spirituality and vast extent of them, and that they were, in 
 their perfection engraven on the heart of man, in his creation, and doth 
 withal take notice of the ruin brought on man by the fall. Hereby he 
 indeed lost the very knowledge of the law of nature, if the ten commands 
 are to be reckoned, as certainly they are, the substance and matter of 
 that law ; although he lost it not totally, but some remains thereof were 
 left with him. Concerning these the apostle speaks, Rom. i. 19, 20; and 
 ii. 14, 15. And our author teaches expressly, that the law is partly 
 known by nature, that is, in its corrupt state, See page 161. And here 
 he says, not simply, that the ten commandments were razed, though in 
 another case (page 24,) he speaks after that manner, where yet it is evi- 
 dent he means not a razing quite ; but he says, " They were, as it were, 
 razed." But what are these remains of them in comparison with that 
 body of natural laws, fairly written, and deeply engraven, on the heart of 
 innocent Adam ? If they were not, as it were, razed, what need is there 
 of writing a new copy of them in the hearts of the elect, according to the 
 promise of the new covenant ? " I will put my laws into their hearts, 
 and in their minds will I write them," Heb. x. 16, and viii. 10 ; Jer. 
 xxxi. 33. What need was there of writing them in the book of the Lord, 
 the Bible, in which they were made known again to us, as they were to 
 Adam and the believing fathers, the author speaks of, by visions and re- 
 velations ? the latter being as necessary to them as the former is to us, 
 for that end, since these supplied to them the want of the Scriptures. 
 As for those, who neither had these visions and revelations given to them- 
 selves, nor the doctrine thereby taught communicated to them by others, 
 it is manifest they could have no more knowledge of those laws, than was 
 to be found among the ruins of mankind in the fall. 
 
 t As to the delivering of the ten commandments from the ark, or the 
 tabernacle, see the sense of it, and the Scripture ground for it. Page 54, 
 note *, and page 63, note f. 
 
 + See page 155, note *. 
 
158 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 and Elias* speak on the mountain Tabor, they were presently- 
 taken away; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying " This 
 is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him," 
 Matt. xvii. 4, 5. As if the Lord had said, you are not now to 
 hear either Moses or Elias, but my ''well-beloved Son;" and, 
 therefore, I say unto you. Hear him.j- And is it not said, 
 Heb. i. 2, " That in these last days God hath spoken to us by 
 his Son?" and doth not the apostle say, "Let the word of 
 Christ dwell in you richly ; and whatsoever you do, in word 
 or deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." The 
 wife must be subject unto the husband, as unto Christ ;:{; the 
 child must yield obedience to his parents, as unto Christ ; and 
 the believing servant must do his master's business, as Christ's 
 business ; for says the apostle, " Ye serve the Lord Christ," 
 Col. iii. 16 — 24. Yea, says he to the Galatians, "Bear ye one 
 another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ," Gal. vi. 2. 
 
 Ant. Sir, I like it very well, that you say, Christ should be 
 a Christian's teacher, and not Moses ; but yet I question whe- 
 ther the ten commandments may be called the law of Christ ; 
 for where can you find them repeated, either by our Saviour, 
 or his apostles, in the whole New Testament ? 
 
 Evan. Though we find not that they are repeated in such 
 a method as they are set down in Exodus and Deuteronomy, 
 yet so long as we find that Christ and his apostles did require 
 and command these things, that are therein commanded, and 
 reprove and condemn those things that are therein forbidden, 
 and that both by their lives and doctrines, it is sufficient to 
 prove them to be the law of Christ.§ 
 
 * The former, the giver of the law, the latter the restorer of it. 
 
 t " Which words establish Christ as the only doctor and teacher of his 
 church ; the only one whom he had betrusted to deliver his truths and 
 will to his people ; the only one to whom Christians are to hearken," 
 Sup. to Poole's Annot. on Matt. xvii. 5. 
 
 X "Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto the Lord," 
 Kph. V. 22. 
 
 § Whether or not this be sufficient to prove them to be the law of 
 Christ, having a divine, authoritave, binding power on men's consciences, 
 notwithstanding of the term doctrines here used by the author, one may 
 judge from these texts : Matt. vii. 28, 29, "The people were astonished 
 at his doctrine, for he taught them as one liaving authority, and not as the 
 scribes." — John vii. 16, " My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me." 
 — Heb. i. 1 — 3, " God who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake 
 in time past unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days 
 spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, 
 by whom also he made the worlds ; who being the brightness of his glory, 
 and the express image of his person," &c. — Matt, xxvii. 18 — 20, "All 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 159 
 
 Ant. I think, indeed, they have done so, touching some of 
 the commandments, but not touching all. 
 
 Evan. Because you say so, I entreat you to consider, — 
 
 Isf, Whether the true knowledge of God required, John 
 iii. 19 ; and the want of it condemned, 2 Thess. i. 8; and the 
 true love of God required, Matt. xxii. 37 ; and the want of it 
 reproved, John v. 4'2 ; and the true fear of God required, 
 1 Pet. ii. 17; Heb. xii. 28; and the want of it condemned, 
 Rom. iii. 18; and the true trusting in God required, and the 
 trusting in the creature forbidden, 2 Cor. i. 9; 1 Tim. vi. 17; 
 be not the substance of the first commandment. 
 
 And consider, 2dli/, Whether the " hearing and reading of 
 God's word," commended, John v. 39 ; Rev. i. 3 ; and " pray- 
 er," required, Rom. xii. 12 ; 1 Thess. v. 17 ; and " singing of 
 psalms," required. Col. iii. 16; James v. 13: and whether 
 " idolatry," forbidden, 1 Cor. x. 14 ; 1 John v. 21, be not the 
 substance of the second commandment ? 
 
 And consider, 3dli/, W'hether " worshipping of God in 
 vain," condemned, Matt. xv. 9 ; and " using vain repetitions 
 in prayer," forbidden, Matt. vi. 7 ; and " hearing of the word 
 only, and not doing," forbidden, James i. 22 ; whether " wor- 
 shipping God in spirit and truth," commanded, John iv. 24 ; 
 and " praying with the spirit and with understanding also ;" 
 and "singing Avith the spirit" and "with understanding 
 also," commended, 1 Cor. xiv. 15 ; and " taking heed what we 
 hear," Mark iv. 24 ; be not the substance of the third com- 
 mandment ? 
 
 Consider, 4thli/, Whether Christ's rising from the dead the 
 first day of the week, Mark xvi. 2, 9 ; the disciples assembling, 
 and Christ's appearing unto them, two several first days of the 
 week, John xx. 19, 26 ; and the disciples coming together and 
 breaking bread, and preaching afterwards on that day. Acts 
 XX. 7 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 2 ; and John's being in the Spirit on the 
 Lord's day. Rev. i. 10 ; I say, consider whether these things 
 do not prove, that the first day of the week is to be kept as 
 the Christian Sabbath ? 
 
 Consider, 5thli/, Whether the apostle's saying, " Children, 
 
 power is given unto me in heaven and earth : go ye, therefore, and teach 
 all nations, to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." 
 The original word, in the Old Testament, rendered law, doth properly 
 signify a doctrine. Hence, Matt. xv. 9, "Teaching for doctrines the 
 commandments of men," i. e. the laws and commands of men, for the 
 laws and commands of God. Compare verses 4 — 6. 
 
160 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right : honour thy 
 father and thy mother, which is the first commandment, with 
 promise," Eph. vi. 1, 2, and all these other exhortations, given 
 by him and the apostle Peter, both to inferiors and superiors, 
 to do their duty to each other, Eph. v. 22, 25 ; Eph. vi. 4, 5, 
 9 ; Col. iii. 18—22 ; Tit. iii. I ; 1 Pet. iii. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 18; 
 I say, consider whether all these places do not prove that the 
 duties of the fifth commandment are requh'ed in the New Tes- 
 tament ? 
 
 Here you see are five of the ten commandments ; and as 
 for the other five, the apostle reckons them up altogether, 
 saying, " Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill, 
 Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou 
 shalt not covet," Rom. xiii. 9. Now, judge you whether the 
 ten commandments be not repeated in the New Testament ; 
 and so consequently whether they be not the law of Christ, 
 and whether a believer be not under the law of Christ, or 
 " in the law through Christ," as the apostle's phrase is, 1 
 Cor. ix. 21. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Ant. But yet, sir, as I remember, both Luther 
 and Calvin do speak as though a believer were so quite freed 
 from the law by Christ, as that he need not make any con- 
 science at all of yielding obedience to it. 
 
 Evan. I know right well that Luther on the Galatians, 
 p. 59, says, " The conscience hath nothing to do with the law 
 or works ;" and that Calvin, in his Instit. p. 403, says, " The 
 conscience of the faithful, when the afl^iance of their justifica- 
 tion before God is to be sought, must raise and advance them- 
 selves above the law, and forget the whole righteousness of 
 the law, and lay aside all thinking upon works." Now, for 
 the true understanding of these two worthy servants of Christ, 
 two things are to be considered and concluded. First, That 
 when they speak thus of the law, it 4s evident they mean only 
 in the case of justification. Secondly, That when the con- 
 science hath to do with the law in the case of justification, it 
 hath to do with it only as it is the covenant of works ; for as 
 the law is the law of Christ, it neither justifies nor condemn?.* 
 
 * That is, the law of the ten commandments, commonly called the moral 
 law, as it is tl)e law of Christ, neither justifies nor condemns men's per- 
 sons in the sight of God. How can it do either the one or the other as 
 snch, since to be under it, as it is the law of Christ, is the peculiar pri- 
 vilege of believers, already justified by grace, and set beyond the reach 
 of condemnation ; according to that of tlie apostle, Rom. viii. 1, " There 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 161 
 
 And so, if you understand it of the law, as it is the covenant 
 of works, according to their meaning, then it is most true 
 what they say ; for why should a man let the law come into 
 his conscience ? That is, why should a man make any con- 
 science of doing the law, to be justified thereby, considering it 
 as a thing impossible ? Nay, what need hath a man to make 
 conscience of doing the law to be justified thereby, when he 
 knows he is already justified another way ? Nay, what need 
 hath a man to make conscience of doing that law, which is 
 
 is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." 
 But to say that this makes the law of Clirist despicable, is to forget the 
 sovereign authority of God in him, his matchless love in dying for sin- 
 ners, the endearing relations wherein he stands to his people, and upon 
 the one hand, the enjoyment of actual communion and fellowship with 
 God, and the many precious tokens of his love, to be conferred on them, 
 in the way of close walking with God ; and upon the other hand, the 
 want of that communion and fellowship, and the many fearful tokens of 
 his anger against them for their sins. (See sec. 11.) All these belong to 
 the law of Christ, and will never be despicable in the eyes of any gracious 
 soul ; though I doubt if ever hell and damnation were more despised in 
 the eyes of others, than they are at this day, wherein believers and unbe- 
 lievers are set so much on a level with respect to these awful things. 
 
 As to the point of condemnation, it is evident from Scripture, that no 
 law can condemn those " who are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34. 
 And the law, as it is the covenant of works, condemns all those who are 
 not in Christ, but under the law. Gal. iii. 10; Rom. iii. 19. And par- 
 ticularly, it condemns every unbeliever, whose condemnation will be fear- 
 fully aggravated by his rejection of the Gospel offer ; the which rejected 
 offer will be a witness against him in the judgment ; in respect whereof 
 our Lord says, John xii. 48, " The word that I have spoken, the same 
 shall judge him in the last day." Compare chap. xv. 22, " If I had not 
 come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin ; but now they have 
 no cloak for their sin." Therefore the law, which unbelievers still re- 
 main under, as a covenant of works, will condemn them with a double 
 condemnation. John iii. 18, "He that believeth not is condemned 
 already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten 
 Son of God." And hence it appears that there is as little need of, as 
 there is warrant for, a condemning Gospel. The holy Scriptm-e states it 
 as the difference betwixt the law and the Gospel, that the former is the 
 ministration of condemnation and death, the latter, the ministration of 
 righteousness and life. 2 Cor. iii. 6 — 9. Compare John xii. 47, " If any 
 man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to 
 judge the world, but to save the world." 
 
 As to the point of justification ; no man is, nor can be justified by the 
 law. It is true, the Neonomians or Baxterians, to wind in a righteous- 
 ness of our own into the case of justification, do turn the Gospel into a 
 new law, properly so called ; and do tell us, that the Gospel justifieth as a 
 law, and roundly own what is the necessary consequent of that doctrine, 
 namely, that faith justifieth, as it is our evangelical righteousness, or our 
 keeping the Gospel law, which runs thus : He that believeth shall not 
 
162 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 dead to him, and he to it ? Hath a woman any need to make 
 conscience of doing her duty to her husband when he is dead, 
 nay, when she herself is dead also ? or, hath a debtor any need 
 to make any conscience of paying that debt which is already 
 fully discharged by his surety ? Will any man be afraid of 
 that obligation which is made void, the seal torn off, the writing 
 defaced, nay, not only cancelled and crossed, but torn in 
 pieces.* I remember the apostle says, Heb. x. 1, 2, That 
 if the sacrifices which were offered in the Old Testament 
 " could have made the comers thereunto perfect, and have 
 purged the worshippers, then should they have had no mora 
 conscience of sin ;" that is, their conscience would not have 
 accused them of being guilty of sins. Now, the " blood of 
 Christ" hath " purged the conscience" of a believer from his 
 sins, chap. ix. 14, as they are transgressions against the cove- 
 nant of works : and, therefore, what needs his conscience be 
 troubled about that covenant ? But now, I pray you, observe 
 
 perish. (Gibbon's Ser. Morn. Ex. Meth. p. 418—421.) But the holy 
 Scripture teaches, that we are justified by grace, and by no law nor deed, 
 (or work of a law, properly so called,) call it the law of Christ, or the 
 Gospel law, or what law one pleaseth ; and thereby faith itself, considered 
 as a deed or work of a law, is excluded from the justification of a sinner, 
 and hath place therein, only as an instrument. Gal. iii. 11, "That no 
 man is justified by a law in the sight of God, it is evident." — Chap. v. 4, 
 " Whosoever of you are justified by a law, ye are fallen from grace." — 
 Rom. iii. 28, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, 
 without deeds of a law." — Gal. ii. 16, " Knowing that a man is not jus- 
 tified by works of a law." I read, a law, deeds, works, simply ; because 
 so the original words, used in these texts, do undeniably signify. 
 
 To this agrees Westra. Confess, chap. xi. art. 1, " These whom God 
 effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, not for any thing wrought in 
 them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone ; not by imputing 
 faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience, to 
 them, as their righteousness; but," &c. Larg. Cat. quest. 73. — "Faith 
 justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not as if the grace of faith, or any 
 act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification; but only as it is 
 an instrument by which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his right- 
 eousness." Westm. Confess, chap. xix. art. (i. — " 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." From this last passage of the con- 
 fession, two important points plainly offer themselves. (1.) That the law 
 is a rule of life to believers, directing and binding them to duty, though 
 they are neither justified nor condemned by it. (2.) That neither justi- 
 , fying nor concjemning belong unto the law, as a rule of life simply, but 
 as a covenant i)f works. And these are the very points here taught by 
 our author. 
 
 * Col. ii. 14, " Blotting out the hand-writing, nailing it to his cross," 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 16^ 
 
 and take notice, that although Luther and Calvin do thus ex- 
 empt a believer from the law, in the case of justification, and 
 as it is the law or covenant of works, yet they do not so, out 
 of the case of justification, and as it is the law of Christ. 
 
 For thus saith Luther, on the Galatians, p. 182, " Out of 
 the matter of justification, we ought, with Paul, Rom. vii. 12, 
 14, to think reverently of the law, to commend it highly, to 
 call it holy, righteous, just, good, spiritual, and divine. Yea^ 
 out of the case of justification, we ought to make a god of 
 it."* And in another place, says he, on the Galatians, p. 5, 
 " There is a civil righteousness, and a ceremonial righteous- 
 ness ; yea, and besides these, there is another righteousness, 
 which is the righteousness of the law, or of the ten command- 
 ments, which Moses teacheth ; this also we teach after the 
 doctrine of faith." And in another place, he having showed 
 that believers, through Christ, are far above the law, adds, 
 " Howbeit, I will not deny but Moses showeth to them their 
 duties, in which respect they are to be admonished and urged ; 
 wherefore such doctrines and admonitions ought to be among 
 Christians, as it is certain there was among the apostles, 
 whereby every man may be admonished of his estate and 
 office." 
 
 And Calvin, having said, as I told you before, " That 
 Christians, in the case of justification, must raise and advance 
 themselves above the law," adds, " Neither can any man 
 thereby gather that the law is superfluous to the faithful, 
 whom, notwithstanding, it doth not cease to teach, exhort, and 
 prick forward to goodness, although before God's judgment- 
 seat it hath no place in their conscience." 
 
 Ant. But, sir, if I forget not, Musculus says, " That the 
 law is utterly abrogated." 
 
 Evan. Indeed, Musculus, speaking of the ten command- 
 ments, says, if they be weak, if they be the letter, if they do 
 work transgression, anger, curse, and death : and if Christ, 
 by the law of the Spirit of life, delivered them that believed in 
 him from the law of the letter, which was weak to justify, and 
 strong to condemn, and from the curse, being made a curse 
 for us, surely, they be abrogated. Now, this is most certain, 
 that the ten commandments do no way work transgression, 
 anger, curse, and death, but only as they are the covenant of 
 
 * That is, raise our esteem of it to the highest pitch, and give it illi- 
 mitable obedience. Compare this with what is cited from the same 
 Luther concerning the law, page 93. 
 
164 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 works.* Neither hath Christ delivered beUevers any other- 
 wise from them, than as they are the covenant of works. And 
 ■therefore we may assuredly conclude, that they are no other- 
 wise abrogated, than as they are the covenant of works.f 
 
 * According to the Holy Scripture, it is certain, that the law of the ten 
 commandments has an irritating effect, whereby they increase sin ; and a 
 condemning and killing effect, so that they work curse, death, and wrath, 
 called anger (it would seem) in the language of our forefathers, when 
 Musculus's common places were Englished. And it is no less certain, 
 that Jesus Christ hath delivered believers from the law as it hath these 
 effects, Rom. xiv. 15, " For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is 
 made void, and the promise made of none effect, because the law woi-keth 
 wrath." — Chap. vii. 5, 6, " For when we were in the flesh, the motions of 
 sins which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit 
 unto death. But now we are delivered from the law that we should 
 serve in newness of spirit," &c. — Chap. viii. 2, " For the law of the spirit 
 of life, in Christ Jesus, has made me free from the law of sin and death." 
 — Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being 
 made a curse for us." If then the ten commandments have these effects, 
 not only as they are the covenant of works, but as they are the law of 
 Christ, or a rule of life, then believers are altogether delivered from them, 
 which is absurd and abominable doctrine. Therefore it evidently fol- 
 lows, that the ten commandments have these effects, only as they are the 
 covenant of works. The truth is, unto a gracious soul, the strongest 
 possible temptation to Antinomianism, or casting off the ten command- 
 ments for good and all, would be to labour to persuade him, that they 
 have these effects, not only as they are the covenant of works, but as they 
 are the law of Christ ; so that, take them what way he will, he shall find 
 they have not only a cursing, condemning, and killing power, but also an 
 irritating effect, increasing sin in him. Nevertheless, a Christian man's 
 doing against them (which is the reverend Musculus's phrase, as cited by 
 the author in the following page) may be a transgression, for a man may 
 transgress the law, though the motions of his sins be not by the law. 
 And how such a man's sinning is more outrageous than an ungodly man's 
 will convincingly appear, if one measures the outrageousness of sinning, 
 by the obligations to duty lying on the sinner, and not by his personal 
 hazard, which is a measure more becoming a slave than a son. 
 
 t Thus our author has proved, that the law of the ten commandments 
 is a rule of life to believers ; and hath vindicated Luther and Calvin from 
 the opposite Antinomian error, as he does Musculus also, in the follow- 
 ing words : and that from their express declarations, in their own words. 
 And here is the conclusion of the whole matter. To show the judgment 
 of other orthodox Protestant divines, on this head, against the Antino- 
 mians, it will not be amiss to adduce a passage out of a system of divinity, 
 commonly put into the hands of students not very many years ago, I am 
 sure. " It is one thing (says Turretine, disputing against the Antino- 
 mians) to be under the law as a covenant ; another thing, not to be under 
 the law as a rule of life. In the former sense, Paul says, ' That we are 
 not under the law, but under grace,' Rom. vi. 14, as to its covenant rela- 
 tion, curse, and rigour ; but in the latter sense we always remain bound 
 unto it, though for a different end ; for in the first covenant man was to 
 do this, to the end that he might live ; but iu the other, he is bound to 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 165 
 
 Neither did Musculus intend any otherwise ; for sa\'s he, in 
 the words following, it must not be understood, that the points 
 of the substance of Moses' covenant are utterly brought to 
 nothing ;* God forbid. For a Christian man is not at liberty 
 to do those things that are ungodly and wicked ; and if the do- 
 ing of those things the law forbids, do not displease Christ ; if 
 they be not much different,-]- yea contrary ; if they be not re- 
 pugnant to the righteousness which we received of him ; let 
 it be lawful for a Christian man to do them ; or else not4 
 But a Christian man doing against those things which are 
 commanded in the decalogue, doth sin more outrageously 
 than he that should so do, being under the law ;§ so far off is 
 
 perform the same thing, not that he may Hre, but because he lives." 
 Turret, loc. 11. quest. 24. thes. 7. View again, Westra. Confess, chap. 
 19. art. fi, the words whereof are cited page 166. note 7. Hereunto, 
 agreeth our author's conclusion, viz. That believers are no otherwise, 
 not any otherwise delivered from the law of the ten commandments, but 
 as they are the covenant of works. Now, how can those who oppose 
 Antinomianism, on this head, contradict the author thereupon but by 
 asserting, " That believers are not delivered from the law, as it is the 
 covenant of works, but that they are still under the power of the covenant 
 of works ?" The which are principles as opposite to the received doctrine 
 of orthodox Protestant divines, and to the confession of faith, as they are 
 to the doctrine of our author. 
 
 * That is, that the particular precepts of the law of the ten command- 
 ments, called by Musculus the substance of the law-covenant, are disan- 
 nulled, and no more to be regarded. 
 
 t That is, very unsuitable. 
 
 X That is, or if they be, as certainly they are, displeasing to Christ : 
 most unsuitable, contrary, and repugnant to the righteousness which the 
 believer hath received from Christ, then they are by no means to be done. 
 
 § These are the words of Musculus still, adduced by the author to 
 show, that that famous divine was no Antinomian ; and if they will not 
 serve to clear him, but he must still be on that side, I apprehend ortho- 
 dox Protestants will be sorry for their loss of that great man. But though 
 it be observed, that he speaks of doing against the things commanded in 
 the law, but not against the law itself, there is no hazard : for it is evi- 
 dent, that by the law, Musculus understands the covenant of works, or, in 
 his style, Moses's covenant ; and since he was not of the opinion that be- 
 lievers are under the covenant of works, no, nor under the commanding 
 power of that covenant, he could not say that they sinned against it. 
 However, he still looks on the ten commandments, the substance of that 
 covenant, to be also the law of Christ, binding the Christian man to obe- 
 dience. From his saying, That a Christian doing against these things, 
 sins more outrageously than one who is under the law ; it does, indeed, 
 follow, that a Christian's sin is more displeasing to God, and deserves a 
 heavier curse in itself, though in the mean time, the law of Christ has no 
 curse annexed unto the transgressions of it. For, sin's deserving of a 
 curse, arises not from the threatening, but from its contrariety to the 
 precept, and consequently, so the holy nature of God ; since it is mani- 
 
166 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 he from being free from those things that be there com- 
 manded. 
 
 Sect. 4. — Wherefore, friend Antinomista, if either you, or 
 any man else, shall, under a pretence of your being in Christ, 
 exempt yourselves from being under the law of the ten com- 
 mands, as they are the law of Christ, I tell you truly, it is a 
 shrewd sign you are not yet in Christ ; for if you were, then 
 Christ were in you ; and if Christ were in you, then would he 
 govern you, and you would be subject unto him. I am sure 
 the prophet Isaiah tells us, that the same Lord, who is our 
 Saviour, " is also our King and Lawgiver," Isa. xxxiii. 22 ; 
 and, truly, he will not be Jesus a Saviour to any but only to 
 those unto whom he is Christ a Lord ; for the very truth is, 
 wheresoever he is Jesus a Saviour, he is also Christ a Lord ; 
 and, therefore, I beseech you, examine yourself whether he be 
 so to you or no. 
 
 Aiit. Why then, sir, it seems that you stand upon marks 
 and signs ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed, I stand so much upon marks and signs, 
 that I say unto you in the words of the apostle John, 1 John iii.lO, 
 " In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of 
 the devil ; whosoever does not righteousness, is not of God." 
 For says Luther, " He that is trulj baptised, is become a new 
 man, and has a new nature, and is endowed with new disposi- 
 tions ; and loveth, liveth, speaketh, and does far otherwise than 
 he was wont, or could before." For says godly Tindal, " God 
 worketh with his word, and in his word : and bringeth faith 
 into the hearts of his elect, and looseth the heart from sin, and 
 knitteth it to God, and gives a man power to do that which 
 was before impossible for him to do, and turneth him into a 
 new nature."* And, therefore, says Luther in another place, 
 " Herein works are to be extolled and commended, in that they 
 are fruits and signs of faith ; and, therefore, he that hath no 
 regard how he leadeth his life, that he may stop the mouths of 
 all blamers and accusers, and clear himself before all, and tes- 
 
 fest that sin does not therefore deserve a curse, because a curse is threat- 
 ened ; but a curse is threatened, because sin deserves it. And the sins 
 of believers do in themselves deserve a heavier curse than the sins of 
 others. Yet the law of Christ has not a curse annexed to the transgres- 
 sions of it ; because the heavy curse, deserved by the sins of believers, 
 was already laid on Christ, to whom they are united, and he bare it for 
 them, and bore it away from them ; so that they cannot be threatened 
 with it over again, after their union with him. 
 * Tliat is, makes him a new man. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITV'. y 167 
 
 tify that he has lived, spoken, and done well, is not yet a Chris- 
 tian. How then, says Tindal again, " Dare any man think 
 that God's favour is on him, and God's Spirit within him, when 
 he feels not the working of his Spirit, nor himself disposed to 
 any good thing?"* 
 
 Ant. But, by your favour, sir, I am persuaded that many 
 a man deceives his own soul by these marks and signs. 
 
 Evan, Indeed, I must needs confess with Mr. Bolton and 
 Mr. Dyke, that in these times of Christianity, a reprobate 
 may make a glorious profession of the Gospel, and perform 
 all the duties and exercises of religion, and that, in outward 
 appearance, with as great spirit and zeal as a true believer; 
 yea, he may be made partaker* of some measure of inward il- 
 lumination, and have a shadow of true regeneration ; there 
 being no grace effectually wrought in the faithful, a resem- 
 blance whereof may not be found in the unregenerate. And 
 therefore, I say, if any man pitch upon the sign, without the 
 thing signified by the sign,f that is, if he pitch upon his 
 graces (or gifts rather) and duties, and conclude assurance 
 from them, as they are in him, and come from him, without 
 having reference to Jesus Christ, as the root and fountain of 
 them ; then are they deceitful marks and signs : J but if he 
 look upon them with reference to Jesus Christ, then are they 
 not deceitful, but true evidences and demonstrations of faith 
 in Christ. And this a man does, when he looks upon his out- 
 ward actions as flowing from the inward actions of his mind, 
 and upon the inward actions of his mind as flowing from the 
 habits of grace within him, and upon the habits of grace with- 
 in him as flowing from his justification, and upon his justifi- 
 cation as flowing from his faith, and upon his faith as given by 
 and embracing Jesus Christ: thus, I say, if he rests not till 
 
 * Namely, habitually. 
 
 t Namely, Christ in the heart. 
 
 J Because all true grace and acceptable duty flow from Jesus Christ, 
 dwelling in one's heart by his Spirit ; and whatsoever comes not that way, 
 is but a show and semblance of these things, Rom. viii. 9, " If any maa 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." — John xv. 5, "Without 
 me ye can do nothing." — Chap. i. 16, " And of his fulness have we all 
 received, and grace for grace." — Gal. ii. 20, " I live, yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me." — " The cause of good works we confess to be, not our free- 
 will, but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, who, dwelling in our hearts, by 
 true faith, bringeth forth such works as God has prepared for us to walk 
 in." Old Confess, art. 13. — " So good works follow as effects of Christ 
 in us possessed by faith." Mr. John Davidson's Cat. p. 30, 
 
168 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 he comes to Christ, his marks and signs are not deceitful, but 
 true.* 
 
 * Here is a chain, serving to lead a child of God unto assurance, that 
 he is in the state of grace ; wherein duties and graces, being run up unto 
 their true spring, do so shine after trial of them, as one may conclude as- 
 surance from them, as the author phrases it. And here it is to be ob- 
 served, that these words, "outward actions — actions of the mind — habits 
 of grace — ^justification — faith — embracing of Christ," are, in the progress 
 of the trial, to be taken in their general notion, agreeing both to what is 
 true, and what is false, in each particular; as faith feigned and unfeigned, 
 justification real and imaginary, grace common and saving, &c. For the 
 special nature of these is still supposed to be undetermined to the person 
 imder trial, until he come to the end of trial. This is evident from the 
 nature of the thing : and from the author's words too, in the sentence 
 immediately preceding, where he says, " If he pitch upon his graces, or 
 gifts rather;" the which correction he makes, because the former word 
 is ordinarily restricted to saving grace, the latter not so. And hence it 
 appears that the author was far from imagining that a man must have 
 the assurance he speaks of, before he can conclude it from his graces or 
 duties. 
 
 The links of this chain are five. The first, Outward actions, or works 
 materially good, flowing from the inward actions of the mind : otherwise 
 they are but pieces of gross dissimulation, as was the respect and honour 
 put upon Christ by the Herodians and others, when they asked him, " If 
 it was lawful to give tribute unto Caesar?" Matt. xxii. 16 — 18. The 
 second, These actions of the mind, flowing from the habits of grace, 
 within the man; otherwise they are but fair flowers, which, "because 
 they have no root, wither away," Matt. xiii. 6 ; like the Israelites, their 
 seeking, returning, inquiring after, and remembering God, when he slew 
 them. Psalm Ixxviii. 34 — 37. The third, Those habits of grace within 
 the man, flowing from his justification ; otherwise they are but the habits 
 of common grace, or of mere moral virtues, to be found in hypocritical 
 professors, and sober heathens. The fourth. The man's justification, 
 flowing from his faith ; otherwise it is but as the imaginary justification 
 of Pharisees, Papists, and legalists, who are they which justify themselves, 
 Luke xvi. 15. The jffth, His faith given by Christ, and embracing Christ : 
 otherwise it is but feigned faith, which never knits the soul to Christ, but 
 leaves the man in the case of the fruitless branch, which is to be " taken 
 away," John xv. 2. 
 
 This chain is not of our author's framing, but is a Scriptural one. 1 
 Tim. i. 5, " Now (1.) the end of the commandment is charity, (2.) out 
 of a pure heart, (3.) and of a good conscience, (4.) and of faith, (5.) 
 unfeigned." — " Wherein the apostle teacheth, that the obedience of the 
 law must flow from love, and love from a pure heart, and a pure heart 
 from a good conscience, and a good conscience from faith unfeigned ; 
 thus he maketh the only right channel of good works." Practical Use of 
 Saving Knowledge ; tit. " The third thing requisite to evidence true 
 faith, is, that obedience to the law run in the right channel, that is through 
 faith in Christ." 
 
 If one examines himself by this infallible rule, he cannot take his obe- 
 dience for a mark or evidence of his being in the state of grace, until he 
 run it up unto his faith, embracing Christ. But then finding that his 
 faith made him a good conscience, and his good conscience a pure heart, 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 169 
 
 Ant But, sir, if an unbeliever maj^ have a resemblance of 
 every grace that is wrought in a believer, then it must be a 
 
 and his pure heart produced love, from whence his obedience flowed ; in 
 that case, his obedience is a true mark of the unfeignedness of his faith ; 
 from whence he may assuredly conclude, that he is in the state of grace. 
 Our author's method being a copy of this, the objections against it must 
 affect both. 
 
 Let us suppose two men to put themselves on a trial of their state, ac- 
 cording to this method, and to pitch upon some external duties of theirs, 
 or some graces which they seem to discern in themselves, as to the sub- 
 stance thereof; though, as yet, they know not the specific nature of the 
 same, namely, whether they be true or false. 
 
 The one finds, that his external duties proceeded not from the inward 
 actions of his mind ; or if they did, that yet these actions of his mind did 
 not proceed from habits of grace in him ; or if they did proceed from 
 these, yet these flowed not from his justification, or, which is the same, 
 followed not upon the purging of his conscience ; or if they did, that yet 
 his justification, or good conscience, such as they are, proceeded not from 
 his faith ; or if they did proceed from it, that yet that faith of his did not 
 embrace Christ, and consequently was not of the special operation of 
 God, or given him by Christ in him, by bis spirit. In all, or any of these 
 cases, it is plain that the external duties, or the (so called) graces, which 
 he pitched upon, can be no true marks from which he may conclude 
 .himself to be in a state of grace. 
 
 The other finds that his external duties did indeed flow from the in- 
 ward actions of his mind, and these from habits of grace in him, and 
 these again from his justification or good conscience, and that from his 
 faith, and that his faith embraced Christ. Here two things are observa- 
 ble : (1.) That neither the duties nor graces pitched upon, could be sure 
 marks to him, before he came to the last point ; in regard of the flaw 
 that possibly might still be found in the immediate or mediate springs of 
 them. And therefore the looking, mentioned by the author, is indeed a 
 progressive knowledge and discovery, but still unclear and uncertain, till 
 one comes to the end, and the whole evidence is put together ; even as it 
 is in searching out some abstruse point, by observation of the depend- 
 ence and connexion things have one with another. Wherefore our 
 author does by no means suppose, that I must know certainly that I am 
 in Christ and justified, and that my faith is given me by Christ, before 
 these duties or graces can be true marks or evidences to me. (2.) That 
 the man perceiving his embracing of Christ, as to the substance of the 
 action, is assured of the saving nature of it, (namely, that it is a faith 
 uniting him to Christ, and given him by Christ in him) by the train of 
 effects he sees to have followed it, according to the established order in 
 the covenant of grace : I Tim. i. 5. From which effects of his faith em- 
 bracing Christ, that which might have deceived him, was all along gra- 
 dually removed in the progress. Thus he is indeed sent back to the 
 fruits of his faith, for true marks and evidences of it ; but he is sent 
 back to them, as standing clear now in his regress, though they were not 
 so in his progress. And at. this rate he is not left to run in a circle, but 
 has a comfortable end of his self-examination, being assured by his du- 
 ties and graces, the fruits of his faith, that his faith is unfeigned, and 
 himself in the state of grace. Of the placing of faith before the habits 
 of g:race, see p. 190, note f. 
 
 I 
 
170 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 hard matter to find out the difference : and therefore I con- 
 ceive it is best for a man not to trouble himself at all about 
 marks and signs. 
 
 Evan. Give me leave to deal plainly with you, in telling 
 you, that although we cannot say, every one that hath a form 
 of godliness hath also the power of godliness, yet we may 
 truly say, that he who hath not the form of godliness, hath not 
 the power of godliness; for though all be not gold that glit- 
 ters, yet all gold doth glitter. And therefore, I tell you truly, 
 if you have no regard to make the law of Christ your rule, by 
 endeavouring to do what is required in the ten command- 
 ments, and to avoid what is there forbidden, it is a very evil 
 sign : and, therefore, I pray you consider of it. 
 
 Sect. 5. — Ant. But, sir, you know the Lord hath promised 
 to write his law in a believiT's heart, and to give him his Spirit 
 to lead him into all truth : and therefore he hath no need of 
 the law, written with paper and ink, to be a rule of life to 
 him ; neither hath he any need to endeavour to be obedient 
 thereunto, as you say. 
 
 Evan. Indeed, says Luther, the matter would even so fare 
 as you say, if we were perfectly and altogether the inward 
 and spiritual men, which cannot be in any wise before the 
 last day at the rising again of the dead :* so long as we be 
 clothed with this mortal flesh, we do but begin and proceed 
 onwards in our course towards perfection, which will be con- 
 summated in the life to come : and for this cause the apostle, 
 Rom. viii, doth call this the " first fruits of the Spirit," which 
 we do enjoy in this life, the truth and fulness of which we shall 
 receive in the life to come. And therefore, say he in another 
 place, it is necessary so to preach to them that have received 
 the doctrine of faith, that they might be stirred up to go on in 
 good life, which they have embraced ; and that they suffer 
 not themselves to be overcome by the assaults of the raging 
 flesh ; for we will not so presume of the doctrine of faith, as 
 if, that being had, every man might do what he listed : no, we 
 must earnestly endeavour ourselves, that we may be without 
 
 * We would have no need for the law written without us, if, as we are 
 spiritual in part, in respect of sanctification bep^un in us, we were per- 
 fectly and altogether spiritual, both in body and soul, liut that is not 
 to be expected till the resurrection ; when that which is now " sown a 
 natural body, is raised a spiritual body," 1 Cor. xv. 44 ; beinp re-united 
 to the spirit or soul " made perfect at death ;" Heb. xii. 2.'i ; the which 
 doth therefore no more, from the moment of death, need the law written 
 without it. 
 
Chap. . MODERN DIVINITY. 171 
 
 blame ; and when we cannot attain thereunto, we must flee to 
 prayer, and say before God and man, " Forgive us our tres- 
 passes." And, says Calvin, Instit. p. 162, one proper use and 
 end of the law, concerning the faithful,* in whose hearts liveth 
 and reigneth the Spirit of God, is this : namely, although they 
 have the law written and engraven in their hearts by the 
 finger of God, yet is thef law to them a very good means, 
 whereby they may daily, better and more assuredly, learn what 
 is the will of the Lord : and let none of us exempt himself 
 from this need, for no man hath hitherto attained to so great 
 wisdom, but that he hath need to be daily instructed by the 
 law. And herein Christ differeth from us, that the Father 
 hath poured out upon him the infinite abundance of his Spirit ; 
 but whatsoever we do receive, it is so by measure, that we 
 have need one of another. 
 
 Now mind it, I pray you, if believers have the Spirit but in 
 measure, and know but in pa7% then have they the " law 
 written in their hearts" but in measure and in part,X I Cor. 
 xiii. 9 ; and if they have the law written in their hearts but in 
 measure and in part, then have they not a perfect rule within 
 them ; and if they have not a perfect rule within them, then 
 they have need to have a rule without them. And therefore, 
 doubtless, the strongest believer of us all, had need to hearken 
 to the advice of Tindal, who says, " Seek the word of God in 
 all things, and without the word of God do nothing." And 
 says another godly and evangelical writer, " My brethren, let 
 us do oar whole endeavour to do the will of God as it be- 
 coraeth good children, and beware that we sin not, as near as 
 we can." 
 
 Ant. Well sir, I cannot tell what to say, but, methinks, 
 when a man is perfectly justified by faith, it is a very needless 
 thing for him to endeavour to keep the law, and to do good 
 works.§ 
 
 * That is, respecting believers. 
 
 t Written. 
 
 X They have not the law written completely and perfectly in their 
 hearts. 
 
 § This Antinomian principle, That it is needless for a man, perfectly 
 justified by faith, to endeavour to keep the law, and do good works, is a 
 glaring evidence that legality is so engrained in man's corrupt nature, 
 that until a man truly come to Christ, by faith, the legal disposition will 
 still be reigning in him ; let him turn himself into what shape, or bie of 
 what principles he will in religion ; though he run into Antinomianism, 
 he will carry along with him his legal spirit, which will always be a slavish 
 
 I 2 
 
172 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Evan. I remember Luther says, that in his time there 
 were some that did reason after the like manner : " If faith, 
 say they, do accomplish all things, and if faith be only and 
 alone sufficient unto righteousness, to what end are we com- 
 manded to do good deeds ? we may go play then, and work 
 no working at all." To whom he makes an answer, saying, 
 '' Not so, ye ungodly ! not so." And there were others that 
 said, " If the law do not justify, then it is in vain, and of none 
 effect." " Yet it is not therefore true, says he ; for like as this 
 consequence is nothing worth, money doth not justify or make 
 a man righteous, therefore it is unprofitable ; the eyes do not 
 justify, therefore they must be plucked out ; the hands make 
 not a man righteous, therefore they must be cut off; so is this 
 naught also. The law doth not justify, therefore it is unpro- 
 fitable. We do not therefore destroy and condemn the law, 
 because we say it doth not justify ; but we say with Paul, 
 I Tim. i. 8, " the law is good, if a man do rightly use it." 
 And that this is a faithful saying, that they " which have be- 
 lieved in God might be careful to maintain good works ; these 
 things are good and profitable unto men," Tit. iii. 8. 
 
 Sect. 6. — Neo. Truly, sir, for mine own part, I do much 
 marvel that this my friend Antinomista should be so confident 
 of his faith in Christ, and yet so little regard holiness of life, 
 and keeping of Christ's commandments, as it seems he does. 
 For I give the Lord thanks, I do now, in some small measure, 
 believe that I am, by Christ, freely and fully justified and ac- 
 quitted from all my sins, and therefore have no need either to 
 eschew evil or do good, for fear of punishment or hope of re- 
 ward ; and yet, methinks, I find my heart more willing and 
 desirous to do what the Lord commands, and to avoid what 
 he forbids, than ever it was before I did thus believe.* Surely, 
 sir, I do perceive that faith in Christ is no hinderance to holi- 
 ness of lite, as I once thought it was. 
 
 and unholy spirit. He is constrained, as the author observes, to do all 
 that he does for fear of punishment, and hope of reward ; and if it is once 
 fixed in his mind that these are ceased in liis case, he stands still like a 
 clock, when the weights that made her go are removed, or like a slave, 
 when he is in no hazard of the whip ; than which there cannot be a 
 greater evidence of loathsome legality. 
 
 * It is not the scope or design of Neophitus here, to show wherein the 
 essence of faith consists, or to give a definition to it. But suppose it was 
 so, his definition falls considerably short of some given by famous ortho- 
 dox Protestant divines, yea, and churches too. See the note on the de- 
 finition of faith. I repeat here Mr. John Davidson's definition only, viz. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 173 
 
 " Faith is an hearty assurance that our sins are freely forgiven us in 
 Christ." From whence one may clearly see, that some lime a-day, it 
 was reckoned no absurdity that one's justification was made the object 
 of one's belief. For the understanding of which ancient Protestant doc- 
 trine, grown almost quite out of ken with unlearned readers, I shall ad- 
 duce a passage out of Wendeline's Christ. Theol. lib. 1. cap. 24. p. 542, 
 543. He proposes the Popish objection thus, " Justifying faith must go 
 before justification ; but the faith of special mercy doth not go before 
 justisfication ; if it did, it were false ; for at that rate, a man should be- 
 lieve that his sins are forgiven, which as yet are not forgiven, since they 
 are not forgiven but by justification ; therefore the faith of special mercy 
 is not justifying faith." In answer to which, he denies the second of 
 these propositions, with the proofs thereof, and concludes in these words : 
 " Justifying faith, therefore, hath for the special object of it, forgiveness 
 of sins, future, present, and past." He explains it thus, " By the faith 
 of special mercy, as it goeth before justification, a man doth not believe 
 that his sins are forgiven him already, before the act of believing." This, 
 by the by, is the Antinomian faith, justifying only declaratively : follows 
 the true doctrine of faith, " But that he shall have forgiveness of sins ; 
 in the very act of justification, he believes his sins are forgiven him, and 
 so receives forgiveness, after justification, he believes the past applica- 
 taion," viz. forgiveness, that is, that his sins are now already forgiven 
 him. 
 
 But the design of Neophitus is, to make a profession of his faith, ahd, 
 by an argument drawn from Christian experience, to refute the Antino- 
 mian pretended faith, whereby a sinner, at first brush, believes his sins 
 to be already forgiven him, before the act of believing, and thereafter 
 hath no regard to holiness of life ; a plain evidence that that persuasion 
 is not of God, And in opposition to it, is this profession made, which 
 consists of three parts : 
 
 (1.) He professes that he believes himself to be justified and acquitted 
 from all his sins ; and this is the belief of the past application, after jus- 
 tification, which we heard before from Wendeline. For we have already 
 found Neophitus brought unto faith in Christ, and the match betwixt 
 Christ and him declared to be made, though his faith was accompanied 
 with fears. P. 130. And now he finds his faith grown up in some small 
 measure unto the height which Antinomista pretended his faith to be at, 
 namely, unto believing himself to be already justified ; but withal he in- 
 timates, that his faith had not come to this pitch all of a sudden, as An- 
 tinomista's had done, p. 74 — 77 ; but that it was some time after he be- 
 lieved, ere he did thus believe. And now, indeed, his believing thus, 
 only in some small measure, was his sin, and argued the weakness of his 
 faith ; but such a man's believing, in any measure, gi-eat or small, that 
 he was justified and acquitted from all his sins, must be commended and 
 approved, unless we will bring back the Popish doctrine of doubting. 
 
 (2.) He professes. That therefore, namely, since he was justified, and 
 believed himself to be so, he had no need to eschew evil, or do good for 
 fear of punishment or hope of reward ; the which Antinomista pretending 
 to likewise, had cast off all care of keeping the law, or doing good works, 
 having no other principle of obedience within him. This does not at all 
 look to punishments and rewards, improperly so called, that is, fatherly 
 chastisements and favours, of which the author afterwards treats ex- 
 pressly ; but it is plainly meant of rewards and punishments taken in a 
 proper sense, as flowing from the justice of God, remunerative and vin- 
 
174 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 Evan. Neighbour Neophitus, if our friend Antinomista do 
 content himself with a mere Gospel knowledge, in a notionary 
 way, and have run out to fetch in notions from Christ, and 
 yet is not fetched in by the power of Christ, let us pity him, 
 and pray for him. And, in the mean time, I pray you, know 
 that true 'faith in Christ* is so far from being a hinderance 
 from holiness of life and good works, that it is the only further- 
 ance ; for only by faith in Christ, a man is enabled to exercise 
 all Christian graces aright, and to perform all Christian duties 
 aright, which before he could not. As, for example, before a 
 man believe God's love to him in Christ, f though he may have 
 a kind of love to God, as he is his Creator and Preserver, and 
 gives him many good things for this present life, yet if God 
 do but open his eyes, to see what condition his soul is in, that 
 is, if he do but let him see that relation that is betwixt God 
 and him, according to the tenor of the covenant of works, 
 then he conceives of him as an angry Judge, armed with jus- 
 tice against him, and must be pacified by the works of the law, 
 whereunto he finds his nature opposite and contrary ; and 
 therefore he hates both God and his law, and doth secretly 
 wish and desire there were neither God nor law. And though 
 God should now give unto him ever so many temporary bless- 
 ings, yet could he not love him ; for what malefactor could 
 love that judge or his law, from whom he expected the sen- 
 tence of condemnation, though he should feast him at his table 
 with ever so many dainties ? " But after that the kindness 
 and love of God his Saviour hath appeared, not by works of 
 
 dictive, and proceeding upon our works, good and e^-il ; and particularly 
 it is meant of heaven and hell. This is the sense in which that phrase is 
 commonly used by divines ; and that it is so to be taken here, is evident 
 from its being inferred from his justification, which indeed leaves no 
 place for fear of punishment and hope of reward in the latter sense ; but 
 not so in the former sense. And thus, it appears, Nomista understood it, 
 as shall appear afterwards, p. 180. 
 
 (3.) He professes, That he was so far from being the less inclined to 
 duty, that he believed himself to be fully justified, and that the fear of 
 punishment and hope of reward were ceased in his case ; that, on the 
 contrary he found, as his faith grew, his love to and readiness for holi- 
 ness of life, grew : he was more willing, and more desirous to do the 
 Lord's commandments than he had been before his faith was advanced to 
 that pitch. And herein, I conceive, the experience of the saints will not 
 contradict him. Thus he gives a plain testimony against the Antinomian 
 faith. 
 
 * Namely, the faith of special mercy, or a faith of particular applica- 
 tion, without which, in greater or lesser measure, it is not saving faith. 
 
 t See page 124, note +. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 175 
 
 righteousness that he hath done, but according to his mercy- 
 he saved him," Titus iii. 4, 5 ; that is, when as by the eye of 
 faith, he sees himself to stand in relation to God, according 
 to the tenor of the covenant of grace,* then he conceives of 
 God as a most merciful and loving Father to him in Christ, 
 that hath freely pardoned and forgiven him all his sins, and 
 quite released him from the covenant of works ;-]- and by this 
 means " the love of God is shed abroad in his heart through 
 the Holy Ghost which is given to him," and then " he loves 
 God because he first loved him," Rom. v. 5 ; 1 John iv. 19. 
 For as a man seeth and feeleth by faith the love and favour 
 of God towards him, in Christ his Son, so doth he love 
 again both God and his law ; and indeed it is impossible for 
 any man to love God, till by faith he know himself beloved 
 of God.| 
 
 Secondly, Though a man, before he believe God's love to 
 him in Christ, may have a great measure of legal humiliation, 
 compunction, sorrow, and grief, and be brought down, as it 
 were, -to the very gate of hell, and feel the very flashing of 
 hell-fire in his conscience for his sins, yet it is not because he 
 hath thereby offended God, but rather because he hath there- 
 by oftended himself, that is, because he hath thereby brought 
 himself into the danger of eternal death and condemnation.§ 
 But when once he believes the love of God to him in Christ, 
 in pardoning his iniquity, and passing by his transgressions, |1 
 then he sorrows and grieves for the offence of God by the sin ; 
 reasoning thus with himself: And is it so indeed? Hath the 
 Lord given his own Son to death for me who have been such 
 a vile sinful wretch ! and hath Christ borne all thy sins ! and 
 was he wounded for thy transgressions ! O then, the working 
 of his bowels ! the stirring of his affections, the melting and 
 relenting of his repenting heart ! " Then he remembers his 
 own evil ways, and his doings that were not good, and loathes 
 
 * His soul resting on Christ, whom he hath received for salvation. 
 
 t Thus he conceives of God according to the measure of his faith, or of 
 his soul's resting on Christ, which admits of various degrees. 
 
 X See page 124, note %• 
 
 § A man's believing God's love to him, is woven into the very nature 
 of saving faith, as hath been already shown. Wherefore, whatsoever hu- 
 miliation, compunction, sorrow, and grief for sin, go before it, they must 
 needs be but legal, being before faith, " without which it is impossible to 
 please God," Heb. xi. 6. 
 
 II The belief of which, in some measure, is included in the nature of 
 faith. — See note on the definition of faith, and p. 172, note *. 
 
176 THE MARROW OF Part i, 
 
 himself in his own eyes for all his abominations ;" and looking 
 upon Christ," whom he hath pierced, he mourns bitterly for 
 him, as one mourneth for his only son," Ezek. xxxvi. 31 ; Zeeh. 
 xii. 10. Thus, when faith has bathed a man's heart in the 
 blood of Christ, it is so moUified that it quickly dissolves into 
 tears of godly sorrow ; so that if Christ do but turn and look 
 upon him, O then, with Peter, he goes out and weeps bitterly ! 
 And this is true Gospel-mourning ; and this is right evangeli- 
 cal repenting.* 
 
 Thirdly, Though, before a man do truly believe in Christ, 
 he may so reform his life and amend his ways, that as " touch- 
 ing the righteousness which is of the law," he may be, with 
 the apostle, blameless, Philip, iii. 6; yet, being under the 
 covenant of works, all the obedience that he yields to the law, 
 all his leaving off of sin, and performance of duties, all his 
 avoiding of what the law forbids, and all his doing of v/hat the 
 law commands, is begotten by the law of works, of Hagar the 
 bond-woman, by the force of self-love ; and so, indeed, they 
 are the fruit and works of a bond-servant, that is moved and 
 constrained to do all that he doth, for fear of punishment and 
 hope of reward. f " For," says Luther, on the Galatians, p. 
 
 * This is the springing up of the " seeds of repentance put into the 
 heart of sanctification," Larg. Cat. q. 75 ; a work of sanctifying grace, 
 acceptable to God ; the curse being taken off the sinner, and his person 
 accepted in the Beloved, and like to the mourning and repenting of that 
 woman, Luke vii. 47, " who, having much forgiven her, loved much." 
 Betwixt which repentance and pardon of sin, there is an inseparable con- 
 nexion, so that it is of such necessity to all sinners, that none may expect 
 pardon without it. Westm. Confess, chap. 15. art. 3. — See also p. 126, 
 note X. 
 
 t This can have no reference at all to the motives of a believer's obe- 
 dience, unless believers, as well as unbelievers, are to be reckoned to be 
 under the covenant of works ; for it is manifest, that the author speaks 
 here of such only as are under that covenant. But, on the contrary, if a 
 man is under the covenant of works called the law, in the style of the 
 Holy Ghost, he is not a believer, but an unbeliever, Rom. vi. 14, *' Sin 
 shall not have dominion over you : for ye are not under the law, but 
 under grace." This reasoning proceeds upon this principle, viz. Those 
 who are under tl»e covenant of works, and they only, are under the do- 
 minion or reigning power of sin. And if men, being under the covenant 
 of works, are under the dominion of sin, it is evident that they are not 
 believers, but bond-servants, that the love of God dwelleth not in thero, 
 but corrupt self-love reigns in them ; and, therefore, unto the good they 
 do, they are constrained, by fear of punishment and hope of reward, 
 agreeable to the threatening and promise of the broken covenant of 
 works tliey are under; that tlicir obedience, conform to their state and 
 condition, is' but servile; no better than it is here descril)ed to be, having 
 only the letter, but not the spirit of true obedience, the which, before any 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 177 
 
 218, " tlie law given on Mount Sinai, which the Arabians call 
 Agar, begetteth none but servants." And so indeed all that such 
 a man doth is but hypocrisy; for he pretends the serving of 
 God, whereas, indeed, he intends the serving of himself. And 
 how can he do otherwise ? for whilst he wants faith, he wants 
 all things: he is an empty vine, and therefore must needs 
 bring forth fruit unto himself: Hosea x. 1. Till a man be 
 served himself, he will not serve the Lord Christ.* Nay, 
 while he wants faith, he wants the love of Christ, and there- 
 fore he lives not to Christ, but to himself, because he loves 
 himself. And hence, surely, we may conceive it is that Dr. 
 Preston says, " All that a man doeth, and not out of love, is 
 out of hypocrisy. Wheresoever love is not, there is nothing 
 but hypocrisy in such a man's heart." 
 
 But when a man, through the " hearing of faith, receives 
 the Spirit of Christ," Gal. iii. 2, that Spirit, according to 
 the measure of faith, writes the lively law of love in his 
 heart, (as Tindal sweetly says) whereby he is enabled to 
 work freely and of his own accord, without the co-action or 
 compulsion of the law.f For that love wherewith Christ, or 
 
 man can attain unto, he must be set free from the covenant of works, as 
 the apostle teaches; Rom. vii. 6, " But now, we are delivered from the 
 law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in new- 
 ness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter:" and finally, that as 
 is the condition and the obedience of those under the covenant of works, 
 so shall their end be, Gal. iv. 30, " Cast out the bond-woman and her 
 son : for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the 
 free-woman." 
 
 * That is, till the empty vine be filled with the Spirit from Jesus Christ, 
 it will never bring forth fruit unto him. Till a man do once eat by faith 
 he will never work aright. The conscience must be purged from dead 
 works, else one is not in case " to serve the living God," Heb. ix. 14. 
 The covenant of works says to the sinner, who is yet without strength, 
 " Work, and then ye shall be filled ;" but the covenant of grace says to 
 him, " Be filled, and then thou must work." And until the yoke of the 
 covenant of works be taken off a man's jaws, and meat be laid unto him, 
 he will never take on and bear the yoke of Christ acceptably. 
 
 t The words co-action and compulsion signify one and the same thing, 
 viz. forcing ; so that to work without the co-action or compulsion of the 
 law, is to work without being forced thereto by the law. 
 
 One would think it so very plain and obvious, that the way how the 
 law forceth men to work, is by the terror of the dreadful punishment which 
 it threatens in case of not working, that it does but darken the matter to 
 say^ The co-action or compulsion of the law consists in its commanding 
 and binding power or force ; the which must needs be meant of the 
 commanding and binding power of the covenant of works, or of the law, 
 as it is the covenant of works. For it cannot be meant (as these words seem 
 to bear) of that power which the law of the ten commandments, as a rule 
 
 I 3 
 
178 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 God in Christ, hath loved him, and which by faith is appre- 
 hended of him, will constrain him to do so ; according to that 
 of the apostle, 2 Cor. v. 14, " The love of Christ constrain- 
 eth us." That is, it will make him do so, whether he will or 
 
 of life, hath over men, to bind them to obedience, under which, I think, 
 the impartial reader is by this time convinced that the author denies not 
 believers still to be ; for to call that co-action or compulsion, is contrary 
 to the common understanding and usage of these words in society. At 
 this rate, one must say, That the glorified saints and angels (to ascend no 
 higher) being, as creatures of God, under the commanding and binding 
 power of the eternal rule of righteousness, are compelled and forced to their 
 obedience too ; and that when we pray " Thy will be done on earth, as it 
 is in heaven," we pray to be enabled to obey the will of God, as the an- 
 gels do in heaven, by co -action and compulsion in the height thereof; for 
 surely the angels have the sense of the commanding and binding power 
 of the eternal rule of righteousness upon them in a degree far beyond 
 what any believer on earth has. Wherefore that exposition of the co-ac- 
 tion or compulsion of the law, and so putting believers under the law's co- 
 action or compulsion, amount just to what we met with before, namely. 
 That believers are under the commanding power (at least) of the cove- 
 nant of works, having obedience bound upon them with the cords of hell, 
 or under the pain of the curse. Accordingly, the compulsion of the law 
 is more plainly described to be its binding power and moral force, which 
 it derives from the awful autliority of the sovereign Lawgiver, command- 
 ing obedience to his law, and threatening disobedience with wi-ath, or 
 with death, or hell. And so our author is blamed for not subjecting be- 
 lievers to this compulsion of the law. 
 
 In the preceding paragraph he had shown, that the obedience of un- 
 believers to the law of the ten commandments is produced by the influ- 
 ence of the law (or covenant) of works upon them, forcing or constrain- 
 ing them thereto by the fear of the punishment which it threatens. Thus, 
 they work by the co-action or compulsion of the law, or covenant of 
 works, being destitute of the love of God. Here he affirms, that when 
 once a man is brought unto Christ, he having the sanctifying Spirit of 
 Christ dwelling in him, and being endowed with faith that purities the 
 heart, and with love that is strong as death, is enabled to work freely, 
 and of his own accord, without that co-action or compulsion. 
 
 This is the doctrine of the Holy Scripture. Psalm li. 12, " Uphold me 
 with thy free spirit." Compare Gal. v. 18, "But if ye be led by the 
 Spirit, ye are not under the law." So Psalm ex. 3, " Thy people shall 
 be willing in the day of thy power." Compare 1 Pet. v. 2, " Not by con- 
 straint, but willingly." And believers are declared to be " not under the 
 law," Rom. vi. 14. — "To be made free from the law of death. Not to 
 have received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adop- 
 tion," Chap. viii. 2, 15. How then can they still be under the co-active 
 and compulsive power of the law, frightening and forcing them to obe- 
 dience by its threatenings of the second death, or eternal wrath ? 
 
 And it is evident that this is the received doctrine of orthodox divines, 
 which might l)e attested l)y a cloud of witnesses, if the nature of this 
 work did |)ermit. " Not to be under the law," says Luther, " is to do good 
 things, and abstain from wicked things, not through compulsion of the 
 law, but by free love, and with pleasure." Chos. Ser. xx. p. 232. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 179 
 
 no; he cannot choose, but do it.* I tell you truly, answer- 
 ably as the love of Christ is shed abroad in the heart of any 
 man, it is such a strong impulsion, that it carries him on to 
 serve and please the Lord in all things, according to the say- 
 ing of an evangelical man :f " The will and affection of a 
 
 " The second part foiz. of Christian liberty) is," says Calvin, " that 
 consciences obey the law, not as compelled by the necessity of the law, 
 but being free from the yoke of the law itself, of their own accord they 
 obey the will of God." Instit, book iii. chap. 19, sec. 4. 
 
 " We would distinguish betwixt the law, considered as a law and as a 
 covenant, A law doth necessarily imply no more than, (1.) To direct. 
 (2.) To command, enforcing that obedience by authority. A covenant 
 doth further necessarily imply promises made upon some condition, or 
 threatenings added, if such a condition be not performed. The first two 
 are essential to the law, the last two to believers, are made void through 
 Christ ; in which sense it is said, that by him we are freed from the law 
 as a covenant ; so that believers' lives depend not on the promises an- 
 nexed to the law, nor are they in danger by the threatenings adjoined to 
 it." Durham on the Commands, p. 4. 
 
 " What a new creature doth, in observance of the law, is from natural 
 freedom, choice, and judgment, and not by the force of any threatenings 
 annexed to it." Charnocke, vol. ii. p. 59. 
 
 See Westminster Confession, chap. 20, art. 1, of which afterwards. 
 
 And thus is that text, 1 Tim. i. 9, " The law is not made for a right- 
 eous man,",'generally understood by divines, critics, and commentators, the 
 law, threatening, compelling, condemning, is not made for a righteous 
 man, because he is pushed forward to duty of his own accord, and is no 
 more led by the spirit of bondage, and fear of punishment." Turret, 
 loc. 2, q. 24, th. 8. — "By the law is to be understood the moral law, as it 
 is armed in stings and terrors, to restrain rebellious sinners. By the right- 
 eous man is meant one in whom a principle of divine grace is planted, 
 and who, from the knowledge and love of God, chooses the things that 
 are pleasing to him. As the law has annexed so many severe threaten- 
 ings to the transgressors of it, it is evident that it is directed to the 
 wicked, who will only be compelled by fear from an outrageous breaking 
 of it." Continuation of Poole's Annot. on the text. — " The law is not 
 for him, as a master to command him, to constrain him as a bond- 
 man." Lodovic de Dieu. — " The law doth not compel, press on, fright, 
 lie heavy upon, and punish a righteous man." Strigelius.— ^" It lies not 
 on him as a heavy burden, compelling a man against his will, violently 
 pressing him on, and pushing him forwards; it doth not draw him to 
 obedience, but leads him, being willing." Scultetus. — " For of his own 
 accord he doth right." Castalio, apud Pol. Synop. in Loc. 
 
 * " It is a metonymy from the effect, that is, love makes me to do it in 
 that manner, as a man that is compelled ; that is the meaning of it. So 
 it has the same effect that compulsion hath, though there be nothing 
 more different from compulsion than love." Dr. Preston, ibid. p. 29. 
 
 t If one considers that the drift and scope of this whole discourse, 
 from p. 172, is to discover the naughtiness of Antinomista's faith, ob- 
 served by Neophitus, one may perceive, that by the author's quoting 
 Towne, the Antinomian, upon that head, he gives no more ground to sus- 
 pect himself of Antinomianism, though he calls him an evangelical man, 
 
ISO THE MARROW OF Part I. 
 
 believer, according to the measure of faith and the spirit 
 received, sweetly quickens and bends, to choose, affect, and 
 delight in whatever is good and acceptable to God, or a good 
 man ; the Spirit freely and cheerfully moving and inclining 
 him to keep the law, without fear of hell or hope of heaven."* 
 For a Christian man, says sweet Tindal, worketh only because 
 it is the will of his Father; for after that he is overcome with 
 love and kindness, he seeks to do the will of God, which i* 
 indeed a Christian man's nature ; and what he doth, he doth 
 it freely after the example of Christ. As a natural son, ask 
 him why he does such a thing ? Why, says he, it is the will 
 of my Father, and I do it that I may please him ; for, indeedy 
 love desireth no wages, it is wages enough to itself, it hath 
 sweetness enough in itself, it desires no addition, it pays its 
 own wages. And therefore it is the true child-like obedience, 
 being begotten by faith, of Sarah the free-woman, by the 
 force of God's love. And so it is indeed the only true and 
 sincere obedience : for, says Dr. Preston, " To do a thing in 
 love, is to do it in sincerity ; and, indeed, there is no other de- 
 finition of sincerity ; that is the best way to know it by." 
 
 Sect. 7. — Nom. But stay, sir, I pray you, would you not 
 have believers to eschew evil and do good, for fear of hell or 
 for hope of heaven ? 
 
 Evan. No, indeed, I would not have any believer to do 
 either the one or the other ; for so far forth as they do so, 
 their obedience is but slavish.f And therefore though, when 
 
 than a Protestant gives in point of Popery, by quotinp: Cardinal Bellar- 
 mine against a Papist, though withal he call hira a Catholic. And the 
 epithet given to Towne, is so far from being a high commendation, that, 
 really, it is none at all; for though both these epithets, the latter as well 
 as the former, are in themselves honourable, yet in these cases, a man 
 speaking in the language of his adversary, they are nothing so. Evange- 
 lista could not but remember that Antinoinista had told him roundly, 
 " That he had not been so evangelical as some others in the city, which 
 caused him to leave hearing of him, to hear them," viz. those evan- 
 gelical men : and why might not he give him a sound note from one of 
 those evangelical men, even under that character, so acceptable to him, 
 without ranking himself with them } 
 
 * See p. 177, note f , and the following one. 
 
 t As for what concerns the hope of heaven, the author purposely ex- 
 plains that matter, (p. IH;")) that he would not have any believer to eschew 
 evil or do good for fear of hell ; the meaning thereof plainly is this, you 
 being a believer in Christ, ought not to eschew evil and do good, for fear 
 you be condemned, and cast into hell. So far as a believer doth so, the 
 author justly reckons his obedience accordingly slavish. This is the 
 common understanding and sense of such a phrase, as when we say. The 
 slave works for fear of the whip. Some men abstain from stealing, rob- 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 181 
 
 they were first awakened and convinced of their misery, and 
 set foot forward to go on in the way of life, they, with the 
 
 bing, and the like, for fear of the gallows ; they eschew evil, not from 
 love of virtue, but for fear of punishment, as the heathen poet says of his 
 pretender to virtue, 
 
 Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore, 
 Tu nihil admittes in te formidine pcenae. 
 
 HoRAT. Epist. 16. 
 Which may be thus Englished : 
 
 Hatred of vice, in gen'rous souls, 
 From love of virtue flows, 
 While nothing vicious minds controuls. 
 But servile fear of blows. 
 This is quite another thing than to say, that a believer in doing good, or 
 eschewing evil, ought not to regard tlireatenings, nor be influenced by 
 the threatening of death. For though believers ought never to fear that 
 they shall be condemned and cast into hell, yet they both may and ought 
 awfully to regard the threatenings of the holy law: and how they ought 
 to regard them, one may learn from the Westm. Confess, chap. xix. art. 
 6, in these words, " The threatenings of it (viz. the law) serve to show 
 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." Thus they are to regard them, not as denunciations of their doom, 
 in case of sinning, but as a looking-glass wherein to behold the fearful 
 demerit of their sin ; the unspeakable love of God in freeing them from 
 bearing it, his fatherly displeasure against his own for their sin, and the 
 tokens of his anger to be expected by them in that ca,*' ,•. So will they 
 be influenced to eschew evil and do good, being thereby billed with hatred 
 and horror of sin, thankfulnesss to God, and fear of the displeasure and 
 frowns of their Father, though not with a fear that he will condemn'them, 
 and destroy them in hell ; this glass represents no such thing. 
 
 Such a fear in a believer is groundless. For (1.) He is not under the 
 threatening of hell, or liable to the curse. See p. 93, 94, notes * and f. 
 If he were, he behoved that moment he sinneth to fall under the curse. 
 For since the curse is the sentence of the law, passing on the sinner, ac- 
 cording to the threatening, adjudging, and binding him over to the punish- 
 ment threatened ; if the law say to a man, before he sinneth, "In the day 
 thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," it says unto him, in the mo- 
 ment he sinneth, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
 written in the law, to do them." And forasmuch as believers sin in every 
 thing they do, their very believing and repenting being always attended 
 with sinful imperfections, it is not possible, at this rate, that they can be 
 one moment from under the curse ; but it must be continually wreathed 
 about their necks. To distinguish in this case, betwixt gross sins and 
 lesser sins, is vain ; for as every sin, even the least, deserves God's >vrath 
 and curse, Short. Cat., so, against whomsoever the curse takes place, 
 (and by virtue of God's truth, it takes place against all those who are 
 threatened with hell or eternal death) they are cursed for all sins, smaller 
 or greater : " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things :" 
 though still there is a difference made betwixt greater and lesser sins, in 
 respect of the degree of punishment, yet there is none in respect of the 
 kind. But now believers are set free from the curse. Gal. iii. 13, 
 
182 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 prodigal, would be hired servants ; yet when by the eye of 
 faith they see the mercy and indulgence of their heavenly 
 
 " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse 
 for us." (2.) By the redemption of Christ already applied to the believer, 
 and by the oath of God, he is perfectly secured from the return of the 
 curse upon him," Gal. iii. 13, (see before) compared with Isa. liii. and 
 liv. 9, " For this is as the waters of Noah unto me : for, as I have sworn 
 that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I 
 sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." Therefore 
 he is perfectly secured from being made liable any more to hell or eternal 
 death. For a man, being " under the curse, is so made liable to the 
 pains of hell for ever." Short. Cat. (3.) He is justified by faith, and so 
 adjudged to live eternally in heaven. This is unalterable, " for the gifts 
 and calling of God are without repentance," Rom. xi. 29. And a man 
 can never stand adjudged to eternal life, and to eternal death, at one and 
 the same time. (4.) One great difference betwixt believers and unbe- 
 lievers lies here, that the latter are bound over to hell and wrath, the 
 former are not : John iii. 18, " He that believeth is not condemned : but 
 he that believeth not, is condemned already;" not that he is in hell al- 
 ready, but bound over to it. Now, a believ^er is still a believer, from th«} 
 first moment of his believing ; and therefore it remains true concerning 
 him, from that moment for ever, that he is not condemned or bound over 
 to hell and wrath. He is expressly secured against it for all time to 
 come, from that moment. John v. 24, " He shall not come into con- 
 demnation." And the apostle cuts off all evasions by distinctions of con- 
 demnation here, while he tells us in express terms, " There is no condem- 
 nation to them which are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1. (5.) The be- 
 liever's union with Christ is never dissolved. Hosea ii.l9, " I will betroth 
 thee unto me for ever :" and being in Christ he is set beyond the reach 
 of condemnation, Rom. viii. 1. Yea, and being in Christ, he is perfectly 
 righteous for ever ; for he is never again stript of the white raiment of 
 Christ's imputed righteousness; while the union remains it cannot be 
 lost : but to be perfectly righteous, and yet liable to condemnation before 
 a just Judge, is inconsistent. 
 
 Neither is such a fear in a believer acceptable to God ; for, (1.) It is 
 not from the Spirit of God, but from one's own spirit, or a worse; 
 Rom. viii. 15, "Ye have not received thespirit of bondage again to fear;" 
 namely, to fear death or hell. Heb. ii. 1,'), "Who through fear of death 
 were all their life-time subject to bondage." (2.) It was the design of 
 the sending of Christ, that believers in him might serve God without that 
 fear, Luke i. 74. That "we, being delivered out of the hands of our 
 enemies, might serve him without fear." Compare 1 Cor. xv. 26, "The 
 last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." And for this very cause 
 Jesus Christ came, " That through death he might destroy him that hfid 
 the power of death, that is the devil ; and deliever them, who, through 
 fear of death, were all their life-time," namely, before their deliverance by 
 Christ, "subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 14, 1.'), 
 
 (3.) Though it is indeed consistent with, yet it is contrary to faith ; 
 Matt. viii. 26, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith!" And to love 
 too ; 1 John iv. 18, " Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath tor- 
 ment." — 2 Tim.i. 17, " God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of 
 power, of love, and of a sound mind." 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 183 
 
 Father in Christ, running to meet them and embrace them ; I 
 would have them, with him, to talk no more of being hired 
 servants, Luke xvi. I would have them so to wrestle against 
 doubting, and so to exercise their faith as to believe, that they 
 are by Christ " delivered from the hands of their enemies," 
 both the law, sin, wrath, death, the devil, and hell, " that 
 they may serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and right- 
 eousness all the days of their lives," Luke i. 74, 75. I would 
 have them so to believe God's love to them in Christ, as that 
 thereby they may be constrained to obedience.* 
 
 Nom. But, sir, you know that our Saviour says, "Fear 
 him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," 
 Matt. X. 28. And the apostle says, " We shall receive of 
 the Lord the reward of the inheritance," Col. iii. 24. And 
 
 (4.) As it is not agreeable to the character of a father, who is not a 
 revenging judge to his own family, to threaten to kill his children, though 
 he threaten to chastise them : so such a fear is no more agreeable to the 
 spirit of adoption, nor becoming the state of sonship to God, than for a 
 child to fear that his father, being such a one, will kill him. And there- 
 fore, " the spirit of bondage to fear" is opposed to " the spirit of adop- 
 tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father," Rom. viii. 15. 
 
 "Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, whereby all those that 
 are justified are received into the number of his children, have his name 
 put upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, (receive the spirit 
 of adoption, Westm. Confess, chap. 12,) are under his fatherly care and 
 dispensation, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of 
 God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow-heirs with Christ in glory." 
 Larg.. Cat. q. 74. 
 
 "The LIBERTY which Christ has purchased for believers under the 
 Gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning 
 wrath of God, the curse of the moral law, as also in their free access to 
 God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but 
 a child-like love and willing mind. All which were common also to be- 
 lievers under the law," Westm. Confess, chap. 20, art. 1. By the guilt 
 of sin here, must needs be understood obligation to eternal wrath. See 
 p. 87, note 4. 
 
 " The end of Christian liberty is, that being delivered out of the hands 
 of our enemies, we might ' serve the Lord without fear.' " Ibid. art. 3. 
 
 " The one (viz. justification) doth equally free all believers from the 
 revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never 
 fall into condemnation." Larg. Cat. q. 77. 
 
 " Though a soul be justified and freed from the guilt of eternal punish- 
 ment, and so the spirit is no more to be afraid and disquieted for eternal 
 wrath and hell." Rutherford's Trial and Triumph, &c. Ser. 19, p. 261. 
 
 " The believer hath no conscience of sins ; that is, he in conscience is 
 not to fear everlasting condemnation, that is most true." Ibid. p. 266. 
 
 See more to this purpose, p. 88, note * ; 93, note * ; 177, note f. 
 
 * And no marvel one would have them do so, since that is what all 
 the children of God with one mouth do daily pray for, saying, " Thy will 
 be done on earth as it is in heaven." 
 
184 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 is it not said, that " Moses had respect unto the recompence 
 of reward ?" Heb. xi. 26. 
 
 Evan. Surely the intent of our blessed Saviour, in that 
 first Scripture, is to teach all believers, that when God com- 
 mands one thing, and man another, they should obey God, 
 and not man, rather than to exhort them to eschew evil for 
 fear of hell.* And for those other Scriptures by you al- 
 leged, if you mean reward, and the means to obtain that re- 
 ward, in the Scripture sense, then it is another matter ; but 
 I had thought you had meant in our common sense, and not 
 in Scripture sense. 
 
 * There is a great difference betwixt a believer's eschewing evil for fear 
 of hell, and his eschewing it from the fear of God, " as able to destroy 
 both soul and body in hell." The former respects the event as to his 
 eternal state, the latter not. To this purpose the variation of the phrase 
 in the text is observable, — " fear not them that kill the body :" this 
 notes the event, as to temporal death by the hands of men, which our 
 Lord would have his people to lay their account with ; but with respect 
 to eternal death, he says not, fear him which destroy, but, " which is able 
 to destroy both soul and body in hell." Moreover, the former is a 
 slavish fear of God as a revenging judge; the believer eschewing sin for 
 fear he be damned : the latter is a reverential fear of God as of a father 
 with whom is awful dominion and power. The former carries in it a 
 doubtfulness and uncertainty as to the event, plainly contrary to the re- 
 medy prescribed in this same case : Prov. xxix. 25, " The fear of man 
 bringeth a snare ; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." 
 The latter is consistent with the most full assurance of one's being put 
 beyond all hazard of hell, Heb. xii. 28, 29, " Wherefore we receiving a 
 kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may 
 serve God acceptably, with reverence and Godly fear. For our God is a 
 consuming fire." A believer by fixing his eyes on God, as able to de- 
 stroy both soul and body in hell, may be so filled with the reverential fear 
 of God, his dreadful power and wrath against sin, as to be fenced against 
 the slavish fear of the most cruel tyrants, tempting him to sin ; though in 
 the mean time he most firmly believes that he is past that gulf, can never 
 fall in it, nor be bound over unto it. For, so he hath a lively representa- 
 tion of the just deserving of sin, even of that sin in particular unto which 
 he is tempted ; and so must tremble at the thought of it, as an evil greater 
 than death. And as a child, when he seeth his father lashing his slaves, 
 cannot but tremble, and fear to offend him, so a believer's turning his 
 eyes on the miseries of the damned, must raise in him an awful apprehen- 
 sion of the severity of his Father against sin, even in his own ; and cause 
 him to say in his heart , " My flesh trembleth for fear of thee ; and I am 
 afraid of thy judgments," Psalm cxix, 120. Thus also he hath a view of 
 the frightful danger he has escaped ; the looking back to which must 
 make one's heart shiver, and conceive a horror of sin ; as in the case of a 
 pardoned criminal, looking back to a dreadful precipice from which he 
 was to have been thrown headlong, had not a pardon seasonably prevented 
 Viis ruin ; Eph. ii. 3, " We were by nature the children by wrath, even as 
 others." 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 185 
 
 Nom. Why, sir, I pray you, what difference is there be- 
 twixt reward, and the means to obtain the reward, in our com- 
 mon sense, and in the Scripture sense ? 
 
 Evan. Why, reward, in our common sense, is that which 
 is conceived to come from God, or to be given by God ; 
 which is a fancying of heaven under carnal notions, beholding 
 it as a place where there is freedom from all misery, and 
 fulness of all pleasures and happiness, and to be obtained by 
 our own works and doings.* But reward in the Scripture 
 sense, is not so much that which comes from God, or is 
 given by God, as that which lies in God, even the full frui- 
 tion of God himself in Christ. " I am," says God to Abra- 
 ham, "thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward," Gen. 
 XV. 1, and "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" says David; 
 " and there in none on earth that I desire besides thee," 
 Psalm Ixxiii. 25 ; and " I shall be satisfied when I awake with 
 thy likeness,"f Psalm xvii. 15. And the means to obtain this 
 reward is, not by doing, but by believing ; even by " drawing 
 near with a true heart, in the full assurance of faith," Heb. 
 x. 22 ; and so indeed it is given freely.:}: And therefore you 
 are not to conceive of that reward which the Scripture speaks 
 of, as if it were the wages of a servant, but as it is the inherit- 
 
 * Thus, to eschew evil and do good for hope of heaven, is to do so in 
 hope of obtaining heaven by our own works. And certainly " that hope 
 shall be cut off, and be a spider's web," Job viii. 14 ; for a sinner shall 
 never obtain heaven but in the way of free grace : " But if it be of works, 
 then it is no more grace," Rom. xi. 6. But that a believer may be ani- 
 mated to obedience by eyeing the reward already obtained for him by the 
 works of Christ, our author no where denies. So indeed the apostle ex- 
 horts believers to run their Christian race, " looking unto Jesus, who for 
 the joy that was set before him," (to be obtained by his own works, in the 
 way of most proper merits) " endured the cross," Heb. xii. 1, 2. 
 
 " Papists," says Dr. Preston, " tell of escaping damnation, and of get- 
 ting into heaven. But Scripture gives other motives {viz. to good works) •, 
 Thou art in Christ, and Christ is thine ; consider what he hath done for 
 thee, what thou hast by him, what thou hast been without him, and thus 
 stir up thyself to do for him what he requireth." — Abrig. of his Works, 
 p. 304. 
 
 t " Man's chief end is to glorify God and to 'enjoy him for ever." 
 Short. Cat. — " Believers shall be made perfectly blessed in full enjoy- 
 ing of God to all eternity." Ibid. 
 
 X Rom. iv. 16, " Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace ; to 
 the end the promise {viz. of the inheritance, verses 13, 14.) might be 
 sure to all the seed." Otherwise it is not given freely ; for " to him that 
 worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt," verse 4. 
 
186 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 ance of sons.* And when the Scripture seemeth to induce 
 believers to obedience, by promising this reward, you are to 
 conceive that the Lord speaks to believers as a fatlier does 
 to his young son, Do this or that, and then I will love thee ; 
 whereas we know, that the father loveth the son first, and so 
 does God; and therefore this is the voice of believers, "We 
 love him, because he first loved us," 1 John iv. 19. The 
 Lord doth pay them, or at least gives them a sure earnest of 
 their wages, before he bid them work;f and therefore the 
 contest of a believer (according to the measure of his faith) 
 is not what will God give me? but, what shall I give God? 
 " What shall I render unto the Lord for all his goodness ? For 
 thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in 
 thy truth," Psalm cxvi. 12, and xxvi. 3. 
 
 Nom. Then, sir, it seems that holiness of Hfe, and good 
 works, are not the cause of eternal happiness, but only the 
 way thither ? 
 
 Evan. Do you not remember that our Lord Jesus himself 
 says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life?" John xiv. 6; 
 and doth not the apostle say to the believing Colossians, " As 
 ye have received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in him," 
 Col. ii 6 ; that is, as ye have received him by faith, so go 
 on in your faith, and by his power walk in his command- 
 ments. So that good works, as I conceive, may rather be 
 called a believer's walking in the way of eternal happiness, 
 than the way itself; but, however, this we may assuredly 
 conclude, that the sum and substance both of the way, and 
 walking in the way, consists in the receiving of Jesus Christ 
 
 • The apostle's decision in this case seems to be pretty clear: Rom.vi. 
 23, " For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life :" 
 he will not have us to look upon it as the wages of a servant too. The 
 joining together of both these notions of the reward was, it seems, the 
 doctrine of the Pharisees; Mark x. 17, "Good Master, what shall I do, 
 that I may inherit eternal life?" And how unacceptable it was to our 
 blessed Saviour, may be learned in his answer to that question. " The 
 Papists confess that life is merited by Clirist, and is made ours by the 
 right of inheritance: so far we go with them. Y'ea, touching works, they 
 hold many things with us; (1) That no works of themselves can merit 
 life everlasting. (2) That works done before conversion, can merit 
 nothing at God's hand. (.{) That there is no merit at God's hand, with- 
 out his mercy, no exact merit as often there is amongst men. The point 
 whereabout we dissent is, that with the merit of Christ and free promise, 
 they will have the merit of works joined, as done by them who are 
 adopted children." — Bayne on Eph. ii. 8. 
 
 t Namely, in the way of the covenant of grace. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 187 
 
 by faith, and in yielding obedience to his law, according to 
 the measure of that receiving.* 
 
 Sect. 8. — Neo. Sir, I am persuaded, that through my neigh- 
 bour Nomista's asking you these questions, you have been 
 interrupted in your discourse, in showing how faith enables a 
 man to exercise his Christian graces, and perform his Chris- 
 tian duties aright: and therefore I pray you go on. 
 
 Evan. What should I say more ? for the time would fail 
 me to tell, how that, according to the measure of any man's 
 faith, is his true peace of conscience ; for, says the apostle, 
 "being justified by faith, we have peace with God," Rom. v. 1. 
 Yea, says the prophet Isaiah, " Thou wilt keep him in per- 
 
 * Our author, remembering Nomista's bias toward good works, as se- 
 parated from Christ, puts him in mind, that Christ is the way ; and that 
 the soul's motion heaven-ward is in Christ ; that is, a man being once 
 united to Christ by faith, moveth heaven-ward, making progress in be- 
 lieving, and, by influences derived from Jesus Christ, walking in his holy 
 commandments. The Scripture acknowledges no other holiness of life, 
 or good works ; and concerning the necessity of these the author moves 
 no debate. But as to the propriety of expression, since good works are 
 the keeping of the commandments, in the way of which we are to go, he 
 conceives they may, with greater propriety, be called the walking in the 
 way, than the way itself. It is certain that the Scripture speaks of 
 "walking in Christ," Col. ii. 6, "walking in his commandments," 
 2 Chron. xvii. 4, and "walking in good works," Eph. ii. 10; and that as 
 these terms signify but one and the same thing, so they are all metapho- 
 rical. But one would think the calling of good works the way to be 
 walked in, is further removed from the propriety of expression, than the 
 calling them the walking in the way. But the author, waving this, as a 
 matter of phraseology, or manner of speaking only, tells us, that assuredly 
 the sum and substance, both of the way to eternal happiness, and of the 
 walking in the way to it, consists in the receiving Jesus Christ by faith, 
 and in yielding obedience to his law, according to the measure of that 
 receiving. Herein is comprehended Christ and holiness, faith and obe- 
 dience ; which are inseparable. And no narrower is the compass of the 
 way and walking mentioned, Isa. xxxv. 8, 9, " It shall be called the way 
 of holiness — the redeemed shall walk there." — " The way of holiness, or 
 the holy way, (according to an usual Hebraism) as it is generally under- 
 stood by interpreters, is the way leading to heaven, says Piscator ; namely, 
 Christ, faith, and the doctrine of a holy life." Fererius apud Pol. synop. 
 in loc. And now that our author, though he conceives good works 
 are not so properly called the way, as the walking, yet does not say, that 
 in no sense they may be called the way, but does not expressly assert 
 them to be the soul's walking in the way of eternal happiness ; he cannot 
 justly be charged here (more than anywhere else in his book) with teach- 
 ing, that holiness is not necessary to salvation, unless one will in the 
 first place say, that though the way itself, to eternal happiness, is neces- 
 sary to salvation, yet the walking in the way is not necessary to it ; 
 which would be Antinomian with a witness. 
 
188 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 feet peaee, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trust- 
 eth in thee," Isa. xxvi. 3. Here there is a sure and true 
 grounded peace : " Therefore it is of faith," says the apostle, 
 " That it might be by grace, and that the promise might be 
 sure to all the seed," Rom. iv. 16. And answerable to a 
 man's believing that he is "justified freely by God's grace, 
 through that redemption that is in Jesus Christ,"* Rom. 
 iv. 3. 24, is his true humiHty of spirit. So that, although 
 he be endowed with excellent gifts and graces, and though 
 he perform never so many duties, he denies himself in all ; 
 he does not make them as ladders for him to ascend up into 
 heaven by, but desires to "be found in Christ, not having 
 his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is 
 through the faith of Christ," Philip, iii. 9. He does not think 
 himself to be one step nearer to heaven, for all his works and 
 performances. And if he hear any man praise him for 
 his gifts and graces, he will not conceive that he has obtained 
 the same by his own industry and pains-taking, as some men 
 have proudly thought ; neither will he speak it out, as some 
 have done, saying, These gifts and graces have cost me some- 
 thing — I have taken much pain to obtain them ; but he says, 
 "By the grace of God I am what I am; and not I, but 
 the grace of God that was with me," 1 Cor. xv. 10. And 
 if he behold an ignorant man, or a wicked liver, he will not 
 call him "Carnal wretch!" or, "Profane fellow!" nor say, 
 " Stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than 
 thou," Isa. Ixv. 5, as some have said ; but he pities such a 
 man, and prays for him ; and in his heart he says concerning 
 himself, " Who raaketh thee to differ ? and what hast thou 
 that thou hast not received ?" 1 Cor. iv. 7. 
 
 And thus I might go on, and show you how, according to 
 any man's faith, is his true joy in God, and his true thank- 
 fulness to God, and his patience in all troubles and afflictions, 
 and his contentedness in any condition, and his willingness to 
 suffer, and his cheerfulness in suffering, and his contentedness 
 to part with any earthly thing. Yea, according to any man's 
 faith, is his ability to pray aright, Rom. x. 14, to receive the sacra- 
 ment with profit and comfort: and to do any duty either to God 
 or man after a right manner, and to a right end, Heb. iv. 2. 
 Yea, according to the measure of any man's faith, in his love 
 
 * And not for any thing wrought in himself, or done by himself. See 
 p. 172. note.* 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 189 
 
 to Christ, and so to man for Christ's sake ; and so, conse- 
 quently, his readiness and willingness to forgive an injury ; 
 yea, to forgive an enemy, and to do good to them that hate 
 him ; and the more faith any man has, the less love he has to 
 the world or the things that are in the world. To conclude, 
 the greater any man's faith is, the more fit he is to die, and the 
 more willing he is to die. 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, now I do perceive that faith is a most ex- 
 cellent grace, and happy is that man who has a great mea- 
 sure of it. 
 
 Evan. The truth is, faith is the chief grace that Christians 
 are to be exhorted to get and exercise ; and therefore, when 
 the people asked our Lord Christ, " what they should do to 
 work the works of God ?" he answered and said, " This is 
 the work of God, that ye beheve on him whom he hath sent," 
 John vi. 29 ; speaking as if there were no other duty at all 
 required, but only believing ; for, indeed, to say as the thing 
 is, believing includes all other duties in it, and they spring all 
 from it ; and therefore says one, " Preach faith, and preach 
 all." — "Whilst I bid man believe," says learned Rollock, "I 
 bid him do all good things ;" for, says Dr. Preston, " Truth 
 of belief will bring forth truth of holiness ; if a man believe, 
 works of sanctification will follow ; for faith draws after it in- 
 herent righteousness and sanctification. Wherefore," says he, 
 " if a man will go about this great work, to change his life, 
 to get victory over any sin, that it may not have dominion over 
 him, to have his conscience purged from dead works, and to 
 be made partaker of the Divine nature, let him not go about 
 it as a moral man ;" that is, let him not consider what com- 
 mandments there are, what the rectitude is which the law re- 
 quires, and how to bring his heart to it ; but " let him go 
 about it as a Christian, that is, let him believe the promise of 
 pardon, in the blood of Christ ; and the very believing the 
 promise will be able to cleanse his heart from dead works."* 
 
 Neo. But I pray you, sir, whence has faith its power and 
 virtue to do all this ? 
 
 Evan. Even from our Lord Jesus Christ ; for faith doth 
 ingraft a man, who is by nature a wild olive branch, into 
 Christ as into the natural olive ; and fetches sap from the root, 
 
 * The sum thereof is, that no considerations, no endeavours whatsoever, 
 will truly sanctify a man, without faith. Howbeit, such considerations 
 and endeavours are necessary to promote and advance the sanctification 
 of the soul by faith. 
 
190 THE MARROW OF > Part 1. 
 
 Christ, and thereby makes the tree bring forth fruit in its 
 kind ; yea, faith fetcheth a supernatural efficacy from the death 
 and life of Christ ; by virtue whereof it metamorphoses* the 
 heart of a believer, and creates and infuses into him new prin- 
 ciples of action.-j- So that, what a treasure of all graces Christ 
 
 * That is, transforms or changes. Rom. xii. 2, " Be ye transformed 
 by the renewing of your mind." 
 
 -f- Namely, instrumentally. It cannot be denied that our author places 
 faith before the new principles of actions in this passage, and before the 
 habits of grace, and yet it will not follow, that, in his opinion, there can 
 be no gracious change in the soul before faith. What he does indeed 
 teach, in this matter, is warranted by the plain testimony of the apostle, 
 Eph. i. 13, " After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit 
 of promise." And what this sealing is, at least as to the chief part of it, 
 may be learned from John i. 16, " And of his fulness have all we received, 
 and grace for grace." For as sealing is the impression of the image of 
 the seal on the wax, so that it thereby receives upon it point for point on 
 the seal, so, believers being sealed with the Spirit of Christ, receive grace 
 for grace in Christ, whereby they are made like him, and bear his image. 
 And as it is warranted by the word, so it is agreeable to the old Protest- 
 ant doctrine, that we are regenerate by faith ; which is the title of the 3d 
 chap, of the 3d book of Calvin's Instit. and is taught in the Old Confess, 
 art. 3, in these words : " Regeneration is wrought by the power of the 
 Holy Ghost, working in the hearts of the elect of God an assured faith ;" 
 and art. 13, in these words : " So soon as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus 
 (which God's elect children receive by true faith) takes possession in the 
 heart of any man, so soon does he regenerate and renew the same man." 
 
 Nevertheless, I am not of the mind, that, either in truth, or in the 
 judgment of our reformers, or of our author, the first act of faith is an 
 act of an irregenerate, that is to say, a dead soul. But to understand 
 this matter aright, I conceive one must distinguish betwixt regeneration 
 taken strictly, and taken largely ; and betwixt new powers and new habits 
 or principles of action. Regeneration, strictly so called, is the quicken- 
 ing of the dead soul, by the Spirit of Christ passively received, and goes 
 before faith, according to John i. 12, 13, " But as many as received him, 
 to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that be- 
 lieve on his name : which were born not of blood, but of God." This 
 is called by Amesius, the first regeneration, Medul. lib. 1, cap. 29, sect. 6 ; 
 see cap. 26, sect. 19. And it belongs to, or is the same with effectual 
 calling ; in the description of which, in the shorter Catechism, one finds 
 a renewing mentioned, whereby sinners are enabled to embrace Jesus 
 Christ ; and says the Larger Catechism on the same subject, " They, al- 
 though in themselves dead in sin, are hereby made able to answer his call." 
 Regeneration, largely taken, presupposing the fornier, is the same with 
 sanctification, wrought in the soul by the Spirit of Christ, actively re- 
 ceived by faith, and so follows faith. Acts xxvi. 18, " Among them which 
 are sanctified by faith, that is in Me :" the subjects of which " are the 
 redeemed, called, and justified." Essen. Com. cap. 16, sect. 3. And ac- 
 cordingly, in the description thereof in the Shorter Catechism, mention 
 is made of a second renewing, namely, Whereby we are renewed in the 
 whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die 
 unto sin, and live unto righteousness. And thus I conceive regeneration 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 191 
 
 hath stored up in him, faith draineth, and draweth them out 
 to the use of a beUever ; being as a conduit-cock, that water- 
 eth all the herbs of the garden. Yea, faith does apply the 
 blood of Christ to a believer's heart; and the blood of Christ 
 has in it, not only a power to wash from the guilt of sin, but 
 to cleanse and purge likewise from the power and stain of sin ; 
 and therefore, says godly Hooker, " If you would have grace, 
 you must first of all get faith, and that will bring all the rest ; 
 let faith go to Christ, and there is meekness, patience, humil- 
 ity, and wisdom, and faith will fetch all them to the soul ; 
 therefore, (says he) you must not look for sanctification till 
 you come to Christ in vocation." 
 
 Nom. Truly, sir, I do now plainly see that I have been 
 deceived, and have gone a wrong way to work ; for I verily 
 thought that holiness of Hfe must go before faith, and so be 
 the ground of it, and produce and bring it forth ; whereas I 
 do now plainly see, that faith must go before, and so produce 
 and bring forth holiness of life. 
 
 Evan. I remember a man, who was much enlightened in 
 
 to be taken in the above passages of the Old Confession. The which is 
 confirmed by the following testimonies : " Being in Christ, we must be 
 new creatures, not in substance, but in qualities and disposition of our 
 minds, and change of the action of our lives, all which is impossible 
 to them that have no faith." Mr. John Davidson's Catechism, page 29. 
 — " So good works follow as effects of Christ in us, possessed by faith, 
 who beginneth to work in us regeneration and a renewing of the whole 
 parts and powers of the soul and body. Which begun sanctification and 
 holiness he never ceases to accomplish. Ibid. p. 30. — " The effect (viz. 
 of justification) inherent in us, as in a subject, is that new quality 
 which is called inherent righteousness or regeneration." Grounds of 
 Christian Religion, by the renowned Beza and Faius, 1586, chap. 29, 
 sect. 11. — "That new quality, then called inherent righteousness aud re- 
 generation, testified by good works, is a necessary effect of true faith." 
 Ibid. chap. 31, sect. 13. 
 
 Now in regeneration taken in the former sense, new powers are put 
 into the soul, whereby the sinner, who was dead in sin, is able to discern 
 Christ in his glory, and to embrace him by faith. But it is in regenera- 
 tion taken in the latter sense, that new habits of grace, or immediate 
 principles of actions are given ; namely, upon the soul's uniting with 
 Christ by faith. So Essenius, having defined regeneration to be, the put- 
 ting of spiritual life in a man spiritually dead, (compare chap. 14, sect. 
 11,) afterwards says, "As by regeneration new powers were put into the 
 »nan, so by sanctification are given new spiritual habits." Theological 
 Virtues, ibid. cap. 16, sect. 5. And as the Scriptures are express, in that 
 men are "sanctified by faith," Acts xxvi. 18, so is the Larger Catechism 
 in that it is in sanctification they are " Renewed in their whole man, 
 having the seeds of repentance unto life, and of all other saving graces, 
 put into their hearts," quest. 75. 
 
192 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 the knowledge of the Gospel,* who says, " There may be 
 many that think, that as a man chooses to serve a prince, so 
 men choose to serve God. So likewise they think, that as 
 those who do best service, do obtain most favour of their lord ; 
 and as those that have lost it, the more they humble them- 
 selves, the sooner they recover it ; even so they think the 
 case stands between God and them ; whereas, says he, it is 
 not so, but clean contrary, for he himself says, ' Ye have not 
 chosen me, but I have chosen you,' John xv. 16. And not 
 for that we repent and humble ourselves, and do good works, 
 he gives us his free grace ; but we repent and humble our- 
 selves, do good works, and become holy, because he gives us 
 his free grace." The good thief on the cross was not illumi- 
 nated, because he did confess Christ; but he did confess 
 Christ, because he was illuminated. For, says Luther, on 
 Galatians,p. 124, "The tree must first be, and then the fruit; for 
 the apples make not the tree, but the tree makes the apples. 
 So faith first maketh the person, which afterwards brings forth 
 works. Therefore to do the law without faith, is to make the 
 apples of wood and earth without the tree, which is not to 
 make apples, but mere fantasies." Wherefore, neighbour 
 Nomista, let me entreat you, that whereas before you have 
 reformed your life that you might believe, why, now believe 
 that you may reform your life ; and do not any longer work to 
 get an interest in Christ, but believe your interest in Christ, 
 that so you may work.f And then you will not make the 
 
 * This man, Bernardine Ochine, an infamous apostate, was at first a 
 monk; but as our author says, being much enlightened in the knowledge 
 of the Gospel, he not only made profession of the Protestant religion, 
 but, together with the renowned Peter Martyr, was esteemed a most 
 famous preacher of the Gospel, throughout Italy. Being in danger on 
 the account of religion, he left Italy by Martyr's advice ; and being much 
 assisted by the Duchess of Ferrara in his escape, he went first to Geneva, 
 and then to Zurich, and was admitted a minister in that city. But dis- 
 covering himself there, (as Simon Magus did, after he had joined himself 
 to the church of Samaria) he was banished ; and is justly reckoned 
 among the forerunners of the execrable Socinus. See Hoornbeck, appar. 
 ad. contr. Soc. page 47. Hence one may plainly see how there are ser- 
 mons of his which might safely and to good purpose be quoted. And as 
 for the character given him by the author here, if one is in hazard of 
 reckoning it an applause, one must remember that is no greater than 
 what the apostle gives to the guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost, 
 Heb. vi. 6, " Those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the 
 heavenly gift," &c., which I make no question but our author had his 
 eye upon, in giving this man this character very pertinently. 
 
 * That is, by believing, get a saving interest in Christ j whereas, be- 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 193 
 
 change of your life the ground of your faith, as you have 
 done, and as Mr. Culverwell says, many do, who being asked, 
 What caused them to believe ? they answer, " Because they 
 have truly repented, and changed their course of life."* 
 
 Ant. Sir, what think you of a preacher that, in my hear- 
 ing, said, he durst not exhort nor persuade sinners to believe 
 their sins were pardoned, before he saw their lives reformed, 
 for fear they should take more liberty to sin ? 
 
 Evan. Why, what should I say but that I think tliat 
 preacher was ignorant of the mystery of faith ?-{- 
 
 For it:j: is of the nature of sovereign waters, which so w ash 
 off the corruption of the ulcer, that they cool the heat, and 
 stay the spreading of the infection, and so by degrees heal the 
 same. Neither did he know that it is of the nature of cor- 
 dials, which so comfort the heart and ease it, that they also 
 expel the noxious humours, and strengthen nature against 
 them.§ 
 
 Ant. And I am acquainted with a professor, though, God 
 
 fore, you have set yourself, as it were, to work it. See the note on the 
 Definition of Faith. 
 
 * " Which (adds he) if it proceed not from faith, is nol so much as a 
 sound proof of faith, much less can it be any cause to draw them to be- 
 lieve." — "The only firm ground of saving faith is God's truth, revealed 
 in his word ; as is plainly taught," Rom. x. 17. Ibid. p. 20, 21. 
 
 t This censure, as it natively follows upon the overthrowing of that 
 doctrine, viz. " That holiness of life must go before faith, and so be the 
 ground of it, and produce and bring it forth ;" so it is founded on these 
 two ancient Protestant principles : (1.) That the belief of the remission of 
 sin is comprehended in saving, justifying faith ; of which see p. 172. note 
 *, and the note on the Definition of Faith. (2.) That true repentance, 
 and acceptable reformation of life, do necessarily flow from, hut go not 
 before saving faith ; of which we see p. 124. note *, and 126. note X, 
 Hence it necessarily follows, that remission of sin must be believed, be- 
 fore there can be any acceptable reformation of life ; and that that 
 preacher's fear was groundless, reformation of life being so caused by the 
 faith of remission of sin, that it is inseparable from it : as our author 
 teaches in the following passages. Calvin's censure in this case is fully 
 as severe. "As for them (says he) that think that repentance does ra- 
 ther go before faith, than flow or spring forth of it, as a fruit out of a 
 tree, they never knew the force thereof." Instit. book. 3. chap. 3. sect. 1. 
 — " Yet when we refer the beginning of repentance to faith, we do not 
 dream a certain mean space of time, wherein it brings it out : but we 
 mean to show, that a man cannot earnestly apply himself to repentance, 
 unless he know himself to be of God." Ibid. sect. 2. 
 
 X Namely, Faith. 
 
 § Even so, faith not only justifies a sinner, but sanctifies him in heart 
 and life. 
 
194 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 knows,* a very weak one, that says, If he should believe be- 
 fore his life be reformed, then he might believe, and yet walk 
 on in his sins : — I pray you, sir, what would you say to such 
 a man ? 
 
 Eijan. Why, I could say, with Dr. Preston, let him, if he 
 can, believe truly, and do this ; but it is impossible : let him 
 believe, and the other will follow ; truth of belief will bring 
 forth truth of holiness : for who, if he ponder it well, can fear 
 a fleshly licentiousness, where the believing soul is united and 
 married to Christ ?t The law, as it is the covenant of works, 
 and Christ, are set in opposition, as two husbands to one wife 
 successively, Rom. vi. 4 ; whilst the law was alive in the con- 
 science, all the fruits were deadly, ver. 5 ; but Christ, taking 
 the same spouse to himself, the law being dead, by his quick- 
 ening Spirit doth make her fruitful to God, ver. 6 ; and so 
 raises up seed to the former husband ; for materially these are 
 the works of the law, though produced by the Spirit of Christ 
 in the Gospel.:}: 
 
 Ant. And yet, sir, I am verily persuaded, that there be 
 many, both preachers and professors, in this city, of the very 
 same opinion, that these two are of. 
 
 Evan. The truth is, many preachers stand upon the praise 
 of some moral virtue, and do inveigh against some vice of the 
 times, more than upon pressing men to believe. But, says a 
 learned writer, " It will be our condemnation, if we love dark- 
 ness, rather than light, and desire still to be groping in the 
 twilight of morality, the precepts of moral men, than to walk 
 in the light of divinity, which is the doctrine of Jesus Christ ; 
 and I pity the preposterous care and unhappy travail of many 
 well-aiiected, who study this and that virtue, neglecting this 
 
 * I think tliis expression might very -well have been spared here. 
 
 t " Q. Docs not this doctrine (viz. of jiistilication by faith without 
 works) nial<e men secure and profUne .' A. No, for it cannot be, but 
 they who are iii{.'raft(d into Christ by faith, should bring forth fruits of 
 thankfulness." I'alat. ("at. q. G4. 
 
 :t As a woman married to a second luisband, after the death of the 
 first, does the same work for subsistence in the family, that Mas required 
 of her by the first husband; yet does it not to, nor as under the dead 
 husband, but the living one ; so the good works of believers are mate- 
 rially, and but materially, the v orks of the law, as a covenant, the first 
 husband, now dead to the believer. In this sense only the law is here 
 treated of: and to make the good works of believers formally the M'orks 
 of the law, as a covenant and husband, is to conlnuiict the apostle, Rom. 
 vii.4 — 6, to " make them deadly fruits, dishonourable to Christ, the second 
 husband, and unacceptable to God." 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 195 
 
 cardinal and radical virtue ; as if a man should water all the 
 tree, and not the root. Fain would they shine in patience, 
 meekness, and zeal, and yet are not careful to establish and 
 root themselves in faith, which should maintain all the rest ; 
 and therefore all their labour has been in vain and to no 
 purpose." 
 
 Nom. Indeed, sir, this which you have now said, I have 
 found true by my own experience ; for I have* laboured and 
 endeavoured to get victory over such corruptions, as to over- 
 come my dulness, and to perform duties with cheerfulness, 
 and all in vain. 
 
 Evan. And no marvel ; for to pray, to meditate, to keep a 
 Sabbath cheerfully, to have your conversation in heaven, is as 
 impossible for you yourself to do, as for iron to swim, or for 
 stones to ascend upwards ; but yet nothing is impossible to 
 faith ; it can naturalise these things unto you ; it can make a 
 mole of the earth a soul of heaven. Wherefore, though you 
 have tried all moral conclusions of purposing, promising, re- 
 solving, vowing, fasting, watching, and self-revenge ; yet get 
 you to Christ, and with the finger of faith touch but the hem 
 of his garment; and you shall feel virtue come from him, for 
 the curing of all your diseases. Wherefore I beseech you, 
 come out of yourself unto Jesus Christ, and apprehend him by 
 faith, as, blessed .he God, you see your neighbour Neophitus 
 has done ; and then shall you find the like loathing of sin, 
 and love to the law of Christ, as he now does ; yea, then shall 
 you find your corruptions dying and decaying daily, more and 
 more* as I am confident he shall. 
 
 Neo. Ay, but, sir, shall I not have power quite to overcome 
 all my corruptions, and to yield perfect obedience to the law 
 of Christ, as, the Lord knows, I much desire ? 
 
 Evan. If you could believe perfectly, then should it be even 
 according to your desire ; according to that of Luther, on the 
 Galatians, p. 173, " If we could perfectly apprehend Christ, 
 then should we be free from sin :" but alas ! whilst we are 
 here, we know but in part, and so believe but in part, and so 
 receive Christ but in part, 1 Cor. xiii. 9, and so, consequently, 
 are holy but in part ; witness James the Just, including him- 
 self, when he says, " In many things we sin all," James iii. 2. 
 John the faithful and loving disciple, when he says, " If we 
 say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth 
 is not in us," 1 John i. 8. Yea, and witness Luther, when he 
 * After that manner. 
 K 2 
 
196 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 says, on the Galatians,p. 144, " A Christian man hath a body, 
 in whose members, as Paul says, ' sin dwelleth and warreth,' 
 Kom. vii. 15. And although he fall not into outward and 
 gross sins, as murder, adultery, thelt, and such like, yet is he 
 not free from impatience and murmuring against God ; yea, 
 (says he) 1 feel in myself covetousness, lust, anger, pride, and 
 arrogancy, also the fear of death, heaviness, hatred, murmur- 
 ings, impatience." So that you must not look to be quite 
 without sin, whilst you remain in this life ; yet this I dare 
 promise you, that as you grow from faith to faith, so shall you 
 grow from strength to strength in all other graces. " Where- 
 fore," says Hooker, " strengthen this grace of faith, and 
 strengthen all ; nourish this, and nourish all." So that if you 
 can attain to a great measure of faith, you shall be sure to 
 attain to a great measure of holiness ; according to the saying 
 of Dr, Preston, " Pie that hath the strongest faith, he that be- 
 lieveth in the greatest degeee the promise of pardon and re- 
 mission of sins, 1 dare boldly say, he hath the holiest heart, 
 and the holiest life. And therefore I beseech you labour to 
 grow strong in the faith of the Gospel," Philip, i. 27. 
 
 Sect. 9. — Neo. O, sir, I desire it with all my heart; and 
 therefore I pray you tell me, what you would have me to do, 
 that I may grow more strong. 
 
 Evan. Why, surely, the best advice and counsel that I can 
 give you, is to exercise that faith which you have, and wrestle 
 against doubtings, and be earnest with God in prayer for the 
 increase of it. " Forasmuch," says Luther, " as this gift is 
 in the hands of God only, who bestoweth when, and on whom 
 he pleaseth, thou must Vesort unto him by prayer, and say 
 with the apostles, ' Lord, increase our faith.' " Luke xvii. 5. 
 And you must also be diligent in hearing the word preached ; 
 for as " faith conieth by hearing," Rom. x. 17, so is it also in- 
 creased by hearing. And you must also read the word, and 
 meditate upon the free and gracious promises of God; for the 
 promise is the inunortal seed, whereby the Spirit of Christ 
 begets and increases faith in the hearts of all his. And lastly, 
 you must fre(juent the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and 
 receive it as often as conveniently you can. 
 
 Ant. But by your favour, sir, if faith be the gift of God, and 
 he give it when, and to whom he pleases, then I conceive that 
 a man's using such means will not procure any greater measure 
 of it than (iod is pleased to give. 
 
 Evan. 1 confess it is not the means that will either beget or 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 197 
 
 increase faith ; but it is the Spirit of God in the use of means 
 that doth it : so that as the means will not do it without the 
 Spirit, neither will the Spirit do it without the means, where 
 the means may be had. Wherefore, I pray you, do not you 
 hinder him from using the means. 
 
 Neo. Sir, for my own part, let him say what he will, I am 
 resolved, by the assistance of God, to be careful and diligent 
 in the use of these means which you have now prescribed ; 
 that so by the increasing of my faith, I may be the better 
 enabled to be subject to the will of the Lord, and so walk as 
 that I may please him. 
 
 Sect. 10. — But forasmuch as heretofore he hath endea- 
 voured to persuade me to believe divers points, which then I 
 could not see to be true, and therefore could not assent unto 
 them, methinks I do now begin to see some show of truth in 
 them ; therefore, sir, if you please to give me leave, I will tell 
 you what points they are, to the intent I may have your judg- 
 ment and direction therein. 
 
 Evan. Do so, I pray you. 
 
 Neo. 1. Why, first of all, he hath endeavoured to persuade 
 me that a believer is not under the law, but is altogether de- 
 livered from it. 
 
 2. That a believer does not commit sin. 
 
 3. That the Lord can see no sin in a believer. 
 
 4. That the Lord is not angry with a believer for his sins. 
 . 5. That the Lord doth not chastise a believer for his sins. 
 
 6. Lastly, That a believer hath no cause neither to confess 
 his sins, nor to crave pardon at the hands of God for them, 
 neither yet to fast, nor mourn, nor humble himself before the 
 Lord for them. 
 
 Evan. These points which you have now mentioned have 
 occasioned many needless and fruitless disputes ; and that be- 
 cause men have either not understood what they have said, or 
 else not declared whereof they have affirmed ; for in one sense 
 they may all of them be truly affirmed, a'nd in another sense 
 they may all of them be truly denied ; whereof if we would 
 clearly understand the truth, we must distinguish betwixt 
 the law as it is the law of works, and as it is the law of 
 Christ.* 
 
 * The Antinomian sense of all these positions is, no doubt, erroneous 
 and detestable, and is opposed and disproved by our author. The posi- 
 tions themselves are paradoxes, bearing a precious Gospel truth, which 
 he maintains against the legalist; but I doubt it is too much to call them 
 
198 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Now, as it is the law of works, it may be truly said, that 
 
 all Antinomian paradoxes. But to call them simply, and by the lump, 
 Antinomian errors, is shocking : one might as good say, it is a Popish or 
 Lutheran error, "That the bread in the sacrament is Christ's body;" and 
 that it is a Socinian, Arminian, or Baxterian error, "That a sinner is jus- 
 tified by faith ;" for the first four of the paradoxes are as directly scrip- 
 tural as' these are ; though the Antinominian sense of the former is anti- 
 scriptural, as is the Popish, Lutheran, Socinian, Arminian, and Baxterian 
 sense of the latter, respectively. At this rate, one might subvert the 
 very foundations of Christianity, as might easily be instructed, if there 
 were sufficient cause to exemplify it here. How few doctrines of the Bible 
 are there that have not been wrested to an erroneous sense by some cor- 
 rupt men or other ? yet will not their corrupt glosses warrant the con- 
 demning of the scriptural positions themselves as erroneous. 
 
 The first four of these paradoxes are found in the following texts of 
 Scripture, viz. — 
 
 1st. Rom. vi. 14, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace." — Chap, 
 vii. 6, " Now we are delivered from the law." 
 
 2d. 1 John iii. 6, " Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not." — Verse 9, 
 " Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin, and he cannot sin." 
 
 3d. Numb, xxiii. 21, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither 
 hath he seen perverseness in Israel." — Cant, iv, 7, "Thou art all fair, 
 my love, there is no spot in thee." 
 
 ith. Isa. liv. 9, " So have I sworn, that I would not be wrath with thee 
 nor rebuke thee." 
 
 The case standing thus, these paradoxes must needs be sensed one way 
 or other, agreeable to the analogy of faith, and so defended by all who 
 own the divine authority of the Holy Scripture. And as an orthodox 
 divine would not condemn the two propositions abovementioned,'brought 
 in for illustration of this matter, but clear the same by giving a sound 
 sense of them, and rejecting the unsound sense, as that it is true that the 
 bread is Christ's body sacramentally ; false, that it is so by transubstan- 
 tiation, or consubstantiation : that it is true, sinners are justified by faith 
 as an instrument, apprehending and applying Christ's righteousness; 
 false, that they are justified by it as a work, fulfilling the pretended new 
 proper Gospel law : so our author gives a safe and sound sense of these 
 Scriptural paradoxes, and rejects the unsound sense put upon them by 
 Antinomians ; and this he does, by applying to them the distinction of 
 the law, as it is the law of works, i. e. the covenant of works, and as it is 
 the law of Christ, i. e. a rule of life, in the hand of a Mediator, to be- 
 lievers. Now, if this distinction be not admitted here, neither in these 
 nor equivalent terms, but the law of Christ, and law of works, must be 
 reckoned one and the same thing; then believers in Christ, whom none 
 but Antinomians will deny to be under the law, as it is the law of Christ, 
 or a rule of life, are evidently staked down under the covenant works 
 still ; forasmuch as, in tlie sense of the Holy Scripture, as well as in the 
 sense of our author, the law of works is the covenant of works. And 
 since it is plain from the Holy Scripture, and from the Westminster Con- 
 fession, that believers are not under the law as a covenant of works; a 
 way which, by this distinction, our author had blocked up, is, by reject- 
 ing of it, and confounding the law of works and law of Christ, opened 
 for Antinomians to cast off the law for good and all. 
 
 The two last of these paradoxes are consecpiently scriptural, as neces- 
 
Chap 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 199 
 
 a believer is not under the law, but is delivered from it, * 
 according to that of the apostle, Rom. vi. 14, '' Ye are not 
 under the law, but under grace ;" and Rom. vii. 6, " But 
 now we are delivered from the law." And if believers be 
 not under the law, but are delivered from the law, as it is 
 a law of works, then, though they sin, yet do they not 
 transgress the law of works ; for " where no law is, there 
 is no transgression," Rom. vi. 15. Arid therefore, says the 
 apostle John, "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not," 
 1 John iii, 6 ; that is, as I conceive, whosoever abideth in 
 Christ, by faith, sinneth not against the lav/ of Works, f And 
 if a believer sin not against the law of works, then can God 
 see no sin in a believer, as a transgression of that law ;X and 
 therefore it is said, Numb, xxiii. 21, " He hath not beheld 
 iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in 
 Israel ;" and again it is said, Jer. 1. 20, " At that time the 
 iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and ihere shall be none ; 
 and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found:" and 
 in Cant. iv. 7, Christ says concerning his spouse, " Behold 
 thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee." 
 And if God can see no sin in a believer, then assuredly he 
 is neither angry nor doth chastise a believer for his sins, as 
 a transgression of that law ;§ and hence it is, that the Lord 
 says concerning his own people that were believers, Isa. xxvii. 
 
 sarily following upon the former, being understood in the same sense as 
 they are, and as our author explains them. 
 
 * "True believers be not under the law as a covenant of works." 
 Westm. Confess, chap. 19, sect. 6. — " The law of works," says our author, 
 " is as much to say, as the covenant of works." 
 
 f " As the world is altogether set upon sin, and can do nothing but sin, 
 so they that are born of God sin not ; not that their sins of themselves are 
 not deadly, but because their persons are so lively in Christ, that the dead- 
 lines of sin cannot prevail against them." Mr. John Davidson's Cat. 
 p. 32. What he means by the deadliness of sin, appears from these words 
 a little after : " Howbeit the condemnation of sin be removed from the 
 faithful altogether," &c. The penalty which the law of works threatens, 
 says our author to Neophitus, (page 202) is " condemnation and eternal 
 death ; and this you have no cause at all to fear." 
 
 X Mr. James Alelvil to the same purpose expresses it thus, — 
 But God into his daughter dear sees nane iniquitie,| 
 Nor in his chosen Israel will spy enormitie : 
 Not looking in hir bowk, whilk is with ferntickles replete, 
 But ever into Christ her face, whilk pleasand is and sweet. 
 
 Morning Vision, dedicated to James VI. p. 85 
 § Such anger is revenging wrath, and such chastisement is proper 
 punishment inflicted for satisfying offended justice ; in which sense it is 
 said, Isa. liii. 5, " The chastisement of our peace was upon him," namely, 
 on Jesus Christ j and therefore it^annot be on believers themselves. 
 
200 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 4, " Anger is not in me :" and again, Isa. liv. 9, the Lord 
 speaking comfortably to his spouse the Church, says, "As 
 I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go 
 over the earth, so have I sworn that I will no more be wroth 
 with thee, nor rebuke thee." Now, if the Lord be not angry 
 with a believer, neither doth chastise him for his sins, as 
 they are any transgression of the law of works, then hath 
 a believer neither need to confess his sins unto God, nor 
 to crave pardon for them, nor yet to fast, nor mourn, nor 
 humble himself for them, as conceiving them to be any 
 transgression of the law, as it is the law of works.* Thus 
 you see, that if you consider the law in this sense, then all 
 these points follow ; according as you say our friend Antino- 
 mista hath endeavoured to persuade you. 
 
 But if you consider the law, as it is the law of Christ, then they 
 do not so, but quite contrary. For as the law is the law of Christ, 
 it may be truly said, that a believer is under the law, and not 
 delivered from it; according to that of the apostle, 1 Cor. ix. 2J , 
 "Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ," 
 and according to that of the same apostle, Rom. iii. 31, "Do we 
 then make void the law through faith? God forbid! yea, (by 
 faith) we establish the law." And if a believer be under the law, 
 and not delivered from it, as it is the law of Christ, then if he sin, 
 
 * Our author does not indeed here refute the Antinomian error, that 
 the believer ought not to mourn for his sins ; he does that effectually in 
 the next paragraph. But here he refutes the legalist, who will needs have 
 the believer still to be under the law. as it is the covenant of works; and 
 therefore to confess and mourn, &c. for his sins, as still committed against 
 the covenant of works. But it is evident as the light, that believers are 
 not under the covenant of work, or, in other terms, under the law, as 
 that covenant ; and that principle being once fixed, the whole chain of 
 consequences, which our author has here made, does necessarily follow 
 thereupon. It is strange that nothing can be allowed in believers to be 
 mourning for sin, unless they mourn for it as unbelievers, as persons under 
 the covenant of works, who doubtless are under the curse and con- 
 demnation for their sin. Gal. iii. 10. But "as our obedience now is not the 
 performance, so our sinning is not the violation of the condition of the 
 old covenant. Believers — their sins now, though transgressions of the 
 law, are not counted violations of the conditions of the covenant of works, 
 under which they are not." Brown on Justification, chap. 15. p. 224. — 
 " If sense of sin be taken for the unbelieving feeling of, and judging my- 
 self cast out of his sight, and condemned ; whereas yet I am in Christ, 
 and 'it is God that justifies me ; who is he that shall condemn .'' Rom. 
 viii. 2;^, 34 ; we shall agree with Antinoinians. This is indeed the hasty- 
 sense of unbelief. Psalm xxxi. 22; John ii. 4. Hence let them be re- 
 buked, who say not that Christ in the Gospel hath taken away this sense 
 of sin." Rutherford on the Covenant, p. 222. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 201 
 
 he doth thereby transgress the law of Christ; and hence I con- 
 ceive it is that the apostle John says, both concerning himself and 
 other believers, 1 John i. 8, " If we say we have no sin, we 
 deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us :" and so says the 
 apostle James, chap. iii. 2, " In many things we offend all." 
 And if a believer transgress the law of Christ, then doubtless 
 he seeth it: for it is said, Prov. v. 21., "That the ways of 
 man are before the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings :" 
 and in Heb. iv. 13, it is said, " All things are naked and open 
 unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." And if the 
 Lord sees the sins that a believer commits agaii?st the law, as 
 it is the law of Christ, then doubtless he is angry with them ; 
 for it is said. Psalm cvi. 40, that because the people " went a 
 whoring after their own inventions, therefore was the wrath 
 of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he 
 abhorred his own inheritance ;" and in Deut. i. 37, Moses 
 says concerning himself, " The Lord was angry with him." 
 And if the Lord be angry with a believer for his transgress- 
 ing the law of Christ, then assuredly, if need be, he will 
 chastise him for it : for it is said. Psalm Ixxxix. 30 — 32, 
 concerning the seed and children of Jesus Christ, "If they 
 forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, then will I 
 visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with 
 stripes." And in 1 Cor. xi. 30, it is said concerning behevers, 
 " For this cause," namely, their unworthy receiving of the 
 sacrament, " many are weak and sickly among you, and many 
 sleep." And if the Lord be angry with believers, and do 
 chastise them for their sins, as they are a transgression of the 
 law of Christ, then hath a believer cause to confess his sins 
 unto the Lord, and to crave pardon for them, yea, and to 
 fast, and mourn, and humble himself for them, as conceiving 
 them to be a transgression of the law of Christ.* 
 
 Sect. 11. — And now, my loving neighbour Neophitus, I 
 pray you, consider seriously of these things, and learn to dis- 
 tinguish aright betwixt the law, as it is the law of works, 
 and as it is the law of Christ, and that in effect and prac- 
 tice ; I mean, in heart and conscience. 
 
 Neo Sir, it is the unfeigned desire of my heart so to do ; 
 and therefore I pray you give me some direction therein.-|- 
 
 *■ Thus our author hath solidly refuted in this paragiaph the Antino- 
 mian sense of all the six positions abov^e-mentioned. 
 
 t Namely, how to improve these points of doctrine in my practice. 
 There lies the great difficulty : and according as unbelief or faith has the 
 
202 THE MARROW OF Part L 
 
 Evan. Surely the best direction I can give you is, to 
 labour truly to know, and firmly to believe, that you are not 
 now under the law, as it is the law of works; and that you 
 are now under the law as it is the law of Christ ; and that 
 therefore you must neither hope for what the law of 
 works promises, in case of your most exact obedience ; nor 
 fear what it threatens, in case of your most imperfect and 
 defective obedience : and yet you may both hope for what 
 the law of Christ promises, in case of your obedience, and are 
 to fear what it threatens, in case of your disobedience. 
 
 Neo. But, sir, what are these promises and threatenings ? 
 and, first, I. pray you, tell me what it is that the law of works 
 promises. 
 
 Evan. The law of works, or, which is all one, as I have 
 told you, the covenant of Avorks, promises justification and 
 eternal life to all that yield perfect obedience thereunto : 
 and this you are not to hope for, because of your obedience. 
 And indeed, to say as the thing is, you being dead to the law 
 of works, can yield no obedience at all unto it ; for how can 
 a dead wife yield any obedience to her husband ? And if 
 you can yield no obedience at all unto it, what hope can 
 you have of any reward for your obedience? Nay, let me 
 tell you more, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hath purchased 
 both justification and eternal life by his perfect obedience to 
 the law of works, and hath freely given it to you, as it is 
 written. Acts xiiii. 39, " By him all that believe are justified 
 for all things, from which ye could not be justified by the 
 law of Moses:" and "Verily, verily," says our Saviour, "he 
 that belie veth in me hath everlasting life." John vi. 47. 
 
 Neo. And I pray you, sir, what does the law of works 
 threaten, in case of a man's disobedience unto it? 
 
 Evan. Why, the penalty which the law of works, in that 
 case, threatens, is condemnation and death eternal : and this 
 you have no cause at all to fear, in case of your most defec- 
 tive obedience ; for no man hath any cause to fear the penalty 
 of that law which he lives not under. Surely a man that 
 lives under the laws of England, has no cause to fear the penal- 
 ties of the laws of Spain or France : even so you, that now live 
 under the law of Christ, have no cause to fear the penalties of the 
 
 ascendant, so will the soul in practice carry itself; confessing, begging^ 
 pardon, fasting, mourning, and humbling itself either as a condemned 
 Bfcalefactor, or as an offending child. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 203 
 
 law of works.* Nay, the law of works is dead to you ; and 
 therefore you have no more cause to fear the threats thereof, 
 than a living wife has to fear the threats of her dead husband,t 
 nay, than a dead wife has to fear the threats of a dead husband. 
 Nay, let rae say yet more, Jesus Christ, by his condemnation 
 and death upon the cross, has delivered you and set you free 
 from condemnation and eternal death ; as it is written, Rom. 
 viii. 1, " There is therefore now no condemnation to them 
 that are in Christ Jesus." And, says Christ himself, John xi. 
 26, " Whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never 
 die." 
 
 And thus you see your freedom and liberty from the law, 
 as it is the law of works. And that you may be the better 
 enabled to " stand fast in this liberty, wherewith Christ has 
 made you free ;" beware of conceiving that the Lord now 
 stands in any relation to you, or will any way deal with you as 
 a man under that law. So that if the Lord shall be pleased 
 hereafter to bestow upon you a great measure of faith, whereby 
 you shall be enabled to yield an exact and perfect obedience 
 to the mind and will of God ;J then beware of conceiving that 
 the Lord looks upon it as obedience to the law of works, or 
 will in any measure reward you for it, according to the pro- 
 mises of that law. And if in case, at any time hereafter, you 
 be, by reason of weakness of your faith, and strength of temp- 
 tation, drawn aside, and prevailed with to swerve from the 
 mind and will of the Lord, then beware of conceiving that the 
 Lord sees it as any transgression of the law of works. For if 
 you cannot transgress that law, then it is impossible the Lord 
 should see that which is not ; and if the Lord can see no sin 
 in you, as a transgression of the law of works, then it is im- 
 possible that he should either be angry with you, or correct 
 you for any sin, as it is a transgression of that law. No, to 
 
 * See pages 93, note *, and 97, note f, " The law, as it condemneth and 
 curseth, is to the believer a mere passive and a naked stander-by, and 
 has no activity, nor can it act in that power upon any in Christ ; as the 
 law of Spain is merely passive in condemning a free-born man in Scot- 
 land." Rutherford's Spirit. Antichrist, p. 87. — *' The law being fully 
 satisfied by Christ, it neither condemneth, nor can it condemn, to 
 eternal sufferings, for that is removed from the law to all that are in 
 Christ." Ibid. 
 
 f For, according to the Scripture, the believer is dead to the law, and 
 the law is dead to the believer ; namely, as it is the law of the covenant 
 of works. See page 89, note *, and pages 90, 91. 
 
 § Exact and perfect, comparatively, not absolutely. Seepages 195, 211. 
 
204 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 speak with holy reverence, as I said before, the Lord cannot, 
 by virtue of the covenant of works, either require any obe- 
 dience of you, or give you an angry look, or any angry word ; 
 much less threaten and afflict you for any disobedience to that 
 covenant.* And, tJierefore, whensoever your conscience shall 
 tell you, that you have broken any of the ten commandments, 
 do not conceive that the Lord looks upon you as an angry 
 Judge, armed with justice against you; much less do you 
 fear that he will execute his justice upon you, according to the 
 penalty of that covenant, in unjustifying of you, or depriving 
 you of your heavenly inheritance, and giving you your portion 
 in hell fire. No, assure yourself that your God in Christ will 
 never unson you, nor unspouse you : no, nor yet, as touching 
 your justification and eternal salvation, will he love you ever 
 a whit the less, though you commit ever so many or great 
 sins ; for this is a certain truth, that as no good either in you, 
 or done by you, did move him to justify you, and give you 
 eternal life, so no evil in you, or done by you, can move him 
 to take it away from you, being once given.f And, therefore, 
 
 * See page 142, note *. 
 
 t The author speaks expressly of the love of God, touching believers' 
 justification, and eternal salvation, which, according to the Scripture, he 
 reckons to be given them ah'eady. And he asserts, That as no good in 
 them, or done by them, did move him to love them, so as to justify them, 
 and give them eternal life, so no evil in them or done by tiiem, shall 
 lessen that love, as to their justification and eternal salvation; that is, as 
 himself explains it, move him to take eternal life (which includes justi- 
 fication) away from them, being once given. This is most lirm truth: 
 howbeit, the more and the greater the sins of a believer are, he may lay 
 his account with the more and the greater effects of God's fatherly indig- 
 nation against him; and the corruption of human nature makes the add- 
 ing of such a clause in such a case very necessary. What our author 
 here advances, is evident from the holy Scripture, Psalm Ixxxix. ."^O — 34, 
 "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, if they 
 break my statutes, and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their 
 transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes : nevertheless, 
 my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him; nor suffer my faith- 
 fulness to fail ; n>y covenant will I not break ; nor alter the thing that is 
 gone out of my lips." And to <leny it, is in effect to affirm that God 
 loves believers, as touching their justification and eternal salvation, for 
 their holiness; contrary to Titus iii. .5, " Not by works of righteousness 
 which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us." — Rom. 
 vi. 'I'.'t, "The wages of sin is death, l)ut the gift of God is eternal life, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." And that that love of his to them 
 chang'.'th according to the variations of their frame and walk; contraiy 
 to Rom. xi. 29, "The gifts aiul calling of God are without repentance." 
 But while the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints stands, viz. That 
 true believers can neither full away totally, nor tiuaily, neither from rela- 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 205 
 
 believe it whilst you live, that as the Lord first loved you 
 freely, so will he hereafter " heal your backslidings, and still 
 love yoo freely," Hos. xiv. 4. Yea, " he will love you unto 
 the end," John xiii. 1. And although the Lord does express 
 the fruits of his anger towards you, in chastising and afflicting 
 of you, yet do not imagine that your afflictions are penal, pro- 
 ceeding from hatred, and vindictive justice ; and so as payments 
 and satisfaction for sins ; and so as the beginning of eternal 
 torments in hell ; for you being, as you have heard, freed from 
 the law of works, and so consequently from sinning against it, 
 must needs likewise be freed from all wTath, anger, miseries, 
 calamities, afflictions, yea, and from death itself, as* fruits and 
 effects of any transgression against that covenant. 
 
 And therefore you are never to confess your sins unto the 
 Lord, as though you conceived them to have been committed 
 
 tive grace, nor from inherent grace, our author's doctrine on this point 
 must stand also ; and the sin§ of believers, how great or many soever 
 they be, can never be of that kind which is inconsistent with a state of 
 grace, nor of another than that of infirmities. See p. 148, note *. And 
 how low soever grace is brought in the soul of a believer at any time, 
 through the prevalence of temptation, yet can he never altogether lose 
 his inherent holiness, nor can he at anytime "live after the flesh." For, 
 according to the Scripture, that is not the spot of God's children ; but he 
 who so lives, neither is, nor ever was, one of them. Rom. vi. 2, 14, " How 
 shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? Sin shall not have 
 dominion ovei* you, for ye are not under the law but under grace." — 
 Chap. viii. 1, " Them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit." See verse 4 ; 1 John iii. 9, "Whosoever is 
 born of God doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him, and he 
 cannot sin, because he is born of God." 
 
 " God foresaw what infirmities thou wouldst have, before he gave Christ 
 this commission; and Christ foresaw them before his acceptance of the 
 charge. If their prescience could not stop God in his gift, nor cool Christ 
 in his acceptance, why should it now ? While they do continue, the love 
 of God to thee is not hindered by them." Charnocke, vol. ii. p. 749. 
 
 "Observe a twofold distinction: 1st. Between God's love in itself, and 
 the manifestation of it to us. That is perpetual and one, without change, 
 increase, or lessening: but the manifestation of this love is variable, ac- 
 cording to our more or less careful exercise of piety. 2d. Between God's 
 love to our persons, and God's love to our qualities and actions. A dis- 
 tinction which God well knows how to make. Parents, I am sure, are 
 well skilled in putting this difference between the vices and persons of 
 their children ; those they hate, these they love. The case is alike be- 
 tween God and the elect; his love to their persons is from everlasting the 
 same. Nor doth their sinfulness lessen it, nor their sanctity increase it ; 
 because God in loving their persons, never considered them otherwise 
 than as most perfectly holy and unblameable in Christ." Pemble's 
 Works, p. 23. 
 
 * They are. 
 
206 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 against the law of works : and so making you liable to God's 
 everlasting wrath, and hell-fire ; neither must you crave pardon 
 and forgiveness for them, that thereupon you may escape that 
 penalty ; neither do you either fast, or weep, or mourn, or 
 humble yourself, from any belief that you shall thereby satisfy 
 the justice of God, and appease his wrath, either in whole or 
 in part, and so escape his everlasting vengeance. For if you 
 be not under the law of works, and if the Lord see no sin in 
 you as a transgression of that law, and be neither angry with 
 you, nor afflict you for any sin, as it is a transgression of that 
 law, then consequently you have no need either to confess 
 your sins, or crave pardon for them, or fast, or weep, or mourn, 
 or humble yourself for your sins, as conceiving them to be any 
 transgression of the law of works.* 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, you have fully satisfied me in this point ; 
 and therefore I pray you proceed to show what is that reward 
 which the law of Christ promises, which you said I might 
 hope for, in case of my obedience thereunto ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the reward which I conceive the law of 
 Christ promises to believers, and which they may hope for, 
 answerably to their obedience to it,f is a comfortable being in 
 the enjoyment of sweet communion with God and Christ, even 
 in the time of this life, and a freedom from afflictions, both 
 spiritual and corporal, so far fortli as they are fruits and effects 
 of sin, as it is any transgression of the law of Christ.:}: For 
 you know, that so long as a child does yield obedience to his 
 father's commands, and does nothing that is displeasing to him, 
 if he love his child, he will carry himself lovingly and kindly 
 towards him, and suffer him to l3e familiar with him, and will 
 not whip nor scourge him for his disobedience. Even so, if 
 you unfeignedly desire and endeavour to be obedient unto the 
 will and mind of your Father in Christ; in doing that which 
 he commands, and in avoiding that which he forbids, both in 
 your general and particular calling; and to the end that you 
 may please him ; then answerably as you do so, your Father 
 will smile upon you, when you shall draw near to him in prayer, 
 or any other of his own ordinances ; and manifest his sweet pre- 
 
 ♦ See paf^e 200, note *. 
 
 t Thouf^h not for their obedience, l)nt for Christ's obedience. 
 
 X I read the last word of this sentence, Christ, not works, judging it 
 plain, that the latter is a press error. Sec the last clause of Neophitus's 
 speech above, and the reason here immediately following, with the first 
 paragraph, page 208. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 207 
 
 sence and loving favour towards you ; and exempt you from 
 all outward calamities, except in case of trial of your faith and 
 patience, or the like ; as it was written, 2 Chron. xv. 2, " The 
 Lord is with you, while ye are with him ; and if ye seek him, 
 he Avill be found of you." And so the apostle James says, 
 James iv. 8, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." 
 And " O," says the Lord, " that my people had hearkened unto 
 me, and Israel had walked in my ways ! he should have fed 
 them with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the 
 rock should I have satisfied thee," Psalm Ixxxi. 13, 16. And 
 this may suffice to have shown you what you may hope for, 
 answerably to your obedience to the law of Christ. 
 
 Neo. Then, sir, I pray you proceed to show what is the 
 penalty which the law of Christ threatens, and which I am to 
 fear, if I transgress that law ? 
 
 Evan, The penalty which the law of Christ threatens to 
 you, if you transgress the law of Christ, and which you are to 
 fear, is the want of near and sweet communion with God in 
 Christ, even in the time of this life, and a liableness to all 
 temporal afflictions, as fruits and effects of the transgressing 
 of that law.* 
 
 * An awful penalty, if rightly understood, as comprehending all man- 
 ner of strokes and afflictions on the outward and inner man, called by 
 our author " temporal and spiritual afflictions on the outward man ;" not 
 to speak of the reproach, disgrace and contempt, successless labour and 
 toil, poverty, misery, want, and the like, which the believer.is liable to for 
 his disobedience, as well as others. His sins lay him open to the whole 
 train of maladies, pains, torments, sores, diseases, and plagues, incident 
 to sinful flesh ; by which he may become a burden to himself and others. 
 And these may be inflicted on him, not only by the hand of God, but by 
 the hand of the devil ; as appears in the case of Job. Yea, and the Lord 
 may, in virtue of this penalty annexed to his law, pursue the controversy 
 with the offending believer, even to death ; so that his natural life may go 
 in the cause of his transgression, 1 Cor. xi. 30, 32. To this may be added 
 the marks of God's indignation against his sin, set upon his relations; 
 witness the disorders, mi.schiefs, and strokes on David's family, for his 
 sin in the matter of Uriah, more bitter than death, 2 Sam. xii. 10 — 14; 
 chap. xiii. and xv. In the inner man, by virtue of the same penalty, 
 he is liable for his transgression, to be deprived of the comfort, sense, ex- 
 ercise, and some measure of his graces ; of his sense of God's love, his 
 peace, joy, actual communion with God, and access to him in duties; to 
 be brought under desertion, hiding of God's face, withdrawing the light 
 of the Lord's countenance : and left to walk in darkness, to go mourning 
 without the sun, and to cry and shout while the Lord shutteth out his 
 prayer ; to be thrown into agonies of conscience, pierced with the arrows 
 of the Almighty in his spirit, compassed about and distracted with the 
 terrors of God, seized with the fearful apprehensions of God's revenging 
 wrath against him, and thereby brought unto the brink of absolute 
 
208 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Wherefore, whensoever you shall hereafter transgress any 
 of the ten commandments, you are to know that you have 
 thereby transgressed the law of Christ, and that the Lord sees 
 it, and is angry M'ith it, with a fatherly anger ; and, if need be, 
 will chastise you, 1 Pet. i. 6, either with temporal or spiritual 
 afflictions, or both. And this your heavenly Father will do in 
 love to you ; either to bring your sins to remembrance, as he 
 did the sins of Joseph's brethren. Gen. xhi. 21, and as the 
 widow of Zarephath confesseth concerning herself, 1 Kings 
 xvii. 18, or else " to purge or take away your sins," according 
 to that which the Lord says, Isa. xxvii. 9, " By this therefore 
 shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, 
 even the taking away of sin." " For indeed," says Mr. Cul- 
 verwell, " afflictions, through God's blessing, are made special 
 means to purge out that sinful corruption which is still in the 
 nature of believers ; and therefore are they, in Scripture, most 
 aptly compared to medicines, for so they are indeed to all 
 God's children, most sovereign medicines to cure all their 
 spiritual diseases. And indeed we have all of us great need 
 thereof; for as Luther, on the Galatians, p. 66, truly says, 
 " We are not yet perfectly righteous ; for whilst we remain 
 
 despair. Besides all this, he is liable to the bufFettings of Satan, and 
 horrid temptations ; and, for the punishment of one sin, to be suffered 
 to fall into another. And all these may, in virtue of the penalty annexed 
 to the law in the hand of Christ, meet in the case of the offending be- 
 liever, together and at once. Thus, howbeit God no where threatens to 
 cast believers in Christ into hell, yet he both threatens and often executes 
 the casting of a hell into them, for their provocations. 
 
 Only the revenging wrath and curse of God are no part of the penalty 
 to believers in Christ, according to the truth and our author. But whe- 
 ther or not this penalty, as it is without these, leaves the most holy and 
 awful law of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, most base and 
 despicable, the sober-minded reader will easily judge for himself. 
 
 " The one, viz. justification doth equally free all believers from the 
 revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life." Larger Cat. 
 q. 77. — " They can never fall from the state of justification, yet they 
 may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure, and not have 
 the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble them- 
 selves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repent- 
 ance." Westm. Confess, chap. xi. art. v. — " They may fall into grievous 
 sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displea- 
 sure, and grieve his holy Spirit, come to be (lej)rived of some measure of 
 their graces and comforts, have their hearts hardened, and their con- 
 sciences wounded ; hurt and scandali/,e others, and bring temporal judg- 
 ments upon themselves." II). chap. 17. art. A. — " The tlireatenings of it 
 serve to sliow what even their sins deserve ; and what afflictions, in this 
 life, they may expect for them, although freed IVoin the curse thereof 
 threatened in the law." lb. chap. VJ. art. G. See page 180 note f. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 209 
 
 in this life, sin dwells still in the flesh, and this remnant of sin 
 God purgeth." — " Wherefore," says the same Luther in 
 another place,* " When God hath remitted sins, and received 
 a man into the bosom of grace, then doth he lay on him all 
 kind of afflictions, and doth scour and renew him from day to 
 day." And to the same purpose, Tindal truly says, " If we 
 look on the flesh, and into the law, there is no man so perfect 
 that is not found a sinner ; nor no man so pure, that hath not 
 need to be purged. And thus doth the Lord chastise believers 
 to heal their natures, by purging out the corruption that re- 
 mains therein." 
 
 And therefore, whensoever you shall hereafter feel the 
 Lord's chastening hand upon you, let it move you to take the 
 prophet Jeremiah's counsel, that is, to " search and try your 
 ways, and turn unto the Lord," Lam. iii. 40, and confess your 
 sins unto him, saying, with the prodigal, Luke xv. 21, " Fa- 
 ther, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am 
 no more worthy to be called thy son ;" and beg pardon and 
 forgiveness at his hands, as you are taught in the fifth petition 
 of the Lord's prayer, Matt. vi. 12. Yet do not you crave 
 pardon and forgiveness at the hands of the Lord, as a male- 
 factor doth at the hands of a judge, that feareth condemna- 
 tion and death, as though you had sinned against the law of 
 works, and therefore feared hell and damnation ; but do you 
 beg pardon and forgiveness as a child doth at the hands of 
 his loving father ; as feeling the fruits of his fatherly anger, 
 in his chastising hand upon you ; and as fearing the continu- 
 ance and augmentation of the same, if your sin be not both 
 pardoned and subdued :f and therefore do you also beseech 
 your loving Father to subdue your iniquities, according to his 
 promise, Micah vii. 19. And if you find not that the Lord 
 hath heard your prayers, by your feeling your iniquities sub- 
 dued,;}: then join with your prayers, fasting and weeping, if 
 you can ; that so you may be the more seriously humbled 
 before the Lord, and more fervent in prayer. And this, I 
 hope, may be sufficient to have showed you what is the penalty 
 which the law of Christ threatens. 
 
 * Chos. Sermons, Serm. Of the Kingdom of God, page 120. 
 
 t Mat. vi. 9, 12, " After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father 
 which art in heaven ; forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." 
 
 I The subduing of sin is the mark of God's hearing prayer for the par- 
 don of it ; if one feels not his iniquity subdued, he cannot find that God 
 hath heard his prayers for pardon. 
 
210 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Neo. O, but, sir, I should think myself a happy man, if I 
 could be so obedient to the law of Christ, that he might have 
 no need to inflict this penalty upon me. 
 
 Evan. You say very well ; but yet, whilst you carry this 
 body of sin about you, do the best you can, there will be need 
 that the Lord should, now and then, give you some fatherly 
 corrections : but yet, this let me tell you, the more perfect 
 your obedience is, the fewer lashes you shall have ; " for the 
 Lord doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men," 
 Lam. iii. 33. And therefore, according to my former exhor- 
 tation, and your resolution, be careful to exercise your faith, 
 and use all means to increase it ; that so it may become effec- 
 tual* working by love. 1 Thess. i. 3 ; Gal. v. 6. For, ac- 
 cording to the measure of your faith, will be your true love to 
 Christ, and to his commandments ; and according to your love 
 to them, will be your delight in them, and your aptness and 
 readiness to do them. And hence it is that Christ himself 
 says, John xiv. 15, " If ye love me, keep my command- 
 ments :" and " this is the love of God," says that loving disci- 
 ple, " that we keep his commandments, and his commandments 
 are not grievous," 1 John v. 3. Naj'^, the truth is, if you have 
 this love in your hearts, it will be grievous unto you, that you 
 cannot keep them as you would. O, if this love do abound 
 in your heart, it will cause you to say with godly Joseph, in 
 case you be tempted as he was, " How can I do this great 
 wickedness, and so sin against God?" How can I do that 
 which I know will displease so gracious a Father, and so mer- 
 ciful a Saviour ? No, I will not do it ; no, I cannot do it : no, 
 you will rather say with the Psalmist, " I delight to do thy 
 will, O my God! yea, thy law is within my heart," Psalm xl. 8. 
 Nay, let me tell you more, if this love of God in Christ be 
 truly, and in any good measure, rooted in your heart ; then, 
 though the chastising hand of the Lord be not upon you, nay, 
 though the Lord do no way express any anger towards you, 
 yet if you but consider the Lord's ways towards you, and your 
 ways towards him, you will mourn with a Gospel-mourning, rea- 
 soning with yourself after this manner: And was I under the law 
 of works by nature, and so, for every transgression against any 
 of the ten commandments, made liable to everlasting damna- 
 tion ? and I am now, throujrh the free mercy and love of God 
 
 'O" 
 
 * To the producing of holy obedience, according to the measure and 
 degree of it. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 211 
 
 in Christ, brought under the law of Christ, and so subject to 
 no other penalty for my transgressions, but fatherly and loving 
 chastisements, which tend to the purging out of that sinful 
 corruption that is in me ? O what a loving Father is this ! O 
 what a gracious Saviour is this ! O what a wretched man am 
 I, to transgress the laws of such a good God, as he hath been 
 to me ! O the due consideration of this will even, as it were, 
 melt your heart, and cause your eyes to drop with the tears of 
 godly sorrow ! yea, the due consideration of these things will 
 cause you to " loathe yourself in your own sight for your trans- 
 gressions, Ezek. xxxvi. 31, yea, not only to loathe yourself for 
 them, but also to leave them, saying with Ephraim, " What 
 have I to do any more with idols ?" Hos. xiv. 8, and to " cast 
 them away as a menstruous cloth, saying unto them, get ye 
 hence," Isa. xxx. 22. And truly you will desire nothing 
 more, than that you might so live, as that you might never sin 
 against the Lord any more. And this is that " goodness of 
 God ^^;]iich," as the apostle says, " leadeth to repentance ;" 
 yea, this is that goodness of God which will lead you to a free 
 obedience. So that if you do but apply the goodness of God 
 in Christ to your soul, in any good measure, then will you an- 
 swerably yield obedience to the law of Christ, not only with- 
 out having respect either to what the law of works either pro- 
 miseth or threateneth ; but also without having respect to what 
 the law of Christ either promiseth or threateneth ; you will do 
 that which the Lord commandeth, only because he com- 
 mandeth it, and to the end that you may please him ; and you 
 will forbear when he forbids, only because he forbids it to the 
 end that you may not displease him.* And this obedience is 
 
 * The author doth here no otherwise exhort the believer to yield free 
 obedience, without respect to what either the law of works, or the law of 
 Christ, promises or threatens, than he exhorts him to perfection of obe- 
 dience, which, in the beginning of this answer, he told him not to be 
 attainable in this life. And the truth is, neither the one nor the other is 
 the design of these words. But he had exhorted him before, to use all 
 means to increase his faith ; and for his encouragement, he tells him here, 
 that if he by faith applied the goodness of God in Christ to his own soul, 
 in any good measure, then he would answerably, yield obedience, with- 
 out respect to what either the law of w^orks, or the law of Christ promises 
 or threatens, and only because God commands or forbids. The freeness 
 of obedience is of very different degrees; and believers' obedience is never 
 absolutely free, till it be absolutely perfect in heaven ; but the freeness 
 of their obedience will always bear proportion to the measure of their 
 faith, which is never perfect in this life : thus, the more faith, the more 
 freeness of obedience, and the less faith, the less of that freeness. See 
 page 59, note.* 
 
212 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 like unto that which our Saviour exhorts his disciples unto, 
 Matt. X. 8, saying, " Freelj' you have received, freely give." 
 And this is to "serve the Lord without fear" of any penalty, 
 which either the law of works or the law of Christ threateneth, 
 " in holiness and righteousness all the days of your life," ac- 
 cording to that saying of Zacharias,* Luke i. 74, 75. And 
 this is to "pass the time of your sojourning here, in fear," to 
 offend the Lord, by sinning against him : as the apostle Peter 
 exhorts, 1 Peter i. 17. Yea, and this is to "serve God ac- 
 ceptably, with reverence and godly fear ;" as the author to 
 
 " The believer obeys with an angel-like obedience ; then the Spirit 
 seems to exhaust all the commanding awsomness of the law, and supplies 
 the law's imperious power, with the strength and power of love." Ruther- 
 ford's Spirit. Antichrist, p. 318. — " The more of the Spirit because the 
 Spirit is essentially free, Psalm li. 12 ; 2 Cor. iii. 17, the more freeness ; 
 and the more freeness, the more renewed will in the obedience ; and the 
 more renewed will, the less constraint, because freeness exhausteth con- 
 straint." Ibid. 
 
 " When Christ's blood is seen by faith to quiet justice, then the con- 
 science becomes quiet also, and will not sufter the heart to entertain the 
 love of sin, but sets the man on work to fear God for his mercy, and 
 obey all his commandments, out of love to God, for his fi*ee gift of justi- 
 fication, by grace bestowed upon him ; for ' this is the end of the law' 
 indeed, whereby it obtaineth of a man more obedience than any other 
 way." Pract. Use of Sav. Knowledge, tit. The Third Thing Requisite, 
 &c. fig. 7. 
 
 Promises and threatenings are not, by this doctrine, annexed to the 
 holy law in vain, even with respect to believers ; for the law of God is, in 
 his infinite wisdom, suited to the state of the creature, to whom it is 
 given : and therefore, howbeit the believer's eternal happiness is unalter- 
 ably secured from the moment of his union with Christ by faith ; yet, 
 since sin dwells in him still while in this world, tiie promises of fatherly 
 smiles, and threatenings of fatherly chastisements, are still necessary. 
 But it is evident that this necessity is entirely founded on the believer's 
 imperfection ; as in case of a child under age. And, therefore, although 
 his being influenced to obedience by the promises and threatenings of 
 the law of Christ, is not indeed slavish, yet it is plainly cliildish, not 
 agreeing to the state of a perfect man, of one come unto the measure of 
 the stature of the fulness of Christ. And, in the state of perfection, he 
 shall yield such free obedience as the angels do in heaven, without being 
 moved thereto by any promises or threatenings at all : and the nearer he 
 comes in his progress to that state of perfection, the more will his obedi- 
 ence be of that nature. So by the doctrine here advanced, the author 
 doth no more disown the necessity of promises to influence and encou- 
 rage the believer's obedience, nor say, lliat he ought not to have regard 
 to promises and threatenings, than one is to be reckoned to say, that a 
 lame man has no need of, and should not have regard unto the crutches 
 provided for him : when he only says, That the stronger his limbs grow, 
 lie will have less need of them, and will lean the lesson them. 
 
 * See the preceding note. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 2\Z 
 
 the Hebrews exhorts, Heb. xii. 28. And thus, my dear 
 friend, Neophitus, I have endeavoured, according to your desire, 
 to give you my judgment and direction in these points. 
 
 Neo. And truly, sir, you have done it very effectually ; the 
 Lord enable me to practise according to your direction ! 
 
 Sect. 12. — Nom. Sir, in this your answer to his question, 
 you have also answered me, and given me full satisfaction in 
 divers points, about which my friend Antinoraista and I have 
 had many a wrangling fit. For I used to affirm with tooth 
 and nail, (as men used to say) that believers are under the 
 law, and not delivered from it ; and that they do sin, and that 
 God sees it, and is angry with them, and doth afflict them for 
 it, and that, therefore, they ought to humble themselves, and 
 mourn for their sins, and confess them, and crave pardon for 
 them ; and yet truly, I must confess, I did not understand 
 what I said, nor whereof I affirmed ; and the reason was, be- 
 cause 1 did not know the difference betwixt the law, as it is 
 the law of works, and as it is the law of Christ. 
 
 Ant. And believe me, sir, I used to affirm, as earnestly as 
 he, that believers are delivered from the law, and, therefore, 
 do not sin ; and, therefore, God can see no sin in them ; and, 
 therefore, is neither angry with them, nor does afflict them for 
 sin; and, therefore, they have no need either to humble them- 
 selves, or mourn, or confess their sins, or beg pardon for them; 
 the which I believing to be true, could not conceive how the 
 contrary could be true also. But now I plainly see that by 
 means of your distinguishing betwixt the law, as it is the law 
 of works, and as it is the law of Christ, there is a truth in 
 both. And, therefore, friend Nomista, whensoever either you, 
 or any man else, shall hereafter affirm, that believers are under 
 the law, and do sin ; and God sees it, and is angry with them, 
 and does chastise them for it ; and that they ought to humble 
 themselves, mourn, weep, and confess their sins, and beg par- 
 don for them : if you mean only, as they are under the law of 
 Christ, I will agree with you, and never contradict you again. 
 Nom. And truly, friend Antinomista, if either you, or any 
 man else, shall hereafter affirm, that believers are delivered 
 from the law, and do not sin, and God sees no sin in them, 
 nor is angry with them, nor afflicts them for their sins, and 
 that they have no need either to humble themselves, mourn, 
 confess, or crave pardon for their sins, if you mean it only as 
 they are not under the law of works, I will agree with you, 
 and never contradict you again. 
 
214 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Evan. I rejoice to hear you speak these words each to other; 
 and truly, now I am in hope that you two will come back from 
 both your extremes, and meet my neighbour Neophitus in the 
 golden mean ; having as the apostle says, "the same love, be- 
 ing of one accord, and of one mind." 
 
 Nom. Sir, for my own part, I thank the Lord I do now 
 plainly see, that I have erred exceedingly, in seeking to be jus- 
 tified, " as it were, by tbt works of the law."* And yet could 
 I never be persuaded to it before this day ; and indeed should 
 not have been persuaded to it now, had not you so plainly and 
 fully handled this threefold law. And truly, sir, I do now 
 unfeignedly desire to renounce myself, and all that ever I have 
 done, and by faith to adhere only to Jesus Christ ; for now I 
 see that he is all in all. O that the Lord would enable me so 
 to do ! And I beseech you, sir, pray for me. 
 
 Ant. And truly, sir, I must needs confess, that I have erred 
 as much on the other hand ; for I have been so far from seek- 
 ing to be justified by the works of the law, that I have neither 
 regarded law nor works. But now I see mine error ; I purpose, 
 God willing, to reform it. 
 
 Evan. The Lord grant that you may. 
 
 Sect. 13. — But how do you, neighbour Neophitus ? for me- 
 thinks you look very heavily. 
 
 Neo. Truly, sir, I was thinking of that place of Scripture, 
 where the apostle exhorts us " to examine ourselves whether 
 we be in the faith or no," 2 Cor. xiii. 5 ; whereby it seems to 
 me, that a man may think he is in the faith, Avhen he is not. 
 Therefore, sir, I would gladly hear how I may be sure that I 
 am in the faith. 
 
 Evan. I would not have you to make any question of it, since 
 you have grounded your faith upon such a firm foundation as 
 will never fail you ; for the promise of God in Christ is of a 
 tried truth, and never yet failed any man, nor ever will.f 
 
 * This Scriptural phrase is here aptly used, to intimate how men de- 
 ceive themselves, thinking they are far from seeking to be justified by the 
 works of the law, because they are convinced they cannot do good works 
 in the perfection which the law requires : meanwhile, since God is mer- 
 ciful, and Christ hath died, they look for the pardon of their sins, and 
 acceptance with Cod, upon the account of their own works, though at- 
 tended with some imperfections : that is, "as it were by the works of tlie 
 law," Rom. ix. 32. 
 
 t This answer proceeds upon taking Neophitus to speak, not of the 
 grace, but of tl>e doctrine of faith ; namely, the foundation of faith, or 
 ground of believing ; as if he had desired to know whether the founda- 
 tion of his faith was the true foundation of faith, or not. This is plain 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 215 
 
 Therefore, I would have you to close with Christ in the pro- 
 mise, without making any question whether you are in the 
 faith or no ; for there is an assurance which rises from the exer- 
 cise of faith by a direct act, and that is, when a man, by faith, 
 directly lays hold upon Christ, and concludes assurance from 
 thence.* 
 
 Neo. Sir, I know that the foundation whereon I am to 
 ground my faith remains sure ; and I think I have already 
 built thereon ; but yet. because I conceive a man may think 
 he has done so, when he has not, therefore, would I fain know 
 how I may be assured that I have so done ?f 
 
 Evan. Well, now I understand you what you mean; it 
 seems you do not want a ground for your believing, but for 
 your believing that you have believed. :j: 
 
 Neo. Yea, indeed, that is the thing I want. 
 
 from the two following paragraphs. And upon the supposition that he 
 had grounded his faith on the promise of the Gospel, the tried foundation 
 of faith, the author tells him, he would not have him make a question of 
 that, having handled that question already at great length, and answered 
 all his and Nomista's objections on the head, p. 97 — 99, where Neo- 
 phitus declared himself satisfied. And there is no inconsistency betwixt 
 the author's advice in this case given to Neophitus, and the advice given 
 in the text last cited unto the Corinthians, unreasonably and peevishly 
 demanding a proof of Christ speaking in the apostle. Whether, with 
 several judicious critics and commentators, we understand that text con- 
 cerning the doctrine of faith, as if the apostle put them to try whether 
 they retained the true doctrine or not; or, which is the common and, I 
 think, the true understanding of it, concerning the grace of faith ; I see 
 nothing here determining our author's »f)inion, as to the sense of it; but 
 whether he seems here to be against self-examination, especially after he 
 had urged that duty on Antinomista, and answered his objections 
 against it, let the candid reader judge. 
 
 * See the note on the Definition of Faith. 
 
 "The assurance of Christ's righteousness is a direct act of faith, appre- 
 hending imputed righteousness : the evidence of our justification we now 
 speak of is the reflex light, not by which we are justified, but by which 
 we know that we are justified." Rutherford's Christ Dying and Drawing, 
 p. 111. — " We had never a question with Antinomians touching the first 
 assurance of justification, such as is proper to the light of faith. He might 
 have spared all his arguments to prove, that we are first assured of our 
 justification by faith, not by good works, for we grant the arguments of 
 one sort of assurance, which is proper to faith ; and they prove nothing 
 against another sort of assurance, by signs and effects, which is also 
 divine." Ibid., p. 110. 
 
 f A good reason why this assurance, in or by the direct act of faith, is 
 to be tried by marks and signs. There is certainly a persuasion that 
 " Cometh not of him that called us ;" which obliges men to examine their 
 persuasion, whether it be of the right sort or not. 
 
 X This is called assurance by a reflex act. 
 
216 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 Evan. Why, the neKi vay to find out and know this is to 
 look back and reflect upon your own heart, and consider what 
 actions have passed through there ; for indeed this is the be- 
 nefit that a reasonable soul has, ithat it is able to return upon 
 itself, to see what it has done ; which the soul of a beast can- 
 not do. Consider, then, I pray you, that you have been con- 
 vinced in your spirit that you are a sinful man, and, therefore, 
 have feared the Lord's wrath and eternal damnation in hell ; 
 and you have been convinced that there is no help for you at 
 all in yourself, by any thing that you can do ; and you heard 
 it plainly proved, that "Jesus Christ alone is an all-sufficient 
 help ; and the free and full promise of God in Christ has been 
 made so plain and clear to you, that you had nothing to object 
 why Christ did not belong to you in particular;* and you have 
 perceived a willingness in Christ to receive you, and to em- 
 brace you as his beloved spouse ; and you have thereupon 
 consented and resolved to take Christ, and to give yourself 
 unto him, whatsoever betides you ; and I am persuaded you 
 have thereupon felt a secret persuasion in your heart, tliat God 
 in Christ doth bear a love to you ;f and answerably your 
 heart hath been inflamed towards him in love again, manifest- 
 ing itself in an unfeigned desire to be obedient and subject to 
 his will in all things, and never to displease him in any thing. 
 Now tell me, I pray you, and truly, whether you have not 
 found these things in you, as I have said ? 
 
 Neo, Yea, indeed, I hope I have in some measure. 
 
 Evan. Then I tell you truly, you have a sure ground to lay 
 your believing that you have believed upon ; and, as the apos- 
 tle John says, " Hereby you may know that you are of the 
 truth, and may assure your heart thereof before God," 1 John 
 iii. 19. 
 
 Neo» Surely, sir, this I can truly say, that heretofore, when 
 I have thought upon my sins, I have conceived of God and 
 Christ, as of a wrathful judge that would condemn all unright- 
 eous men to eternal death : and, therefore, when I have thought 
 upon the day of judgment, and hell torments, I have even 
 trembled for fear, and have, as it were, even hated God. And 
 though I have laboured to become righteous, that I might 
 escape his wrath, yet all that I did, I did it unwillingly. But 
 since I have heard you make it so plain, that a sinner that sees 
 
 • In virtue of the deed of gift and grant. See the note on the Defini- 
 tion of Faith, fig. 1. 
 t See page 124, note f. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 217 
 
 and feels his sins is to conceive of God, as of a merciful, lov- 
 ing, and forgiving father in Christ, that hath committed all 
 judgment to his Son, who came not to condemn men but to 
 save them ; methinks I do not now fear his wrath, but do ra- 
 ther apprehend his love towards me ; whereupon my heart is 
 inflamed towards him with such love, that, methinks, I would 
 willingly do or suffer anything that I knew would please him; 
 and would rather choose to suffer any misery than I would do 
 any thing that I knew were displeasing to him. 
 
 Evan, We read in the seventh chapter of St. Luke's Gos- 
 pel, that when that sinful yet believing woman did manifest 
 her faith in Christ by her love to him, in " washing his feet 
 with her tears, and wiping them with the hairs of her head," 
 ve7'se 38, he said unto Simon the Pharisee, verse 47, " I say 
 unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven her, for she 
 loved much ;" even so I may say unto you, Nomista, in the 
 same words concerning our neighbour Neophitus. And to 
 you yourself, Neophitus, I say, as Christ said unto the woman, 
 verses 48 — 30, " Thy sins are forgiven thee, thy faith hath 
 saved thee, go in peace." 
 
 Ant. But I pray you, sir, is not this his reflecting upon 
 himself to find out a ground to lay his believing that he hath 
 believed upon, a turning back from the covenant of grace to 
 the covenant of works, and from Christ to himself? 
 
 Evan. Indeed, if he should look upon these things in him- 
 self, and thereon conclude, that because he has done this, 
 God had accepted of him, and justified him, and will save 
 him, and so make them the ground of his believing; this 
 were to turn back from the covenant of grace to the cove- 
 nant of works, and from Christ to himself. But if he look 
 upon these things in himself, and thereupon conclude, that 
 because these things are in his heart, Christ dwells there 
 by faith, and therefore he is accepted of God, and justified, 
 and shall certainly be saved, and so make them an evidence 
 of his believing, or the ground of his believing that he 
 has believed ; this is neither to turn back from the cove- 
 nant of grace to the covenant of works, nor from Christ 
 to himself. So that these things in his heart being the 
 daughters of faith, and the offspring of Christ, though they 
 cannot at first produce, or bring forth their mother, yet may 
 they in time of need nourish her. 
 
 Sect. 14. — Nom. But, I pray you, sir, are there not other 
 things besides these, that he says he finds in himself, that a 
 
 L 
 
218 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 man may look upon as evidences of his believing, or, as you 
 call them, as grounds to believe that he has believed ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed, there are divers other effects of faith, 
 which if a man have in him truly, he may look upon them 
 as evidences that he hath truly believed ; and I will name 
 three of them unto you : 
 
 Whereof the first is, when a man truly loves the word of 
 God, and makes a right use of it; and this a man does, 1st. 
 when he hungers and thirsts after the word, as after the 
 food of his soul, desiring it at all times, even as he does his 
 '* appointed* food," Job xxiii. 12. Secondly, when he de- 
 sires and delights to exercise himself therein day and night, 
 that is constantly. Psalm i. 2. Thirdly, When he receives 
 the word of God as the word of God, and not as the word 
 of man, 1 Thess. ii. 13; setting his heart, in the time of 
 hearing or reading it, as in God's presence ; and being affected 
 with it, as if the Lord himself should speak unto him be- 
 ing most affected with that ministry, or that portion of God's 
 word, which shows him his sins, and searches out his most 
 secret corruptions ; denying his own reason and affections ; 
 yea, and his profits and pleasures, in any thing when the 
 Lord shall require it of him. Fourthly, This a man does, 
 when he makes the word of God to be his chief comfort in 
 the time of his afflictions ; finding it, at that time, to be the 
 main stay and solace of his heart, Psalm cxix. 49, 50. 
 
 The second evidence is, when a man truly loves the chil- 
 dren of God, 1 John v. 1 ; that is, all Godly and religious 
 persons, above all other sorts of men ; and that is, when he 
 loves them not for carnal respects, but for the graces of God 
 which he sees in them, 2 John i. 2 ; 3 John 1. And when he 
 delights in their society and company, and makes them his 
 only companions. Psalm cxix. 63, and when his well-doing 
 (to his power) extends itself to them. Psalm xvi. 3. In 
 being pitiful and tender-hearted towards them, and in gladly 
 receiving of them, and communicating to their necessities 
 with a ready mind, Philem. 7 ; 1 John iii. 1 7. And when he 
 has not the glorious faith of Christ in " respect of persons," 
 James ii. 1, 2, but can make himself equal to them of the 
 lower sort, lloni. xii. 16; and when he loves them at all 
 times, even when they are in adversity, as poverty, disgrace, 
 sickness, or otherwise in misery. 
 
 * So the Margin reads it. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 219 
 
 The third evidence is, when a man can truly love his ene- 
 mies, Matt. vi. 14. And that he does, when he can pray 
 heartily for them, and forgive them their particular tres- 
 passes against him ; being more grieved for that they have 
 sinned against G^d than for that they have wronged him ; 
 and when he c^ii forbear them, and yet could be revenged of 
 them, either by bringing shame and misery upon them, 
 1 Pet. iii. 9 ; Rom. xii. 14 ; andwhen he strives to overcome 
 their evil with goodness, being willing to help them, and 
 relieve them in their misery, and do them any good in soul 
 or body; and, lastly, when he can freely and willingly ac- 
 knowledge his enemy's just praise, even as if he were his dear- 
 est friend. 
 
 Sect. 15. — Neo. But, sir, I pray you, let me ask you one ques- 
 tion more touching this point ; and that is, suppose that here- 
 after I should see no outward evidences, and question whether 
 I had ever any true inward evidences, and so whether ever 
 I did truly believe or no, what must I do then ? 
 
 Evan. Indeed it is possible you may come to such a con- 
 dition ; and therefore you do well to provide beforehand 
 for it. Now then, if ever it shall please the Lord to give 
 you over to such a condition, first, let me warn you to take 
 heed of forcing and constraining yourself to yield obedience 
 to God's commandments, to the end you may so get an evi- 
 dence of faith again, or a ground to lay your believing, that 
 you have beUeved, upon ; and so forcibly to hasten your as- 
 surance before the time :* for although this be not to turn 
 quite back to the covenant of works, (for that you shall never 
 do,) yet it is to turn aside towards that covenant, as Abra- 
 ham did, who, after that he had long waited for the pro- 
 mised seed, though he was before justified by believing the 
 free promise, yet, for the more speedy satisfying of his faith, he 
 turned aside to go unto Hagar, who was, as you have heard, 
 a type of the covenant of works. So that you see, this is not 
 
 * This forcins: one's self to yield obedience, which the author warns 
 Christians against, when they have lost sight of their evidences, and would 
 fain recover them, is by pressing to yield obedience, without believing, 
 till once by their obedience they have recovered the evidence of their 
 haA'ing faith. To advise a Christian to beware of taking this course, in this 
 case, is not to favour laxness, but to guard him against beginning his work 
 at the wTong end, and so labouring in vain ; for obeying, indeed, must still 
 spring from believing, since " without faith it is impossible to please God," 
 Heb. xi. 6. And " whatsoever is not of faith, is sin," Rom. xiv. 23. The 
 following advice sets the matter in full light. 
 
 2l 
 
220 THE MARROAV OF Part L 
 
 the right way ; iDut the right way for you, in this case, to get 
 your assurance again, is, when all other things fail, to look 
 to Christ ; that is, go to the word and promise, and leave off and 
 cease awhile to reason about the truth of your faith ; and set 
 your heart on work to believe, as if you had never yet done 
 it ; saying in your heart, Well, Satan, suppose my faith has 
 not been true hitherto, yet now will I begin to endeavour 
 after true faith ; and therefore, O Lord, here I cast myself 
 upon thy mercy afresh, for in thee the fatherless find mercy, 
 Hos. xiv. 3. Thus, I say, hold to the word ; go not away, 
 but keep you here, and you shall bring forth fruit with 
 patience,* Luke viii. 15. 
 
 Sect. 16. — Neo, Well, sir, you have fully satisfied me con- 
 cerning that point: but as I remember, it follows *in the same 
 verse, " Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ is in you, 
 except ye be reprobates ?" 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Wherefore, I 
 desire to hear how a man may know that Jesus Christ is in 
 him. 
 
 Evan. Why, if Christ be in a man, he lives in him : as 
 says the apostle, " I live not, but Christ liveth in me." 
 
 Neo. But how then, shall a man know, that Christ lives 
 in him ? 
 
 Evan. Why, in what man soever Christ lives according to 
 the measure of his faith, he executes his threefold office in 
 him, viz. his prophetical, priestly, and kingly office. 
 
 Neo. I desire to hear more of this threefold office of 
 Christ ; and therefore, I pray you, sir, tell me, first, how a 
 man may know that Christ executes his prophetical office in 
 him ? 
 
 Evan. Why, so far forth as any man hears and knows that 
 there was a covenant made betwixt God and all mankind in 
 Adam ; and that it was an equal covenant,-]- and that God's 
 justice must needs enter, J upon the breach of it ; and that all 
 mankind, for that cause, were liable to eternal death and 
 damnation ; so that if God had condemned all mankind, yet 
 had it but been the sentence of an equal and just judge, seek- 
 ing rather the execution of his justice, than man's ruin and 
 destruction ; and tlusrcupon takes it home, and applies it 
 particularly to himself, Job v. 27, and so is convinced that he 
 is a miserable, lost, and helpless man ; I say, so far forth as 
 
 * Namely, obedience, whereby you shall recover your evidence. 
 t See page 12, note *. 
 X Demanding satisfaction. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 221 
 
 a man does this, Christ executes his prophetical office in him, 
 in teaching him, and revealing unto him the covenant of 
 works. And so far forth as any man hears and knows that 
 God made a covenant with Abraham, and all his believing 
 seed in Jesus Christ, offering him freely to all to whom the 
 sound of the Gospel comes, and giving him freely to all that 
 receive him by faith ; and so justifies them, and saves them 
 eternally ; and thereupon has his heart opened to receive this 
 truth, not as a man takes an object or a theological point into 
 his head, whereby he is only made able to discourse : but as 
 an habitual and practical point, receiving it into his " heart by 
 the faith of the Gospel," Philip, i. 27, and applying it to him- 
 self, and laying his eternal state upon it ; and so setting to his 
 seal, that God is true : I say, so far forth as a man does this, 
 Christ executes his prophetical office in him, in teaching him 
 and revealing to him the covenant of grace. And so far forth as 
 any man hears and knows, that "this is the will of God, even his 
 sanctification," 1 Thess. iv. 3, and thereupon concludes, that it 
 his duty to endeavour after it ; I say, so far forth as a man 
 does this, Christ executes his prophetical office in him, in 
 teaching and revealing his law to him. And this I hope is 
 sufficient for answer to your first question. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, in the second place, tell me, how a 
 man may know that Christ executes his priestly office in him ? 
 
 Evan. Why, so far forth as any man hears and knows that 
 Christ has given himself, as that only absolute and perfect 
 sacrifice for the sins of believers, Heb. ix. 26, and joined 
 them unto himself by faith, and himself unto them by his 
 Spirit, and so made them one with him ; and is now " entered 
 into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for them," 
 Heb. ix. 24 ; and hereupon is emboldened to go immediately 
 to * God in prayer, as to a father, and meet him in Christ, 
 and present him with Christ himself, as with a sacrifice with- 
 out spot or blemish ; I say, so far forth as any man does 
 this, Christ executes his priestly office in him. 
 
 Neo. But sir, would you have a believer to go imme- 
 diately unto God? How then does Christ make interces- 
 sion for us at God's right hand, as the apostle says he does? 
 Rom. viii. 34. 
 
 Evan. It is true indeed, Christ, as a public person, repre- 
 senting all behevers, appears before God his Father ; and 
 
 * That is, even unto. 
 
222 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 willetli according to both his natures, and desires as he is a 
 man, that God would, for his satisfaction's sake, grant unto 
 them whatsoever " they ask according to his wiU." But yet 
 you must go immediately to God in prayer for all that.* 
 
 You must not pitch your prayers upon Christ, and termi- 
 nate them there, as if he were to take them, and present them 
 to his Father ; but the very presenting place of your prayers 
 must be God himself in Christ. Neither must you conceive, 
 as though Christ the Son were more willing to grant your re- 
 quest than God the Father, for whatsoever Christ willeth, the 
 same also the Father, being well pleased with him, willeth. In 
 Christ, therefore, I say, and no where else, must you expect 
 to have your petitions granted ; and as in Christ and no place 
 else, so for Christ's sake, and nothing else. And therefore I 
 beseech you to beware you forget not Christ when you go unto 
 the Father to beg any thing you desire, either for yourself or 
 others ; especially when you desire to have any pardon for sin, 
 you are not to think, that when you join with your prayers, 
 fasting, weeping, and afflicting of yourself, that for so doing 
 you shall prevail with God to hear you, and grant your peti- 
 tions ; no, no, you must meet God in Christ, and present him 
 with his sufferings ; your eye, your mind, and all your confi- 
 dence, must be therein ; and in that be as confident as possible 
 you can ; yea, expostulate the matter, as it were, with God 
 the Father, and say, " Lo ; here is the person that has well 
 deserved it ; here is the person that wills and desires it ; in 
 whom thou hast said thou art well pleased ; yea, here is the 
 person that has paid the debt, and discharged the bond for all 
 my sins ; and, therefore, O Lord ! now it stands with thy jus- 
 tice to forgive me." And thus, if you do, why, then you may 
 be assured that Christ executes his priestly office in you. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, in the third place, show me how a 
 man may know that Christ executes his kingly office in him? 
 
 Evan. Why, so far fortlras any nuui liears and knows " that 
 all power is given unto Christ, both in heaven and on earth," 
 Matt, xxviii. 18 ; both to vanquish and overcome all the lusts 
 and corruptions of believers, and to write his law in their 
 hearts ; and hereupon takes occasions to go unto Christ for 
 the doing of both in him ; I say, so far forth as he does this, 
 why, Christ executes his kingly office in him. 
 
 * But you yourself were not to come near unto liiui, nay, we must 
 " come unto God by Cluist," Heb. vii. 25. 
 
Chap. 3. MODERN DIVINITY. 223 
 
 Neo. Why then, sir, it seems that the place where Christ 
 executes his kingly office, is in the hearts of believers ? 
 
 Evan. It is true indeed ; for Christ's kingdom is not tem- 
 poral or secular over the natural lives or civil negociations of 
 men ; but his kingdom is spiritual and heavenly, over the souls 
 of men, to awe and over-rule the hearts, to captivate the affec- 
 tions, to bring into obedience the thoughts, and to subdue and 
 pull down strong holds. For when our father Adam trans- 
 gressed, he and we, all of us, forsook God, and chose the devil 
 for our lord and king ; so that every mother's child of us are, 
 by nature, under the government of Satan ; and he rules over 
 us, till Christ come unto our hearts, and dispossess him ; ac- 
 cording to the saying of Christ himself, Luke xi. 21, 22, 
 *' When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are 
 in peace:" that is, says Calvin, Satan holds them that are in 
 subjection to him in such bonds and quiet possession, that he 
 rules over them without resistance ; but when Christ comes to 
 dwell in any man's heart by faith ; according to the measure 
 of faith, he dispossesses him, and seats himself in the heart, 
 and roots out, and pulls down all that withstands his govern- 
 ment there ; and, as a valiant captain, he stands upon his 
 guard, and enables the soul to gather together all its forces 
 and powers, to resist and withstand all its and his enemies, and 
 so set itself in good earnest against them, when they at any 
 time offer to return again ; and he doth especially enable the 
 soul to resist, and set itself against the principal enemy, even 
 that which does most oppose Christ in his government; so that 
 whatsoever lust or corruption is in a believer's heart or soul 
 as most predominant, Christ enables him to take that into his 
 mind, and to have most revengeful thoughts against it, and to 
 make complaints to him against it, and to desire power and 
 strength from him against it, and all because it most with- 
 stands the government of Christ, and is the rankest traitor to 
 Christ ; so that he uses all the means he can to bring it before 
 the judgment-seat of Christ, and there he calls for justice 
 against it, saying, " O Lord Jesus Christ, here is a rebel and 
 a traitor, that does withstand thy government in me, where- 
 fore, I pray thee, come and execute thy kingly office in me, 
 and subdue it ; yea, vanquish and overcome it." Whereupon 
 Christ gives the same answer that he gave to the centurion, 
 " Go thy way, and as thou hast beheved, so be it done unto 
 thee,"* Matt. viii. 13. 
 
 * Namely, believed the promise of sanctification, Ezek. xxxvi. 27; 
 
224 THE MARROW OF Part I,. 
 
 And as Christ doth thus suppress all other governors but 
 himself in the heart of a believer, so doth he raze out and 
 deface all other laws, and writes his own there, according to 
 his promise, Jer. xxxi. 33, and makes them pliable and willing 
 to do and suffer his will ; and that because it is his will. So 
 that the mind and will of Christ, laid down in his word, and 
 manifested in his works, is not only the rule of a believer's 
 obedience, but also the reason of it, as I once heard a godly 
 minister say in the pulpit ; so that he does not only do that 
 which is Christ's will, but he does it because it is his will. 
 
 O that man, which hath the law of Christ written in his 
 heart ! according to the measure of it, he reads, he hears, he 
 prays, he receives the sacrament, he keeps the Lord's day holy, 
 lie exhorts, he instructs, he confers, and does all the duties 
 that belong to him in his general calling, because he knows it 
 is the mind and will of Christ he should do so I yea, he pati- 
 ently suffers and willingly undergoes afflictions for the cause of 
 Christ, because he knows it is the will of Christ ; yea, such a 
 man does not only yield obedience, and perform the duties of 
 the first table of the law, by virtue of Christ's command, but 
 of the second also. O that husband, parent, master, or magi- 
 strate, that has the law of Christ written in his heart I he does 
 his duty to his wife, child, servant, or subject, willingly and 
 uprightly, because Christ requires it and commands it. And 
 so that wife, child, servant, or subject, that has the law of 
 Christ written in his or her heart, they do their duties to hus- 
 band, parent, master, or governor, freely and cheerfully, be- 
 cause their Lord Christ commands it. Now, then, if you find 
 these things in your heart, you may conclude that Christ rules 
 and reigns there, as Lord and King. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 OF THE HEART'S HAPPINESS, OR SOUL'S REST. 
 
 Sect. 1. No rest for the soul till it come to God. — 2. How the soul is kept 
 from rest in God. — 3. God in Christ the only true rest for the soul. 
 
 Sect. 1 — Neo. Sir, be pleased to give me leave to tell you 
 some part of my mind, and then I will cease to trouble you 
 
 Micah vii. 19. which belief brings always along with it the use of the 
 means, that are of divine institution, for that end. 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 225 
 
 any more at this time. The truth is, I have, ever since I 
 could remember, felt a kind of restless discontentedness in my 
 spirit, and for many years together, I fed myself with hopes 
 of finding rest and content in persons and things here below, 
 scarce thinking of the state and condition of my soul, or of any 
 condition beyond this life, until, as I told you before, the Lord 
 was pleased to visit me with a fit of sickness ; and then I began 
 to bethink myself of death, judgment, hell, and heaven, and to 
 take care and seek rest for my soul, as well as for my body ; 
 but, alas ! I could never find rest for it before this day ; be- 
 cause, indeed, I sought it not by faith, but, as it were, by the 
 works of the law or, in plain terms, because I sought it not in 
 Christ but in myself. But now I bless God I see that Christ 
 is all in all ; and therefore, by the grace of God, I am resolved 
 no longer to seek rest and content, neither in any earthly 
 thing, nor in mine own righteousness, but only in the free 
 love and favour of God, as he is in his Son Jesus Christ ; 
 and, God willing, there shall be my soul's rest. And I be- 
 seech you, sir, pray for me, that it may be so ; and I have 
 done. 
 
 Evan, This point, concerning the heart's happiness, or 
 soul's rest, is a point very needful for us to know ; and indeed, 
 it is a point that I have formerly thought upon ; and therefore, 
 though my occasions do now begin to call me away from you, 
 yet, nevertheless, since you have begun to speak of it, I shall, 
 if you please, proceed on, if you shall, or any of you, give 
 occasion, and as the Lord shall enable me. 
 
 Ant. With a very good will, sir ; for indeed it is a point 
 that I much desire to hear of. 
 
 Evan. First, then, I would entreat you to consider with 
 me, that when God at first gave man an elementish body*, he 
 did also infuse into him an immortal soul of a spiritual sub- 
 stance ; and though he gave his soul a local being in his body, 
 yet he gave it a spiritual well-being in himself; so that the 
 soul was in the body by location, and at rest in God by union 
 and communication ; and this being of the soul in God at first, 
 was man's true being, and his true happiness. Now man 
 falling from God, God in his justice left man, so that the actual 
 union and communion that the soul of man had with God at 
 first is broken off; God and man's soul are parted ; and it is 
 
 * That is an elementary body, made up, as it were, of the four ele- 
 ments, as they are called, namely, fire, air, earth, and water. 
 
 L 3 
 
226 THE MARROW OF Parti. 
 
 in a restless condition. Howbeit. the Lord having seated in 
 man's soul a certain character of himself, the soul is thereby 
 made to re-aspire towards that summum bonum, that chief 
 good, even God himself, and can find rest no where, till it 
 come to him.* 
 
 JVom. But stay, sir, I pray you ; how can it be said that 
 man's soul doth re-aspire towards God the Creator, when it is 
 evident that every man's soul naturally is bent towards the 
 creature, to seek a rest there ? 
 
 Evan. For answer hereunto I pray you consider, that na- 
 turally man's understanding is dark and bUnd ; and therefore 
 is ignorant what his own soul does desire and strongly aspire 
 unto. It knoweth, indeed, that there is a want in the soul ; 
 but till it be enlightened, it knoweth not what it is which the 
 soul wanteth. For, indeed, the case standeth with the soul as 
 with a child new born, which child, by natural instinct, doth 
 gape and cry for nutriment ; yea, for such nutriment as may 
 agree with its tender condition ; and if the nurse, through ne- 
 gligence or ignorance, either give it no meat at all, or else such 
 as it is not capable of receiving, the child refuses it, and still 
 cries, in strength of desire, after the breast ; yet does not the 
 child, in this estate, know by any intellectual power and un- 
 derstanding what itself desires. Even so man's poor soul doth 
 cry to God as for its proper nourishment ;f but his under- 
 
 * The soul of man has a natural desire of happiness : nothing can make 
 it happy but what is commensurable to its desires, or capable of atfording 
 it a full satisfaction. Nothing less than an infinite good is such : and 
 God himself only is an infinite good, in the enjoyment of which the soul 
 can rest, as fully satisfied, desiring no more. Now, since by reason of 
 the vast capacity of the soul, nothing but God himself can indeed satisfy 
 this its desire of happiness, the which is so woven into the very nature 
 of the soul, that nothing but the destruction of the very l)eing of the soul 
 can remove it ; it is evident, that it is impossible the soul of man can 
 ever find true rest, until it return to God, and take up its rest with him ; 
 but must still be in quest of, or desiring its chief good and happiness, 
 wherein it may rest, and this in reality is God himself only ; though the 
 practical understanding being blinded, knows not that, and the per- 
 verse will and affections carry away the soul from him, seeking the de- 
 sired good and happiness in other things. This is what the author calls 
 the soul's re-aspiring towards the chief good, even God himself; and it 
 is so consistent with the total depravation of man's natiu-e, that it will 
 remain for ever in the damned in hell ; a chief part of whose misery will 
 lie in that this desire shall ever be rampant in them, but never in the 
 least satisfied ; they shall never be freed from this scorching thirst there, 
 nor yet get a drop of water to cool the tongue. 
 
 t Man's poor soul, before it is enliglitened, naturally cries to God, as 
 the " young ravens cry to him," Job xxxviii. 11, not knowing to whom : 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 227 
 
 standing, like a blind ignorant nurse, not knowing what it cries 
 for, offers to the heart a creature instead of a Creator ; thus, 
 by reason of the blindness of the understanding, together with 
 the corruption of the will, and disorder of the affections, man's 
 soul is kept by violence* from its proper centre, even God, 
 himself. 
 
 Sect. 2. — O how many souls are there in the world that 
 are hindered, if not quite kept, from rest in God, by reason 
 that their blind understanding presents unto their sensual ap- 
 petites varieties of sensual objects ! 
 
 Is there not many a luxurious person's soul hindered, if not 
 quite kept, from true rest in God, by that beauty which nature 
 hath placed in feminine faces,f especially when Satan secretly 
 suggests into such feminine hearts a desire of an artificial 
 dressing, from the head to the foot ; yea, and sometimes paint- 
 ing the face, like their mother Jezabel? 
 
 And is there not many a voluptuous epicure's soul hin- 
 dered, if not quite kept, from rest in God, by beholding the 
 colour, and tasting the sweetness of dainty delicate dishes, his 
 wine red in the cup, and his beer of amber colour in the glass ? 
 In the Scripture we read of a " certain man that fared deli- 
 ciously every day," as if there had been no more than one so 
 ill disposed ; but in our times, there are certain hundreds, both 
 of men and women, that do not only fare deliciously, but vo- 
 luptuously, twice every day, if not more. 
 
 And is there not many a proud person's soul hindered, if 
 not quite kept, from rest in God, by the harmonious sound of 
 popular praise which, like a loadstone, draws the vain-glorious 
 heart to hunt so much the more eagerly, to augment the echo 
 of such vain windy reputation ? 
 
 And is there not many a covetous person's soul hindered, if 
 not quite kept, from rest in God, by the cry of great abund- 
 ance, the words of wealth, and the glory of gain ? 
 
 And is there not many a musical mind hindered, if not 
 
 and it cries for him as its proper nourishment, as the new-born infant for 
 the breast, not knowing for what. Only it feels a want, desires supply 
 proper for filling it up, and can never get kindly rest till it be supplied 
 accordingly, that is, till it come to the enjoyment of God : then it rests, 
 as the infant set to the full breast. Isa, Ixvi. 11, "That ye may suck, and 
 be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations." 
 
 * Namely, violence done to its natural make and constitution (if I may 
 so express it) by the blindness, corruption, and disorder, that have seized 
 its faculties. 
 
 t That is, women's faces. 
 
228 THE MARROW OF Part L 
 
 quite kept, from sweet comfort in God, by the harmony of 
 artificial concord upon musical instruments ? 
 
 And how many perfumed fools are there in the world, who, 
 by smelling their sweet apparel, and their sweet nosegays, are 
 kept from soul sweetness in Christ ? And thus does Satan, 
 like a cunning fisher, bait his hook with a sensual object, to 
 catch men with ; and having gotten it into their jaws, he 
 draws them up and down in sensual contentments, till he has 
 so drowned them therein, that the peace and rest of their souls 
 in God is almost forgotten. And hence it is that the greatest 
 part of man's life, and in many their whole life, is spent in 
 seeking satisfaction to the sensual appetite. 
 
 Nom. Indeed, sir, this which you have said, we may see 
 truly verified in many men, who spend their days about these 
 vanities, and will afford no time for religious exercises ; no, not 
 upon the Lord's -day, by their good will. 
 
 Evan, You say the truth ; and yet let me tell you withal, 
 that a man by the power of natural conscience, may be forced 
 to confess that his hopes of happiness are in God alone, and 
 not in these things ; -yea, and to forsake profits and pleasures, 
 and all sensual objects, as unable to give his soul any true con- 
 tentment, and fall to the performance of religious exercises, 
 and yet rest there, and never come to God for rest. And if 
 Ave consider it, either in the rude multitude of sensual livers, 
 or in the more seemingly religious, we shall perceive that the 
 religious exercises of men do strongly deceive, and strangely 
 delude many men of their heart's happiness in God. 
 
 For the first sort,* though they be such as make their belly 
 their best God, and do no sacrifice but to Bacchus, Apollo, or 
 Venus ^^ though their conscience do accuse them that these 
 things are naught, yet in that they have the name of Chris- 
 tians put upon them in their baptism, and forasnmch as they 
 do often repeat the Lord's prayer, the apostles' creed, and the 
 tun commandments, and in that, it may be, they have lately 
 accustomed themselves to go to church, to hear divine service, 
 and a preaching now and then, and in that they have divers 
 times received the sacrament ; they will not be persuaded but 
 that God is well pleased with them ; and a man may as well 
 persuade them that they are not men and women, as that they 
 are not in a good condition. 
 
 . * Namely, sensual livers, who yet perform religious exercises, 
 t That is, give up themselves to drunkenness, music, and lascivious- 
 ness. 
 
Chap. 4, MODERN DIVINITY. 229 
 
 And for the second sort,* that ordinarily have more human 
 wisdom and human learning than the former sort, and seem to 
 be more holy and devout than the former sort of sensual igno- 
 rant people ; yet how many are there of this sort, that never 
 pass further than the outward court of bodily performances : 
 feeding and feasting themselves, as men in a dream ; supposing 
 themselves to have all things, and yet indeed have nothing but 
 only a bladder full, or rather a brain full, of wine and worldly 
 conceptions ? 
 
 Are there not some who give themselves to more especial 
 searching and seeking out for knowledge in Scripture learned- 
 ness and clerk-like skill, in this art, and that language, till 
 they come to be able to repeat all the historical places in the 
 Bible ; yea, and all those texts of Scripture that they conceive 
 do make for some private opinion of theirs concerning cere- 
 monies, church-government, or other such circumstantial points 
 of rehgion, touching which points they are very able to reason 
 and dispute, and to put forth such curious questions as are not 
 easily answered ? 
 
 Are not some of these menf called sect-makers, and be- 
 getters or devisers of new opinions in religion ; especially in 
 the matter of worshipping God, as they use to call it, wherein 
 they find a beginning, but hardly an end ? For this religious 
 knowledge is so variable, through the multiplicity of curious 
 wits and contentious spirits, that the life of man may seem too 
 short to take a full view of this variety ; for though all sects 
 say they will be guided by the word of truth, and all seem to 
 bring Scripture, which, indeed, is but one, as God is but one ; 
 yet, by reason of their several constructions and interpretations 
 of Scripture, and conceits of their own human wisdom, they 
 are many. 
 
 And are there not others of this sort of men that are ready 
 to embrace any new way of worship, especially if it come under 
 the cloak of Scripture learning, and have a show of truth, 
 founded upon the letter of the Bible, and seem to be more 
 zealous and devout than the former way ; especially, if the 
 teacher of that new way can but frame a sad and demure coun- 
 tenance, and with a grace lift up his head and his eyes towards 
 heaven, with some strong groan, in declaring of his newly 
 
 * Namely, the more seemingly religious. 
 
 t Namely, of those spoken of in the paragraph immediately preceding, 
 whom he begins to distribute here into three classes or sorts ; all belong- 
 ing to the second sort, viz. the more seemingly religious. 
 
230 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 conceived opinion ; and that he frequently use this phrase of — 
 the glory of God! O then, these men are, by-and-by, of 
 another opinion ! supposing to themselves that God has made 
 known some further truth to them ; for, by reason of the blind- 
 ness of their understanding, they are not able to reach any 
 supernatural truth, although they do, by literal learning, and 
 clerk-like cunning, dive ever so deep into the Scriptures ; and 
 therefore they are ready to entertain any form of religious ex- 
 ercises, as shall be suggested unto them. 
 
 And are there not a third sort, much like to these men, 
 that are excessive and mutable in the performance of religious 
 exercises ? Surely St. Paul perceived that this was the very 
 God of some men in his time, and therefore he willeth Timothy 
 to instruct others, that " bodily exercise profiteth little," or, 
 as some read it, " nothing at all ;" and doth oppose thereunto 
 " godhness," as being another thing than " bodily exercise," 
 and says that it " is profitable," &c. 
 
 And do not you think that there are some men at this day 
 that know none other good than bodily exercise, and can 
 hardly distinguish betwixt it and godliness ? Now these bodily 
 exercises are mutable and variable, according to their conceits 
 and opinions ; for all sects have their several services, as they 
 call them, yet all bodily, and for the most part, only bodily ; 
 the which they perform to establish a rest to their souls, be- 
 cause they want rest in God. And hence it is that their peace 
 and rest are up and down, according to their working better or 
 worse. So many chapters must be read, and so many ser- 
 mons must be heard, and so many times they must pray in one 
 day, and so many days in the w^ek, or in the year, they 
 must fast, &c. or else their souls can have no rest. But mis- 
 take me not, I pray, in imagining that I speak against the 
 doing of these things, for I do them all myself, but against 
 resting in the doing of them, the which I desire not to do. 
 
 And thus you see that men's bhnd understanding doth not 
 only present unto the sensual appetite sensual objects, but also 
 to the rational appetite rational objects ; so that man's poor 
 soul is not only kept from rest in God by means of sensuality, 
 but also by means of formality. If Satan cannot keep us from 
 rest in God by feeding our senses with our mother Eve's apple, 
 then he attempts to do it by blinding our eyes, and so hinder- 
 ing us from seeing the paths of the Gospel. It'lie cannot keep 
 us in Egypt by the flesh-pots of sensuality, then will he make 
 us wander in tlie wilderness of religious and rational formality: 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 231 
 
 so that if he cannot hmcler us more grossly, then he attempts 
 to do it more closely. 
 
 Nom. But sir, I am persuaded that there be many men 
 that are so religiously exercised, and do perform such duties 
 as you have mentioned, and yet rest not in them but in God. 
 
 Evan. Questionless there be some Christians that look upon 
 such exercises as means ordained of God both to beget and 
 increase faith, and all other graces of his Spirit, in the hearts 
 of his people ; and therefore, to the intent that their faith, and 
 love, and other graces, may increase, they are careful to wait 
 upon God, in taking all convenient opportunities to exercise 
 themselves therein, and yet have their soul's rest in God, and 
 not in such exercises. 
 
 But, alas ! I fear the number of such men are very few, 
 in comparison of them that do otherwise. For do not the 
 most part of men that are so religiously exercised, rather con- 
 ceive, that as they have offended and displeased God by their 
 former disobedience, so they must pacify and appease him by 
 their future obedience ? And therefore they are careful to 
 exercise themselves in this way of duty, and that way of wor- 
 ship, and all to that end ; yea, and they conceiving that they 
 have corrupted, and defiled, and polluted themselves, by their 
 falling into sin, they must also purge, cleanse, and purify them- 
 selves, by rising out of sin, and walking in new obedience :* 
 and so all the good they do, and all the evil they eschew, is to 
 pacify God, and appease their own consciences. And if they 
 seek rest to their souls this way, why, it is the way of the co- 
 venant of works, where they shall never be able to reach God ; 
 nay, it is the way to come to God out of Christ, where 
 they shall never be able to come near him, he being a " con- 
 suming lire." 
 
 Nom. But, sir, I pray you, would you not have our senses 
 to be any longer exercised about any of their objects ? would 
 you have us no longer to take comfort in the good things of 
 this life ? 
 
 Evan. I pray you, do not mistake me ; I do not speak as 
 though I would have you stoically to refuse the lawful use of 
 any of the Lord's good creatures, which he shall be pleased to 
 
 * Neglecting to wash, by faith, in the blood of Christ, the " Fountain 
 opened for sin, and for uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 1.—" The blood of Jesus 
 Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John i. 17.— "How much 
 more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works ?" 
 Heb. ix. 14.—" Purifying their hearts by faith," Acts xv. 9. 
 
232 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 aiford you, neither do I prohibit you from all comfort therein ; 
 but this is it which I do desire, namely, that you would endea- 
 vour to attain to such a peace, rest, and content in God, as he 
 is in Christ; that the violent cry of your heart may be restrained, 
 and that your appetites may not be so forcible, nor so unruly 
 as they are naturally, but that the unruliness thereof may be 
 brought unto a very comely decorum and order : so that your 
 sensual appetites may, mth much more easiness and content- 
 edness, be denied the objects of their desires, yea, and con- 
 tented (if occasion be) with that which is most repugnant to 
 them, as with hunger, cold, nakedness, yea, and with death itself. 
 For such is the wonderful working of the heart's quiet and rest 
 in God, that although a man's senses be still exercised in and 
 upon their proper objects, yet may it be truly said, that such 
 a man's life is not sensual. For indeed his heart taketh little con- 
 tentment in any such exercises, it being for the most part exer- 
 cised in a more transcendent communion with God, as he is in 
 Christ. So that indeed the man that has this peace and rest 
 in God may be truly said to " use this world as though he used 
 it not," in that he receives no cordial contentment from any 
 sensual exercise whatsoever, and that because his heart is with- 
 drawn from them. Which withdrawing of the heart is not 
 unaptly pointed at, in the speech of the spouse. Cant. v. 2, " I 
 sleep," says she, " but my heart waketh." Even so may it be 
 said, that such a man is sleeping, looking, hearing, tasting, 
 smelling, eating, drinking, feasting, &c. but his heart is with- 
 drawn from the creature, and rejoicing in God his Saviour, 
 and his soul is magnifying his Lord ; so that in the midst of 
 all sensual delights, his heart secretly says. Ay, but my happi- 
 ness is not here. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, I pray you, why do you call rational and 
 religious exercises a wilderness ? 
 
 Evan. For two reasons ; Jirst, Because that as the children 
 of Israel, when they were got out of Egypt, did yet wander 
 many years in the wilderness, before they came into the land 
 of Canaan ; even so do many men wander long in rational 
 and religious exercises, after they have left a sensual life, be- 
 fore they come to rest in (iod, whereof the land of Canaan 
 was a type.* 
 
 * Such a wanderer our author himself had been for a dozen of years. 
 See his Preface, and compare that heavy word, Eccl, x. 15, " The 
 hibour of the foolish \i earieth every one of them, because he knoweth not 
 how to fro to the city." 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 233 
 
 Secondly, Because, as in a wilderness men often lose them- 
 selves, and can can find no way out, but supposing, after long 
 travel, that they are nearer the place whither thej'' would go, 
 are in truth farther off; even so fareth it with many, yea, with 
 all such as walk in the way of reason ;* they lose themselves 
 in the woods and bushes of their works and doings ; so that 
 the longer they travel, the farther they are from God, and 
 true rest in him. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, you know, that the Lord hath endowed us 
 with reasonable souls ; would you not then have us to make 
 use of our reason ? 
 
 Evan. I pray you, do not mistake me : I do not contemn 
 nor despise the use of reason ; only I would not have you to 
 establish it tof the chief good ; but I would have you to keep 
 it under ; so that, if with Hagar, it attempt to bear rule, and 
 lord it over your faith, then would I have you, in the wisdom 
 of God, like Sarah, to cast it out from having dominion. 
 In few words, I would have you more strong in desire than 
 curious in speculation, and to long more to feel communion 
 with God than to be able to dispute of the genus or species of 
 any question, either human or divine ; and press hard to know 
 God by powerful experience. And though your knowledge 
 be great, and your obedience surpassing many, yet would I 
 have you to be truly nullified, annihilated, and made nothing, 
 and become fools in all fleshly wisdom ; and glory in nothing, 
 but only in the Lord.J And I would have you, with the eye 
 of faith, sweetly to behold all things extracted out of one 
 thing ; and in one to see all.§ In a word, I would have in 
 you a most profound silence, contemning all curious questions 
 and discourses ; and to ponder much in your heart, but prate 
 little with your tongue. " Be swift to hear," but " slow to 
 speak," and " slow to wrath," as the apostle James advises 
 you, James i. 19 ; and by this means will your reason be sub- 
 dued, and become one with your faith, for then is reason one 
 
 * Namely, of reason, as the judge and rule in religion. The Holy 
 Scripture is the rule, and the Spirit of God therein speaking is the judge ; 
 it is the business of our reason to discern what they teach, and to submit 
 thereto without reserve. 
 
 t That is, for, or to be. 
 
 X 2 Cor. xii. 11, "Though I be nothing." — 1 Cor. iii. 18, "Let him be- 
 come a fool, that he may be wise." — Chap. i. 31, " He that glorieth, let 
 him glory in the Lord." 
 
 § According to that saying of our Lord, Matt. xix. 17, " There is none 
 good but one, that is God." 
 
234 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 with faith, when it is subjugated unto faith ; and then will 
 reason keep its true lists and limits, and you will become ten 
 times more reasonable than you were before. So that I hope 
 you now see that the heart's farewell from the sensual and ra- 
 tional life is not to be considered absolutely, but respectively; 
 it does not consist in a going out of either, but in a right use 
 of both. 
 
 Sect. 3. — Nom. Then, sir, it seems to me, that God in 
 Christ, apprehended by faith, is the only true rest for man's 
 soul. 
 
 Evan. There is the true rest indeed ; there is the rest which 
 David invites his soul unto, when he sa)^ " Return unto thy 
 rest, O my soul! for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with 
 thee," Psalm cxvi. 7. — " For we which have believed," says 
 the author to the Hebrews, " have entered into his rest,"* 
 Heb. iv. 3. — And " Come unto me," says Christ, " all ye that 
 labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,"f Matt. 
 
 * "Do enter into rest," or that rest, viz. "his rest." He means, that 
 we even now enter into that rest by faith. Compare verse 10. 
 
 t This is one of the most solemn Gospel offers to be found in all the 
 New Testament ; and our author seems here to point at what I conceive 
 to be the true and genuine sense of it. The words " labour and heavy 
 laden," do not restrict the invitation and offer to such as are insensible 
 of their sins, and longing to be rid of them, though indeed none but such ' 
 will really accept; but they denote the restlessness of the sinful soul of 
 man ; a qualification (if it is so called) to be found in all that are out of 
 Christ, whether they have, or have not, any notable law work on their 
 consciences. 
 
 I say notable, to distinguish it from that which is common to all men, 
 even to heathens, Rom. xi. 1.5. Our father Adam led his whole family 
 away out of their rest in God ; and so left them with a conscience full of 
 guilt, and a heart full of unsatisfied desires. Hence his children soon 
 find themselves like the horse-leech, having " two daughters, crying. Give, 
 give ;" namely, a restless conscience, and a restless heart ; and to each of 
 these the poor soul must needs say, as Naomi said to Ruth, " My daughter, 
 shall I not seek rest for thee ?" so the blinded soul falls a labouring for 
 rest to them. And it labours in the barren region of the fiery law for a 
 rest to the conscience, and in the empty creation, for a rest to the heart : 
 but, after all, the conscience is still heavy laden with guilt, whether it 
 has any lively feeling thereof, or not ; and the heart is still under a load 
 of unsatisfied desires ; so neither the one nor the other can find rest indeed. 
 This is the natural case of all men. And to souls thus labouring, and 
 laden, Jesus Christ here calls, that they may " come to him, and he will 
 give thcin rest;" namely, a rest for their consciences, under the covert 
 of his l)lood; and a rest to their hearts, in the enjoyment of God through 
 him. 
 
 This is most agreeable to the Scripture phraseology, Eccl. x. 15, "The 
 labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knows not 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 235 
 
 xi. 28. And truly, my neighbours and friends, believe it, we 
 shall never find a heart's happiness, and true soul's rest, until 
 we find it here. For howsoever a man may think, if he had 
 this man's wit, and that man's wealth, this man's honour, and 
 that man's pleasure, this wife, or that husband, such children, 
 and such servants, his heart would be satisfied, and his soul 
 would be contented ; yet which of us hath not, by our own 
 experience, found the contrary ? For, not long after that we 
 have obtained the thing we did so much desire, and wherein 
 we promised ourselves so much happiness, rest, and content, 
 we have found nothing but vanity ancl emptiness it it. Let a 
 man but deal plainly with his own heart, and he shall find, 
 that, notwithstanding he hath many things, yet there is ever 
 one thing wanting : for indeed man's soul cannot be satisfied 
 with any creature, no, not with a world of creatures. And 
 the reason is, because the desires of man's soul are infinite, 
 according to that infinite goodness which it once lost in losing 
 God. Yea, and man's soul is a spirit ; and therefore cannot 
 communicate with any corporal thing ; so that all creatures, 
 not being that infinite and spiritual fulness which our hearts 
 have lost, and towards the which they do still re-aspire ; they 
 cannot give it full contentment. 
 
 Nay, let me say more ; howsoever a man may, in the midst 
 of his sensual fulness, be convinced in his conscience that he 
 is at enmity with God, and therefore in danger of his wrath 
 and eternal damnation ; and be thereupon moved to reform 
 his life and amend his ways, and endeavour to seek peace and 
 rest to his soul ; yet this being in the way of works, it is im- 
 possible that he should find it ; for his conscience will ever be 
 accusing him, that this good duty he ought to have done, and 
 has not done it ; and this evil he ought to have forborne, and 
 yet he has done it ; and in the performance of this duty, he 
 was remiss, and in that duty very defective ; and many such 
 ways will his soul be disquieted. 
 
 But when a man once comes to believe, that all his sins, 
 
 how to go to the city." — Hab. ii. 13, " The people shall labour in the very 
 fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity." — Isa. Iv. 2, 
 "Wherefore do ye spend your labour for that which satisfieth not.'" See 
 page 123, note *. The prophet laments over a people more insensible 
 than the ox or the ass, saying, " Ah, sinful nation ! a people laden with 
 iniquity," Isa. 3, 4. And the apostle speaks of " silly women laden with 
 sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to 
 the knowledge of the truth," 2 Tim. iii. 6, 7. 
 
236 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 both past, present, and to come, are freely and fully pardoned,* 
 and God in Christ graciously reconciled unto him, the Lord 
 doth thereupon so reveal his fatherly face unto him in Christ, 
 and so make known that incredible union betwixt him and the 
 believing soul, that his heart becomes quietly contented in 
 God, who is the proper element of its being ; for hereupon 
 there comes into the soul such peace, flowing from the God of 
 peace, that it fills the emptiness of the soul with true fulness, 
 in the fulness of God, so that now the heart ceases to molest 
 the understanding and reason, in seeking either variety of ob- 
 jects, or augmentation of degrees, in any comprehensible 
 thing ; and that because the restless longing of the mind which 
 did before cause unquietness and disorder, both in the variety 
 of mental projects, and also in the sensual and beastly exercises 
 of the corporal and external members, is satisfied and truly 
 quieted. For when a man's heart is at peace in God, and 
 is become truly full in that peace and joy passing understand- 
 ing, then the devil hath not that hope to prevail against his 
 soul, as he had before ; he knows right well that it is in vain 
 to bait his hook with profits, pleasures, honour, or any other 
 such like seeming good, to catch such a soul that is thus at 
 quiet in God ; for he hath all fulness in God, and what can 
 be added to fulness but it runneth over? Indeed, empty 
 hearts, like empty hogsheads, are fit to receive any matter 
 which shall be put into them ; but the heart of the believer 
 being filled with joy and peace in believing, doth abhor all such 
 base allurements ; for that it hath no room in itself to receive 
 any such seeming contentments. So that, to speak as the 
 truth is, there is nothing that doth truly and unfeignedly root 
 wickedness out of the heart of man, but only the true tran- 
 quillity of the mind, or the rest of the soul in God. And, to 
 say as the thing is, this is such a peace, and such a rest to the 
 creature in the Creator, that, according to the measure of its 
 establishment by faith, no created comprehensible thing can 
 either add to it, or detract from it ; the increase of a kingdom 
 cannot augment it, the greatest losses and crosses in worldly 
 things cannot diminish it; a believer's good works do all flow 
 from it, and ought not to return to it ;f neither ought human 
 
 * Namely, in respect of the guilt of eternal wrath. See page 84, note *, 
 
 t Namely, to be any part of the fountain of it, for the time to come : 
 
 as the rivers return unto the sea, whence they came, making a part of 
 
 the store for their own fresh supply ; nay, it is the Lord alone that gives 
 
 and maintains it, as our author afterwards expresses it. 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 237 
 
 frailties to molest it.* However, this is most certain, neither 
 sin nor Satan, law nor conscience, hell nor grave, can quite 
 extinguish it ; for it is the Lord alone that gives and maintains 
 it. " Whom have I in heaven but thee ?" says David, " and 
 there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." Psalm 
 Ixxiii. 25. It is the pleasant face of God in Christ that puts 
 gladness into his heart. Psalm iv. 7. And when that face is 
 hid, then he is troubled. Psalm xxx. 7. But, to speak more 
 plainly, though the peace and joy of true believers may be 
 extenuated or diminished, yet doth the testimony of their 
 being in naturef remain so strong, that they could skill to say, 
 yea, even when they have felt God to be withdrawing himself 
 from them, — " My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken 
 mQ?" Psalm xxii. 1 ; yea, and in the night of God's absence 
 to remain confident, that though sorrow be over night, yet joy 
 will come in the morning, Psalm xxx. 3, nay, though the Lord 
 should seem to kill them with unkindness, " yet they will put 
 their trust in him," Job xiii. 15 ; knowing that for all this 
 " their Redeemer liveth,'' Job xix. 25 ; so strong is " the joy 
 of their Lord," Nehem. viii. 10. These are the people that 
 are kept in perfect peace, because their minds are stayed in the 
 Lord, Isa. xxvi. 3. 
 
 Wherefore, my dear friends and loving neighbours, I be- 
 seech you to take heed of deeming any estate happy, until you 
 come to find this true peace and rest to your souls in God. O 
 beware lest any of you do content yourselves with a peace 
 rather of speculation than of power ! O be not satisfied with 
 such a peace as consists either in the act of oblivion, or neglect 
 of examination ! nor yet in any brain-sick supposition of 
 knowledge, theological or divine ; and so frame rational con- 
 clusions, to protract time and still the cries of an accusing con- 
 science. But let your hearts take their last farewell of false 
 felicities, wherewith they have been, all of them, more or less, 
 detained and kept from their true rest. O be strong in reso- 
 lution ! and bid them all farewell ; for what have your souls 
 to do any longer among these gross, thick, and bodily things 
 
 * For these we are never free from in this life. And true repentance, 
 and Gospel mourning for sin, are so consistent with it, that they flow 
 from it, according to the measure thereof. Psalm Ixv. 3, " Iniquities 
 prevail against me : as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them 
 away." — Zech. xii. 10, " They shall look upon me, whom they have 
 pierced, and they shall mourn." 
 
 t That is, the evidence, that they (viz. the peace and joy of believers) 
 are still in being fin rerum natura) and not quite extinct. 
 
238 » THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 here below, that you should set your love upon them, or see 
 happiness in them? your souls are of a higher and purer 
 nature; and therefore their well-being must be sought in 
 something that is higher and purer than they, even in God 
 himself. 
 
 True it is, that we are all of us, indeed, too unclean to 
 touch God in immediate unity ; but yet there is a pure coun- 
 terpart of our natures,* and that pure humanity is immediately 
 knit to the purest Deity ; and by that immediate union you 
 may come to a mediate union ; for the Deity and that hu- 
 manity being united, make one Saviour, Head, and Husband 
 of souls. And so you being married to him, that is, God, in 
 him you come also to be one with God : he one by a personal 
 union, and you one by a mystical. Clear up then your eye, 
 and fix it on him, as on the fairest of men, the perfection of a 
 spiritual beauty, the treasure of heavenly joy, the true object 
 of most fervent love. Let your spirits look, and long, and seek 
 after this Lord ; let your souls cleave to him, let them hang 
 about him, and never leave him, till he be brought into the 
 chambers of your souls ; yea, tell him resolutely, you will not 
 leave him, till you hear his voice in your souls, saying, 
 " My well-beloved is mine, and I am his;" yea, and tell him, 
 you are " sick of love." Let your souls go, as it were, out 
 of your bodies and out of the world, by heavenly contem- 
 plations ; and treading upon the earth with the bottom of your 
 feet, stretch your souls up, to look over the world, into that 
 upper world, where her treasure is,f and where her beloved 
 dwelleth. 
 
 And when any of your souls shall thus forget her oM'n 
 people, and her father's house, Christ her King shall so desire 
 her beauty. Psalm xlv. 10, 11, and be so much in love with 
 her, that, like a loadstone, this love of his shall draw the soul 
 in pure desire to him again ; and then, " as the hart panteth 
 after the rivers of waters, so will your soul pant after God," 
 Psalm xlii. 1. 
 
 And then, according to the measure of your faith, your souls 
 shall come to have a real rest in God, and be filled with joy 
 unspeakable and glorious. 
 
 Wherefore, I beseech you, set your mouths to this fountain 
 Christ, and so shall your souls be filled with the water of life, 
 with the oil of gladness, and with the new wine of the king- 
 
 * Namely, the pure and spotless human nature of Christ, 
 t Your soul's. 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 239 
 
 dom of God ; from him you shall have weighty joys, sweet 
 embracements, and ravishing consolations. And how can it 
 be otherwise, when your souls shall really communicate with 
 God, and by faith have a true taste, and by the spirit have a 
 sure earnest of all heavenly preferments ; having, as it were, 
 one foot in heaven, whilst you live upon earth ? O then, what 
 an eucharistical love* will arise from your thankful hearts 
 extending itself first towards God, and then towards man for 
 God's sake ! and then, according to the measure of your faith, 
 will be your willing obedience to God, and also to man for 
 God's sake ; for obedience being the kindly fruit of love, a 
 loving soul bringeth forth this fruit, as kindly as a good tree 
 bringeth forth her fruit ; for the soul, having tasted Christ in 
 a heavenly communion, so loves him, that to please him is a 
 pleasure and dehght to herself: and the more Christ Jesus 
 comes into the soul by his Spirit, the more spiritual he makes 
 her ; and turns her will into his will, making her of one heart, 
 mind, and will, with him. 
 
 So that, for a conclusion, this I say, that if the everlasting 
 love of God in Jesus Christ be truly made known to your 
 souls, according to the measure thereof, you shall have no 
 need to frame and force yourselves to love and do good works, 
 for your souls will ever stand bound-j- to love God, and to keep 
 his commandments, and it will be your meat and drink to do 
 his will. And truly this love of God will cut down self-love 
 and love of the world, for the sweetness of Christ's Spirit will 
 turn the sweetness of the flesh into bitterness, and the sweet- 
 ness of the w^orld into contempt. And if you can behold 
 Christ with open face, you shall see and feel things unutterable, 
 and be changed from beauty to beauty, from glory to glory, by 
 the Spirit of this Lord, and so be happy in this life, in your union 
 with happiness, and happy hereafter in the full fruition of 
 happiness :| whither the Lord Jesus Christ bring us all in his 
 due time. Amen. 
 
 * A love of thanksgiving, bearing thankfulness in its nature. 
 t Or constrained by the force of that love. 
 X That is, of God himself in Christ. 
 
240 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 " And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the 
 word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give 
 you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified," 
 Acts XX. 32. 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, at this time I will say no more, but that it 
 was a happy hour wherein I came to you, and a happy con- 
 ference that we have had together. Surely, sir, I never knew 
 Christ before this day. O what cause have I to thank the 
 Lord for my coming hither, and my two friends as a means of 
 it I and, sir, for the pains that you have taken with me, I pray 
 the Lord to requite you ; and so beseeching you to pray the 
 Lord to increase my faith, and to help my unbehef, I humbly 
 take my leave of you, praying, "the God of love and peace to 
 be with you." 
 
 Nom. And truly, sir, I do believe that I have cause to speak 
 as much in that case as he has ; for though I have outstript 
 him in knowledge, and it may be also in strict walking, yet do 
 I now see, that my actions were neither from a right principle, 
 nor to a right end ; and, therefore, have I been in no better a 
 condition than he. And truly, sir, I must needs confess, I 
 never heard so much of Christ and the covenant of grace, as 
 I have done this day.* The Lord make it profitable to me ; 
 and I beseech you, sir, pray for me. 
 
 Ant. And truly, sir, I am now fully convinced that I have 
 gone out of the right way, in that I have not had regard to 
 the law, and the works thereof, as I should ; but, God wilHng, 
 I shall hereafter (if the Lord prolong my days) be more care- 
 ful how I lead my life, seeing the ten commandments are the 
 law of Christ ; and I beseech you, sir, remember me in your 
 prayers. And so, with many thanks to you for your pains, I 
 take my leave of you, beseeching the " grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ to be with your spirit." Amen. 
 
 Evan. " Now, the very God of peace that brought again 
 from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the 
 sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make 
 
 * This is here fitly put into the mouth of Nomista, the prevailing of 
 legal principles and practices among professors being much owing to 
 legal preaching ; the success whereof is not to be wondered at, since it is 
 rowing with the stream of nature. 
 
Chap. 4. MODERN DIVINITY. 241 
 
 you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in 
 you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus 
 Christ ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Heb. 
 xiii. 20, 21. — John viii. 36, "If the Son make you free, you 
 shall be free indeed." — Gal. v. 1, 13, " Stand fast therefore in 
 the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Only use 
 not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve 
 one another." — Chap. vi. 16, " And as many as walk accord- 
 ing to this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the 
 Israel of God." — Matt. xi. 25, " I thank thee, O Father, Lord 
 of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from 
 the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes." — 
 1 Cor. XV. 10, "I laboured more abundantly than they all, 
 yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." — Psalm 
 xxxvi. 11, " Let not the foot of pride come against me." 
 
THE 
 
 MARROW 
 
 OF 
 
 MODERN DIVINITY, 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully," 1 Tim. i. 8. 
 
 m2 
 
TO 
 
 THERIGHTHON. JOHN WARNER, 
 
 LORD MAYOR OF THE MOST RENOWNED CITY OF LONDON. 
 
 E. F. wisheth a most plentiful increase of spiritual wisdom, and 
 all necessary graces for the discharge of his duty, to the 
 glory of God, and the good of his people. 
 
 Right Honourable, 
 
 The rod of God's judgments hath been now long upon us, 
 which we by our manifold sins have procured, according as it is said con- 
 cerning Jerusalem, Jer. iv. 18, "Thy way and thy doings have procured 
 these things unto thee." And have we any just ground to hope, that till 
 the cause be taken away, the effect will cease } Can we expect that the 
 Lord will turn away his judgments, till we turn away from our sins? 
 And can we turn away from our sins before we know them ? And can 
 we come to know our sins any otherwise than by the law ? Doth not one 
 apostle say, that " sin is the transgression of the law?" 1 John iii. 4. And 
 doth not another apostle therefore say, that " by the law is the knowledge 
 of sin ?" Rom. iii. 20. Surely, then, a treatise, wherein is shown what is 
 required, and what is forbidden, in every commandment of the law, and 
 so consequently what is sin, must needs be for this cause, and at this 
 time, very seasonable. But yet, alas ! that although there be ever so 
 many treatises written, or ever so many sermons preached upon this sub- 
 ject, yet do they either remain wilfully ignorant of their sins, or else 
 though they know them, they will not forego them, but rather choose 
 wilfully to wallow on in the mire of iniquity, so sweet and dear are their 
 sins unto them. But what, then, must they be suffered so to go on with- 
 out restraint ? No ; God forbid. Such persons as the law and love of 
 God will not constrain, such must the execution of justice restrain; 
 upon such must the penalty of the laws of the land, being grounded 
 upon God's laws, be by the civil magistrate inflicted. And for this cause 
 it is that the king is required, " when he sitteth upon the throne of his 
 kingdom, to write him a copy of the law of God in a book," Deut. xvii. 
 18. And for this cause it is that the civil magistrate is called " the keeper 
 of both tables ;" for says Luther, on Galatians, p. 151, " God hath or- 
 dained magistrates, and other superiors, and appointed laws, bounds, and 
 all civil ordinances, that if they can do no more, yet at least they may 
 bind the devil's hands, that he rage not in his bond slaves after his own 
 lusts." And hence it is that the apostle, speaking of the civil magistrate, 
 says, " If thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the 
 
246 
 
 sword in vain," Rom. xiii. 4. Wherefore, Right Honourable, God hav- 
 ing called you to wield the sword of authority in the most famous citj' of 
 this kingdom, I, a poor inhabitant thereof, the author of the ensuing 
 Dialogue, have, through the advice and persuasion of some godly minis- 
 ters, and through the consideration of the suitableness of the subject with 
 our place, been moved to take the boldness to offer this work to your 
 worthy name and patronage ; not that I do conceive your Honour is igno- 
 rant of your duty, nor yet that I see you to neglect your duty, for your 
 Christian integrity in your place, and your zealous forwardness to reform 
 things amiss, by punishing of evil doers, doth to me witness the con- 
 trary; but rather to encourage your Honour to continue your godly 
 course in the ways of well-doing, and to advance forward in paths of 
 piety, being more swift in your motion now towards the end of your race 
 — your year I mean, that so your Master, Christ, may have cause to say 
 concerning you, as he once did concerning the church of Thyatira, " I 
 know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patien<*B, 
 and thy works ; and the last to be more than the fii'st," Rev. ii. 19, Yea, 
 and that it also may be said concerning you, " Well done, thou good and 
 faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
 thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," Matt. 
 XXV. 21. 
 
 And so most humbly begging of your Honour that these my poor 
 labours may be accepted, and that under your Honour's name, they may 
 go forth into the world, and praying the Lord of power, and the God of 
 all grace, to multiply his Spirit upon your Honour, with all the blessed 
 fruits of the same, I take my leave, and rest your Honour's most humble 
 Servant to be commanded, 
 
 EDWARD FISHER. 
 
THE AUTHOR TO THE WELL-AFFECTED READER. 
 
 Good Reader, 
 
 I do confess there are so many godly and learned ex- 
 positions upon the ten commandments already extant, that it may seem 
 needless to add any more unto that number. Nevertheless, I pray thee, 
 do not think it impossible but that God may by such a weak instrument 
 as I myself am, show his power in doing something more, touching this 
 subject, than hath yet been done. I do confess, I have had good helps 
 from the labours of others, and have made much use thereof, especially 
 for matter, yet have I not confined my discourse within the compass of 
 what I have found in other books, but have from the warrant of the word 
 of God, taken the boldness to enlarge it, both as touching the matter and 
 manner, and especially touching the application, wherein I have endea- 
 voured to give both believers and unbelivers their distinct proportion, by 
 distinguishing betwixt the ten commandments, as they are the law of 
 works, having the promise of eternal life, and the threatening of eternal 
 death annexed to them, and so applying them to the unbeliver ; and as 
 they are the law of Christ, having the promise of eternal life, and the 
 threatening of eternal death separated from them, and so applying them 
 to the believer. I have not denied, but acknowledged, yea, and proved, 
 that the law of the ten commandments, truly expounded, is to be a per- 
 petual rule of life to all mankind, yea, to believers themselves ; for 
 though the Spirit of Jesus Christ do, according to his pro'mise, wi-ite this 
 law in their hearts, as their inward rule, yet, in regard that whilst they 
 live in this world, it is done but in part, they have need of the ten com- 
 mandments to be unto them as an outward rule : for though the Spirit 
 have begotten in them a love to this law, and wrought in them a willing 
 disposition to yield obedience thereunto, yet have they need of the law 
 to be unto them as a glass, wherein they may see what the will of God is, 
 and as a rule to direct them how to actuate their love and willingness, 
 so that, as a precious godly minister of Jesus Christ truly says, the Spirit 
 within, and the law without, " is a lamp unto their feet, and a light unto 
 their path," Psalm cxix. 105. 
 
 But yet I do conceive, that expositors on the commandments should 
 not only endeavour to drive on their designs to that end, and there ter- 
 minate their endeavours, as if there were no further use to be made of 
 the law, neither in believers nor in unbelievers ; but they should aim at 
 a further end — an end beyond this, especially in unbelivers, and that is 
 to discover to them how far short they come of doing that which the law 
 
248 
 
 requireth, that so they may not take up their rest in themselves, but 
 hasten out of themselves to Jesus Christ ; and that believers, by behold- 
 ing their own imperfections, should take occasion to humble themselves, 
 and cleave the more close unto him by faith. 
 
 For when, by way of exposition, it is only declared what is required, 
 and what is forbidden in every commandment, with exhortations, mo- 
 tives, and means to do thereafter, it has been observed, that divers both 
 profane and mere civil honest people, upon the hearing or reading of the 
 same, have concluded with themselves, that they must either alter their 
 course of life, and strive and endeavour to do more than they have done, 
 and better than they have done, or else they shall never be saved, and 
 hereupon they have taken up a form of godliness, in hearing, reading, 
 and praying, and the like, and so have become formal professors, and 
 therein have rested, coming far short of Jesus Christ, yea, and believers 
 themselves have sometimes taken occasion thereby, to conceive that 
 they must do something towards their own justification and salvation. 
 
 Wherefore I, yet not I by any power of my own, but by the grace of 
 God that is with me, have endeavoured not only to show what is required, 
 and what is forbidden in every commandment, but also, that it is im- 
 possible for any man, whether he be an unbeliver or a believer, to keep 
 any one commandment perfectly, yea, or to do any one action or duty 
 perfectly, that so by the working of God's Spirit in tlie reading of the 
 same, men may be moved ; not only to turn from being profane, or mere 
 civil honest men, to be formal professors, but they may be driven out of 
 all their own works and performances unto Jesus Christ, and so become 
 Christians indeed, and that those who are Christians indeed, may thereby 
 be moved to prize Jesus Christ the more ; and if the Lord shall but be 
 pleased to enable either myself or any other man or woman, to make this 
 use of this ensuing Dialogue, then shall not my labour be in vain : but 
 my hearts desire and prayer to God shall be, that many may receive as 
 much good by the " Marrow" which is contained in this second hone, as 
 they say they have done by that which is contained in the first ; that so 
 God may be glorified and their souls edified, and then have I my reward. 
 Only let nie beg of thee, that for what good thou receivest thereby, thou 
 wilt beg at the throne of grace for me, that my faith may be increased, 
 and so my love inflamed towards God, and towards man for God's sake, 
 and then I am sure I shall keep the law more perfectly than I have yet 
 done. The wliich that we may all do, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 be with all our spirits. Amen. 
 
 Thine in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
 September 21, 1648. E. F. 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 EvANGELiSTA, a Minister of the Gospel. 
 Nomologist A, a Prattler of the La^. 
 Neophitus, a Young Christian. 
 
 Neo. Sir, here is our neighbour Nomologista, who, as I sup- 
 pose, is much mistaken, as touching a point that he and I have 
 had some conference about ; and because I found you so ready 
 and willing to inform and instruct me, when I came to you 
 with my neighbours Nomista and Antinomista, I have pre- 
 sumed to entreat him to come along with me to you : assuring 
 both myself and him, that we shall be welcome to you, and 
 that you will make it appear he is deceived. 
 
 Evan. You are both of you very kindly welcome to me, 
 and as I have been willing to give you the best instruction, 
 when you were formerly with me ; even so, God willing, shall 
 I be now ; wherefore, I pray you, let me understand what the 
 point is, wherein you do conceive he is mistaken. 
 
 Neo. Why, sir, this is the thing; he tells me, he is persuaded 
 that he goes very near the perfect fulfilling of the law of God ; 
 but I cannot be persuaded to it. 
 
 Evan. What say you, neighbour Nomologista, are you so 
 persuaded ? 
 
 Nom. I. Yea, indeed sir, I am so persuaded ; for whereas 
 you know the first commandment is, " I am the Lord thy God, 
 thou shalt have none other God before my face," I am confi- 
 dent I have the only true God for my God, and none other. 
 
 II. And whereas, the second commandment is, " Thou shalt 
 not make to thyself any graven image," &c. I tell you truly, I 
 do defy all graven images, and do count it a great folly in any 
 man, either to make them, or worship them. 
 
 III. And whereas, the third commandment is, " Thou shalt 
 not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," it is well 
 known that I am no swearer, neither can I abide to hear others 
 swear by the name of God. 
 
 IV. And whereas, the fourth commandment is, " Remember 
 that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day," I am sure I do very 
 
 M 3 
 
250 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 seldom either work or travel on that day ; but do go to the 
 church both forenoon and afternoon ; and do both read, and 
 hear the word of God read, when I come home. 
 
 V. And whereas, the fifth commandment is, " Honour thy 
 father and mother," S:c.y I thank God I was very careful to do 
 my duty to my parents when I was a child. 
 
 VI. And whereas, the sixth commandment is, " Thou shalt 
 not kill," I thank God, I never yet murdered either man, 
 woman, or child ; and I hope I never shall. 
 
 VII. And whereas, the seventh commandment is, "Thou 
 shalt not commit adultery," I thank God, I was never given 
 to women, God has hitherto kept me from committing that 
 sin, and so I hope he will do whilst I live. 
 
 VIII. And whereas, the eighth commandment is, " Thou 
 shalt not steal," I do not remember that ever I took the worth 
 of twelve pence of any man's goods in all my life. 
 
 IX. And whereas, the ninth commandment is, " Thou shalt 
 not bear false witness against thy neighbour," I thank (jod, I 
 do abhor that sin, and was never guilty of it in all my life. 
 
 X. And whereas, the tenth commandment is, " Thou shalt 
 not covet," I thank God, I never coveted any thing but what 
 was mine own, in all my life. 
 
 Evan. Alas ! neighbour Nomologista, the commandments 
 of God have a larger extent than it seems you are aware of ; 
 for it seems you do imagine that the whole moral law is con- 
 fined within the compass of what you have now repeated ; as 
 though there were no more required or forbidden, than what 
 is expressed in the words of the ten commandments ; as though 
 God required no more but the bare external, or actual per- 
 formance of a duty; and as though he forbid no more than 
 the bare abstinence and gross acting of sin. The very same 
 conceit of the law of God, the Scribes and Pharisees had ; and, 
 therefore, it is no marvel though you imagine you keep all the 
 commandments even as they did. 
 
 No7n. Well, sir, if I have been deceived, you may do well 
 to instruct me better. 
 
 Evan. I shall endeavour to do it with all my heart, as the 
 Lord shall be pleased to enable me. And bt^cause I begin to 
 fear that it is not your case alone to l)e thus ignorant of the 
 large extent, and the true sense and meaning of the law of 
 Ciod, I also begin to blatne myself for that I have not taken 
 occasion to expound the commandments in njy public ministry, 
 since I came amongst you ; and, therefore, do I now resolve, 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 251 
 
 by the help of God, very speedily to fall about that work ; and 
 I hope I shall then make it appear unto you that the ten com- 
 mandments are but an epitome or an abridgment of the law of 
 God, and that the full exposition thereof is to be found in the 
 books of the prophets and apostles, called the Old and New 
 Testament. 
 
 Neo. Indeed, sir, I have told him that we must not stick 
 upon the bare words of any of the ten commandments, nor rest 
 satisfied with the bare literal sense, but labour to find out the 
 full exposition and true spiritual meaning of every one of them, 
 according to other places of Scripture. 
 
 Evan. If you told him so, you told him that which is most 
 true; for he that would truly understand and expound the 
 commandments must do it according to these six rules. 
 
 First, He must consider that every commandment has both 
 a negative and affirmative part contained in it ; that is to say, 
 where any evil is forbidden, the contrary good is commanded ; 
 and where any good is commanded, the contrary evil is forbidden ; 
 for, says Ursinus's Catechism, page 329, " The lawgiver does 
 in an affirmative commandment comprehend the negative; and 
 contrariwise, in a negative he comprehends the affirmative." 
 
 Secondly, He must consider that under one good action 
 commanded, or one evil action forbidden, all of the same kind 
 or nature are comprehended, yea, all occasions and means lead- 
 ing thereunto; according to the saying of judicious Virel, 
 " The Lord minding to forbid divers evils of the same kind, 
 he comprehendeth them under the name of the greatest." 
 
 Thirdly, He must consider that the law of God is spiritual, 
 reaching to the very heart or soul, and all the powers thereof, 
 for it charges the understanding to know the will of God ; it 
 charges the memory to retain, and the will to choose the better, 
 and to leave the worse ; it charges the affections to love the 
 things that are to be loved, and to hate the things that are to 
 be hated, and so binds all the powers of the soul to obedience, 
 as well as the words, thoughts, and gestures. 
 
 Fourthly, He must consider, that the law of God must not 
 only be the rule of our obedience, but it must also be the rea- 
 son of it ; we must not only do that which is there commanded, 
 and avoid that which is there forbidden, but we must also do 
 the good, because the Lord requires it, and avoid the evil, be- 
 cause the Lord forbids it ; yea, and we must do all that is deli- 
 vered and prescribed in the law, for the love we bear to Gml, 
 
252 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 though love of God must be the fountain, the impulsive, and 
 efficient cause of all our obedience to the law. 
 
 Fifthbf, He must consider, that as our obedience to the law 
 must arise from a right fountain, so must it be directed to a 
 right end, and that is, that God alone may be glorified by us ; 
 for otherwise it is not the worship of God, but hypocrisy, savs 
 Ursinus's Catechism ; so that according to the saying of 
 another godly writer, the final cause or end of all our obe- 
 dience must be, God's glory, 1 Cor. x. 13 ; or, which is all 
 one, that we may please him, for in seeking to please God, 
 we glorify him, and these two things are always co-incident. 
 
 Sixthly, He must consider, that the Lord does not only 
 take notice of what we do in obedience to this law, but also 
 after what manner we do it ; and therefore we must be careful 
 to do all our actions after a right manner, viz. humbly, rever- 
 ently, willingly, and zealously. 
 
 Neo. I beseech you, sir, if you can spare so much time, 
 let us have some brief exposition of some, if not of all the ten 
 commandments before we go hence, according to these rules. 
 
 Evan. What say you, neighbour Nomologista, do you desire 
 the same ? 
 
 Num. Yea, sir, with ail my heart, if you please. 
 
 Evan. Well, then, although my occasions at this time might 
 justly plead excuse for me ; yet, seeing that you do both of 
 you desire it, I will for the present dispense with all my other 
 business, and endeavour to accomplish your desires, according 
 as the Lord shall be pleased to enable me : and therefore, I 
 pray you understand and consider. That in the first command- 
 ment there is a negative part expressed in these words : " Thou 
 shalt have none other gods before my face." And an affirma- 
 tive part included in these words : " But thou shalt have me 
 only for thy God ;" for if we must have none other for our 
 God, it implies strongly, that we must have the Lord for our 
 God. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the affirmative part, and 
 first tell us what the Lord requireth of us in this command- 
 ment ? 
 
 COMMANDMENT I. 
 
 Eran. In this first commandment, " The Lord requireth 
 the duty of our hearts or souls," Prov. xxiii. i^(> ; that is to 
 say, of our understandings, wills, and affections, and the effects 
 of them. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 253 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of our understandings ? 
 
 Evan. The duty of our understandings is to know God, 
 2 Chron. xxviii. 9. Now the end of knowledge is but the 
 fulness of persuasion, even a settled belief, which is called 
 faith, so that the duty of our understandings is, so to know 
 God, as to believe him to be according as he has revealed 
 himself to us in his word and works, chap. xi. 6. 
 
 Neo. And how has the Lord revealed himself to us in his 
 word ? 
 
 Evan. Why, he has revealed himself to be " most wise," 
 Rom. xvi. 27 ; " most mighty," Deut. vii. 21 ; " most true," 
 Deut. xxxii. 4 ; " most just," Neh. ix. 33; and " most merci- 
 ful," Psalm cxlv. 8. 
 
 Neo. And how has he revealed himself to us in his works ? 
 
 Evan. He has revealed himself in his works to be " the 
 Creator of all things," Exod. xx. 11 ; and "the Preserver of 
 all things," Psalm xxvi. 6 ; and " the Governor of all things," 
 Psalm cxxxv. 6 ; and " the Giver of every good gift," James 
 i. 17. 
 
 Neo. And how must our knowledge of God, and our belief 
 in him, be expressed by their effects ? 
 
 Evan. We must express, that we know and believe God to 
 be according as he has revealed himself in his word and works, 
 by our remembering and acknowledging him whensoever there 
 is occasion for us so to do. 
 
 As, for example ; when we read or hear those judgments 
 that the Lord in his word has threatened to bring upon us for 
 our sins, Deut. xxviii. 16, we are to express that we do re- 
 member and acknowledge him to be most mighty, true, and 
 just, by our fearing and trembling thereat, Psalm cxix. 120; 
 Hab. iii. 16. And when we read or hear of blessings, that 
 the Lord in his word has promised to bestow upon us for our 
 obedience, Deut. xxviii. 2, then we are to express, that we do 
 remember and acknowledge him to be most true, and merciful, 
 by our obedience unto him, and by our trusting in him, and 
 relying upon him. Gen. xxxii. 9. And when we behold the 
 excellent frame of heaven and earth, and the creatures con- 
 tained therein, then we are to express, that we do remember 
 and acknowledge the Lord to be the Creator and Maker of 
 them all, by our praising and magnifying his name, Psalm cvi. 
 5, and cxxxix. 14. And when the Lord does actually inflict 
 any judgment upon us, then we are to express that we do re- 
 member and acknowledge him to be the Governor of all 
 
254 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 things, and most mighty, wise, and just, by humbling ourselves 
 under his mighty hand, 1 Pet. v. 6. And by judging our- 
 selves worthy to be destroyed, for our iniquities, Ezek. xxxvi. 
 31. And by hearing the punishment thereof. Lev. xxvi. 41, 
 with willing, patient, contented submission to his will and 
 pleasure, Psalm xxxix. 9. And when the Lord does actually 
 bestow any blessing upon us, then we are to express, that we 
 do remember, and acknowledge him to be the most merciful 
 Giver of every good gift, by our humble acknowledging that 
 we are unworthy of the least of his mercies, Gen. xxxii. 10; 
 and " in giving him thanks for all things," 1 Thess. v. 18. 
 And thus have I showed unto you what is the duty of our un- 
 derstandings. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, let us, in the next place, hear what is 
 the duty of our wills. 
 
 Evan. The duty of our wills is to choose the Lord alone for 
 our portion, Psalm xvi. 5, and cxix. 47. 
 
 Neo, And how must we express that we have chosen the 
 Lord for our portion ? 
 
 Evan. " By our loving him with all our hearts, with all our 
 souls, and with all our might," Deut. v. 6. 
 
 Neo. And how must we express that we do thus love the 
 Lord? 
 
 Evan. We must express that we do thus love the Lord by 
 the acting of our other affections, as by our desire of most near 
 communion with him, Philip, i. 23, and by our delighting most 
 in him, Psalm xxxvii. 4 ; and by our rejoicing most in him, 
 Philip, iv. 4 ; and by our fearing most to offend him. Matt. x. 
 28 ; and by our sorrowing most for offending him, Luke xxii. 
 62 ; and by being most zealous against sin, and for the glory 
 of God, Rev. iii. 19. And thus have 1 showed you what the 
 Lord requires in the affirmative part of this commandment. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the negative part, and show 
 us what the Lord forbids in this commandment. 
 
 Evan. In this first commandment is forbidden, " ignorance 
 of God," Jer. iv. 22 ; so also is unbelief, or doubting of the 
 trutli of God's word, Isa. viii. 9. And so also is the want of 
 fearing the threatenings of God, Deut. xxviii. 58, and the 
 fearing tlie threatenings of men, either more, or as'much as tlie 
 threatenings of God, Isa. li. 12, 13 ; and so also is the want of 
 trusting unto or relying upon the promises of God, Luke xii. 
 29, and the trusting or relying upon ourselves, men's promises, 
 or any otiier thing, either more, or as much as we do upou 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 255 
 
 God, Jer. xvii. 3 ; Luke xii. 20. And so also is the want of 
 acknowledging the hand of God, in the time of affliction, Isa. 
 xxvi. 1 1 ; and acknowledging that the rod can smite without 
 the hand of God, Job xix. 1 1 ; and so also is the want of 
 humbling ourselves before the Lord, Daniel v. 22 ; and pride of 
 heart, Prov. xvi. 5. And so also is impatience and discon- 
 tentedness under the chastising hand of God, Exod. xvii. 2 ; 
 and not returning unto him that smiteth us, Isa. ix. 12 ; and so 
 also is our forgetfulness of God in not acknowledging his mer- 
 ciful and bountiful hand in reaching forth all good things unto 
 us in the time of prosperity, Psalm Ixxviii. 11 ; Deut. xxxii. 
 18 ; and so also is our sacrifichig to our own nets, Hab. i. 10, 
 in ascribing the coming in of our riches to our own care, pains, 
 and diligence in our callings, Deut. viii. 17 ; and so also is 
 unthankfulness to the Lord for his mercies, Rom. i. 21 ; and 
 so also is our want of love to God, 1 Cor. xvi. 22 ; and our 
 loving any creature either more than God, or equal with God, 
 Matt. X. 37 ; and so also is our want of desiring his presence, 
 Job xxi. 14 ; and our desiring the presence of any creature 
 either more or so much as God, Prov. vi. 25 ; and so also is 
 our want of rejoicing in God, Deut. xxviii. 47 ; and our re- 
 joicing either more, or as much in any thing as in God, Luke 
 X. 20 ; and so also is our want of fearing to offend God, Jer. 
 v. 22 ; and our fearing to offend any mortal man, either more 
 or as much as to offend God, Prov. xxix. 25 ; and so also is 
 want of sorrow and grief for offending God, 1 Cor. v. 2 ; and 
 our sorrowing more, or as much, for any worldly loss or cross, 
 as for our sinning against God, 1 Thess. iv. 15 ; and so also is 
 our want of zeal, or our lukewarmness in the cause of God and 
 his truth, Rev. iii. 16; and our corrupt, blind, and indiscreet 
 zeal, Luke ix. 55. And thus have I showed unto you what 
 the Lord requires, and what he forbids in this conmiandment. 
 And now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray you, tell me whether 
 you think you keep it perfectly or no ? 
 
 Noi7i. Sir, before I tell you that, I pray you tell me how 
 you prove that the Lord in this commandment requires all 
 these duties, and forbids all these sins? 
 
 Evan. First, I know that the Lord in this commandment 
 requires all these duties, because no man can truly have the 
 Lord for his God, except he have chosen him for his portion ; 
 and no man can truly choose the Lord for his portion, before 
 he truly know him; and he that does truly know God, does 
 truly believe both his threatenings "and his promises ; and he 
 
256 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 that does truly believe the Lord's threatenings, must needs 
 fear and tremble at them; and he that does believe the Lord's 
 promises, must needs truly love him, for faith always produces 
 and brings forth love; and whosoever does truly love God, 
 must needs desire near communion with him; yea, and re- 
 joice in communion with him; yea, and fear to offend him; 
 yea, and sorrow for offending him; yea, and be zealous for his 
 glory. 
 
 Secondly, I know that all these sins are forbidden in this 
 commandment, because that whatsoever the mind, will, and 
 affections of men are set upon, or carried after, either more 
 or as much as after God, that is another god unto him ; and 
 therefore, if a man stand in fear of any creature, or fear the 
 loss of any creature, either more than God, or equal with God, 
 he makes that creature his god : and if he trust unto, and put 
 confidence in any creature, either more than in God, or equal 
 with God, that creature is his god; and hence it is that the 
 covetous man is called an idolater, Eph. v. 5; for he that 
 makes his gold his hope, and says to the fine gold, " Thou art 
 my confidence," Job xxxi. 24. And if any man be proud of 
 any good thing he has, and do not acknowledge God to be 
 the free giver and bestower of the same, or if he be impatient 
 and discontented under the Lord's correcting hand, he makes 
 himself a god ; and if a man so love any creature as that he 
 desires it being absent, or delights in it being present, either 
 more than God, or equal with God, that creature is another 
 god unto him. And hence it is, that voluptuous men are said 
 to make their belly their god, Phil. iii. 19. In a word, what- 
 soever the mind of man is carried after, or his heart and affec- 
 tions set upon, either more, or as nmch as upon God, that he 
 makes his god. And therefore we may undoubtedly conclude, 
 that all the sins before mentioned, are forbidden in this com- 
 mandment. 
 
 Nom. Then believe me, sir, I must confess that I come far 
 short of keeping this commandment perfectly. 
 
 Evan. Yea, and so we do all of us, I am confident ; for 
 have not every one of us sometimes questioned in our hearts, 
 whether there be a God or no? And as touching the know- 
 ledge of God, may not we all three of us truly say with the 
 apostle, 1 Cor. xiii. 9, " We know in part." And which of 
 us has so feared and trembled at the threatenings of God, and 
 at the shaking of his rod, as we ought? Nay, have we not 
 feared the frowns, threats, and power of some mortal man, 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 257 
 
 more than the frowns, threats, and power of God? It is well 
 if it have not appeared by our choosing to obey man rather 
 than God: and which of us has so trusted unto, and relied 
 upon the promises of God in time of need, as he ought? nay, 
 have we not rather trusted unto and relied upon men and 
 means, than upon God? Has it not been manifested by our 
 fearing of poverty, and want of outward things, when friends, 
 trading, and means begin to fail us ; though God has said, " I 
 will not fail thee, nor forsake thee?" Heb. xiii. 5. And which 
 of us has so humbled ourselves under the chastening and cor- 
 recting hand of God as we ought: nay, have we not rather 
 expressed abundance of pride, by our impatience and discon- 
 tentedness, and want of submitting to the will of God; and by 
 our quarrelling and contending with his rod. And which of 
 us has so acknowledged God in the time of prosperity, and 
 been so thankful unto him for his blessings, as we ought? 
 Nay, have we not rather at such times forgotten God, and 
 sacrificed to our own nets, saying in our hearts, if not also 
 with our mouths, " I may thank mine own diligence, care, and 
 pains-taking, or else it had not been with me as it is?" And 
 which of us hath so manifested our love to God, by our de- 
 sire of near communion with him in his ordinances, and by our 
 desire to be dissolved and to be with him, as we ought? Nay, 
 have we not rather expressed our great want of love to him, 
 by our backwardness to prayer, reading, and hearing his word, 
 and receiving the sacrament, and by our little delight therein, 
 and by our unwillingness to die? Nay, have we not manifested 
 our greater love to the world, by our greater desires after the 
 profits, pleasures, and honours of the world, and by our greater 
 delight therein than in God? Or which of us have so mani- 
 fested our love to God, by our sorrow and grief for offending 
 him, as we ought? Nay, have we not rather manifested our 
 greater love to the world, by our sorrowing and grieving more 
 for some worldly loss or cross, than for offending God by our 
 sins? Or which of us have so manifested our love to God, by 
 being so zealous for his glory as we ought? Nay, have we not 
 rather expressed greater love to ourselves, in being more hot 
 and fiery in our own cause than in God's cause? And thus 
 have I endeavoured to satisfy your desires concerning the first 
 commandment. 
 
 Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to do the like concerning 
 the second commandment, and first tell us how the first and 
 second commandments differ the one from the other. 
 
258 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 COMMANDxMENT II. 
 
 Evan. Whj", as the first commandment teaches us to have 
 the true God for our God, and none other ; so the second com- 
 mandment requireth that we worship this true God alone, 
 with true worship : and in this commandment likewise, there 
 is a negative part expressed in these words, " Thou shalt 
 not make to thyself any graven image," &:c. And an affirma- 
 tive part included in these words, " But thou shalt worship me 
 only and purely, according to my will, revealed in my word." 
 
 Neo. I pray you then, sir, begin with the affirmative part, 
 and tell us what be the means of God's worship, prescribed in 
 his word. 
 
 Evan. If we look into the word of God, we shall find that 
 the ordinary means and parts of God's worship, are invoca- 
 tions, upon the name of God, ministry and hearing of the word 
 of God, administration and receiving the sacraments, with all 
 helps and furtherances to the right performance of the same. 
 
 But to declare this more particularly, First of all, prayer 
 both public and private is required in God's word, as you may 
 see, 1 Tim. ii. 8; Acts ii. 21, 22; Daniel vi. 10. Secondly, 
 Reading the word, or hearing it read, both publicly and pri- 
 vately, is required in God's word, as you may see. Rev. i. 3; 
 Deut. V. 6. Thirdly, Preaching, and hearing of the word 
 preached, is required in the word of God, as you may see, 
 2 Kings iv. 2 ; 1 Thess. ii. 13. Fourthly, The administration 
 and receiving the sacrament is required in the word of God, 
 as you may see. Matt. iii. 6, and xxvi. 26; 1 Cor. x. 16. 
 Fifthly, Praising of God, in singing of psalms, both publicly 
 and privately, is required in the word of God, as you may see, 
 Col. iii. 16 ; James v. 13. Sixthly, Meditation on the word 
 of God is required in the word of God, as you may see, 
 Psalm i. 2; Acts xvii. 11. Seventhly, Conference about the 
 word of God is required in the word of God, as you may see, 
 Mai. iii. 16. And, Lastly, For the better fitting and stirring 
 us up to the right performance of these duties, religious fast- 
 ing, both in public and in private, is required in the word of 
 God, as you may see, Joel i. 14, and ii. 15. And so also is a 
 religious vow or free promise made to God, to perform some 
 outward work, or bodily exercise for some end, as you may 
 see, Eccl. v. 3, 4. And thus have 1 shown you what be the 
 means of God's worship which he has prescribed in his word. 
 
Part 2. ' MODERN DIVINITY. 259 
 
 Neo* I pray you, sir, then proceed to the negative part, 
 and tell us what the Lord forbiddeth in this commandment? 
 
 Evan, Well then, I pray you understand, that in this com- 
 mandment is forbidden, neglecting of prayer, as you may see, 
 Psalm xiv. 4. And so also is absenting ourselves from the 
 hearing of the word preached, or any other ordinance of God, 
 when the Lord calls us thereunto as you may see, Luke xiv. 
 18 — 20. And so also is our rejecting the sacrament of bap- 
 tism, as you may see, Luke vii. 30. And so also is our slight- 
 ing the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as you may see, 
 2 Chron. xxx. 10. And so also is the slighting and omitting 
 any of the other forenamed duties, as you may see, Psalm x. 4 ; 
 John iii. 31 ; Isa. xxii. 12 — 14. And so also is praying to saints 
 and angels, as you may see, Isa. Ixiii. 16; Rev. xix. 10. And 
 so also is the making of images for religious uses, as you may 
 see. Lev, xix. 4. And so also is the representing God by an 
 image, as you may see, Exod. xxxii. 8, 9. And so also is all 
 carnal imaginations of God in his worship, as you may see, 
 Acts xvii. 29. And so also is all will worship, or the wor- 
 shipping of God according to our own fancy, as you may see, 
 1 Sam. ix. 10, 13; Col. ii. 23. And thus have I shown unto 
 you both what the Lord requireth, and what he forbiddeth in 
 this commandment, and now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray 
 you, tell me whether you keep it perfectly or no ? 
 
 Nom. Yea, sir, I am persuaded that I go very near it. But, 
 I pray you, sir, tell me how you prove that all these duties are 
 required, and all these sins forbidden in this commandment? 
 
 Evan. For the proof of this, I pray you consider, that the 
 w^orshipping of false gods is flatly forbidden in the negative 
 part of this commandment, in these words, " Thou shalt not 
 bow down thyself to them, nor serve, nor worship them," 
 Exod. XX. 5. And the worshipping of the true God is 
 implied and expressed in these words. Matt. iv. 10, " Thou 
 shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou 
 serve." 
 
 Nom, But sir, how do you prove that these duties which 
 you have named are parts of God's worship ? 
 
 Evan, For answer hereunto, I pray you consider, that to 
 worship God, is to tender up that homage and respect that is 
 due from a creature to a Creator; now, in prayer we are said 
 to tender up this homage unto him, and to manifest our pro- 
 fession of dependence upon him for all the good we have, and 
 acknowledge him to be the Author of all good; and indeed 
 
260 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 prayer is such a great part of God's worship, that sometimes 
 in Scripture, it is put for the whole worship of God. " He 
 that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," Rom. x. 
 13; that is, he that worships God aright: Jer. x. 25, " Pour 
 out thy wrath upon the heathen that know thee not, and on 
 the families that call not upon thy name," that do not pray, 
 that do not worship God. 
 
 And that hearing the word is a part of God's worship is 
 manifest; because that in hearing we do manifest our depend- 
 ence upon God, for knowing his mind, and the way to eternal 
 life, every time we come to hear the word of God, if we know 
 what we do, we do thus much, we profess that we depend 
 upon the Lord God for the knowing of his mind, and the way 
 and rule to eternal life ; and besides, herein we also come to 
 wait upon God in the way of ordinance, to have that good 
 conveyed unto us by way of an ordinance, beyond what the 
 thing itself is able to do, and therefore this is worship. And 
 that the receiving the sacrament is a part of God's worship, is 
 manifest, in that when we come to receive these holy signs 
 and seals, we come to present ourselves before God, and come 
 to God for a blessing, in communicating unto us some higher 
 good than possibly those creatures that we have to deal with, 
 are able of themselves to convey to us ; we come to God to 
 have communion with him, and that we might have the bless- 
 ing of the covenant of grace conveyed unto us through these 
 things: and therefore when we come to be exercised in them, 
 we come to worship God. The like we might say of the rest 
 of the duties before mentioned, but I hope this may suffice to 
 satisfy you that they are parts of God's worship. 
 
 Nora. But, sir, you know that in this commandment there 
 is nothing expressly forbidden but the making and worshipping 
 of images, and therefore I question whether all those other 
 sins that you have named be likewise forbidden. 
 
 Evan. But you must know, that when the Lord condemn- 
 eth the chief, or greatest and most evident kind of false 
 worship, namely, the worship of God at, or by images, it is 
 manifest that he forbids also the other kinds of false wor- 
 ship, seeing this is the head and fountain of all the rest; 
 wherefore, whatsoever worships are instituted by men or do 
 any way hinder God's true worship, they are contrary to this 
 commandment. 
 
 Nora. Well, sir, though that these things be so, yet for 
 all tliat, I am persuaded I go very near the keeping of this 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 261 
 
 commandment ; for I do constantly perform the most of these 
 duties, and am not guilty of doing the contrary. 
 
 Evan. But thou must know, that for the worshipping^ of 
 God aright, it is not only required that we do the good which 
 he commands, and avoid the evil which he forbids, but 
 also, that we do it in obedience to God, to show that we ac- 
 knowledge him alone to be the true God, who has willed 
 this worship to be thus done unto him; so that, as I told 
 you before, the word of God must not only be the rule of our 
 actions, but also the reason of them : we m>ust do all things 
 which are delivered and prescribed in the ten commandments, 
 even for the love we bear to God, and for the desire we have 
 to worship him: for except we so do them, we do them 
 not according to the sentence and prescript of the law, neither 
 do we please God therein. Wherefore, though you have 
 prayed and heard the word of God, and received the sa- 
 crament, and done all the rest of the forenamed duties, yea, 
 and though you have not done the contrary, yet if all this 
 has been either because the laws of the kingdom require 
 it, or in mere obedience to any superior, or to gain the 
 praise and esteem of men, or if you have any way made 
 yourself your highest end, you have not obeyed nor worship- 
 ped God therein; for, says a judicious writer, "If any man 
 shall observe these things in mere obedience to the king's 
 laws, or thereby to please holy men, and not through an 
 immediate reverence of that heavenly Majesty who has com- 
 manded them, that man's obedience is non-obedience ; his 
 keeping these laws is no keeping them ;" because the main 
 thing here intended is neglected, which is the setting up 
 God in his heart; and that which is most of all abhorred 
 is practised, viz. the "fear of God taught by the precepts 
 of men," Isa. xxix. 13. And to this purpose that worthy 
 man of God has this saying, "Take heed, says he, that the 
 praises of men be not the highest end that thou aimest at ; 
 for if it be, thou worshippest men, thou dost make the praise 
 of men to be thy god ; for whatsoever thou dost lift up in the 
 highest place, that is thy god, whatsoever it be ; Mherefore, 
 if thou liftest up the praise of men, and makest that thy end, 
 thou makest that thy god, and so thou art a worshipper of 
 men, but not a worshipper of God." 
 
 Again, says he, " Take heed of making self thy end. That 
 is, take heed of aiming at thine own peace, and satisfying 
 thine own conscience in the performance of duties." It is 
 
262 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 true, says he, when we perform duties of God's worship, we 
 may be encouraged thereunto by the expectations of good 
 to ourselves, yet we must look higher, we must look at the 
 honour and praise of God ; it is not enough to do it merely 
 to satisfy conscience ; thy main end must be, that thou mayest, 
 by the performance of the duty be fitted to honour the name 
 of God, otherwise we do them not for God but for ourselves, 
 which the Lord condemns, Zech. vii. 5, 6. And now, neigh- 
 bour Nomologista, I pray you, let me ask you once again, 
 whether you think you keep this commandment perfectly 
 or no? 
 
 Nom, No, beHeve me, sir, I do now begin to fear I do not. 
 
 Evan. If you make any question of it, I would entreat you 
 to consider with yourself, whether you have not gone to the 
 church on the Lord's day to hear the word of God, and to 
 receive the sacrament, and do other duties, because the laws 
 of the kingdom require it, or because your parents or masters 
 have required it, or because it is a custom to do so, or, be- 
 cause you conceive it to be a credit for you to do so. And 
 I pray you also to consider, whether you have not abstained 
 from worshipping of images, and other such idolatrous and 
 superstitious actions which the Papists use, merely because 
 the laws of the land wherein you live do condemn such 
 things. And I pray you also consider whether you have not 
 been sometimes zealous in prayer in the presence and com- 
 pany of others, to gain their praise and approbation; have 
 you not desired that they should think you to be a man of 
 good gifts and parts? And have you not in that regard 
 endeavoured to enlarge yourself? And have you not some- 
 times performed duties merely because otherwise conscience 
 would not let you be quiet ? And have you not sometimes 
 fasted and prayed, and humbled yourself, merely or chiefly 
 in hopes that the Lord would, for your so doing, prevent or 
 remove some judgment from you, or grant you some good 
 thing which you desire. Now, I beseech you, answer me 
 truly and plainly, whether you do not think you have done 
 so? 
 
 Nom. Yea, believe me, sir, I think I have. 
 
 Evan. Then have you in all these things honoured and 
 worsliipped your parents, your masters, your magistrates, your 
 neighbours, your friends, and yourself, as so many false 
 gods, instead of the true God ; and therein have been guilty 
 of a breach of the second commandment. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 263 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to speak of the third com- 
 mandment, as you have done of the first and second ; and 
 first, tell us how the second and third commandments differ. 
 
 COMMANDMENT III. 
 
 Evan. Why, as the Lord in the second commandment 
 doth require that we w^orship him alone by true means, so 
 does he in the third commandment require that we use the 
 means of his worship after a right manner, that so they may 
 not be used in vain, Matt. xv. 9. And in this commandment 
 likewise, there is a negative part expressed in these w^ords, 
 ^'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." 
 And that is, thou shalt not profane it, by using my titles, 
 attributes, ordinances, w^orks, or ignorantly, irreverently, or 
 after a formal, superstitious manner. And an affirmative 
 part, included in these words, " But thou shalt sanctify my 
 name," Isa. viii. 13 ; by using my titles, attributes, ordinances, 
 works, and religion, with knowledge, reverence, and after a 
 spiritual manner, John iv. 24. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the affirmative part, and 
 first tell us what the Lord requires in this commandment. 
 
 Evan. The Lord in this commandment doth require, that 
 we sanctify his name in our hearts, with our tongues, and in 
 our lives, by thinking, conceiving, speaking, writing, and 
 walking, so as becomes the excellency of his titles, attributes, 
 ordinances, works, and refigion. 
 
 Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in 
 regard to his titles ? 
 
 Evan. By thinking, conceiving, speaking, and writing holily, 
 reverently, and spiritually of his titles. Lord and God, 
 Deut. xxviii. 58. And this we do when we meditate on them, 
 and use them in our speeches and writings with an inward 
 spiritual fear and trembling, to the glory of God and good of 
 men, Jer. v. 22. 
 
 Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord, 
 in regard of his attributes ? 
 
 Evan. By thinking, conceiving, speaking, and writing holily, 
 reverently, and spiritually of his power, wisdom, justice, mer- 
 cy, and patience. Psalm civ. 1, and ciii. 6, 8. And this we do 
 when we think, speak, and write of them after a careful, re- 
 verent, and spiritual manner, and apply them to such good uses 
 for which the Lord has made them known, Psalm xxxvii. 30. 
 
264 THE MARROW OF Part 1. 
 
 Neo. And in which of God's ordinances are we to sanctify 
 his name? 
 
 Evan. In every one of his ordinances, and especially in the 
 three great ordinances, prayer, preaching, and hearing the 
 word, and administering and receiving the sacraments. 
 
 Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord 
 in prayer? 
 
 Evan. In prayer we are to sanctify the name of the Lord 
 in our hearts, and with our tongues, in calling upon his name 
 after a holy, reverent, and spiritual manner ; and this we do 
 when our prayers are the speech our souls, and not of our 
 mouths only ; and that is, when in prayer we lift up our 
 hearts unto God, Psalm xxv. 1 ; and pour them out unto him, 
 Psalm Ixii. 8 ; and when we pray with spirit, and with un- 
 derstandhig also, 1 Cor. xiv. 15; and with humiHty, Gen. xviii. 
 27, and xxxii. 10; Luke xviii. 13; and with fervency of 
 spirit, James v. 16 ; and out of a sense of our own wants, 
 James i. 5 ; and with a special faith in the promises of God, 
 Matt. xxi. 22. 
 
 Neo. And how are you ministers to sanctify the name of 
 the Lord in preaching his word ? 
 
 Evan. We are to sanctify the name of the Lord in our 
 hearts, and with our tongues, in preaching after a holy, re- 
 verent, and spiritual manner ; and this we do when the word 
 is preached, not only outwardly, by the body, but also 
 inwardly with the heart and soul : when the heart and soul 
 preaches, then is the ministry of the word, on the minister's 
 part, used after an holy and spiritual manner, and that is, 
 when we preach in demonstration of the Spirit, 1 Cor. iii. 27 ; 
 and in sincerity, 2 Cor. ii. 17; and faithfully without respect 
 of persons, Deut. xxxiii. 9 ; and with judgment and discre- 
 tion, Matt. xxiv. 49 ; and with authority and power. Matt, 
 vii. 29 ; and with zeal to God's glory, John vii. 18 ; and with 
 a desire of the people's salvation, 2 Cor. xi. 2. 
 
 Neo. And how are we hearers to sanctify the name of the 
 Lord in hearing his word ? 
 
 Evan. In hearing it after an holy, reverent, and spiritual 
 manner ; and this you do when your heart and soul hears the 
 word of God ; and that is when you set yourselves in the 
 presence of God, Acts x. 33 ; and when you look upon the 
 minister as God's messenger or ambassador, 2 Cor. v. 20, 
 and so hear the word as the word of God, and not as the 
 word of man, 1 Thess. ii. 13 ; with reverence and fear, 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 265 
 
 Isa. Ixvi. 2 ; and with a ready desire to learn, Acts xvii. 1 1 ; 
 and with attention, Acts viii. 6 ; and with alacrity, without 
 wearisomeness or sleepiness, Acts xx. 9. 
 
 Neo. And how are you ministers to sanctify the name of 
 the Lord in administering the sacraments ? 
 
 Evan. By administering them after an holy, reverent, and 
 spiritual manner; and that is, when we administer them 
 with our hearts or souls, according to Christ's institution. 
 Matt. xxvi. 26 ; to the faithful in profession at least, 1 Cor. 
 X. 16; and with a hearty desire that may become profitable to 
 the receivers. 
 
 Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in 
 receiving the sacraments ? 
 
 Evan. This we do when we rightly and seriously examine 
 ourselves aforehand, 1 Cor. xi; and rightly and seriously 
 mind and consider of the sacramental union of the sign, and 
 the thing signified, and do in our hearts perform those in- 
 ward actions which are signified by the outward actions. 
 Acts viii. 37, 38 ; 1 Cor. x. 6. 
 
 Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in 
 regard of his works ? 
 
 Evan. In thinking and speaking of them after a wise, re- 
 verent, and spiritual manner ; and this we do when we medi- 
 tate and make mention, in our speeches and writings, of the 
 inward works of God's eternal election and reprobation, 
 with wonderful admiration of the unsearchable depths thereof, 
 Rom. xi. 33, 34; and when we meditate in our hearts of the 
 works of God's creation and administration, and make men- 
 tion of them in our words and writings, so as that we acknow- 
 ledge therein his wisdom, power, and goodness, Rom. i. 19, 
 20 ; Psalm xix. 1 ; and acknowledging the workmanship 
 of God therein, do speak honourably of the same. Psalm 
 cxxxix. 14 ; Gen. i. 31. 
 
 Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord 
 in regard of his religion ? 
 
 Evan. By holy profession of his true religion, and a con- 
 versation answerable thereunto, to the glory of God, the good 
 of ourselves and others. Matt. v. 16 ; 1 Pet. ii. 12. 
 
 Neo. And, sir, are we not also to sanctify the name of God 
 by swearing thereby ? 
 
 Evan. Yea indeed, that was well remembered ; we are to 
 sanctify the name of the Lord in our hearts, and with our 
 tongues in swearing thereby, after a holy, religious, and spi- 
 
266 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 ritual manner; and this we do when the magistrate requires 
 an oath of us by the order of justice, that is, not against piety 
 or charity, Gen. xliii. 3; 1 Sam. xxiv. 21, 22; and when we 
 swear in truth, Jer. iv. 2 ; that is, when we are persuaded 
 in our conscience the thing we swear is truth, and swear 
 simply and plainly, without fraud or deceit. Psalm xv. 4, and 
 xxiv. 4; and when we swear in judgment, that is, M'hen we 
 swear with deliberation, well considering both the nature and 
 greatness of an oath, viz. that God is thereby called to 
 witness the truth, and judge and punish us if we swear 
 falsely, Gal. i. 20; 2 Cor. i. 23; and when we swear in 
 righteousness, that is, when the thing we swear is lawful and 
 just, and when our swearing is that God may be glorified, 
 Joshua vii. 19 ; our neighbour satisfied, controversies ended, 
 Heb. vi. 16; our own innocency cleared, Exod. xxii. 11; 
 and our duty discharged, 1 Kings viii. 31. 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, now I pray you, proceed to the negative 
 part, and tell us what the Lord forbiddeth in this command- 
 ment. 
 
 Evan. As the Lord in the affirmative part of this com- 
 mandment doth require that we sanctify his name in our 
 hearts, with our tongues, and in our lives, by thinking, con- 
 ceiving, speaking, writing, and v/alking, so as becomes the 
 excellency of his titles, attributes, ordinances, and religion ; 
 so doth he in the negative part thereof forbid the profanation 
 of his name, by doing the contrary. 
 
 Neo. Well then, sir, I pray you first tell us how the titles of 
 God are profanely abused. 
 
 Evan. They are profanely abused divers ways ; as first, by 
 thinking irreverently of them, or using them in our common 
 talk, or in our writings, after a rash, careless, and irreverent 
 manner, Psalm 1. 22 ; Rom. i. 21 ; as when in foolish admira- 
 tion we say. Good God ! Good Lord ! Lord have mercy on 
 us, what a thing is this ? and the like ; or when by the way 
 of idle wishes for imprecations we say, ''The Lord be my 
 judge I" Gen. xvi. 5; or, I pray God I may never stir, if 
 such a thing be not so, and the like ; or when by way of 
 vain swearing, we mingle our speeches, and fill up our sen- 
 tences with needless oaths, as, Not so, by my faith ! and 
 the like. Matt. v. 34 ; James v. 12 ; or when by way of 
 jesting, or after a formal manner we say, God be thanked, 
 God speed, God's name be praised, and the like, 2 Sam. 
 xxiii. 21. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 267 
 
 Neo. And I pray you, sir, how are the attributes of God 
 profanely abused ? 
 
 Evan. The attribute of God's power is profanely abused, 
 either by calling into question, 2 Kings vii. 2, or by thinking, 
 speaking, or writing of it carnally, carelessly, or contemptu- 
 ously. Psalm xii. 4 ; Exod. v. 2. And the attribute of God's 
 providence is abused either by murmuring thereat in our 
 hearts, Deut. xv. 9, or by speaking grudgingly against it under 
 the name of fortune or chance, in saying. What a misfortune 
 was this ? What a mischance was that ? and the like. Deut. 
 i. 27 ; 1 Sam. vi. 9. And the attribute of God's justice is 
 profanely abused, either by thinking or saying, that God likes 
 sin or wicked sinners. Psalm 1. 21 ; Mai. iii. 15. And the at- 
 tribute of God's mercy is profanely abused, either in presum- 
 ing to sin, upon hopes that God will be merciful, or by 
 speaking basely and contemptuously thereof, as when we say, 
 speaking of some trifling thing. It is not worth God a mercy. 
 And the attribute of God's patience is profanely abused by 
 thinking or saying upon occasion of his forbearance to punish 
 for a time, that he will neither call us to an account, nor punish 
 us for our sins. Rom. ii. 4. 
 
 Neo. Now, sir, I pray you proceed to show how God's name 
 is profanely abused in his ordinances ; and first of all begin 
 with prayer. 
 
 Evan. God's name is profanely abused in prayer, either bv 
 praying ignorantly, without the true knowledge of God and 
 his will, Acts xvii. 23 ; Matt. xx. 22 ; or when we pray with 
 the mouth only, and not with the desires of our hearts agreeing 
 with our words, Hos. iii. 14 ; Psalm Ixxviii. 36 ; and when 
 we pray drowsily and heavily without fervency of spirit, Matt, 
 xxvi. 41 ; and when we pray with wandering worldly thoughts, 
 Rom. xii. 12 ; and when we pray with any conceit of our own 
 worthiness, Luke xviii. 9.11; and when we pray without faith 
 in the promises of God, James i. 6. 
 
 Neo. And how is God's name profanely abused in hearing 
 or reading his word ? 
 
 Evan. God's name is hereby abused, when we hear it or 
 read it, and do not understand it, Acts viii. 30 ; and when we 
 hear it only with the outward ears of our bodies, and not also 
 with the inward ears of our heart and soul ; and this we do 
 when we read it or hear it with our hearts full of wandering 
 thoughts, Ezek. xxxiii. 30 ; and we read it, or hear it with 
 dull, drowsy, and sleepy spirits ; and when in hearing of it we 
 
 N 2 
 
268 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 rather conceive it to be the word of a mortal man that deli- 
 vers it, than the word of the great God of heaven and earth, 
 1 Thess. ii. 13; and when we do not with our hearts believe 
 every part and portion of that word which we read or hear, 
 Heb. iv. 2 ; and when we do not humbly and heartily subject 
 ourselves to what we read or hear, 2 Kings xxii. 19; I<a. 
 Ixii. 2. 
 
 Neo. And how is the Lord's name profanely abused in re- 
 ceiving the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Evan. This we do when we either through want of know- 
 ledge cannot examine ourselves, or through our own negli- 
 gence do not examine ourselves, before we eat of that bread, 
 and drink of that cup, 1 Cor. xi. 28 ; and when we in the act 
 of receiving, do not mind the spiritual signification of the sa- 
 crament, but do either terminate our thoughts in the elements 
 themselves, or else suffer them to rove and run out to some 
 otlier object, Luke xxii. 19 ; and when, after receiving, we do 
 not examine ourselves what communion we have had with 
 Christ in that ordinance, nor what virtue we have found flow- 
 ing out from Christ into our own souls, by means of that or- 
 dinance, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 
 
 Neo. And how is the name of the Lord profanely abused 
 in taking of an oath ? 
 
 Evan. This we do, when we call the Lord to be a witness 
 of vain and frivolous things, by our usual swearing in our 
 common talk, Hos. iv. 2 ; Jer. xxiii. 10 ; and Avhen we call 
 God to be a witness of our furious anger and wicked purpose, 
 as when we swear we will be revenged on such a man, and 
 the like, 1 Sam. xiv. 39, and xxv. 34 ; and when we call God 
 to be a witness to our swearing falsely, Lev. xix. 12 ; Zech. 
 v. 4 ; and when we swear by the mass, or by our faith, or 
 troth, or by the rood, or by any thing else that is not good, 
 Jer. V. 7 ; Matt. v. 34—37. 
 
 Neo. And how is the name of God profanely abused as 
 touching his works? 
 
 Evan. When we either take no notice of his works at all, 
 or when we think and speak otherwise of them than we have 
 warrant from his word to do ; as when we do not speak of the 
 inward works of God's election and reprobation, and are called 
 thereunto, and when we murmur and cavil thereat, Rom. ix. 20; 
 and when we either do not at all mind the works of his crea- 
 tion and administration, or do not take occasion thereby to 
 glorify the name of God, Psalm xix. 1 ; Rom. i. 21. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 269 
 
 Neo. And how is the name of God profanely abused in 
 respect of his religion ? 
 
 Evan, When our conversation is not agreeable to our pro- 
 fession, 2 Tim. iii. 5 ; and that is either when in respect of 
 God it is but hypocrisy, or in respect of men we walk offen- 
 sively ; for if we live scandalously in the profession of religion, 
 we cause the name of God to be profaned by them that are 
 without, Rom. ii. 24, and become stumbHng blocks to our 
 weak brethren, Rom. xiv. 13. 
 
 And now neighbour Nomologista, I pray you, tell nw, 
 whether you think you keep this commandment perfectly or no? 
 
 Nom. Sir, to tell you the truth, I had not thought that \\\v. 
 name of God had signified any more than his titles. Lord and 
 God. 
 
 Evan. Ay, but you are to know that the name of God in 
 Scripture signifies all those things that are affirmed of God, or 
 any thing whatsoever it is, whereby the Lord makes himself 
 known to men. 
 
 Nom. Then believe me, sir, I have come far short of keep- 
 ing this commandment perfectly, and so does every man else, 
 I am persuaded. 
 
 Evan. I am of your mind, for where is the man that hath 
 and doth so meditate on God's titles, and use them in his 
 speeches and writings, with such reverence, fear, and trem- 
 bling, as he ought ? Or what man is he that can truly say, 
 he never in all his life thought on them, or used them in his 
 common talk, either rashly, carelessly, or irreverently ? I am 
 sure, for my own part, I cannot say so, for, alas ! in the time 
 of mine ignorance, I used many times to say, by way of foolish 
 admii-ation. Good Lord ! Good God ! Lord have mercy on 
 me, what a thing is this ? Yea, and I also many times used 
 to say, I pray God I may never stir if such a thing be not so ! 
 Yea, and I have divers times said. The Lord be with you, and 
 speed you, and the Lord's name be praised ! after a formal 
 cursory manner, my thoughts being exercised about something 
 else all the while. 
 
 And where is the man that has always thought, conceived, 
 spoken, and written so holily, reverently, and spiritually, of 
 the Lord's power, wisdom, justice, mercy, and patience, as \\it 
 ought ? Nay, what man is he that can truly say, he never in 
 all his life called the attribute of the Lord's power into ques- 
 tion, nor ever murmured at any act or passage of God's pro- 
 
270 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 vidence, nor ever presumed to sin, upon hopes that God would 
 be merciful unto him ? I am sure I cannot truly say so. 
 
 And where can we find the man that can truly say, he has 
 always read and heard the word of God after a holy, reverent, 
 and spiritual manner? Nay, where is the man that has not 
 sometimes both heard it and read it after a formal, cursory, 
 and unprofitable manner ? Is there any man that can truly 
 say he has always perfectly understood whatsoever he has read 
 and heard ? and that has not sometimes heard more with the 
 outward ears of his body, than with the inward ears of his 
 heart and soul, and that was never dull and drowsy, if not 
 sleepy, in the time of hearing and reading, and that had never 
 a \vorldly, nor wandering thought to come in at that time, and 
 that never had the least doubting or questioning the truth of 
 what he had read or heard ? I am sure, for my own part, T 
 have been faulty many of these ways. 
 
 And is it possible to find a man that can truly say, he has 
 always called upon the name of the Lord after a holy, re- 
 verent, and spiritual manner, or has not rather many times 
 prayed after a carnal, unholy, or sinful manner ? Where is 
 the man that has always had a perfect knowledge of God and 
 of his will in prayer, and whose heart has always gone along 
 with his words in prayer, and that never was drowsy nor 
 heavy, never had wandering thoughts in prayer, and that 
 never had the least conceit that God would grant him any 
 thing for his prayer's sake, and that never had the least 
 doubting or questioning in his heart, whether God would grant 
 him the thing he asked in prayer ? I am sure, for my own 
 part, I can scarce clear myself from any of these. 
 
 And can any man truly say he has always received the sa- 
 crament after a holy, reverent, and spiritual manner ? Nay, 
 has not every man rather cause to acknowledge the contrary ? 
 Is there a man to be found that has always seriously and 
 rightly examined himself beforehand, and that has always 
 rightly, with his heart, performed all those inward actions that 
 are signified by the outward ; or has not every man and 
 woman rather cause to confess, that either for want of know- 
 ledge, or through their own negligence, they have not so ex- 
 amined themselves as they ought, nor so actuated their faith, 
 nor minded the spiritual signification of the outward elements, 
 in the time of receiving the sacrament as they ought, nor so 
 examined themselves, after receiving, what benefit they have 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 271 
 
 got to their soul thereby ? I am sure I have cause to confess ^ 
 all this. 
 
 And where shall we find a man that has always sanctified 
 the name of the Lord in his heart, and with his tongue, by 
 swearing after a holy, religious, and spiritual manner; or 
 rather, have not most men that have been called to take an 
 oath, profaned the name of the Lord, either by swearing igno- 
 rantly, falsely, maliciously, or from some base and wicked end ? 
 And I think it is somewhat hard to find a man that never in 
 all his life did swear, either by his faith, or by his troth, by the 
 mass, or by the rood, I am sure I am not the man ; and he is 
 a rare man that can truly say, he has always sanctified the 
 name of God in his heart, and with his tongue, by admiring 
 and acknowledging the wisdom, power, and goodness of God 
 manifested in his works, for it is to be feared that most men 
 do either take no notice at all of the works of God, or else do 
 think and speak of them otherwise than the word of God war- 
 rants them to do. I am sure I am one of these most. 
 
 And he is a precious man that has always so sanctified the 
 name of the Lord, by a holy and unblameable conversation as 
 he ought ; for, alas ! many professors of religion, by their 
 fruitless and offensive walking, do either cause the enemies of 
 God to speak evil of the ways of God, or else do thereby 
 cause their weak brother to stumble : it is well if I never did 
 so ; and thus have I also endeavoured to satisfy your desires 
 concerning the third commandment. 
 
 Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to speak of the fourth 
 commandment as you have done of the other three. 
 
 COMMANDMENT IV. 
 
 Evan. Well, then, I pray you consider, that as the Lord in 
 the third commandment doth prescribe the right manner bow 
 he will be worshipped, so doth he in the fourth commandment, 
 set down the time when he will be most solemnly worshipped, 
 after the right manner ; and in this commandment there is an 
 affirmative part, expressed in these words, "Remember the 
 Sabbath day to keep it holy," &c. That is, remember that 
 the seventh day in every week be set apart from worldly things 
 and businesses, and be consecrated to God by holy and hea- 
 venly employments ; and a negative part, expressed also in 
 these words, " In it thou shalt not do any work," &c. That 
 is, thou shalt not on that day do any such thing or work a;* 
 doth any way hinder thee from keeping an holy rest unto God. 
 
272 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the affirmative part, and 
 first tell us what the Lord requires of us in this commandment. 
 
 Evan. In this fourth commandment the Lord requires that 
 we finish all our works in the space of six days, Deut. v. 13, 
 and think on the seventh day before it come, and prepare for 
 it, Luke xxiii. 54, and rise early on that day in the morning, 
 Psalm xcii. 2 ; Mark i. 35, 38, 39. Yea, and the Lord re- 
 quires that we fit ourselves for the public exercises by prayer, 
 reading, and meditation, Eccl. v. 1 ; Isa. vii. 10; and that we 
 join with the minister and people publicly assembled, with as- 
 sent of mind, and fervency of affection in prayer. Acts, ii. 42 ; 
 in liearing the word read and preached. Acts xiii. 14, 15, 44 ; 
 in singing of Psalms, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, 16; Col. iii. 16; in the 
 sacrament of baptism, Luke i. 58, 59; and in the sacrament of 
 tiie Lord's Supper, so often as it shall be administered in that 
 congregation whereof we are members, 1 Cor. xi. 26. 
 
 Then afterwards, when we come home, the Lord requires 
 that we seriously meditate on that portion of the word of which 
 we have heard, Acts xvii. 11, and repeat it to our families, 
 Deut. vi. 7, and confer of it with others, if there be occasion, 
 Luke xxiv. 14, 17; and that we crave his blessing when we 
 have done all this, John xvii. 17. 
 
 Neo. And is this all that the Lord requires us to do on that 
 day? 
 
 Evan, No ; the Lord also requires that we do works of 
 mercy on that daj^, as to visit the sick, and do them what good 
 we can, Neh. viii. 12 ; Mark iii. 3 — 5, and relieve the poor 
 and needy, and such as be in prison, Luke xiii. 16, and labour 
 to reconcile those that be at variance and discord, Matt. v. 9. 
 
 And the Lord doth permit us to do works of instant neces- 
 sity on that day, as to travel to the places of God's worship, 
 2 Kings iv. 23 ; to heal the diseased, Hos. vi. 6 ; Matt, 
 xii. 7, 12 ; to dress food for the necessary preservation of our 
 temporal lives, Exod. i. 1 ; to tend and feed cattle, Matt. xii. 1 1 ; 
 and such like. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the negative part, and tell 
 us what th(; Lord forbiddeth in this commandment? 
 
 Evan. In this commandment the Lord forbiddeth idleness 
 or sleeping more on the Lord's (lay in the morning, than is of 
 necessity. Matt. xx. G; and he also forbiddeth us to labour in 
 our particular callings, Exod. xvi. 28 — 30; and he also for- 
 biddeth us to talk about our worldly affairs and business on 
 that day, Amos viii. 5; Isa. Ivili. 13; and he also forbiddeth 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 273. 
 
 us to travel any journey about our worldly business on that 
 day, Matt. xxiv. 20 ; or keep any fairs or markets on that day, 
 Neh. xiii. 16, 17 ; or to labour in seed time and harvest on that 
 day. In a word, the Lord on that day forbiddeth all worldly 
 works and labours, except works of mercy and instant neces- 
 sity, which were mentioned before. And thus have I also 
 declared, both what the Lord requires and what he forbids in 
 the fourth commandment. And now, neighbour Nomologista, 
 I pray you tell me, whether you think you keep it perfectly 
 or no? 
 
 Nom. Indeed, sir, I must confess, there is more both re- 
 quired and forbidden in this commandment than I was aware 
 of ^ but yet I hope I go very near the observing and doing 
 of all. 
 
 Neo. But, sir, is the bare observing and doing of these 
 things sufficient for keeping of this commandment perfectly ? 
 
 Evan. O no ! the first commandment must be understood 
 in all the rest, that is, the obedience to the first command- 
 ment must be the motive and final cause of our obedience to 
 the rest of the commandments, otherwise it is not the worship of 
 God, but hypocrisy, as I touched before ; wherefore, neighbour 
 Nomologista, though you have done all the duties the Lord re- 
 quires in this commandment, and avoided all the sins which 
 he forbids, yet, if all this has been from such grounds, and to 
 such ends, as I told you of in the conclusion of the second 
 commandment, and not for the love you bear to God, and the 
 desire you have to please him, you come short of keeping this 
 commandment perfectly. 
 
 Neo. Sir, whatsoever he does, I am sure I come far short 
 not only in this point, but in divers others ; for though it is 
 true, indeed, I am careful to finish all my worldly business in 
 the space of six days, yet, alas ! I do not so seriously think on 
 and prepare for the seventh day as I ought; neither do I 
 many times rise so early on that day as I ought; neither do I 
 so thoroughly fit and prepare myself by prayer and other exer- 
 cises beforehand as I ought ; neither do I so heartily join with 
 the minister and people, when I come to the assembly, as I 
 ought, but am subject to many wandering worldly thoughts 
 and cares even at that time. And when I come home, if I do 
 either meditate, repeat, pray, or confer, yet, alas! I do none 
 of these with such delight or comfort as I ought; neither have 
 I been so mindful nor careful to visit the sick, and relieve the 
 poor, as I ought ; neither can I clear myself from being guilty 
 
 n3 
 
274 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 of doing more worldly works or labours on that day, than the 
 works of mercy and instant necessity. The Lord be merciful 
 unto me. I pray you, sir, proceed to speak of the fifth com- 
 mandment, as you have done of the rest. But first of all, I 
 pray you, tell us what is meant by father and mother. 
 
 COMMANDMENT V. 
 
 Evan, By father and mother is meant, not only natural pa- 
 rents, but others also that are our superiors, either in age, in 
 place, or in gifts, 2 Kings v. 13 ; and vi. 21 ; and xiii. 14. 
 
 Neo. And why did the Lord use the name of father and 
 mother to signify and comprehend all other superiors? 
 
 Evan. Because the government of fathers is the first and most 
 ancient of all others ; and because the society of father and 
 mother is that from whom all other societies do come. 
 
 Neo. And are the duties of inferiors towards their superiors 
 only here intended ? 
 
 Evan. No, but also of superiors towards their inferiors, and 
 of equals amongst themselves ; so that the general duty re- 
 quired in the affirmative part of this fifth commandment, 
 " Honour thy father and mother,"&c. is, that every man, wo- 
 man, and child, be careful to carry themselves as becomes 
 them in regard to that order God hath appointed amongst men, 
 and that relation they have to others, either as inferior, supe- 
 rior, or equal. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the particular handling of 
 these things ; and first tell us what is the duty of children 
 towards their parents. 
 
 Eva7i. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require 
 that children do reverence their parents, by thinking and es- 
 teeming highly of them. Gen. xxxi. 35; and by loving them 
 dearly, Gen. xlvi. 29 ; and by fearing them in regard of their 
 authority over them. Lev. xix. 3. And this inward reverent 
 esteem of them is to be expressed by their outward reve- 
 rent behaviour towards them. Gen. xlviii. 12. And this out- 
 ward reverent behaviour is to be expressed in giving them re- 
 verent titles. Gen. xxxi. 35, and by bowing their bodies be- 
 fore them, 1 Kings ii. 19, and by embracing their instructions, 
 Prov. i. 8, and by submitting patiently to their corrections, 
 Heb. xii. 9, and by their succouring and relieving of them in case 
 of want and necessity. Gen. xlvii. 12, and by making their 
 prayers unto God for them, 1 Tim. ii. 12. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 275 
 
 Neo. And, sir, what be the duties of parents towards their 
 children ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment does require 
 that parents be careful to bring their children, with all conve- 
 nient speed, in due order, to be admitted into the visible church 
 of God by baptism, Luke i. 59; and that they, according to 
 their ability, do yield and give unto their children such com- 
 petent food, clothing, and other necessaries, as are fit for them. 
 Matt. vii. 9, 12 ; 1 Tim. v. 8. 
 
 And that they train them up in learning, instruct them in 
 religion, and endeavour to sow the seeds of godliness in their 
 hearts, so soon as they be able to speak, and have the use of 
 reason and understanding, Deut. iv. 10; and vi. 7, 20, 21. 
 And that they be careful to check and rebuke them when they 
 do amiss, Prov. xxxi. 2 ; and that they be careful seasonably 
 to correct their faults, Prov. xiii. 24; and xix. 18; and that 
 they be careful in time to train them in some honest calling, 
 Gen. iv. 2 ; and that they be careful to bestow them in mar- 
 riage in due time, Jer. xxix. 6 ; 1 Cor. vii. 36, 38 ; and that 
 they be careful to lay up something for them, as their ability 
 will suffer, Prov. xix. 14 ; 2 Cor. xii. 14 ; and that they be 
 earnest with God in prayer, for a blessing upon their children's 
 souls and bodies, Gen. xlviii. 15, 16. 
 
 Neo. And what be the duties of servants towards their 
 masters? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require 
 that servants have an inward, high, and reverent esteem of 
 their masters, Eph. vi. 5 — 7 ; yea, and that they have in their 
 hearts a reverent awe and fear of them, 1 Pet. ii. 18 ; and this 
 reverence and fear they are to express by their outward reve- 
 rent behaviour towards them, both in word and deed, as by 
 giving them reverent titles, 2 Kings v. 23, 25, and by an 
 humble, submissive countenance and carriage, either when 
 their masters speak to them, or they speak to their masters, 
 Gen. xxiv. 9; Acts x. 7 ; and by yielding of sincere, faithful, 
 willing, painful, and single-hearted service to their masters in 
 all they go about, Col. iii. 22; Tit. ii. 10; and by a meek and 
 patient bearing of those checks, rebukes, and corrections which 
 are given to them, or laid upon them by their masters, without 
 grudging stomach, or sullen countenance, though the master 
 do it without just cause, or exceed in the measure, 1 Pet. 
 ii. 18, 20; and by being careful to maintain their master's 
 good name, in keeping secret those honest intents which he 
 
276 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 would not have disclosed ; and, a-s much as may be, to hide 
 and cover their master's wants and infirmities, not blazing them 
 abroad, 2 Sam. xv. 13; 2 Kings vi. 11. 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of a master tovvards their ser- 
 vants ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require 
 that masters be careful to choose unto themselves religious 
 servants, Psalm ci. 6 ; and that they do instruct them in reli- 
 gion and the ways of godliness, Gen. xviii. 19 ; and that they 
 be careful to bring them to the public exercises, Joshua xxiv. 15 ; 
 and that they do daily pray with them and for them, Jer. 
 x. 24 ; and that they do yield and give unto them meat, drink, 
 and apparel fitting for them, Deut. xxiv. 14, 15 ; and that 
 they see to them that they follow the works of their callings 
 -with diligence, Prov. xxxi. 22 ; and that they be careful to 
 instruct them, and give them direction therein, Exod. xxxv. 34 ; 
 and that they be careful to give them just reproof and correc- 
 tion for their faults, Prov. xxix. 29 ; and xix. 29 ; and that 
 they look carefully unto them when they are sick, Matt, 
 viii. 5, 6. 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of wives towards their husbands ? 
 
 Evani Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, 
 that wives do carry in their hearts an inward opinion and 
 esteem for their husbands, Eph. v. 33 ; the which they are to 
 express in their speeches, by giving them reverent titles and 
 terms, 1 Pet. iii. 6 ; and in their countenance and behaviour, 
 by their modesty, shamefacedness, and sobriety, 1 Tim. ii. 9 ; 
 and in being willing to yield themselves to be conmianded. 
 governed, and directed by their husbands in all things honest 
 and lawful. Gen, xxxi. 4, 16, 17; 2 Kings iv. 22; and they 
 are also required to love their husbands, Tit. ii. 4, and to ex- 
 press their love by their chastity and faithfulness to their hus- 
 bands, both in body and mind, Tit. ii. 5 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1 1 ; and 
 by their using the best means they can to keep their husband's 
 bodies in health, Gen. xxvii. 9. They are also required to be 
 helpful to them in the government of the family, and to be 
 provident for their estate, by exercising themselves in some 
 profitable employment, Prov. xxxi. 13, 15, 19; and they are 
 also required to stir up their husbands to good duties, and 
 join with them in the performance of them, 2 Kings iv. 9, 10; 
 and to pray for them, 1 Tim. ii. 12. 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of husbands towards their 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 277 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment requires that 
 liusbands be careful to choose religious wives, 2 Cor. vi. 14 ; 
 and that they dwell with them as men of knowledge, 1 Pet. 
 iii. 7 ; and that they cleave unto them with true love and af- 
 fection of heart, Col. iii. 19 ; yea, and that they content them- 
 selves only with the love of their own wives, and keep them- 
 selves only to them both in mind and body, Prov. v. 19, 20; 
 they are also to be careful to maintain their authority over 
 them, Eph. v. 23 ; and to live cheerfully and familiarly with 
 them, Prov. v. 19 ; and to be careful to provide all things 
 needful and fitting for their maintenance, 1 Tim. v. 8 ; and to 
 teach, instruct, and admonish them, as touching the best 
 things, 1 Sam. i. 8 ; and to pray with them and for them, 
 1 Pet. iii. 7 ; and to endeavour to reform and amend what 
 they see amiss in them, by seasonable and loving admonition 
 and reproof. Gen. xxx. 2 ; and wisely and patiently to bear 
 with their natural infirmities, Gal. vi. 2. 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of subjects towards their ma- 
 gistrates ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, 
 that subjects do think and esteem reverently of their magis- 
 trates, 2 Sam. X. 16, 17 ; and that they carry in their hearts 
 a reverent awe and fear of them, Prov. xxiv. 21 ; the which 
 they are to express by their outward reverent behaviour to- 
 wards them, both in word and deed, 2 Sam. ix. 6, 8 ; and by 
 an humble, ready, and willing submitting of themselves to 
 their commands, either to do, or to suffer, 1 Pet. ii. 13 ; and 
 by yielding a loyal and sound-hearted love to them, in not 
 shrinking from them when they have need, but defending them 
 with their goods, bodies, and lives, if occasion require, 2 Sam. 
 xvii. 3, and xxi. 27 ; also they are required to make their 
 prayers unto God for them, 1 Tim. ii. 12. 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of magistrates towards their 
 subjects ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, 
 that magistrates be careful to establish good laws in their king- 
 doms, and good orders among their subjects, 2 Kings xviii. 
 4 ; Rom. xii. 17 ; and that they be careful to see them duly 
 and impartially executed, Jer. xxxviii. 4, 6 ; Rom. xiii. 3, 4, 
 and that they be careful to provide for the peace, safety, 
 quietness, and outward welfare of their subjects, Rom, xiii. 4 : 
 1 Tim. ii. 2, and not to oppress them with taxations an4 
 grievances, 1 Kings xii. 14. 
 
278 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 Neo. And what duties are people to perform towards their 
 minister ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, 
 that people have their minister in reverent account and esti- 
 mation, 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; and that they humbly and willingly 
 yield themselves to be taught and directed in their spiritual 
 affairs by him, Heb. xiii. 17 ; and that they pray for him, that 
 the Lord would enable him to do his duty, Rom. xv. 30, 31 ; 
 and that they do their best to defend him against the wrongs 
 of wicked men, Rom. xvi. 4 ; and that they yield unto him 
 double honour, that is both singular love for their work's sake, 
 and sufficient maintenance, both in regard of his person and 
 calling, 1 Tim. v. 17, 18; Gal. iv. 15. 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of a minister towards the 
 people ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, 
 that ministers do diligently and faithfully preach the pure 
 word of God unto their people, both in season and out of 
 season, 1 Cor. ix. 16 ; 2 Kings iv. 2 ; and that they do so 
 truly and plainly expound the same, that the people may 
 understand it, and that they pour out their souls to God in 
 prayer, for the spiritual good of the people, 1 Thess. i. 2 ; and 
 they go before the people, as a pattern of imitation to them, 
 in all holiness of conversation, Phil. iv. 9. 
 
 Neo. And what is the duty of equals ? 
 
 Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, 
 that equals regard the dignity and worth of each other, and 
 carry themselves modestly one towards another, and in giving 
 honour to one before another, Eph. v. 21; Rom. xii. 10. And 
 thus having showed you the duties required in this command- 
 ment, 1 pray you, Nomologista, tell me whether you think 
 you have kept it perfectly or no ? 
 
 Nom. Sir, though I have not kept it perfectly, yet I am 
 persuaded 1 have gone very near it ; for when I was a child, 
 I loved and reverenced my parents, and was obedient unto 
 them ; and when I was a servant, I reverenced and feared my 
 master, and did him faithful service ; and since I became a 
 man, I have, I liope, carried myself well towards my wife, and 
 towards my servants ; yea, and done my duty both to magis- 
 trates and ministers ? 
 
 Evan. Ay, but 1 nnist tell you, the Lord doth not only 
 require that you do them, but also that you do them in obe- 
 dience unto iiim ; that is, in conscience to God's command- 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 27» 
 
 ment, or for his sake, even because he requires it. Therefore, 
 although you did your duty to your parents, when you were a 
 child, and to your master when you were a servant, yet if you 
 did it either for the praise of men, or for fear of their correc- 
 tions, or to procure a greater portion, or greater wages, and 
 not because the Lord says, Eph. vi. 4, " Children, obey your 
 parents in the Lord;" and because he says to servants, 
 " Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not 
 unto men," you have not in so doing kept this commandment; 
 and though you have loved your wife, and every way carried 
 yourself well towards her, yet if it have been either because 
 she is come of rich parents, or because she is beautiful, or be- 
 cause she brought you a good portion, or because she some 
 way serves and pleases you after the flesh, and not because the 
 Lord says, Eph. v. 25, "Husbands, love your wives;" you 
 have not therein kept this commandment : and though you 
 have carried yourself ever so well towards your servants, yet if 
 it have been that they might praise you, or to make them fol- 
 low your business more diligently and faithfully, and not be- 
 cause the Lord says, " Masters, give unto your servants that 
 which is just and equal," you have not therein kept this com- 
 mandment : and though you have done your duty ever so well 
 towards your magistrate, yet if it has been for fear of his 
 wrath, and not for conscience' sake, viz. because the Lord 
 says, " Let every soul be subject unto the higher powei^," 
 you have not therein kept this commandment : and though 
 you have given your minister his due maintenance, and invited 
 him often to your table, and carried yourself ever so well to- 
 wards him, yet if it have been that he or others might think 
 .you a good Christian, and a kind man, and not because the 
 Lord says, Gal. vi. 6, " Let him that is taught in the word, 
 communicate unto him that teacheth, in all good things," you 
 have not therein kept this commandment. 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, I cannot tell what my neighbour Nomolo- 
 gista hath done, but for mine own part, I am sure, I have 
 come far short of doing my duty in any relation I have had 
 to others ; for when I was a child, I remember that I M'as 
 many times stubborn and disobedient to my parents, and vexed 
 if I might not have my will, and slighted their admonitions, 
 and was impatient at their corrections, and sometimes despised 
 and contemned them in my heart, because of some infirmity, 
 especially when they grew old ; neither did I pray for theni, 
 as it seems I ou2:ht to have done; and the truth is, if I did 
 
280 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 yield any obedience to them at all, it was for fear of their cor- 
 rections, or some such bye respects, and not for conscience 
 towards God. And when I was a servant, I did not think so 
 reverently, nor esteem so highly of my master and mistress as 
 I should have done, but was apt to slight and despise them, 
 and did not yield such humble, reverent, and cheerful obe- 
 dience as I should have done ; neither did I patiently and con- 
 tentedly bear their checks and rebukes, but had divers times 
 risings and swellings in my heart against them ; neither was I 
 so careful to maintain their good name and credit as I ought 
 to have been ; neither did I pray unto the Lord for them as I 
 ought to have done; and the very truth is, all the obedience 
 and subjection which I yielded unto them, was for fear of their 
 reproofs and corrections, or for the praise of men, rather than 
 in conscience to the Lord's commandment. 
 
 And when I entered into the married estate, I was not care- 
 ful to choose a religious wife ; no, I aimed at beauty more 
 than piety ; and I have not dwelt with my wife as a man of 
 knowledge ; no, I have expressed much ignorance and folly in 
 my carriage towards her : neither have I loved her so as a 
 husband ought to love his wife, for though it be true I have 
 had much fond affection towards her, yet I have had but little 
 true affection, as it hath been evident in that I have been 
 easily provoked to anger and wrath against her, and have not 
 carried myself patiently towards her; neither have I been 
 careful to maintain mine authority over her, but have lost it 
 by my childish and indiscreet carriage towards her ; neither 
 have I lived so cheerfully and delightfully with her as I ought 
 to have done, but very heavily, discontentedly, and uncom- 
 fortably have I carried myself towards her ; neither have 1 
 been careful to instruct and admonish her as I ought ; and 
 though 1 have now and then reproved her, yet for the most 
 part it has been in a passion, and not with the spirit of meekness, 
 pity, and compassion ; neither have I prayed for her either so 
 often or so fervently as I ought ; and whatsoever I have done, 
 that has been w ell done, 1 have been moved thereunto, in for- 
 mer times especially, rather by something in her, or done by 
 h(?r, than by the conmiandment of God. And since I became 
 a fath(;r and a master, I have neither done any duty to my 
 children nor servants as I ought, for I have not had such care, 
 nor taken such pains for their eternal good, as I have done for 
 their temporal. I have had more care, and taken more pain* 
 to provide food and raiment for them, than I have to admonish. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 281 
 
 instruct, teach, and catechise them ; and if I have reproved or 
 corrected them, it has been rather because they have some 
 way offended me, than because they have offended God ; and 
 truly, I have neither prayed for them so often, nor so fervently 
 as I ought. In a word, whatsoever I have done by way of 
 discharging my duty to them, I fear me, it has been rather out 
 of natural affection, or to avoid the blame, and gain the good 
 opinion of men, than out of conscience to the Lord's will and 
 commandment. 
 
 And if I have at any time carried myself well, or done my 
 duty either to magistrate or minister, it has rather been for 
 fear or praise of men, than for conscience' sake towards God ; 
 so far have I been from keeping this commandment perfectly : 
 the Lord be merciful unto me ! 
 
 Evan. Assure yourself, neighbour Neophitus, this is not 
 your case alone, but the case of every man that has stood in 
 all these relations to others, as it seems you have done, as I 
 am confident any man that truly knows his heart will confess, 
 yea, and any woman that is well acquainted with her own 
 heart, I am persuaded, will confess, that she has not had such 
 a reverent esteem and opinion of her husband as she ought, 
 nor so willingly yielded herself to be commanded, governed, 
 and directed by him as she ought, nor loved him so truly as 
 she ought, nor been so helpfid to him any way as she ought ; 
 nor prayed either so oft or so fervently for him as she ought ; 
 and I fear me, most vvomen do all that they do rather for fear 
 of their husband's frowns, or to gain his favour, than for con- 
 science to the Lord's will and command. 
 
 And where is the magistrate that is so careful to establish 
 in his dominions such good and wholesome laws as he ought, 
 or to see them executed or put in practice as he ought, or that 
 is so careful to uphold and maintain the truth of rehgion as he 
 ought, or that is so careful to provide for the peace, safety, and 
 welfare of his people, as he ought? or where is the magistrate 
 that does not do M'hat he does for some other cause, or to some 
 other end, rather than because God commands them, or to the 
 end he may please him ? • 
 
 And where is the minister that does his duty so in his place 
 as he ought ? I am sure for mine own part, I have neither so 
 diligently nor faithfully preached the pure word of God as I 
 ought, nor so fully nor truly expounded it and applied it to my 
 hearers as I ought ; nor so poured out my soul to God for 
 them in prayer as I ought, neither have I gone before them as 
 
282 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 a pattern of imitation in holiness of life and conversation, as I 
 ought : the Lord be merciful to me ! 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, now I would entreat you to proceed to speak 
 of the sixth commandment as you have done of the rest. 
 
 COMMANDMENT VI. 
 
 Evan. Well, then, I pray you consider, that in the sixth 
 commandment there is a negative part expressed in these 
 words, " Thou shalt do no murder." That is, thou shalt nei- 
 tiier in heart, tongue, nor hand, impeach or hurt either the 
 life of thine own soul or body, or the life of any other man's 
 soul or body. And an affirmative part included in these 
 words, " But thou shalt every way, by all good means, seek to 
 preserve them both." 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, speak of these things in order, and first 
 tell us what is forbidden in this commandment, as tending to 
 the murdering of our own souls. 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of the murdering of our 
 own souls, in this commandment is forbidden all sinning against 
 God, Prov. vi. 2 ; and so also is the careless neglecting and 
 wilful rejecting of the means that God has ordained to salva- 
 tion, Heb. ii. 3. 
 
 Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment, as tend- 
 ing to the murdering of others' souls? 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering the souls 
 of others, in this commandment is forbidden all giving occa- 
 sion to others to sin against God, either by provoking of them, 
 1 Kings xxi. 23, or by counselling of them, 2 Sam. xvi. 2I,or 
 by evil example, Rom. xiv. 15. 
 
 Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment, as 
 tending to the murdering of our own bodies ? 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering our own 
 bodies, in this commandment is forbidden excessive worldly 
 sorrow, 1 Cor. vii. 10 ; Prov. xvii. 22 ; and so also is the ne- 
 glect of meat, drink, apparel, recreation, physic, or any such 
 refreshments, Eccl. v. 19; vi. 2; and so also is excessive eat- 
 ing and drinking, Prov. xxiii. 29, 30 ; Hosea vii. 5 ; and so 
 also is laying violent hands upon ourselves, 1 Sam. iii. 14 ; 
 Acts xvi. 28. 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, now I pray you, tell us what is forbidden in 
 this commandment as tending to the nmrdering of others' 
 bodies ; and, first, what is forbidihni in respect of the iieart? 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of nmrdering others with 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 283 
 
 our hearts, in this commandment is forbidden all hasty, rash, 
 and unjust anger, Matt. v. 22; and so also is malice or hatred, 
 Lev. xix. 19 ; 1 John iii. 15 ; and so also is envy. Psalm 
 xxxvii. 1 ; Prov. xxiv. 1 ; and so also is desire of revenge, 
 Lev. xix. 18. 
 
 No7n,. And what is forbidden in respect of the tongue? 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering others with 
 our tongues, in this commandment is forbidden all bitter and 
 provoking terms, Eph. iv. 31; and so also are all wrangHng 
 and contentious speeches, Prov. xv. 1 ; and so also is crying 
 and unseemly lifting up of the voice, Eph. iv. 31 ; and so also 
 is railing or scolding, Prov. xvii. 19; 1 Peter iii. 19; and so 
 also are all reviling and threatening speeches, Matt. v. 22 ; and 
 so also are all mocking, scoffing, and deriding speeches, 2 
 Kings ii. 28 ; John xix. 3. 
 
 Neo. And what is forbidden in respect of the whole body, 
 and more especially of the hand ? 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering others with 
 our hands, in respect of the other parts of the body, in this 
 commandment is forbidden all disdainful, proud, and scornful 
 carriage, Gen. iv. 5 ; Prov. vi. 17 ; and so also is all provoking 
 gestures, as nodding of the head, gnashing with the teeth, and 
 the like, Matt, xxvii. 39 ; Acts vii. 43 ; and so also is all fro- 
 ward and churlish behaviour, 1 Sam. xxv. 1 7 ; and so also is 
 brawling and quarrelling, Tit. iii. 2. And more especially in 
 respect of the hand is forbidden striking and wounding, Exod. 
 xxi. 18, 22 ; and so also is all taking away of life, otherwise 
 than in case of public justice, just war, and necessary defence, 
 Exod. xxi. 12 ; Gen. ix. 6. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the affirmative part of this 
 commandment, and first tell us what is required of us in re- 
 spect of the hfe of our own souls ? 
 
 Evan. In respect of the perservation of the life of our own 
 souls is required a careful avoiding of all sorts of sin, Prov. xi. 
 19 ; and so also is a careful use of all means of grace, and spi- 
 ritual life in our souls, 1 Peter ii. 2. 
 
 Neo. And what is required of us in respect of the preserva- 
 tion of the life of others' souls ? 
 
 Evan. In respect of the preservation of the life of the souls 
 of others, is required, that according to our place and calling, 
 and as present occasion is oftered, we teach and instruct others 
 to know God and his will. Gen. xviii. 19 ; Deut. vi. 7 ; and so 
 also that we do our best to comfort others that are in distress 
 
284 THE iMARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 of conscience, 1 Thess. v. 14 ; and that we pray for the wel- 
 fare and comfort of other souls, Gen. xliii. 29 ; and that we 
 give others good examples by our Christian-like walking, Matt. 
 V. 16. 
 
 Neo. And what is required of us in respect of the preser- 
 vation of the life of our own bodies ? 
 
 Evan. In respect of the preservation of the life of our own 
 bodies, is required in this commandment, that we be careful 
 to procure unto ourselves the use of wholesome food, clothing, 
 and lodging, and physic, when there is occasion, 1 Tim. v. 23 ; 
 Eccl. X. 17 ; 2 Kings xx. 7 ; and also that we use honest and 
 lawful mirth, rejoicing in an holy manner, Prov. xvii. 22 ; 
 Eccl. iii. 4. 
 
 Neo. And what is required of us in respect of the preserva- 
 tion of the life of the bodies of others ? 
 
 Evan. In respect of the preservation of the life of the bodies 
 of others, in this commandment is required a kind and loving 
 disposition, with tenderness of heart towards them, Eph. iv. 
 31, 32: and so also is a patient bearing of wrongs and inju- 
 ries, Col. iii. 12, 13 ; and so also is the taking of all things in 
 the best sense, 1 Cor. xiii. 5, 7 ; and so also is the avoiding of 
 all occasions of strife, and parting with our own right some- 
 times for peace' sake. Gen. xiii. 8, 9 ; and so also is all such 
 looks and gestures of the body as do express meekness and 
 kindness, Gen. xxxiii. 10 ; and so also is the relieving the 
 poor and needy. Job xxxi. 16 ; and so also is the visiting of 
 the sick, Matt. xxv. 36. And now, neighbour Nomologista, 
 I pray you tell me, whether you think you keep this com- 
 mandment perfectly or no ? 
 
 Nom. No, indeed, sir, I do not think I keep it perfectly, 
 nor any man else, as you have expounded it. 
 
 Evan. Assure yourself, neighbour Nomologista, that I have 
 expounded it according to the mind and will of God revealed 
 in his word, for you see I have proved all by Scripture : 
 I told you at the beginning, that the law is spiritual, and 
 binds the very heart and soul to obedience ; and that under 
 one vice expressly forbidden, all of the same kind, with all 
 occasions and means leading thereunto, are likewise for- 
 bidden; and according to these rules have I expounded it. 
 Wherefore, I pray you, consider, that so many sins as you 
 have committed, and so many times as you have carelessly 
 neglected, and wilfully rejected the means of salvation, so 
 many wounds you have given your own soul. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 285 
 
 And so many times as you have given occasion to others 
 to sin, so many wounds you have given to their souls. 
 
 And so many fits oF worldly sorrow as you have had, 
 and so many times as you neglected the moderate use either 
 of meat, drink, apparel, recreation, or physic, when need 
 hath required, so many wounds have you given your own 
 body. 
 
 And so many times as you have been either unadvisedly 
 angry v.ith any, or have borne any malice or hatred to- 
 wards any, or have secretly in your heart wished evil unto any, 
 or borne envy in your heart towards any, or desire to be 
 revenged upon any, then have you been guilty of murdering 
 them in your heart. And if you have given others any 
 wrangling and contentious speeches, or any reviling and 
 threatening speeches, or have carried yourself frowardly and 
 churlishly towards others, and have not borne injuries and 
 wrongs patiently, and expressed pity and compassion towards 
 others, then have you been guilty of murdering them M'ith 
 with your tongue. And if you have quarrelled with any man, 
 or stricken or wounded any man, then have you murdered 
 them with your hand, though you have not taken away their 
 lives. And thus have I endeavoured to satisfy your desires 
 concerning the sixth commandment. 
 
 Neo. I beseech you sir, proceed to speak of the seventh 
 commandment as you have done of the rest. 
 
 COMMANDMENT VII. 
 
 Evan. Well, then, I pray you, consider that in the seventh 
 commandment there is a negative part expressed in these 
 words, " Thou shalt not commit adultery ;" that is, thou 
 shalt not think, will, speak, or do any thing whereby thine 
 own chastity, or the chastity of others, may be hurt or 
 hindered. And an affirmative part included in these words, 
 " But thou shalt every way, and by all good means, preserve 
 and keep the same." 
 
 Neo. I pray you sir, begin with the negative part, and first 
 tell us what is that inward uncleanness that is forbidden in 
 this commandment. 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of the inward unclean- 
 ness of the heart, in this commandment is forbidden all filthy 
 imaginations, unchaste thoughts, and inward desires and mo- 
 tions of the heart to uncleanness, ]Matt. v. 28 ; Col. iii. 5 ; 
 
286 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 with all causes and occasions of stirring up and nourishing of 
 these in the heart. 
 
 Neo. And what be the causes and occasions of stirring up 
 and nourishing these things in the heart M'hich we are to 
 avoid ? 
 
 Evan. That we may not stir up and nourish inward un- 
 cleanness in our hearts, is forbidden in this commandment 
 gluttony, or excess in eating and pampering of the belly 
 with meats, Jer. v. 8 ; and so also is drunkenness, or excess 
 in drinking, Pro v. xxiii. 30, 31, 33; and so also is idleness, 
 2 Sam. xi. 12 ; and so also is the wearing of lascivious, 
 garish, and new-fangled attire, Prov. vii. 10 ; I Tim. ii. 9 ; 
 and so also is keeping company with lascivious, wanton, 
 and fleshly persons, Gen. xxxix. 10 ; and so also is immodest, 
 unchaste, and filthy speaking, Eph. iv. 29 ; and so also 
 is idle and curious looking of men on women, or women on 
 men. Gen. vi. 2 ; xxxix. 7 ; and so also is the beholding of love 
 matters, and light behaviour of men and women represented 
 in stage plays, Ezek. xxiii. 14 ; Eph. v. 3, 4 ; and so also is 
 immoderate and wanton dancing of men and women together. 
 Job xxi. 11, 12; Mark vi. 21, 22; and so also is wanton 
 kissing and embracing, with all unchaste touching and dalli- 
 ance, Prov. vii. 13. 
 
 Neo. And what is that outward actual uncleanness which is 
 forbidden in this commandment? 
 
 Evan. The actual uncleanness forbidden in this command- 
 ment is fornication, which is a fleshly defilement of the body, 
 committed between man and woman, being both of them 
 single and unmarried persons, 1 Cor. x. 8 ; and so also is 
 adultery, which is a defilement of the body, committed be- 
 tween man and woman, being either one or both of them 
 married persons, or at least contracted, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 18 ; 
 Hos. xiii. 4. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the affirmative part, and 
 tell us what the Lord recpiires in this commandment ? 
 
 Evan, The Lord in this commandment requires purity of 
 heart, 1 Thess. iv; 5 ; and he also requires speeches savour- 
 ing of sobriety and chastity, Col. iv. 6 ; Gen. iv. 1 ; and he 
 also requires that we keep our eyes from beholding vanity 
 and lustful objects. Psalm cxix. 37 ; Job xxxi. 1 ; and he 
 also requires that we be temperate in our diet, in our sleep, 
 and in our recreations, Luke xxxi. 34 ; and he also requires 
 that we possess our vessels in holiness and honour, 1 Thess. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 287 
 
 iv. 9 ; and if we have not the gift of chastity, he requires 
 that we take the benefit of holy marriage, 1 Cor. vii. 29; 
 and that the man and wife do in that estate render due bene- 
 volence each towards other, 1 Cor. vii. 5. Thus have I also 
 endeavoured to satisfy your desires concerning the seventh 
 commandment ; and now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray 
 you tell me whether you think you keep it perfectly or no ? 
 
 Nom. Sir, I thank the Lord I am free from actual unclean- 
 ness, so that I am neither fornicator nor adulterer. 
 
 Evan. Well, but though you be free from the outward 
 act, yet if you have had in j'^our heart filthy imaginations, 
 unchaste thoughts, or inward desires, or motions of the heart 
 to uncleanness, you have notwithstanding transgressed this 
 commandment; or if you have been guilty of gluttony, or 
 drunkenness, or idleness, or delight to keep company with 
 lascivious and wanton persons, or have with your tongue 
 uttered any unchaste or corrupt communication, or have been 
 a frequenter of stage-plays, or have used immoderate dancing 
 with women, or have used wanton dalliance with kissing and 
 embracing, then have you broken this commandment. 
 
 Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to speak of the eighth 
 commandment, as you have done of the rest. 
 
 COMMANDMENT VIII. 
 
 Evan. Well, then, I pray you, consider, that in the eighth 
 commandment there is a negative part expressed in these 
 words, " Thou shalt not steal ;" that is, thou shalt by no un- 
 lawful way or means hurt or hinder the wealth and outward 
 estate either of thyself or others : and an affirmative part 
 included in these words, " But thou shalt by all good means 
 preserve and further them both." 
 
 Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the negative part, and first 
 tell us what is forbidden in this commandment, as a hurt or 
 hinderance of our own outward estate ? 
 
 Evan. That we may not hurt or hinder our own outward 
 estate, in this commandment is forbidden idleness, sloth, and 
 inordinate walking, Prov. xviii. 9 ; 2 Thess. iii. 1 1 ; and so 
 also is unthriftiness and carelessness, either in spending our 
 goods, or in ordering our affairs and businesses, Prov. xxi. 17 ; 
 1 Tim. V. 8 ; and so also is unadvised suretiship, Prov. xi. 15. 
 
 Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment, as 
 tending to the hurt or hinderance of our neighbour's estate? 
 
288 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 Evan. That we may not hurt or hinder our neighbour's 
 outward estate, in this commandment is forbidden covet- 
 ousness and discontentedness with our estate, Heb. xiii. 5 ; 
 and so also is enviousness at tlie prosperity of others, Prov. 
 xxiv. 1; and so also is resolutions or hastening. to be rich, 
 as it were, whether the Lord afforded means or not, 1 Tim. 
 vi. 9 ; Prov. xvii. 28 ; and so also is borrowing and not paying 
 again, we being able, Psalm xxxvii. 21 ; and so also is lend- 
 ing upon usury, Exod. xxii. 25 ; and so also the not restoring 
 of things borrowed, Psalm xxxvii. 21 : and so also is cruelty 
 in requiring all our debts, without compassion or mercy, 
 Isa. Iviii. 3 ; and so also is the praising of any commodity 
 we sell, contrary to our own knowledge, or the debasing 
 of any thing we buy, against our own conscience, Isa. v. 20 ; 
 Prov. XX. 14 ; and so also is the hoarding up, or withholding 
 the selling of corn and other necessary conniiodities when we 
 may spare them, and others have need of them, Prov. xi. 26 ; 
 and so also is the retaining of hireling's wages, James v. 4 ; 
 and so also is uncharitable inclosure, Isa. v. 8 ; and so also is 
 the selling of any commodity by false weights or false 
 measures, Lev. xix. 35 : and so also is the concealing of 
 things found, and withholding them from the right owners 
 when they are known ; and so also is robbery, or the lay- 
 ing of violent and strong hands on any part of the wealth 
 that belongs unto another, Zech. iv. 3, 4 ; and so also is 
 pilfering and secret carrying away of the wealth that be- 
 longs to another, Joshua vii. 21 ; and so also is the con- 
 senting to the taking away the goods of another, Psalm xc. 18 ; 
 and so also is the receiving or harbouring of stolen goods, 
 Prov. xxvii. 24. 
 
 Neo. Well, now sir, I pray you proceed to the affirmative 
 part of this commandment, and tell us what the Lord therein 
 requires. 
 
 Evan. In this commandment is required contentedness of 
 mind with that part and portion of wealth and outward 
 good things which (iod, in his providence, has allotted unto us, 
 Heb. xiii. 5 ; 1 Tim. vi. 6 — 8 ; and so also in resting by 
 faith upon the promise of God, and depending upon his pro- 
 vidence, without distrustful care. Matt. vi. 20, 26 ; and so 
 also is a moderate desire of such things as are convenient 
 and necessary for us. Matt. vi. 21 ; Prov. xxx. 8 : and so also 
 is a moderate care to provide those things whicii are needl'ul 
 for us, Gen. xxx. 30 ; 1 Tim. v. 8 ; and so also is an honest 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 289 
 
 calling, Gen. iv. 2 ; and so also is diligence, painfulness, and 
 faithful labouring therein, Gen. iii. 19 ; and so also is frugality 
 or thriftiness, Pro v. xxvii. 23, 24 ; John vi. 12 ; and so also is 
 borrowing for need and good ends, what we are able to repay, 
 and making payment with thanks and cheerfulness, Exod. 
 xxii. 14 ; and so also is lending freely without compounding 
 for gain, Deut. xv. 8 ; Luke vi. 35 ; and so also is giving, or 
 communicating outward things unto others, according to our 
 abihty and their necessity, Luke ix. 41 ; and so also is the 
 using of truth, simplicity, and plainness in buying and selling, 
 in hiring and letting, Lev. xxv. 14; Deut. xxv. 13 — 15; and 
 so also is the restoring of things found, Deut. xxii. 2, 3 ; and 
 so also is the restoring of things committed to our trust, Ezek. 
 xviii. 7. And thus have I endeavoured to satisfy your desire 
 concerning the eighth commandment; and now, neighbour 
 Nomologista, I pray you, tell me whether you think you keep 
 it perfectly or not ? 
 
 Nom, I can say this truly, that I never in all my life took 
 away, or consented to the taking away, of so much as a penny- 
 worth of any other man's goods. 
 
 Evan. Though you did not, yet if there ever have been in 
 your heart any discontentedness with your own estate, or any 
 envious thoughts towards others in regard of their prosperity 
 in the world, or any resolution to be rich, otherwise than by 
 the moderate use of lawful means, or if ever you borrowed 
 and paid not again, to the utmost of your ability, or if ever 
 you lent upon usury, or if ever you did cruelly require any 
 debt above the ability of your debtor, or if ever you praised 
 any thing you had to sell above the known worth of it, or if 
 ever you did undervalue any thing you were to buy, contrary 
 to your own thoughts of it, or if ever you hoarded up corn in 
 the time of dearth, or if ever you retained the hireling's wages 
 in your hands, to his loss or hinderance, or if ever you did sell 
 any commodity by false weights or measures, or if ever you 
 did conceal any thing found from the right owner, when you 
 knew him; then have you been guilty of theft, and so have 
 been a transgressor of this commandment. 
 
 And though you never have done any of these things, and 
 it is strange if you have not, yet if ever you were guilty of 
 idleness, sloth, or any way unwarrantably neglected your call- 
 ing, or if ever you did unthriftily mispend any of your own 
 goods, or ever were negligent and careless in ordering your 
 own affairs and business, or if ever you sustained any loss by 
 
 o 
 
290 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 your unadvised suretiship, or if ever you borrowed upon usury, 
 except in ease of extreme necessity, tlien have you been guilty 
 of robbing yourself, and so have been a transgressor of this 
 commandment. 
 
 Neo. Now, I pray you, sir, proceed to speak of the ninth 
 commandment, as you have done of the rest. 
 
 COMMANDMENT IX. 
 
 Evan. Well, then, I pray you consider, that in the ninth 
 commandment there is a negative part expressed in these 
 words ; " thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh- 
 bour;" that is, thou shalt not think or speak any thing con- 
 trary to truth, or that may tend to the hurt or hinderance 
 either of thine own or thy neighbour's good name. And an 
 affirmative part included in these words, " But thou shalt by 
 all good means seek to maintain them both, according to truth 
 and a good conscience." 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, I pray you begin with the negative part; 
 and first tell us what is forbidden in this commandment, in 
 respect of our own good name. 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of bearing false witness 
 against ourselves, either by overvaluing or undervaluing our- 
 selves, in this commandment is forbidden too high a conceit or 
 esteem of ourselves, Luke xviii. 9 — 1 1 ; and so also is too mean 
 a conceit, in underweening the good things that be in our- 
 selves, Exod. iv. 10. 13 ; and so also is the procuring of our- 
 selves an evil name, by walking indiscreetly and oftensively, 
 Rom. ii. 24 ; and so also is the unjust accusing of ourselves, 
 when we, in a way of proud humility, say, " We have no grace, 
 no wit, no wealth," &c. Prov. xiii. 7 ; and so also is the ex- 
 cusing of our faults by way of lying. Lev. xix. 11. 
 
 Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment, in re- 
 spect of our neighbour's good name ? 
 
 Evan. That we may not be guilty of bearing false witness 
 against any other man, in this commandment is forbidden con- 
 temning or thinking basely of others, 2 Sam. vi. 16; and so 
 also is wrongful suspicion, or evil surmisings, 2 Sam. x. 3 ; and 
 so also is rash, uncharitable, unjust judging and condemning of 
 others. Matt. vii. 1 ; and so also is foolish admiring of others. 
 Acts xii. 22 ; and so also is the unjust reviving the memory 
 of our neighbour's crimes, which were in track of time forgot- 
 ten, Prov. xvii. 9 ; and so also is the forbearing to speak in 
 the cause and for t!ie credit of our neigiibours, Prov. xxxi. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 291 
 
 8, 9 ; and so also is all flattering speeches, Job xxxii. 21, 22; 
 and so also is tale-bearing, backbiting, and slanderous speeches, 
 Lev. xix. 16; Pro v. xx. 19; and so also is listening to tale- 
 bearers, Prov. xxvi. 20 ; and xxv. 23 ; and so also is falsely 
 charging some ill upon another before some magistrate, or in 
 some open court, Amos vii. 10; Acts xxv. 2. 
 
 jyeo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the affirmative part of this 
 commandment, and first tell us what the Lord requires of us 
 for the maintenance of our own good name. 
 
 Evan. For the maintenance of our own good name, the 
 Lord in this commandment requires a right judgment of our- 
 selves, 2 Cor. xiii. 5 ; with a love to, and care of our own 
 good name, Prov. xxii. 1. 
 
 Neo. And what does the Lord in this commandment require 
 of us for the maintenance of our neighbour's good name ? 
 
 Evan. For the maintenance of our neighbour's good name, 
 in this commandment is required a charitable opinion and es- 
 timation of others, 1 Cor. xiii. 7 ; and so also is a desire of, 
 and rejoicing in the good name of others, Rom. i. 1 ; Gal. 
 i. 24 ; and also is sorrowing and grieving for their infirmities, 
 Psalm cxix. 136; and so also is the covering of others' infirmi- 
 ties in love, Prov. xvii. 9; 1 Pet. iv. 8; and so also is the 
 hoping and judging the best of others, 1 Cor. xiii. 5 — 7 ; and 
 so is the admonishing of others before we bewray their faults, 
 Prov. xxv. 9 ; and so also is speaking of the truth from our heart 
 simply and plainly, upon any just occasion, Psalm xv. 2 ; Zech. 
 viii. 16; and so also is the giving of sound and seasonable re- 
 proofs for known faults, in love and with wisdom. Lev. xix. 17 ; 
 and so also is the praising and commending of those that do 
 well. Rev. ii. 23 ; and so also is the defending of the good 
 name of others, if need so require. And thus have I also en- 
 deavoured to satisfy your desires concerning the ninth com- 
 mandment : and now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray you, tell 
 me whether you think you keep it perfectly or not ? 
 
 Nom. The truth is, sir, I did conceive that there was 
 nothing tending to the breaking of this commandment, but 
 falsely charging some ill upon another before some magistrate, 
 or in some open court of justice : and that, thank God, I am 
 not guilty of. 
 
 Evan. Though you have not been guilty of that, yet, if you 
 have contemned or thought too basely of any person, or have 
 had wrongful suspicions, or evil surmisings concerning them, 
 or have rashly and unjustly judged and condemned them, or 
 
 o2 
 
292 THE MARROAV OF Part 2. 
 
 if you have foolishly admired them, or unjustly revived the 
 memory of any forgotten crime, or have given them any flat- 
 tering speeches, or have been a tale-bearer, or a backbiter, or 
 a slanderer, or a listener to tale-bearers, you have borne false 
 witness against your neighbour, and so have been guilty of 
 the breach of this commandment. 
 
 Or if you have not had a charitable opinion of others, or 
 have not desired and rejoiced in the good name of others, or 
 have not sorrowed and grieved for their sinful infirmities, or 
 have not covered them in love, or have not hoped and judged 
 the best of them, or have not admonished them before you 
 have discovered their faults to others, or have not given to 
 others sound and seasonable reproof, or have not praised them 
 that do well, then have you also been guilty of false witness- 
 bearing against your neighbour, and so have transgressed this 
 commandment. And though you never have done any of 
 these things, and it is strange if you have not, yet if you have 
 had too high a conceit of yourself, or have after a proud hum- 
 ble manner unjustly accused yourself, or have procured yourself 
 an evil name, by walking indiscreetly and offensively, or have 
 excused any fault by way of lying, then have you borne false 
 witness against yourself, and thereby have transgressed this 
 commandment. 
 
 Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to speak of the last com- 
 mandment as you have done of the rest. 
 
 COiMMANDMENT X. 
 
 Evan. Well, then, I pray you consider, that in the tenth 
 commandment there is a negative part expressed in these 
 words, " Thou shalt not covet," &c. ; that is, thou shalt not 
 inwardly think on, nor long after, that which belongs to 
 another, though it be without consent of will, or purpose of 
 heart to seek after it. And an affirmative part included in 
 these words, " But thou shalt be well contented with thine 
 own outward condition, and heartily desire the good of thy 
 neighbours." 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, I pray you begin with the negative part ; 
 and first tell us what the Lord forbids in this command- 
 ment? 
 
 Evan. I pray you take notice, and consider, that this tenth 
 commandment was given to be a rule and level, according to 
 the which we must take and measure our inward obedience to 
 all the other commandments contained in the second table of 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 293 
 
 God's law. For the Lawgiver having, in the rest of the com- 
 mandments, dealt with those sins especially which stand in deeds, 
 and are done of purpose, or with an advised consent of will, 
 although there is no doubt but that the law of restraining 
 concupiscence is implied and included in all the former com- 
 mandments. Now, last of all, in this last commandment he 
 deals with those sins which are called only concupiscences, and 
 do contain all inward stirring and conceit in the understand- 
 ing and affections against every commandment of the law, and 
 are, as it were, rivers boiling out of the fountain of that original 
 sin ; for to covet, in this place, signifies to have a motion of the 
 heart without any settled consent of will. Briefly, then, in 
 this commandment is forbidden, not only the evil act and evil 
 thought settled, and with full and deliberate consent of will, as 
 in the former commandments, but here also is forbidden the 
 very first motions and inclinations to every evil that is forbid- 
 den in any of the former commandments, as it is evident, Rom. 
 vii. 7, and xiii. 9; for it is not said in this commandment, 
 Thou shalt not consent to lust, but, " Thou shalt not lust." 
 It does not only command the binding of lust, but it also for- 
 bids the being of lust ; which being so, who sees not that in 
 this commandment is contained the perfect obedience to the 
 whole law ? for how comes it to pass, that we sin against every 
 commandment, but because this corrupt concupiscence is in us, 
 without which we should of our own accord, with our whole 
 mind and body, be apt to do the only good without any thought 
 or desire at all the contrary ? And this is all I have to say 
 touching the negative part of this commandment. 
 
 Neo. Well, then, sir, I pray you to proceed to the affirma- 
 tive, and tell us what the Lord requires in this command- 
 ment? 
 
 Evan. Why, original justice or righteonsness is required 
 in this commandment, which is a disposition and an inclination 
 and a desire to perform unto God, and to our neighbour, for 
 God's sake, all the duties which are contained both in the first 
 and second table of the law ; whence it does evidently appear, 
 that it is not sufficient, though we forbear the evil, and do the 
 good which is contained in every commandment, except we 
 do it readily and willingly, and for the Lord's sake. As for 
 example, to give you a few instances, it is not sufficient though 
 we abstain from making of images, or worshipping God by an 
 image ; no, though we perform all the parts of his true wor- 
 ship, as praying, reading, hearing, receiving the sacraments, 
 
294 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 and the like, if we do it unwillingly or in obedience to any 
 law or commandment of man, and not for the Lord's sake. 
 Neither is it sufficient though we abstain from the works of 
 our callings on the Lord's day, and perform never so many 
 religious exercises, if it be unwillingly, and for form and cus- 
 tom's sake, or in mere obedience to any superior, and not for 
 the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient though a child show 
 never so much honour, love, and respect to his parents, if he 
 do it by constraint and unwillingly, or to gain the praise of 
 men, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient 
 though a servant do his duty, and carry himself never so well, 
 if it be for fear of correction, or for his own profit and gain, 
 and not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient though a 
 wife carry herself never so dutifully and respectfully towards 
 her husband, both in word and deed, if it be unwillingly, for 
 fear of his frowns, or to gain the applause of them that behold 
 it, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient, though 
 a husband show much love and respect to his wife, if it be 
 because she is amiable or profitable, or to gain the praise of 
 men, and not for the Lord's sake. In a word, it is not suffi- 
 cient, though any man or woman do all their duties, in all 
 their relations, if they do them merely for their own sake, 
 and not for the Lord's sake. 
 
 Neither is it sufficient, though a man abstain from killing, 
 yea, and from striking, if it be for fear of the law, and not 
 for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient, though he 
 bridle his anger, and abstain from expressing any wrath, if 
 it be because he would be counted a patient man, and not 
 for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient, though a man 
 visit the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, or in never 
 so many ways seek to preserve the life of his neighbour, if it 
 be for the praise of men, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither 
 is it sufficient, though a man abstain from committing adultery, 
 if it be for fear of the shame or punishment that will follow, 
 and not for the Lord's sake. Nor though he also abstain from 
 idleness, gluttony, and drunkenness, if it be for our own gain's 
 sake, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient, 
 though we abstain from stealing, and labour diligently in our 
 callings, if it be for the fear of shame or punishment, or for 
 the praise of men. Neither is it sufficient, though we have 
 abstained from false witness-bearing, and have spoken the 
 truth, if it have been for fear of shame, or merely to do our 
 neighbour a courtesy, and not because the Lord requires it. 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 295 
 
 Thus might I have instanced in divers other particulars, 
 wherein, though we have done that which is required, and 
 avoided that which is forbidden, yet if it have been for our 
 own ends, in any of the particulars before mentioned ; yea, or 
 if it have been merely or chiefly to escape hell and to obtain 
 heaven, and not for the love we bear to God, and for the desire 
 we have to please him, we have therein transgressed the Lord's 
 commandments. And now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray 
 you consider, whether you have gone near to the keeping of 
 all the commandments perfectly or no ? 
 
 Nom, But, sir, are you sure that the Lord requires that 
 every man should keep all the ten commandments according 
 as you have now expounded them ? 
 
 THE USE OF THE LAW. 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed he does ; and if you make any question 
 of it, I pray you, consider further, that one asking our Savi- 
 our, which is the " great commandment in the law ?" he 
 answered, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This," 
 says he, " is the first and great commandment ; and the se- 
 cond is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," 
 Matt. xxii. 37—39. 
 
 Whereupon, says a famous spiritual expositor, " God will 
 have the whole heart ;" all the powers of our souls must be 
 bent towards him, he will have himself to be acknowledged 
 and reckoned as our sovereign and supreme good ; our love to 
 him must be perfect and absolute : he requires, that there 
 be not found in us the least thought, inclination, or appetite 
 of any thing which may displease him ; and that we direct all 
 our actions to this very end, that he alone may be glorified by 
 us : and that for the love we bear unto God, we must do well 
 unto our neighbour, according to the commandments of God. 
 Consider, also, I pray you, that it is said, Deut. xxvii. 26 ; 
 Gal. iii. 10, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
 things which are written in the book of the law to do them." 
 Now, if you do consider these things well, you shall perceive 
 that the Lord requires that evey man do keep all the ten 
 commandments perfectly according as I have expounded 
 them, and concludes all those under the curse that do not so 
 keep them. 
 
 Nom. Surely, sir, you did mistake in saying that the Lord 
 
296 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 requires that every man do keep all the ten commandments 
 perfectly ; for I suppose you would have said, the Lord re- 
 quires that every man do endeavour to keep them perfectly. 
 
 Evan. No, neighbour Nomologista, I did not mistake, for 
 I say it again, that the Lord requires of every man perfect 
 obedience to all the ten commandments, and concludes all 
 those under the curse that do not yield it ; for it is not said, 
 Cursed is every man that does not endeavour to contine in all 
 thills, but " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
 things," &c. 
 
 Nom, But. sir, do you think that any man continues in all 
 things as you have expounded them ? 
 
 Evan. No, no ; it is impossible that any man should. 
 Nom. And, sir, what is it to be under the curse ? 
 Evan. To be under the curse, as Luther and Perkins do 
 well agree, is to be under sin, the wrath of God, and ever- 
 lasting death. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, I pray you, how can this stand with the 
 justice of God, to require man to do that which is im- 
 possible, and yet to conclude him under the curse for not 
 doing it ? 
 
 Evan. You shall perceive that it does well stand with the 
 justice of God, to deal so with man, if you do consider, that 
 this law of God, or these ten commandments, which we have 
 now expounded, are, as Ursinus's Catechism truly says, " A 
 doctrine agreeing with the eternal and immortal wisdom and 
 justice that is in God;" wherein says Calvin, " God hath so 
 painted out his own nature, that it doth in a manner express 
 the very image of God." And we read. Gen. i. 27, that man 
 at the first was created in the image or likeness of God ; 
 whence it must needs follow that this law was written in his 
 heart, that is to say, God did engrave in man's heart such 
 wisdom and knowledge of his will and works, and such in- 
 tegrity in his soul, and such a fitness in all the powers thereof, 
 that his mind v\ as able to conceive, and his heart was able to 
 desire, and his body was able to put in execution, any thing 
 that Mas acceptable to God ; so that in very deed he was able 
 to keep all the ten connnandments perfectly. 
 
 And, therefore, thougli (iod do recjuire of man impossible 
 things, yet is he not unjust, neither does he injure us in so 
 doing, because he commanded them when they were possible, 
 and though we we have now lost our ability of performance, 
 y«'t it being by our voluntaiy falling from the state of inno- 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 29^ 
 
 cence in which we were at first created, God has not lost his 
 right of requiring that of us which he once gave us. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, you know it was our first parents only that 
 did fall away from God in eating the forbidden fruit, and none 
 of their posterity ; how then can it be truly said, that we have 
 lost that power through our own default ? 
 
 Evan. For answer to this, I pray you consider, that Adam 
 by God's appointment, was not to s^^nd or fall as a single per- 
 son only, but as a common public person, representing all man- 
 kind which were to come of him ; and, therefore, as in case if 
 he had been obedient, and not eaten the forbidden fruit, he 
 had retained and kept that power which he had by creation, as 
 well for all mankind as for himself; even so by his disobedience 
 in eating that forbidden fruit, he was disrobed of God's image, 
 and so lost that power, as well for all mankind as for himself. 
 
 Nom. Why then, sir, it should seem that all mankind are 
 under sin, wrath, and eternal death ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, indeed by nature they are so, " For we know," 
 says the apostle, " that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to 
 them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, 
 and all the world may become guilty before God,'" Rom. 
 iii. 19 ; and again, says he, " We have proved both Jews and 
 Gentiles, that they are all under sin," Rom. iii. 9. And in 
 another place he says, " We were by nature children of wrath 
 as well as others," Eph. ii. 3 ; and, lastly, he says, " So death 
 passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," Rom. v. 12. 
 
 Nom,. But, sir, I pray you tell me whether you think that 
 any regenerate man keeps the commandments perfectly, ac- 
 cording as you have expounded them ? 
 
 Evan. No, not the most sanctified man in the world. 
 
 Nom. Why then, sir, it should seem, that not only natural 
 men, but regenerate men also, are under the curse of the law. 
 For if every one that keepeth not the law perfectly be concluded 
 under the curse, and if regenerate men do not keep the law 
 perfectly, then they also must needs be under the curse. 
 
 Evan. The conclusion of your argument is not true ; for if 
 by regenerate men you mean true believers, then they have 
 fulfilled the law perfectly in Christ, or rather Christ has per- 
 fectly fulfilled the law in them, and was made a curse for them, 
 and so has redeemed them from the curse of the law, as you 
 may see. Gal. iii. 13. 
 
 Nom.. Well, sir, now do I understand you, and have ever 
 been of your judgment in that point, for I have ever concluded 
 
 o 3 
 
298 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 this, that either a man himself, or Christ for him, must keep 
 the law perfectly, or else God will not accept of him, and 
 therefore have I endeavoured to do the best I could to keep 
 the law perfectly, and wherein I have failed and come short, 
 I have believed that Christ has done it for me. 
 
 Evan. The apostle says, Gal. iii. 10, "So many as are of 
 the works of the law, are under the curse." And truly, neigh- 
 bour Nomologista, if I may speak it without offence, I fear 
 me you are still of the works of the law, and therefore still 
 under the curse. 
 
 Nom, Why, sir, I pray you what is it to be of the works of 
 the law ? 
 
 Evan. To be of the works of the law, is for a man to look 
 for, or hope to be justified or accepted in the sight of God, for 
 his own obedience to the law. 
 
 Nom. But surely, sir, I never did so ; for though by reason 
 of my being ignorant of what is required and forbidden in 
 every commandment, I had a conceit that I came very near 
 the perfect fulfilling of the law, yet I never thought I did do 
 all things that are contained therein ; and therefore I never 
 looked for, nor hoped that God would accept me for mine 
 own obedience, without Christ's being joined with it. 
 
 Evan. Then it seems that you did conceive, that your obe- 
 dience and Christ's obedience must be joined together, and so 
 God would accept you for that. 
 
 Nom. Yea, indeed, sir, there has been my hopes, and indeed 
 there is still my hopes. 
 
 Evan. Ay, but, neighbour Nomologista, as I told my neigh- 
 bour Neophitus and others not long since, so I tell you now, that 
 as the justice of God requires a perfect obedience, so does it 
 require that this perfect obedience be a personal obedience, 
 that is, it must be the obedience of one person only. The 
 obedience of two must not be put together to make up a per- 
 fect obedience : and, indeed, to say as the thing is, God will 
 have none to have a hand in the justification and salvation of 
 any man, but Christ only; for, says the apostle Peter, Acts 
 iv. 12, " Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is 
 none other name under heaven given among men whereby we 
 may be saved." Believe it then, I beseech you, that Christ 
 Jesus will either be a whole Saviour, or no Saviour, he will 
 either save you alone, or not save you at all. 
 
 No7n. But, sir, if man's obedience to the law do not help to 
 procure his justification and acceptance with God, then why 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 299 
 
 did God give the law to the Israelites upon Mount Sinai, and 
 why is it read and expounded by you that are ministers? I 
 would gladly know of what use it is ? 
 
 Evan. The apostle says, Gal. iii. 19, "That the law was 
 added because of transgression." That is, as Luther expounds it, 
 " That transgressions might increase and be more known, and 
 seen;" or as Perkins expounds it, "For the revealing of sin, 
 and the punishment thereof; for by the law comes the know- 
 ledge of sin," as the same apostle says, Rom. iii. 20 ; and 
 therefore when the children of Israel conceived that they were 
 righteous, and could keep all God's commandments perfectly, 
 as it is manifested by their saying, Exod. xix. 8, " All that the 
 Lord commandeth we will do, and be obedient," the Lord 
 gave them this law, to the intent they might see how far short 
 they came of yielding that obedience which is therein required, 
 and so, consequently, how sinful they were. And just so did 
 our Saviour also deal with the young expounder of the law, 
 Matt. xix. 16, who it seems was sick of the same disease, 
 " Good Master," says he, "what shall I do that I may inherit 
 eternal life?" " He does not," says Calvin, " simply ask, which 
 way, or by what means he should come to eternal life, but 
 what good he should do to get it." Whereby it appears, that 
 he was a proud justiciary, one that swelled in fleshly opinion 
 that he could keep the law, and be saved by it ; therefore 
 he is worthily sent to the law to work himself weary, and to 
 see his need to come to Christ for remedy. 
 
 Now then, if you would know of what use the law is, why 
 first let me tell you, it is of special use to all such as have a 
 conceit that they themselves can do any thing for the pro- 
 curing of their own justification and acceptation in the sight of 
 God, to let them see, as ill a glass, that in that case they can 
 do nothing. And, therefore, seeing that you yourself have 
 such a conceit, I beseech you, labour to make that use of it, 
 that so you may be hereby quite driven out of yourself unto 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Nom. Believe me, sir, I should be glad I could make such a 
 good use of it, and, therefore, I pray you, give me some direc- 
 tions how I may do it. 
 
 Evan. Why, first of all, I would desire you to consider, 
 that in regard that all mankind were at first created in such 
 an estate as I have declared unto you, the law and justice of 
 God requires that the man who undertakes, by his obedience, 
 to procure his justification and acceptation in the sight of God, 
 
300 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 either in whole, or in part, be as completely furnished with 
 the habit of righteousness and true holiness, and as free from 
 all corruption of nature, as Adam was in the state of innocency, 
 that so there may not be the least corruption mingled with any 
 of those good actions which he does, nor the least motion of 
 heart or inclination of will towards any of those evil actions 
 which he does not do. 
 
 Secondly^ I would desire you to consider, that neither you 
 nor any man else, whilst you live upon the earth, shall be so 
 furnished with perfect righteousness and true holhiess, nor so 
 free from all corruptions of nature, as Adam was in the state 
 of innocency ; so that no good action which you do shall be 
 free from having some corruption mingled with it : nor any 
 evil action which you do not do, free from some motion of 
 heart or inclination of will towards it ; and that therefore you 
 can do nothing towards the })rocuring of your justification and 
 acceptation in the sight of God ; the which the prophet David 
 well considering, cries out, Psalm cxliii. 2, " Enter not into 
 judgment with thy servant, O Lord ! for in thy siglit shall no 
 man living be justified." Yea, and this made the apostle cry 
 out, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from 
 the body of this death ! " Rom. vii. 24. Yea, and this made 
 him desire to be found in Christ, not having his own righteous- 
 ness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of 
 Christ, Philip, iii. 9. 
 
 Nom. But, sir, I am persuaded there be some good actions 
 which I do, that are free from having any corruption at all 
 mixed with them ; and some evil actions which 1 do not do. 
 towards the which I have no motion of heart, or inclination of 
 will at all. 
 
 Evan. Surely, neighbour Nomologista, you do not truly 
 know yourself, for I am confident, that any man who truly 
 knows himself, sees such secret corruptions of heart in every 
 duty he performs, as causes him unfeignedly to confess, that 
 whatever good action he does, it is but a polluted stream of a 
 more corrupt fountain. And whatsoever you or any man else 
 do conceive of yourselves, it is most certain, that M'hatsoever 
 sin is forbidden in the word, or has been practised in the world, 
 that sin every man carries in ins bosom, for all have equally 
 sinned in Adam, and tln^'cfore original lust is equally in all. 
 
 Nom. Sir, I can hardly be persuaded to this. 
 
 Evan. Well, neighbour Xomologista, I cannot so well tell 
 how it is with you, but for mine own j)art, 1 W\\ you truly? 1 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 301 
 
 find my knowledge corrupted and deiiled with ignorance and 
 blindness, and my faith corrupted and defiled with doubting 
 and distrust, and my love to God very much corrupted, and 
 defiled with sinful self-love and love to the world ; and my joy 
 in God much corrupted and defiled with carnal joy ; and my 
 godly sorrow very much corrupted and defiled with worldly 
 sorrow. 
 
 And I find my prayers, my hearing, my reading, my receiv- 
 ing the sacrament, and such like duties, very much corrupted 
 and defiled with dulness, drowsiness, sleepiness, wandering, and 
 worldly thoughts, and the like. 
 
 Arid I find my sanctifying of the Lord's name very much 
 corrupted and defiled, by thinking and speaking lightly and 
 irreverently of his titles; and by thinking, if not by speaking, 
 grudgingly against some acts of his providence. 
 
 And I find my sanctifying of the Lord's day very much 
 corrupted and defiled, by sleeping too long in the morning, 
 and by worldly thoughts and words, if not by worldly works. 
 
 And I find that all the duties that I have performed, either 
 towards my superiors or inferiors, have been corrupted and 
 defiled either with too much indulgence, or with too much 
 severity, or with base fears, or base hopes, or some self-end 
 and by-respect. 
 
 And I find that all my duties that I have performed, either 
 for the preservation of mine own, or other's life, chastity, 
 goods, or good name, have been very much corrupted and de- 
 filed, either with a desire of mine own praise, own profit here, 
 or to escape hell, and to obtain heaven hereafter ; so that I 
 see no good action which I have ever done free from having 
 some corruption mixed with it. 
 
 And as for motion of heart, and inclination of will towards 
 that evil which I have not done, it is also manifest, for though 
 I have not been guilty of idolatry, either in making or wor- 
 sliipping of images, yet have I not been free from carnal ima- 
 ginations of God in the time of his worship, nor from will- 
 worship. 
 
 And though I have not been so guilty of profaning the name 
 of the Lord after such a gross manner as some others have 
 been, yet have I not been free from an inclination of heart, 
 and disposition of will thereunto ; for I have both thought 
 and spoken irreverently both in his titles, attributes, word, and 
 works, yea, and many times do so to this day. 
 
 And though I do not now so grossly profane the Lord's day, 
 
302 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 as it may be others have done, and do still, yet have I for- 
 merly done it grossly, yea, and do still, find an inward dispo- 
 sition of heart, and inclination of will, both to omit those duties 
 which tend to the sanctifying of it, and to do those worldly 
 actions which tend to the profanation of it. 
 
 And though when I was a child and young, I did not so 
 grossly dishonour and disobey my parents and other superiors, 
 as some others did, yet I had an inclination of heart and dis- 
 position of will thereunto, as it was manifest by my stubborn- 
 ness, and by not yielding of willing obedience to their com- 
 mands, nor submitting patiently to their reproofs and cor- 
 rections. 
 
 And though it may be, I have done more of my duty to 
 my inferiors than some others have done, yet have I found an 
 inclination of heart, and a disposition of will, many times to 
 omit those duties which I have performed, so that I have, as it 
 were, been fain to constrain myself to do that which I have 
 done. 
 
 And though I have not been guilty of the gross act of mur- 
 der, yet have I had, and have still an inclination of heart and 
 disposition of will thereunto, in that 1 have been, and am still, 
 many times subject to rash, unadvised, and excessive anger ; 
 yea, I have been and still am divers times wrathful and envious 
 towards others that offend me. 
 
 And though I never was guilty of the foul and gross act of 
 fornication or adultery, yet have I had an inclination of heart, 
 and disposition of will thereunto, in that I have not been free 
 from filthy imaginations, unchaste thoughts, and inward motions 
 and desires to uncleanness. 
 
 And though I was never guilty of the gross act of stealing, 
 yet have I had an inclination of heart, and a disposition of will 
 thereunto, in that I hav(3 neither been free from discontent- 
 edness with mine own estate, nor from covetous desires after 
 that which belongs to another. 
 
 And though I never did bear false witness against any man, 
 yet have I had an inclination of heart and disposition of will 
 thereunto, in that I have not been free from contemning, de- 
 spising, and thinking too basely of others ; neither have I been 
 free from evil surmisings, groundless suspicions, and rash 
 judging of others. 
 
 And now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray you tell me whe- 
 ther you do think that some of" these corrii])tions are in you, 
 which you hear are in me ? 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 303 
 
 Nom. Yea, believe me, sir, I must needs confess that some 
 of them are. 
 
 Evan. Well, though you have but only one of them in you, 
 yet I pray you consider, that you do hereby transgress one of 
 the ten commandments; and the apostle James says, that 
 " Whososever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
 point, he is guilty of all," James ii. 10. And call to mind, I 
 also pray you, that a curse is denounced against all those that 
 continue not in "all things which are written in the book of 
 the law to do them." Mind it, I pray you, " that doth not 
 continue in all things :" so that although you could for a 
 time do all that the law requires, and avoid all that it forbids, 
 and that never so exactly, yet if you do not continue so doing, 
 but transgress the law once in all your life, and that only in 
 one thought, you are thereby become subject to the curse, 
 which, as you have heard, is eternal damnation in hell. 
 
 Nay, let me tell you more, although you never yet had trans- 
 gressed the law in all your life hitherto, not so much as in the 
 least thought, nor never should do whilst you live, yet should 
 you thereby become far short of the perfect fulfilling of the 
 law, and so consequently of your justification and acceptation 
 in the sight of God. 
 
 Nom. That is very strange to me, sir, for what can be re- 
 quired more, or what can be done more, than yielding of per- 
 fect and perpetual obedience? 
 
 Evan. That is true indeed ; there is no more required, 
 neither can there be more done ; but yet you must understand, 
 that the law does as well require passive obedience as active, 
 suffering as well as doing ; for our common bond entered into 
 for us all, by God's benefits towards the first man, is by his 
 disobedience become forfeited, both in respect of himself and 
 all mankind ; and, therefore, ever since the fall of man, the 
 law and justice of God does not only require the payment of 
 the debt, but also of the forfeiture ; there is not only required 
 of him perfect doing, but also perfect suffering. " In the day 
 that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death," says the 
 Lord, Gen. ii. 17. Nay, let me tell you yet more ; in order of 
 justice, the forfeiture ought to be paid before the debt ; per- 
 fect suffering should go before perfect doing, because all man- 
 kind, by reason of that first and great transgression, are at 
 odds and enmity with God ; they are all of them children of 
 his wrath, and therefore God, as we may speak with holy re- 
 verence, cannot be reconciled unto any man, before a full 
 
304 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 satisfaction be made to his justice by a perfect suffering, Col. 
 i. 21 : perfect suffering, then, is required for the reconciling 
 of man unto God, Eph. ii. 3, and setting him in the same con- 
 dition he was in before his fall, and perfect doing is required 
 for the keeping of him in that condition. 
 
 Nom. And, sir, is man as unable to pay the forfeiture as 
 he is to pay the debt? I mean, is he as unable to suffer per- 
 fectly, as to do perfectly ? 
 
 Evan, Yea, indeed, every whit as unable ; forasmuch as 
 man's sin in eating of the forbidden fruit was committed 
 against God, and God is infinite and eternal, and the offence 
 is always multiplied according to the dignity of the person 
 against whom it is committed : man's offence must needs be 
 an infinite offence, and the punishment must needs be propor- 
 tionable to the fault ; therefore an infinite and eternal punish- 
 ment is required at man's hands, or else such a temporal 
 punishment, as is equal and answerable to eternal. Now, 
 eternal punishment man cannot sustain, because then he 
 should never be delivered — he should ever be satisfying, and 
 never have satisfied ; which satisfaction is such as is the 
 punishment of the devils and damned men in hell, which never 
 shall have an end. And for temporal punishment, which should 
 be equivalent to eternal, that cannot be neither, because the 
 power and vigour of no creature is such that it may sustain a 
 finite and temporal punishment, equivalent to an infinite and 
 eternal ; for sooner should the creature be wasted, consumed, 
 and brought to nothing, than it could satisfy the justice of God 
 by this means ; wherefore we may certainly conclude, that no 
 man can satisfy the law and justice of God, neither by active 
 nor by passive obedience, and so consequently no man shall be 
 justified and accepted in the sight of God by his own doings 
 or sufferings. 
 
 Nom. Sir, I sec it clearly, and am therein fully convinced, 
 and I hope I shall make that use of it. But, sir, is there no 
 other use to be made of the law than this ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, neighbour Nomologista, you must not only 
 labour thereby to see your own insufficiency to procure your 
 own justification and acceptation in the sight of (}od, tliough 
 that indeed be the chief use that any unjustified person ought 
 to endeavour to make of it, but you must also (indeavour to 
 make it a rule of direction to you in your Hfe and conver- 
 sation. 
 
 Nam. But, ?ir, if I cannot by my obedience to the law do 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 305 
 
 any thing towards the procuring of mine own justification, 
 and acceptation in the sight of God, or, which as I do con- 
 ceive is all one, if I can do nothing towards the procuring of 
 mine own eternal salvation, then methinks all that I do should 
 be in vain, for I cannot see any good I shall get thereby. 
 
 Evan. No, neighbour Nomologista, it shall not be in vain ; 
 for though you cannot by your obedience to the law, do any 
 thing towards the procuring of your own justification or eternal 
 salvation ; yea, and though you should never make such a use 
 of it, as to be thereby driven out of yourself unto Jesus Christ 
 for justification and eternal salvation, but should be everlast- 
 ingly condenmed ; yet, this let me tell you, the more obedi- 
 ence you yield unto the law, the more easy shall your con- 
 demnation be ; for although no man walk he ever so exactly 
 and strictly according to the law shall thereby either escape 
 the torments of hell, or obtain the joys of heaven, yet the 
 more exactly and strictly any man walks according to the law, 
 the easier shall his torments be, Matt. xi. 22. So that although 
 you by your obedience to the law cannot obtain the uneasiest 
 place in heaven, yet may you thereby obtain the most easy 
 place in hell : and therefore your obedience shall not be in 
 vain. Nay, let me tell you more, although you by your obe- 
 dience to the law can neither escape that hell, nor enjoy that 
 heaven that is in the world to come, yet you may thereby 
 escape that hell, and enjoy that heaven Avhich is to be had in 
 this present world ; for the Lord dealeth so equally and justly 
 with all men, that every man shall be sure to receive his due 
 at his hands : so that as every man who is truly justified in 
 the sight of God, by faith in Christ's blood, shall for that 
 blood's sake be sure of the joys of heaven, though his life may 
 even after his believing be in many respects unconformable to 
 the law ; yet the more unconformable his life is thereunto, the 
 more crosses and afflictions he shall be sure to meet withal in 
 this life, Psalm Ixxxix. 30 — 32. Even so, though no man 
 that is not justified by faith in Christ's blood shall cither 
 escape the torments of hell, or attain the joys of heaven, be 
 his life never so conformable to the law, yet the more con- 
 formable his life is thereunto, the less of the miseries and the 
 more of the blessings of this life he shall have ; for it is not to 
 men unjustified, though I suppose not only to them that the 
 Lord speaketh, Isa. i. 19, saying, "If he be willing and obe- 
 dient, ye shall eat the good things of the land." And does 
 not the Lord in the fifth commandment promise the blessing 
 
306 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 of long life to all inferiors that are obedient to their superiors? 
 And may we not observe, and is it not found true by experi- 
 ence, that those children who are most careful of doing their 
 duties to their parents, are commonly more free both from 
 their parents' corrections and the Lord's corrections ; and are 
 likewise blessed with obedient children themselves, and do also 
 taste of their parents' bounty and the Lord's bounty, as 
 touching the blessings of this life, more than others that are 
 disobedient ? And may we not observe, and is it not found 
 true by experience, that those servants that are most faithful 
 and diligent in their places are commonly more free either 
 from the Lord's or their masters' corrections, and are likewise 
 rewarded with such servants themselves, and witli other tem- 
 poral blessings both from their masters and from the Lord, 
 tlian others that are not so? And may we not observe, and is 
 it not found true by experience, that those wives that are obe- 
 dient and subject to their husbands, are commonly more free 
 from their frowns, checks, and rebukes ; at least, they are 
 more blessed with peace of conscience, and a good name 
 amongst men, than others that are not so ? And may we not 
 observe, that our mere honest men, who for the most part live 
 without committing any gross sin against the law, are com- 
 monly more exempted from the sword of the magistrate, and 
 have many earthly blessings more in abundance than such as 
 are gross sinners ? And the Scribes and Pharisees, who were 
 strict observers of the law, in regard of tiie outward man, were 
 no losers by it, " Verily," says our Saviour, " I say unto you, 
 they have their reward," Matt. vi. 2. So that still, you see, 
 your obedience to the the law shall not be in vain ; wherefore, 
 I pray you, do your best to keep the ten connnandments as 
 perfectly as you can. But above all, I beseech you, be careful 
 to consider of that which has been said touching the sp(;cial 
 use of the law to you, that so through the powerful working 
 of God's Spirit, it may become an effectual means to drive you 
 out of yourself unto Jesus Christ. 
 
 O consider, in the first place, what a great number of duties 
 are required, and what a great number of sins are forbidden 
 in every one of the ten commandments ! And in the second 
 place, consider, how many of those duties you have omitted, 
 and how many of those sins you have committed. And in the 
 third place, consider, that there has been much corruption 
 mixed with every good duty wiiieh you have done, so that you 
 have sinned in doing that wliicli in itself is good; and that you 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 307 
 
 have had an inclination of heart and disposition of will to 
 every sin you have not committed, and so have been guilty of 
 all those sins which you have not done. And in the fourth 
 place, consider, that the law denounceth a curse unto every 
 one which continueth not in all things which are written in 
 the book of the law to do them. And then, in the fifth place, 
 make application of the curse unto yourself, by saying in your 
 heart, if every one be cursed which continueth not in all things, 
 then surely I am cursed that have continued in nothing. And 
 then, in the sixth place, consider, that before you can be deli- 
 vered from the curse, the law and justice of God requires that 
 there be a perfect satisfaction made both by paying the debt 
 and the forfeiture to the very utmost farthing ; perfect doing 
 and perfect suffering are both of them required. And then, 
 in the last place, consider, that you are so far from being able 
 to make a perfect satisfaction, that you can do nothing at all 
 towards it, and that therefore as of yourself, you are in a most 
 miserable and helpless condition. 
 
 Nom, Well, sir, I do now plainly see that I have been de- 
 ceived, for I verily thought that the only reason why the Lord 
 gave the law, and why you that are ministers do show us what 
 is required and forbidden in the law, had been, that all men 
 might thereby come to see what the mind and will of the Lord 
 is, and be exhorted, and persuaded to lead their lives there- 
 after. And I also verily thought that the more any man did 
 strive and endeavour to reform his life and do thereafter, the 
 more he procured the love and favour of God towards him, 
 and the more God would bless him, and do him good, both in 
 this world and in the world to come ; yea, and I also verily 
 thought, that it had been in man's power to have come very 
 near the perfect fulfiUing of the law, for I never read nor 
 heard any minister show how impossible it is for any man to 
 keep the law, nor ever make any mention of such any use of 
 the law, as you have done this day. 
 
 Evan. Surely, neighbour Nomologista, these have not only 
 been your thoughts, but also the thoughts of many other men: 
 for it is natural for every man to think that he must and can 
 procure God's favour and eternal happiness by his obedience 
 to the law, at the least, to think he can do something towards 
 it ; for naturally men think that the law requires no more but 
 the external act, and that therefore it is in man's power to 
 keep it perfectly. Is it not an ordinary and common thing 
 for men when they hear or read that there is more required 
 
308 THE MARROW OF P^rt 2. 
 
 and forbidden in the law tlian they were aware of, to think 
 with themselves, Surely, I am not right, I have transgressed 
 the law more than 1 had thought I had done, and therefore 
 God is more angry with me than I had thought he had been; 
 and therefore to pacify his anger, and procure his favour to- 
 wards me, I must repent, amend, and do better ; I must re- 
 form my life according to the law, and so by my future obe- 
 dience make amends for my former disobedience; and if there- 
 upon they do attain to any good measure of outward con- 
 formity, then they think they come near the perfect fulfilling 
 of the law ; and if it were not that the doctrine of the Church 
 of England is, that no man can fulfil the law perfectly, and 
 that none but Papists do say the contrary, they would both 
 think and say they did, or hoped they should keep all the 
 commandments perfectly. And upon occasion of this their 
 outward reformation according to the law, they think, yea, 
 and sometimes say, they are regenerate men and true converts, 
 and that the beginning of this their reformation was the time 
 of their new birth and conversion unto God. And if these 
 men do confess themselves to be sinners, it is rather because 
 they hear all others confess themselves so to be, than out of 
 any true sight and knowledge, sense, or feeling they have of 
 any inward heart-corruption. And if they do acknowledge, 
 that a man is not to be justisfied by the works of the law, but 
 by faith in Christ, it is rather because they have heard it so 
 preached, or because they have read it in the Bible, or some 
 other book, than because of any imperfection which they see 
 in their own works, or any need they see of the righteousness 
 of Jesus Christ. And if they do see any imperfection in their 
 own works, and any need of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 
 then they imagine that so long as their hearts are upright and 
 sincere, and they do desire and endeavour to do their best to 
 fulfil the law, God will accept of what they do, and make up 
 their imjxrfect obedience with Christ's perfect obedience, and 
 so will justify and save them ; but all this while, their own 
 works must have a hand in their justification and salvation, 
 and so they are still of the works of the law, and therefore 
 under the curse ; the Lord be merciful both to you and them, 
 arid bring you under the; blessing of Abraham ! 
 
 N'>in. Sir, I thank you for your good wishes towards me, 
 and for your great pains which you have now taken with me, 
 and so I will for this tinu; take my leave of you; only, I could 
 V isi), if it might not be too much trouble to you, that you would 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 309 
 
 be pleased at your leisure, to give me in writing a copy of 
 what you have this day said concerning the law. 
 
 Evan. Well, neighbour Nomologista, though I can hardly 
 spare so much time, yet because you do desiie it, and in hope 
 you may receive good by it, I will, ere long, find some time to 
 accomplish your desire. 
 
 Neo. I pray you, neighbour Nomologista, tarry a little lon- 
 ger, and I will go with you. 
 
 Nom. No, I must needs be gone ; I can stay no longer. 
 
 Evan. Then fare you well, neighbour Nomologista, and the 
 Lord make you to see your sins ! 
 
 Nom. The Lord be with you, sir. 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, now I hope you have fully convinced him 
 that he comes far short of keeping all the commandments per- 
 fectly : I hope he will no longer be so well conceited of his 
 own righteousness as he has formerly been. But now, sir, I 
 pray you tell me before I depart, whether you would have me 
 to endeavour to make the same use of the law, which you have 
 advised him to make. 
 
 Evan. No, neighbour Neophitus, I look not upon you as an 
 unbeliever, as I did upon him, but I look upon you as one who 
 has already been by the law driven out of yourself unto Jesus 
 Christ ; I look upon you as a true believer, and as a person 
 already justified in the sight of God, by faith in Christ, and so 
 as one who are neither to question your inheritance in heaven, 
 nor fear your portion in hell. And therefore I will not per- 
 suade you to labour to yield obedience to the law, by telling 
 you, that the more obedient you are thereunto, the easier tor- 
 ments you shall have in hell, as I did him ; neither would I 
 have you to make application of the curse of the law to your- 
 self, as I advised him to do; for if you do truly and throughly 
 believe, as God requires you, that Jesus Christ, 1 John iii. 23, 
 the Son of God, and your Surety, has, by his active and pas- 
 sive obedience, fully discharged and paid both the debt and 
 the forfeiture which the law and justice of God obliged you to 
 pay, then will not you yield obedience to the la\v, to pay that 
 which )^ou do truly believe is fully paid and discharged al- 
 ready ; and if you do not yield obedience to the law to dis- 
 charge that, then do you not yield obedience to the law, in 
 hopes to be thereby made just, or justified in the sight of God ; 
 and if you yield not obedience to the law, in hopes to be 
 thereby made just, or justified in the sight of God, then are 
 you not of the works of the law ; and if you are not of the 
 
;U0 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 works of the law, then are you not under the curse of the law ; 
 and if you be not under the curse of the law, then must you 
 not make application of the curse unto yourself. And there- 
 fore, whensoever you shall either hear or read these words, 
 " Cursed is every one which continueth not in all things 
 which are written in the book of the law to do thera," and 
 your conscience tells you that you have not, and do not con- 
 tinue in all things, and that therefore you are accursed ; then 
 do you make so much use of the curse, as thereby to take oc- 
 casion by faith to cleave more close unto Christ, and say, O 
 law, thy curse is not to come into my conscience I my con- 
 science is freed from it ! for though it is true I have not con- 
 tinued " in all things which are written in the book of the law 
 to do them," yet this my Surety, Jesus Christ, has continued in 
 all things for me, so that although I am unable to pay either 
 the debt or the forfeiture, yet he has paid them both for me, 
 and so has discharged me from the curse; and therefore I fear 
 it not. 
 
 Neo. But, sir, though I be a believer, and so be set free 
 from the curse of the law, yet I suppose I ought to endeavour 
 to do somewhat that is required, and to avoid whatsoever is 
 forbidden in the law\ 
 
 Evan. Yea, neighbour Neophitus, that you ought indeed, 
 for mind it, I pray you, thus stands the case ; so soon as any 
 man does truly believe, and so is justified in the sight of God, 
 then, as the Holy Ghost, from the testimony of holy writ, does 
 warrant us to conceive, Jesus Christ, or, which is all one, God 
 in Christ, does deliver unto him whatsoever is required and 
 forbidden in the ten commandments, saying, Col. ii. 14 ; Eph. 
 ii. 15, " This hand- writing, even this law of commandments 
 which was against thee, and contrary to thee, whilst it was in 
 the hands of my Father, as he stood in relation to thee as a 
 Judge, and was not cancelled, but had the curse or penalty 
 annexed to it, Isa. xxxviii. 14, and so had power to convince, 
 Heb. vii. 22, accuse, condemn, and bind thee over to punish- 
 ment ; I, who undertook for the(>, and became thy Surety, 
 have paid the principal debt, and have also answered the for- 
 feiture which did lie against thee for the breach of that bond ; 
 and my Father has delivered it into mine hands, and I have 
 blotted out the curse or penalty, so that one letter or tittle re- 
 mains not for thee to see ; yea, I have taken it out of thy 
 way, and fastened it to my cross, yea, and torn it in jHcces w itli 
 tile nails of my cross, so that it is altogether frustrate, and hai 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 311 
 
 no force at all against thee. Yet notwithstanding the matter 
 contained in this law, even those precepts and prohibitions 
 which I have now delivered unto thee, being the mind and 
 will of my Father, and the eternal and unchangeable rule of 
 righteousness, and that which is in my heart, Psalm xl. 8 ; 
 yea, and that which I have promised to write in the hearts of 
 all those that are mine, Jer. xxxi. 33 ; yea, and that which I 
 have promised to make them yield willing obedience unto, 
 Psalm ex. 3 ; I and my Father do command it unto thee, as 
 that rule of obedience whereby thou art to express thy love 
 and thankfulness unto us for what we have done for thee. 
 And therefore I will say no more unto thee but this, " If thou 
 love me, keep my commandments," John xiv. 15. And thou 
 art my friend, " If thou do whatsoever I command thee," 
 John XV. 14. 
 
 Neo. But, sir, does God in Christ require me to yield per- 
 fect obedience to all the ten commandments, according as you 
 have this day expounded them ? 
 
 Evan. I answer, yea, for though God in Christ do not re- 
 quire of you, or any true believer, any obedience to the law 
 at all by way of satisfaction to his justice, for that Christ has 
 fully done already ; yet does he require, that every true be- 
 liever do purpose, desire, and endeavour to do their best to 
 keep all the ten commandments perfectly, according as I have 
 this day expounded them ; witness the saying of Christ him- 
 self. Matt. V. 48, " Be ye therefore perfect as your Father 
 which is in heaven is perfect." 
 
 Neo. But, sir, do you think it possible, that either I, or any 
 believer else, should keep the commandments perfectly, ac- 
 cording as you have this day expounded them ? 
 
 Evan. O no ! both you, and I, and every believer else, 
 have, and shall have cause to say with the apostle, Philip, iii. 12, 
 " Not as though I had already attained, or were already 
 perfect." 
 
 Neo. But will God in Christ accept of obedience, if it be 
 not perfect ? 
 
 Evan. Yea, neighbour Neophitus, you being a justified per- 
 son, and so it not being in the case of justification, but in the 
 case of child-like obedience, I may, without fear of danger, 
 say unto you, God will accept the will for the deed, and " will 
 spare you as a man spares his own son that serves him," Mai. 
 iii. 18. Yea, like as a father pities his children, so the Lord 
 will pity you, " for he knoweth your frame, he remerabereth 
 
;U2 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 that you are dust," Psalm ciii. 13, 14. Nay, he will not only 
 spare you and pity you for what you do not, but he will also 
 reward you for what you do. 
 
 Neo. Say you so, sir ? then I beseech you tell me what this 
 reward shall be. 
 
 Evan. Why, if there be degrees of glory in heaven, as some 
 both godly and learned, have conceived there is, then I tell 
 you that the more obedient you are unto the law, the more 
 shall be your glory in heaven ; but because degrees of glory 
 are disputable, 1 carmot assure you of that. Howbeit, this you 
 may assure yourself, that the more obedience you yield unto 
 the ten commandments, the more you please your most gra- 
 cious God and loving Father in Christ, 1 Sam. xv. 22 ; and 
 the more your conscience witnesseth that you please God, the 
 more quiet you shall feel it to be, and the more inward peace 
 you shall have, according to that of the Psalmist, " Great 
 peace have they that love the law, and nothing shall oftend 
 them." For though faith in the blood of Christ has made your 
 peace with God as a Judge, yet obedience must keep your 
 peace with him as a Father ; yea, the more your conscience 
 witnesseth that you do that which pleases God, the more en- 
 couragement you Mill have, and the more confidently you will 
 approach towards God in prayer. " Beloved," says the loving 
 apostle, " if our hearts condemn us not, then have we boldness 
 towards God in prayer," 1 John iii. 21 ; for though faith in 
 the blood of Christ takes away that guilt which subjects you 
 to the legal curse, yet obedience must take away that guilt 
 which subjects you to a fatherly displeasure. Furthermore, 
 you are to know, that the more obedience you yield unto the 
 ten commandments, the more temporal blessings, outward 
 prosperity, and comfort of this life, in the ordinary course of 
 God's dealing, you shall have: " O ! ' says the Lord, "that 
 my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in 
 my ways, he should soon have fed them with the finest of the 
 wheat, and with honey out of the rock should 1 have satisfied 
 thee." Besides, the more obedience you yield unto the ten 
 commandments, the more glory you will bring to God, accord- 
 ing to that of our Saviour, John xv. 8, " Herein is my Father 
 glorified, that ye bear much fruit." To conclude, the more 
 obedience you yield unto the ten commandments, the more 
 good you w ill do unto others, acct)rding to that of the apostle, 
 Tit. iii. 8, " This is a faithful saying, and these things 1 will 
 that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 3^ 
 
 Christ might be careful to maintain good works ; these things 
 are good and profitable mito men." 
 
 Neo. But, sir, what if I should not purpose, desire, and en- 
 deavour to yield obedience to all the ten commandments, as 
 you say the Lord requires ; what then ? 
 
 Evan. Why, then, although it is true you have no cause to 
 fear that God will proceed against you, as a wrathful judge 
 proceeds against a malefactor, yet have you cause to fear that 
 he will proceed against you as a displeased father does against 
 an offending child ; that is to say, although you have no cause 
 to fear that he will unjustify you, and unson you, and deprive 
 you of your heavenly inheritance, and inflict the penalty of the 
 law of works upon you, and so condemn you, for says the 
 apostle, " There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ 
 Jesus," Rom. viii. 1 ; yet have you cause to fear that he will 
 hide his fatherly face, and withdraw the light of his counte- 
 nance from you ; and that your conscience will be ever accusing 
 and disquieting of you, which if it do, then will you draw 
 back, and be afraid to ask any thing of God in prayer ; for 
 even as a child whose conscience tells him that he has angered 
 and displeased his father, will be unwilling to come into his 
 father's presence, especially to ask of him any thing that he 
 wants, even so it will be with you ; and besides, you shall be 
 sure to be whipped and scourged with many bodily and tem- 
 poral chastisements and corrections, according to that which 
 is said concerning Jesus Christ and his seed, even true be- 
 lievers, and justified persons, Psalm Ixxxix. 31 — 33, " If his 
 children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments ; if 
 they break my statutes, and walk not in my commandments, 
 then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their 
 iniquities with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness 
 will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness 
 to fail." 
 
 Wherefore, neighbour Neophitus, to apply these things a 
 little more closely to you, and so to conclude, let me exhort 
 you, when you come home, call to mind and consider of every 
 commandment according as you have heard them this day ex- 
 pounded, and resolve to endeavour yourself to do thereafter ; 
 and always take notice how and wherein you fall and come 
 short of doing what is required, and of avoiding what is for- 
 bidden ; and especially be careful to do this when you are 
 called to humble yourself before the Lord in fasting and 
 prayer, and upon occasion of going to receive the sacrament 
 
 p 
 
314 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 of the Lord's Supper, and so shall you make a right use of 
 the law. 
 
 Neo. And, sir, why would you have me more especially to 
 take notice of my sins, when I am called to humble mj^self 
 before the Lord in fasting and prayer ? 
 
 Euan. Because the more sinful you see yourself to be, the 
 more humble will your heart be ; and the more humble your 
 heart is, the more fit you will be to pray, and the more the 
 Lord will regard your prayers : wherefore, when upon occa- 
 sion of some heavy and sore affliction, either felt, or feared to 
 come upon yourself, or some sore judgment and calamity either 
 felt, or feared to come upon the nation or place where you 
 live, the Lord calls you to humble yourself in fasting and 
 prayer, then do you thereupon take occasion to meditate, and 
 consider seriously what duties are required, and what sins are 
 forbidden in every one of the ten commandments, and then 
 consider how many of those duties you have omitted, and how 
 many of those sins you have committed ; consider also the 
 sinful manner of performing those duties you have performed, 
 and the base and sinful ends which you have had in the per- 
 formance of them: consider also how many sinful corruptions 
 there are in your heart, which break not forth in your life, 
 and the disposition of heart which you have naturally to every 
 sin which you do not commit ; and then consider, that although 
 the sins which you do now commit are not a transgression of 
 the law of works, because you are not now under the law, 
 Rom. vi. 14 ; yet are they a transgression of the law of Christ, 
 because you are still under the law, 1 Cor. ix. 3L And 
 though they be not committed against God as standing in 
 relation to you as a wrathful Judge, yet have they been com- 
 mitted against him as he stands in relation to you as a merci- 
 ful loving Father; and though they subject you not to the 
 wrath of a Judge, nor to the penalty of the law of works, yet 
 they subject you to the anger and displeasure of a loving 
 I'ather, and to the penalty of the law of Christ. 
 
 Whereupon, do you draw near to God by prayer, saying 
 unto him after this manner : 
 
 " O merciful and loving Father ! I do acknowledge that 
 the sins which 1 did commit before I was a believer, were a 
 transgression of the law of works, because I was then under 
 that law ; yea, and that they were committed against thee, 
 as thou stoodest in relation to me as a judge, and that there- 
 fore thou mightest most justly have inflicted the curse or 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 315 
 
 penalty of the law of works upon me, and so have cast 
 me into hell ; but seeing that thou hast enabled me to be- 
 lieve the Gospel, viz. that thou hast been pleased to give thine 
 own Son Jesus Christ to undertake for me, to become my 
 Surety, to take ray nature upon him, and to be made under 
 the law, to redeem me from under the law. Gal. iv. 4, and 
 iii. 13 ; Rom. v. 10 ; and to be made a curse for me, to 
 redeem me from the curse, and to reconcile me unto thee 
 by his death. Now I know it stands not with thy justice to 
 proceed against me by virtue of the law of works, and so 
 cast me into hell. Nevertheless, Father, I know that the sins 
 which I have committed since I did believe have been a 
 transgression of the law of Christ, because I am still under 
 that law : yea, and I do acknowledge, that they have been 
 committed against thee, even against thee, my most gracious, 
 merciful, and loving Father in Jesus Christ, and that it is 
 therefore meet thou shouldest express thy fatherly anger and 
 displeasure towards me, for these sins which thy law has 
 discovered unto me, in bringing this affliction upon me, or 
 this judgment upon the place or nation wherein I live : how- 
 beit. Father, I, knowing that thy fatherly anger towards thy 
 children is never mixed with hatred, but always with love, 
 and that in afflicting of them thou never intendest any satis- 
 faction to thine own justice, but their amendment, even the 
 purging out of the remainder of those sinful corruptions 
 which are still in them, and the conforming of them to thine 
 own image ; I therefore come unto thee this day, to humble 
 myself before thee, and to call upon thy name, not for 
 any need, or power that I do conceive I have to satisfy thy 
 justice, or to appease thy eternal wrath, and to free my soul 
 from hell; for that I do believe Christ has fully done for 
 me already ; but I do it in hopes thereby to pacify thy fa- 
 therly anger and displeasure towards me, and to obtain the 
 removal of this affliction or judgment which I feel or fear ; 
 wherefore I beseech thee to pardon and forgive these my 
 sins, which have been the procuring cause thereof; yea, I 
 pray thee not only pardon them, but also to purge them, 
 that so this may be all the fruit, even the taking away of 
 sin, and making me partaker of thy holiness; and then, 
 Lord, remove this affliction and judgment when thy will and 
 pleasure is." 
 
 And thus have I showed you the reason why I would 
 have you more especially to take notice of your sins, M'hen 
 
 p2 
 
316 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 you come to humble yourself before the Lord in fasting and 
 prayer. 
 
 Neo. And, sir, why would you have me to take notice of 
 my sins, upon occasion of my going to receive the sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper ? 
 
 Evan, Because the more sinful you see yourself to be, 
 the more need you will see yourself to have of Christ ; and 
 the more need you see yourself to have of Christ, the more 
 will you prize him ; and the more you prize Christ, the more 
 you will desire him; and the more you do desire Christ, the 
 more fit and worthy receiver you will be. 
 
 Wherefore, when you are determined to receive the sacra- 
 ment, then take occasion to examine yourself as the apostle 
 exhorts you, behold the face of your soul in the glass of 
 the law, lay your heart and life to that rule, as I directed 
 you before ; then think w ith yourself and commune with 
 your own heart, saying in your heart after this manner, 
 " Though I do believe that all these my sins are for Christ's 
 sake freely and fully pardoned and forgiven, so as tiiat I 
 shall never be condemned for them, yet do I not so fully 
 and comfortably believe it as I ought, but am sometimes 
 apt to question it : and besides, though my sins have not 
 dominion over me, yet I feel them too prevalent in me, and 
 I would fain have more power and strength against them ; 
 I would fain have my graces stronger and my corruptions 
 weaker; wherefore I knowing that Christ in the sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper seals up unto me the assurance of tiic 
 j)ardon and forgiveness of all raj^ sins; yea, and knowing 
 that the death and blood shed of Jesus Christ, which is 
 there represented, has in it both a pardoning and purging 
 virtue ; yea, and knowing that the more fully I do appre- 
 hend Clirist by faitli, tlie more strength of grace, and power 
 against corru])tions 1 shall feel : — wherefore I will go to par- 
 take of that ordinance, in hope that I shall there meet with 
 Jesus Christ, and apprehend him more fully by faith, and so 
 obtain both more assurances of the pardon of my sins, and the 
 more power and strength against them;" which the Lord grant 
 you for Christ's sake. And thus having also showed you the 
 reason why I would have you more especially to take no- 
 tice of your sins before you come to receive the sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper, I will now take my leave of you, for 
 my other occasions do call me away. 
 
 Neo. Well, sir, I do acknowledge, that you have taken 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 317 
 
 great pains both with my neighbour and me this day, for 
 the which I do give you many thanks. And yet I must en- 
 treat you to do the Hke courtesy for me which you promised 
 my neighbour Nomologista, and that is, at your leisure, to 
 write me out a copy of the conference we have had this day. 
 
 Evan. Well, neighbour Neophitus, I shall think of it, and 
 it may be, accomplish your desire. And so the God of peace 
 be with you. 
 
 Neo. The Lord be with you, sir. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAW AND THE 
 GOSPEL. 
 
 There is little more in all this viz. "The Marrow," to 
 be attributed to me than the very gathering and composing 
 of it. That which I aim at, and intend therein, is to show 
 unto myself, and others that shall read it, the difference 
 betwixt the law and the Gospel, — a point, as I conceive, 
 very needful for us to be well instructed in, and that for 
 these reasons : — 
 
 First, Because, if we be ignorant thereof, we shall be 
 very apt to mix and mingle them together, and so to con- 
 found the one with the other; which, as Luther on the 
 Galatians, p. 31, truly says, "doth more mischief than 
 man's reason can conceive ;" and therefore he doth advise 
 all Christians, in the case of justification, to separate the law and 
 the Gospel as far asunder as heaven and earth are separated. 
 
 Secondly, Because if we know right how to distinguish 
 betwixt them, the knowledge thereof will afford us no small 
 light towards the true understanding of the Scripture, and 
 will help us to reconcile all such places, both in the Old 
 and New Testament, as seem to be repugnant; yea, and 
 it will help us to judge aright of cases of conscience, and 
 quiet our own conscience in time of trouble and distress; 
 yea, and we shall thereby be enabled to try the truth and 
 falsehood of all doctrines ; wherefore, for our better instruc- 
 tion on this point, we are first of all to consider and take 
 notice what the law is, and what the Gospel is. 
 
 Now, the law is a doctrine partly known by nature, teaching 
 us that there is a God, and what God is, and what he requires 
 us to do, binding all reasonable creatures to perfect obedience, 
 both internal and external, promising the favour of God, and 
 
318 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 everlasting life to all those who yield perfect obedience there- 
 unto, and denouncing the curse of God and everlasting damna- 
 tion to all those who are not perfectly correspondent thereunto. 
 But the Gospel is a doctrine revealed from heaven by the 
 Son of God, presently after the fall of mankind into sin and 
 death, and afterwards manifested more clearly and fully to the 
 patriarchs and prophets, to the evangelists and apostles, and 
 by them spread abroad to others ; wherein freedom from sin, 
 the curse of the law, the wrath of God, death, and hell, is freely 
 promised for Christ's sake unto all who truly believe on his 
 name. 
 
 2rf/y, We are to consider what the nature and office of tli< 
 law is, and what the nature and office of the Gospel is. 
 
 Now, the nature and office of the law is to show unto us 
 our sin, Rom. iii. 20, our condemnation, our death, Rom. 
 ii. 1; vii. 10. But the nature and office of the Gospel is to 
 show unto us, that Christ has taken away our sin, John i. 29, 
 and that he also is our redemption and life. Col. i. 14; iii. 4. 
 So that the law is a word of wrath, Rom. iv. 14; but the 
 GOSPEL is a word oi peace, Eph. ii. 17. 
 
 ^dly, We are to consider where we may find the law writ- 
 ten, and where we may find the Gospel written. 
 
 Now, we shall find this law and this Gospel written and re- 
 corded in the writings of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles, 
 namely, in the books called the Old and New Testament, or 
 the Scriptures. For, indeed, the law and the Gospel are the 
 chief general heads which comprehend all the doctrine of the 
 ScriptJires ; yet we are not to think that these two doctrines 
 are to be distinguished by the books and leaves of the Scrip- 
 tures, but by the diversity of God's Spirit speaking in them: 
 we are not to take and understand whatsoever is contained in 
 the compass of the Old Testament, to be only and merely the 
 word and voice of the law; neither are we to think that what- 
 soever is contained within the compass of the books called the 
 New Testament, is only and merely tlie voice of the (lospel; 
 for sometimes in the Old Testament, God does speak comfort, 
 as he comforted Adam, with the voice of the Gospel; some- 
 times also in the Now Testament he does threaten and terrify, 
 as when Christ terrified tlie Pharisees. In some places, again, 
 Moses and the pro])hets do play the evangelists ; inasmuch that 
 Hierom doubts whether he should call Isaiah a prophet or an 
 evangelist. In some places, likewise, Christ and the apostles 
 supply tlu' part of Moses : Christ himself, until his death, was 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 319 
 
 under the law, which law he came not to break, but to fulfil ; 
 so his sermon made to the Jews, for the most part, run all 
 upon the perfect doctrine and works of the law, showing and 
 teaching what we ought to do by the right law of justice, and 
 what danger ensues in the non-performance of the same. All 
 which places, though they be contained in the book of the 
 New Testament, yet are they to be referred to the doctrine of 
 the law, ever having included in them a privy exception of re- 
 pentance, and faith in Jesus Christ. As for example, where 
 Christ thus preaches, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
 shall see God," Matt. v. 8. Again, " Except ye be converted, 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven," Matt, xviii. 3. And again, "He thatdoeth 
 the will of my Father which is in heaven, shall enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven," Matt. vii. 21. And again, the parable 
 of the wicked servant cast into prison for not forgiving his 
 fellow, Matt, xviii. 30 ; the casting of the rich glutton into hell, 
 Luke xvi. 23. And again, " He that denieth me before men, 
 I will deny him before my Father which is in heaven," Luke 
 xii. 9 ; with divers such other places, all which, I say, do ap- 
 pertain to the doctrine of the law. 
 
 Wherefore, in the fourth place, we are to take heed, when 
 we read the Scriptures, we do not take the Gospel for the law, 
 nor the law for the Gospel, but labour to discern and distin- 
 sruish the voice of the one from the voice of the other ; and 
 if we would know when the law speaks, and when the Gospel 
 speaks, let us consider and take this for a note. That when in 
 Scripture there is any moral work commanded to be done, 
 either for eschewing of punishment, or upon promise of any 
 reward, temporal or eternal ; or else when any promise is made, 
 Avith the condition of any work to be done, which is com- 
 manded in the law, there is to be understood the voice of the 
 law. 
 
 Contrariwise, where the promise of life and salvation is 
 offered unto us freely, without any condition of any law, either 
 natural, ceremonial, or moral, or any work done by us, all 
 those places, whether we read them in the Old Testament, or 
 in the New, are to be referred to the voice and doctrine of 
 the Gospel; yea, and all those promises of Christ coming in 
 the flesh, which we read in the Old Testament, yea, and all 
 those promises in the New Testament, which offer Christ upon 
 condition of our believing on his name, are properly called the 
 voice of the Gospel, because they have no condition of our 
 
320 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 mortifying annexed unto them, but only faith to apprehend 
 and receive Jesus Christ ; as it is written, Rom. iii. 22, " For 
 the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ 
 unto all, and upon all that believe," &c. 
 
 Briefly, then, if we would know when the law speaks, and 
 when the Gospel speaks, either in reading the word, or in 
 hearing it preached ; and if we would skilfully distinguish the 
 voice of the one from the voice of the other, we must consider — 
 
 Lcav. The law says, " Thou art a sinner, and therefore thou 
 shalt be damned," Rom. vii. 2 ; 2 Thess. ii. 12. 
 
 Gos. But the Gospel says, No ; " Christ Jesus came into 
 the world to save sinners;" and therefore "believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," 1 Tim. i. 15 ; 
 Acts xvi. 31. 
 
 Law. Again the law says, "Knowest thou not that the un- 
 righteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; be not de- 
 ceived," &c. 1 Cor. vi. 9. And therefore thou being a sinner, 
 and not righteous, shalt not inherit the kingdom of God. 
 
 Gos. But the Gospel says, "God has made Christ to be sin 
 for thee, who knew no sin ; that thou mightest be made the 
 righteousness of God in him, who is the Lord thy righteous- 
 ness," Jer. xxiii. 6. 
 
 Law. Again the law says, " Pay me that thou owest me, 
 or else I will cast thee into prison," Matt, xviii. 28, 30. 
 
 Gos. But the Gospel says, " Christ gave himself a ransom 
 ibr thee," 1 Tim. ii. 6 ; " and so is made redemption unto 
 hee," 1 Cor. i. 30. 
 
 Latv. Again the law says, " Thou hast not continued in all 
 that I require of thee, and therefore thou art accursed," Deut. 
 xxvii. 6. 
 
 Gos. But the Gospel says, " Christ hath redeemed thee 
 from the curse of the law, being made a curse for thee," Gal. 
 iii. 13. 
 
 Law. Again the law says, " Thou are become guilty before 
 God, and therefore shalt not escape the judgment of God," 
 Rom. iii. 19; ii. 3. 
 
 Gos. But the Gospel says, "The Father judgeth no man, 
 but hath committed all judgment to the Son," John v. 12. 
 
 And now, knowing rightly how to distinguish between the 
 law and the Gospel, we must, in the/ifth place, take heed that 
 we break not the orders between these two in applying the 
 law where the Gospel is to be applied, either to ourselves or 
 to others; for albeit the law and Gospel, in order of doc- 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 321 
 
 trine, are many times to be joined together, yet, in the case 
 of justification, the law must be utterly separated from the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Therefore, whensoever, or wheresoever, any doubt or ques- 
 tion arises of salvation, or our justification before God, there 
 the law and all good works must be utterly excluded and stand 
 apart, that grace may appear free, and that the promise and 
 faith may stand alone : which faith alone, without law or works, 
 brings thee in particular to thy justification and salvation, 
 through the mere promise and free grace of God in Christ ; 
 so that I say, in the action and office of justification, both law 
 and works are to be utterly excluded and exempted, as things 
 which have nothing to do in that behalf. The reason is this ; 
 for, seeing that all our redemption springs out from the body 
 of the Son of God crucified, then is there nothing that can 
 stand us in stead, but that only wherewith the body of Christ 
 is apprehended. Now, forasmuch as neither the law nor works, 
 but faith only is the thing which apprehendeth the body and 
 passion of Christ, therefore faith only is that matter which 
 justifies a man before God, through the strength of that object 
 Jesus Christ, which it apprehends ; like as the brazen serpent 
 was the object only of the Israelites' looking, and not of their 
 hands' working; by the strength of which object, through the 
 promise of God, immediately proceeded health to the behold- 
 ers: so the body of Christ being the object of our faith, strikes 
 righteousness to our souls, not through working, but through 
 believing. 
 
 Wherefore, when any person or persons, do feel themselves 
 oppressed or terrified with the burden of their sins, and feel 
 themselves with the majesty of the law and judgment of God 
 terrified and oppressed, outweighed and thrown down into ut- 
 ter discomfort, almost to the pit of hell, as happens sometimes 
 to God's own dear servants, who have soft and timorous con- 
 sciences; when such souls, I say, do read or hear any such 
 place of Scripture which appertains to the law, let them then 
 think and assure themselves that such places do not appertain 
 or belong to them ; nay, let not such only who are thus deeply 
 humbled and terrified do this, but also let every one that does 
 but make any doubt or question of their own salvation, through 
 the sight and sense of their sin, do the like. 
 
 And to this end and purpose, let them consider and mark 
 well the end why the law was given, which was not to bring us 
 to salvation, nor to make us good, and so to procure God's 
 
 f3 
 
S22 THE MARROW OF Part 2. 
 
 love and favour towards us : but rather to declare and convict 
 our wickedness, and make us feel the danger thereof; to this 
 end and purpose, that we seeing our condemnation, and being 
 in ourselves confounded, may be driven thereby to have our 
 refuge in the Son of God, in whom alone is to be found our 
 remedy. And when this is wrought in us, then the law has 
 accomplished its end in us ; and therefore it is now to give 
 place unto Jesus Christ, who, as the apostle says, " is the end 
 of the law," Rom. x. 3. Let every true convicted person, 
 then, who fears the wrath of God, death, and hell, when they 
 hear or read any such places of Scripture as do appertain to 
 the law, not think the same to belong to them, no more than 
 a mourning weed belongs to a marriage feast ; and therefore 
 removing utterly out of their minds all cogitations of the law, 
 all fear of judgment and condemnation, let them only set be- 
 fore their eyes the Gospel, viz. the glad and joyful tidings of 
 Christ, the sweet comforts of God's promises, free forgiveness 
 of sins in Christ, grace, redemption, liberty, psalms, thanks, 
 singing, a paradise of spiritual jocundity, and nothing else : 
 thinking thus within themselves, the law hath now done its 
 office in me, and therefore must now give place to its better ; 
 that is, it must needs give place to Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 God, who is my Lord and Master, the fuKiller and accomplisher 
 of the law. 
 
 Lastly, As we nmst take heed and beware that we apply 
 not the law where the Gospel is applied, so must we also take 
 heed and beware that we apply not the Gospel where the 
 law is applied. Let us not apply the Gospel instead of the 
 law ; for, as before, the other was even as much as to put on 
 a mourning-gown at a marriage feast, so this is but even the 
 casting of pearls before swine, wherein is great abuse amongst 
 many ; for commonly it is seen, that these proud, sell-conceited, 
 and unhumbled persons, these worldly epicures and secure 
 mammonists, to whom the doctrine of the law does properly 
 appertain, do yet notwithstanding put it away from them, and 
 bless themselves with the sweet promises of the Gospel, saying, 
 " They hope they have as good a share in Christ as the best 
 of them all, for God is merciful, and the like." And contrari- 
 wise, the other contrite and bruised hearts, to whom belongs 
 not the law, but the joyful tidings of the (iospel, for the most 
 part receive and apply to themselves the terrible voice and 
 sentence of the law. Whereby it comes to pass, that many do 
 rejoice when they should mouiii ; and on the other side, many 
 
Part 2. MODERN DIVINITY. 323 
 
 do fear and mourn when they should rejoice. Wherefore, to 
 conclude, in private use of life, let every person discreetly dis- 
 cern between the law and the Gospel, and apply to himself that 
 which belongs to him. Let the man or the vroman, Avho did 
 never yet to any purpose (especially in the time of health and 
 prosperity) think of, or consider their latter end, that did never 
 yet fear the wrath of God, nor death, nor devil, nor hell, but 
 have lived, and do still live a jocund and merry life ; let them 
 apply the curse of the law to themselves, for to them it belongs : 
 yea, and let all your civil honest men and women, who, it may 
 be, do sometimes think of their latter end, and have had some 
 kind of fear of the wrath of God, death, and hell, in their 
 hearts, and yet have salved up the sore, with a plaster made 
 of their own civil righteousness, with a salve compounded of 
 their outward conformity to the duties contained in the law, 
 their freedom from gross sins, and their upright and just deal- 
 ing with men; let these hearken to the voice of the law, when 
 it says, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
 which are written in the book of the law to do them ;" but let 
 all self-denying, fearful, trembling souls, apply the gracious 
 and sweet promises of God in Christ unto themselves, and 
 rejoice because their names are written in the Book of Life. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The Occasion of the 'Marrow' Controversy, stated by the 
 LATE Rev. John Brown, of Haddington. 
 
 While the Church of Scotland was clear and exact in her standards, 
 and many of her preachers truly evangelical, a flood of legal doctrine 
 tilled many pulpits about the time of the Revolution. 
 
 The Arminian errors of Professor Simpson were also prevalent after 
 this time ; but the Assembly used him with great tenderness. However, 
 they were far from being equally kind to such as earnestly endeavoured 
 H clear illustration of the doctrines of God's free grace reigning through 
 the righteousness of Christ. Mr. Hamilton of Airth having published a 
 catechetical treatise concerning the covenant of works and grace, and the 
 sacraments of haptwm and the Lord's Supper, in a more evangelical 
 strain than some wished, the Assembly 1710, prohibited all ministers or 
 members of this church to print, or disperse in writ, any catechism, with- 
 out the allowance of the Presbytery of the bounds, or the Commission. 
 The Presbytery of Auchterarder having begun to require candidates for 
 licence, to acknowledge it unsound to teach that men must forsake their 
 sins in order to come to Christ, the Assembly 1717, on the same day they 
 had dealt so gently with Professor Simpson, declared their abhorrence of 
 that proposition as unsound and most detestable — as if men ought only to 
 come to Christ, the alone Saviour from sins, after they have got rid of 
 them by repentance. Mr. James Hog, one of the holiest ministers in 
 the kingdom, having published or recommended a celebrated and edifying 
 tract of the Cromwellian age, called The Marrow of Modem Divinity, the 
 Assembly 1720, fell upon it with great fury, as if it had been replete with 
 Antinomian errors, though it is believed many of these zealots never read 
 it, at least had never perused it, in connexion with the Second Part of it, 
 which is wholly taken up in the manifestation of the obligation, meaning, 
 and advantage of obsening the law of God. They condemned the offer- 
 ing of Christ, as a Saviour to all men, or to sinners as such, and the doc- 
 trine of believers' full deliverance from under the law as a broken cove- 
 nant of works. They asserted men's holiness to be a federal or condi- 
 tional mean of their obtaining eternal happiness. They condemned 
 these almost express declarations of Scripture, that believers are not 
 under the law, — that they do not commit sin, — that the Lonl sees no sin 
 in them, and cannot be angry with them, as Antinomian paradoxes, — and 
 condemned the distinction of the moral law as a covenant of works, and as 
 a binding rule of duty in the hand of Christ. In order to explain these 
 expressions, Messsrs. James Hog, Thomas Boston, Ebenezer and Ralph 
 
APPENDIX. 325 
 
 Erskines, Gabriel Watson, and seven others, remonstated to the next 
 Assembly against these decisions as injurious to the doctrine of God's 
 grace. And in their answers to the Commission's Twelve Queries, they 
 illustated these doctrines with no small clearness and evidence. Perhaps 
 influenced by this, as well as by the wide spread detestation of their acts 
 (1720) on that point, the Assembly 1722, reconsidered the same, and 
 made an act explaining and confirming them. This was less gross and 
 erroneous. Nevertheless, the twelve representers protested against it as 
 injurious to truth ; but this protest was not allowed to be marked. The 
 Moderator, by the Assembly's appointment, rebuked them for their re- 
 flections on the Assembly 1720, in their representation, and admonished 
 them to beware of the like in all time coming; against which they 
 protested. 
 
 Queries agreed unto by the Commission of the General As- 
 sembly, AND PUT TO those MINISTERS WHO GAVE IN A REPRE- 
 SENTATION AND Petition against the 5th and 8th Acts of 
 Assembly 1720, with the Answers given by these Ministers 
 to the said Queries.* 
 
 Adhering to and holding, as here repeated, our subscribed Answer 
 given in to the Reverend Commission, when by them called to receive 
 these Queries, we come to adventure, under the conduct of the faithful 
 and true Witness, who has promised the Spirit of truth to lead his people 
 into truth, to make answer to the said Queries. To which, before we 
 proceed, we crave leave to represent, that the title thereto prefixed, viz. 
 " Queries to be put to Mr. James Hog, and other Ministers, who gave in 
 a Representation in Favours of the Marrow, to the General Assembly, 
 1721," as well as that prefixed to the Commission's overture anent this 
 affair, has a native tendency to divert and bemist the reader, to expose 
 us, and to turn the matter off its proper hinge, by giving a wrong colour 
 to our Representation, as if the chief design of it was to plead, not for 
 the precious truths of the Gospel, which we conceive to be wounded by 
 the condemnatory act, but for "The Marrow of Modern Divinity," the 
 which, though we value for a good and useful book, and doubt aot but 
 the Church of God may be much edified by it, as we ourselves have been, 
 yet came it never into our minds to hold it, or any other private writ- 
 ing, faultless, nor to put it on a level with our approved standards of 
 doctrine. 
 
 Query. I. — Whether are there any precepts in the Gospel that ivere 
 not actually given before the Gospel tvas revealed ? 
 
 Answer. — The passage in our representation, marked out to us for the 
 grounds of this query, are these : — "The Gospel doctrine, known only by 
 
 * "A masterly production," says the judicious Mr. Fraser, of Kenno- 
 way, "which has undergone many impressions, and which discusses the 
 points at issue with a perspicuity and energy that has commanded the 
 esteem and admiration of Mr. James Hervey, and many others who had 
 no immediate concern in the controversy." 
 
326 APPENDIX. 
 
 a new revelation after the fall. Of the same dismal tendency we appre- 
 hend to be the declaring of that distinction of the law, as it is tlie law 
 works, and as it is the law of Christ, as the author applies it, to be 
 altogether groundless. The erroneous doctrine of justification, for some- 
 thing wrought in, or done by the sinner, as his righteousness, or keep- 
 ing the new and Gospel law." Now, leaving it to others to judge if these 
 passages gave any just occasion to this question, we answer, — 
 
 1st, In the Gospel, taken strictly, and as contradistinct from the law, 
 for a doctrine of grace, or good news from heaven, or help in God 
 through Jesus Christ, to lost self-destroying creatures of Adam's race, 
 or the glad tidings of a Saviour, with life and salvation in him to the 
 chief of sinners, there are no precepts ; all these, the command to be- 
 lieve; and repent, not excepted, belonging to, and flowing from the law, 
 which fastens the new duty on us, the same moment the Gospel reveals 
 the new object. 
 
 That in tlie Gospel, taken strictly, there are no precepts, to us seems 
 evident from the holy Scriptures. In the first revelation of it, made in 
 these words, — " The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the 
 serpent," we find no precept, but a promise containing glad tidings of a 
 Saviour, with grace, mercy, life, and salvation in him, to lost sinners of 
 Adam's family. And the Gospel preached unto Abraham, namely, 
 " In thee," i. e. in thy seed, which is in Christ, " shall all nations be 
 blessed." is of the same nature. The good tidings of great joy to all 
 people of a Saviour born in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord, 
 brought and proclaimed from heaven by the angels, we take to have been 
 the Gospel, strictly and properly so called; yet is there no precept in 
 these tidings. We find, likewise, the Gospel of peace and glad tidings 
 of good things are in Scripture convertible terms; and the word of the 
 Gospel, which Peter spoke to the Gentiles, tliat they might believe, was 
 no other than peace by, Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and exalted, to be 
 Judge of quick and dead, with remission of sins through his name, to be 
 received by every one believing in him. Much more might be added on 
 this head, which, that we be not tedious, we pass. Of the same mind, 
 as to this point, we find the body of reformed divines, as to instance in a 
 few, Calvin, Chamier, Pemble, Wendelin, Alting, the professors of 
 Leyden, Witzius, Mastrick, Maresius, Troughton, Essenius. 
 
 That all precepts, (these of faith and repentance not excepted,) belong 
 to, and are of the law, is no less evident to us ; for the law of creation, or 
 of the ten commandments, which was given to Adam in paradise, in the 
 form of a covenant of works, requiring us to believe whatever God should 
 reveal or promise, and to obey whatever he should command ; all pre- 
 cepts whatsoever must be virtually and really included in it. So that 
 there never was, nor can be, an instance of duty owing by the creature 
 to God, not commanded in the moral law, if not directly and expressly, 
 yet indirectly, and by consequence. The same first cornmandment, for 
 instance, which requires us to take the Lord for our God, to acknow- 
 ledge his essential verity, and sovereign authority; to love, fear, and 
 trust in Jehovah, after what manner soever he shall be pleased to reveal 
 himself to us, and likewise to grieve and mourn for his dishonour or 
 displeasure, requires believing in Jehovah, our righteousness, as soon as 
 ever he is revealed to us as such, and sorrowing after a godly sort for 
 the transgression of his holy law, whether by one's self or by others. It 
 is true, Adam was not actually obliged to believe in a Saviour, till, 
 being lost and undone, a Saviour was revealed to him ; but the same 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 couimandnient that bound him to trust and depend on, and to believe 
 the promises of God Creator, no doubt obliged him to believe in God 
 Redeemer, when revealed. Nor was Adam obliged to sorrow for sin 
 ere it was committed. But this same law that bound him to ha\'e a 
 sense of the evil of sin in its nature and effects, to hate, loathe, and flee 
 from sin, and to resolve against it, and for all holy obedience, and to 
 have a due apprehension of the goodness of God, obliged him also to 
 mourn for it, whenever it should fall out. And we cannot see how the 
 contrary doctrine is consistent with the perfection of the law ; for if the law 
 be a complete rule of all moral, internal and spiritual, as well as external 
 and ritual obedience, it must require faith and repentance, as well as 
 it does all other good works. And that it does indeed require them, we 
 can have no doubt of, when we consider, that without them all other 
 religious performances are, in God's account, as good as nothing ; and 
 that sin being, as the Scripture and our own standard tell us, any want 
 of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God, unbelief and im- 
 penitency must be so too. And if the)-^ be so, then must faith and re- 
 pentance be obedience and conformity of the same law, which the former 
 are a transgression of, or an inconformity unto; unbelief particularly be- 
 ing a departing from the living God, is, for certain, forbidden in the first 
 commandment, therefore faith must needs be required in the same 
 comraandment, according to a known rule. But what need we more, 
 after our Lord has told us, that faith is one of the weightier matters of 
 the law ? and that it is not a second table duty which is there meant, is 
 evident to us, by comparing the parallel place in Luke, where, in place 
 of faith, we have the love of God. As for repentance, in case of sin 
 against God, it becomes naturally a duty; and though neither the cove- 
 nant of works nor of grace admitted of it, as any expiation of sin, or 
 federal condition giving right to life, it is a duty included in every com- 
 mandment, on the supposal of a transgression. 
 
 What moves us to be the more concerned for this point of doctrine is, 
 that if the \a.\Y does not bind sinners to believe and repent, then we see not 
 how faith and repentance, considered as works, are excluded from our 
 justification before God, since in that case, they are not works of the 
 law, under which character all works are in Scripture excluded from the 
 use of justifying in the sight of God. And we can call to mind that, on 
 the contrary doctrine, Arminius laid the foundation of his rotten prin- 
 ciples, touching sufficient grace, or rather natural power. " Adam," says 
 he, " had not power to believe in Jesus Christ, because he needed him not ; 
 nor was he bound to believe, because the law required it not. Therefore, 
 since Adam by his fall did not lose it, God is bound to give every man 
 power to believe in Jesus Christ." And Socinians, Arminians, Papists, 
 and Baxterians, by holding the Gospel to be a new, proper, preceptive 
 law, with sanction, and thereby turning it into a real, though milder 
 covenant of works, have confounded the law and the Gospel, and brought 
 works into the matter and cause of a sinner's justification before God. 
 And, we reckon, we are the rather called to be on our guard here, that 
 the clause m our representation, making mention of the new, or Gospel- 
 law, is marked out to us, as one of the grounds of this query, which we 
 own to be somewhat alarming. Besides all this, the teaching that faith 
 and repentance are Gospel commandments, may yet again open the door 
 to Antinomianism, as it sometimes did already, if we may believe Mr. 
 Cross, who says, " History tells us that it sprung from such a mistake, 
 that faith and repentance were taught and commanded by the Gospel 
 
328 APPENDIX. 
 
 only, and that as they contained all necessarj' to salvation, so the law 
 was needless." 
 
 On this head also, namely, that all precepts belong to the law, we 
 might likewise adduce a cloud of witnesses beyond exception, such as 
 Pemble, Essenius, Anth, Burges, Rutherford, Owen, Witzius, Dickson, 
 Fergusson, Troughton, Larger Catechism on the duties required, and 
 sins forbidden in the first commandment. But, without insisting further, 
 we answer, — 
 
 2dly, In the Gospel, taken largely for the whole doctrine of Christ and 
 the apostles, contained in the New Testament, or for a system of all the 
 promises, precepts, threatenings, doctrines, histories, that any way con- 
 cern man's recovery and salvation, in which respect, not only all the 
 ten commandments, but the doctrine of the covenant of works belong to 
 it, but in this sense, the doctrine is not contradistinct from the law ; — 
 in the Gospel, taken thus at large, we say, there are doubtless many 
 precepts that were not actually given (that is, particularly and expressly 
 promulgated or required) before the Gospel was revealed. Love to our 
 enemies, to instance in a few of many, mercy to the miserable, bearing 
 of the cross, hope and joy in tribulations, in prospect of their having a 
 desired issue, love, thankfulness, prayer, and obedience to a God Redeem- 
 er, zealous witnessing against sin, and for truth, in case of defection from 
 the faith or holiness of the Gospel, confessing our faults to and forgiving 
 one another. All the ceremonial precepts under the Old Testament, 
 together with the institutions of Christ under the New, faith in Jesus 
 Christ, repentance unto life, with many more, to say nothing of personal 
 and particular precepts, were not actually given before the Gospel was 
 revealed ; all which are nevertheless reducible to the law of the ten com- 
 mandments, many of them being plain duties of the law of nature, 
 though they had no due and proper objects, nor occasions of being exer- 
 cised in an innocent state. It is true, there are many of them we had 
 never heard of, without the Gospel had been revealed ; yet are they not, 
 therefore, in any proper sense, precepts of the Gospel, but of the law, 
 which is exceeding broad, extending to new objects, occasions, and cir- 
 cumstances. The law says one thing to the person unmamed, and 
 another thing to the same person when married ; one thing to him as a 
 child, another thing to him as a parent, &c. yet is it the same law still. The 
 law of God being perfect ; and like unto its Author, must reach to every 
 condition of the creature; but if for every new duty or new object of 
 faith there behoved to be a new law, how strangely must laws be multi- 
 plied ? The law itself (even as in the case of a man) may meet with any 
 changes, and yet remain the same as to its essence. Now, as to faith 
 and repentance, though ability to exercise them, and acceptance of them, 
 be by the Gospel, yet it is evident they must be regulated by the same 
 law, the trangression of which made them necessary. Tlie essence of 
 repentence, it is plain, lies in repeating and renewing, with a suitable 
 frame of spirit, the duties omitted, or in observing the law one had vio- 
 lated. For as the divine perfections are the rule and pattern of God's 
 image in man, as well in his regeneration as in his creation, so the holy 
 law of God is the rule of our repentance, as well as of our primitive 
 obedience. And why faith, when it has God Mediator, or God Redeemer, 
 for its object, may not be from the same law as when it had God Crea- 
 tor, or God Preserver for its object, we cannot see. 
 
APPENDIX. 3^9 
 
 Query II. — Is not the believer now bound, by the authority of the 
 Creator, to personal obedietiee to the moral law, though not in order to 
 justification I 
 
 Ans. — What is given us for the ground of this query, is the following 
 clause of our representation, viz. — " Since believers are not under it, to 
 be thereby justified or condemned, we cannot comprehend how it con- 
 tinues any longer a covenant of works to them, or as such to have a com- 
 manding power over them, that covenant form of it being done away in 
 Christ with respect to believers." This clause of the representation being 
 so much one, even in words, with our Confession, we could never have 
 expected the Reverend Commission would have moved a query upon 
 it; but since they have been pleased to think otherwise, we answer 
 affirmatively : — 
 
 The believer, since he ceases not to be a creature by being made a new 
 creature, is, and must ever be bound to personal obedience to the law of 
 the ten commandments, by the authority of Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, his Creator. But this authority is, as to him, issued by and from 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, at whose mouth he receives the law, being as well 
 his Lord God Creator, as his Lord God Redeemer, and having all the 
 fulness of the godhead dwelling in him ; nor can nor will the sinful 
 creature ever apply himself to obedience acceptable to God, or com- 
 fortable to himself, without the Creator's authority come to him in that 
 channel. 
 
 We are clear and full of the same mind with our Confession, that the 
 moral law of the ten commandments does for ever bind all, as well justi- 
 fied persons as others, to the obedience thereof, not only in regard of the 
 matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the 
 Creator who gave it, and that Christ does not in the Gospel any way dis- 
 solve, but much strengthen this obligation ; for how can it lose any thing 
 of its original authority, by being conveyed to the believer in such a 
 sweet and blessed channel as the hand of Christ, since both he himself is 
 the supreme God and Creator, and since the authority, majesty, and 
 sovereignty of the Father is in his Son, he being the same in substance, 
 equal in power and glory? " Beware of Him," says the Lord unto Israel, 
 concerning Christ the angel of the covenant, " and obey his voice, pro- 
 voke him not : for my name is in him." That is, as we understand it, 
 my authority, sovereignty, and other adorable excellencies, yea, the 
 whole fulness of the godhead is in him, and in him only will I be served 
 and obeyed. And then it follows, " But if thou shalt indeed obey his 
 voice, and do all that I speak." The name of the Father is so in him ; 
 he is so of the same nature with his Father, that his voice is the Father's 
 voice : " If thou obey his voice, and do all that I speak." 
 
 We desire to think and speak honourably of Him, whose name is 
 " Wonderful, Counseller, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and 
 the Prince of Peace." And it cannot but exceedingly grate our ears, 
 and grieve our spirits, to find such doctrines or positions vented in this 
 Church, especially at a time when the Arian heresy is so prevalent in our 
 neighbour nations, as have an obvious tendency to^ darken and disparage 
 his divine glory and authority, as that, if a believei- ought not to receive 
 the law of the ten commandments at the hand of God, as he is Creator 
 out of Christ, then he is not under its obligation, as it was delivered by 
 God the Creator, but is loosed from all obedience to it, as it was enacted 
 by the authority of the Lord Creator ; and that it is injurious to the in- 
 finite majesty of the Sovereign Lord Creator, and to the honour of his 
 
330 APPENDIX. 
 
 holy law, to restrict the believer to receive the ten command ments only 
 at the hand of Christ. What can be more injurious to the infinite 
 majesty of the sovereign Lord Redeemer; by whom all things were 
 created that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether 
 they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, than to speak as 
 if the Creator's authority was not in him, or as if the receiving the Crea- 
 tor's law from Christ did loose men from obedience to it, as enacted by 
 the authority of the Father? Wo unto us, if this doctrine be the truth, 
 for so should we be brought back to consuming fire indeed ; for, out of 
 Christ, " He that made us will have no mercy upon us ; nor will he that 
 formed us show us any favour." We humbly conceive, the Father does 
 not reckon himself glorified, but contemned by Christians offering obe- 
 dience to him as Creator out of Christ. Nor does the offering to deal 
 with him after this sort, or to teach others so, discover a due regard to 
 the mystery of Christ revealed in the Gospel ; for it is the will of the 
 Father, the Sovereign Lord Creator, that all men should honour the Son, 
 even as they honour himself; and that at or in the name of Jesus every 
 knee should bow; and that every tongue should confess Jesus Christ is 
 Lord, to the glory of God the Father, who having in these last days 
 spoken unto us by his Son, by whom also he made the worlds, and with 
 an audible voice from heav^en has said, " This is my beloved Son in 
 whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." Were it not we would be thought 
 tedious, Perkins, Durham, Owen, and others, might have been heard on 
 this head. But we proceed to — 
 
 Query IIL — Doth the annexing of a promise of life, and a threateniny 
 of death to a precept, make it a covenant of works ? 
 
 We am-wer, as in our representation. That the promise of life, and 
 threatening of death, superadded to the law of the Creator, made it a 
 covenant of works to our first parents, proposed ; and their own consent, 
 which sinless creatures could not refuse, made it a covenant of works ac- 
 cepted. " A law," says the judicious Durham, " doth necessarily imply no 
 more than, first, to direct; secondly, to command, enforcing that obe- 
 dience by authority. A covenant doth further necessarily imply pro- 
 mises made upon some conditions, or threatenings added if such a con- 
 dition be not performed. Now, says he, this law may be considered 
 without the consideration of a covenant ; for it was free to God to have 
 added or not to have added promises ; and the threatenings, upon sup- 
 position the law had been kept, might never have taken effect." From 
 whence it is plain, in the judgment of this great divine, the law of nature 
 was turned into a covenant by the addition of a promise of life and threa- 
 tening of death. Of the same mind is Burgess and the London ministers, 
 Vindiciae Legis, page (JL " There are only two things which go to the 
 essence of a law, and that is — 1st, direction ; 2d, obligation. First, direc- 
 tion : therefore a law is a rule : hence the law of God is compared to 
 light. Second, obligation ; for therein lieth the essence of sin that it 
 breaketh this law, which supposes the obligatory force of it. In the next 
 place, there are two consecjuents of tiie law, which are ad bone esse, that 
 the law may be the better obeyed ; and this indeed turneth the law into 
 H covenant. First the sanction of it by way of promise ; that is a mere 
 free tiling : God, by reason of that dominion which he had over man, 
 might have commanded his ol)edience, an<l yet never made a promise of 
 eternal life unto him. And, secondly, as for the other consequent act of 
 the law, to curse and punish, this is but an accidental act, not necessary 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 to a law, for it comes in upon supposition of transgression. A law is a 
 complete law, obliging, though it do not actually curse ; as in the con- 
 firmed angels it never laid any more than obligatory and mandatory acts 
 upon them ; for that they were under a law is plain, because otherwise 
 they could not have sinned, for where there is no law, there is no trans- 
 gression," 
 
 Though there is no ground from our representation to add more on 
 this head, yet we may say, that a promise of life made to a precept of 
 doing, — that is, in consideration or upon condition of one's doing, be the 
 doing more or less, it is all one, the Divine will in the precept being the 
 rule in this case, is a covenant of works. And as to believers in Christ, 
 though in the Gospel, largely taken, we own there are promises of life, 
 and threatenings of death, as well as precepts; and that godliness hath 
 the promise, not only of this life, but of that which is to come, annexed 
 to it, in the order of the covenant : yet v^e are clear no promise of life is 
 made to the performance of precepts, nor eternal death threatened in 
 case of their failings whatsoever in performing, else should their title to 
 life be founded not entirely on Christ, and his righteousness imputed to 
 them, but on something in or done by themselves; and their after sins 
 should again actually bring them under vindictive wrath and the curse 
 of the law ; which, upon their union with Christ who was made a curse 
 for them, to redeem them from under it, they are, according to Scripture 
 and our Confession, for ever delivered from. Hence we know of no 
 sanction the law, standing in the covenant of grace, hath with respect to 
 believers besides gracious rewards, all of them freely promised on Christ's 
 account, for their encouragement in obedience, and fatherly chastisement 
 and displeasure, in case of their not walking in his commandments ; 
 which to a believer are no less awful and much more powerful restraints 
 from sin than tb« prospect of the curse and hell itself would be. The 
 Reverend Commission will not, we hope, grudge to hear that eminent 
 divine Mr. Perkins, in a few words, on this head, who having put the 
 objection, " In the Gospel there are promises of life upon condition of 
 our obedience, as Rom. viii. 13, ' If ye through the Spirit,'" &c. ; an- 
 swers, " The promises of the Gospel are not made to the work, but to 
 the vjorker ; and to the worker, not for his work, but for Christ's sake 
 according to his work : e.g. The promise of life is not made to the work 
 of mortitication, but to him that mortifies his flesh ; and that not for his 
 mortification, but because he is in Christ, and his mortification is the 
 token and evidence thereof." This, as it is the old Protestant doctrine, 
 so we take it to be the truth. And as to the believer's total and final 
 freedom from the curse of the law upon his union with Christ, Pro- 
 testant divines, particularly Rutherford and Owen, throughout their 
 writings, are full and clear on this head. 
 
 Query IV. — If the moral law, antecedent to its receiving the form of 
 a covenant of works, had a threatening of hell annexed ? 
 
 An.s. — Since the law of God never was, nor will ever in this world be 
 the stated rule, either of man's duty towards God, or of God's dealing 
 with man, but as it stands in one of the two covenants of works and 
 grace, we are at a loss to discover the real usefulness of this query, as 
 well as what foundation it has in our representation. 
 
 As to the intrinsical demerit of sin, we are clear, whether there had 
 ever been any covenant of works or not, it deserves hell, even all that an 
 infinitely holy and just God ever has or shall inflict for it; yet what be- 
 
332 APPENDIX. 
 
 hoved to have been the Creator's disposal of the creature, in the sup- 
 posed event of sin's entering, without a covenant being made, we incline 
 not here to dip into ; but we reckon it is not possible to prove a threa- 
 tening of hell to be inseparable from the law of creation, the obligation 
 of which, because resulting from the nature of God, and of the creature, 
 is eternal and immutable : for confirmed angels, glorified saints, yea, and 
 the human nature of Christ, are all of them naturally, necessarily, and 
 eternally obliged to love, obey, depend on, and submit unto God, and to 
 make him their blessedness and ultimate end ; but none, we conceive, 
 will be peremptory in saying, they have a threatening of hell annexed to 
 the law they are under. And we can by no means allow, that a believer, 
 delivered by Christ from the covenant of works, is still obnoxious, upon 
 every new transgression, to the threatening of hell, supposed to be inse- 
 parably annexed to the law of creation, or of the ten commandments ; 
 which law every reasonable creature must for ever be under, since this 
 would, in effect, be no other than, after he is delivered from hell in one 
 respect, to bind him over to it in another. Whatever threatening one 
 may suppose belonged to the moral law of the ten commandments, an- 
 tecedently to its receiving a covenant form, all was, for certain, included 
 in the sanction of the covenant of works : so that Christ, in bearing the 
 curse of it, redeemed believers from the hell, vindictive wrath and curse, 
 their sins in any sort deserved ; the hand-writing that was against them 
 he cancelled, tore to pieces, and nailed to his cross. Hence the threa- 
 tening of hell and the curse are actually separated from the law of the 
 ten commandments, which believers are under as a rule of life ; and to 
 hold otherwise is the leading error, yea, the very spring and fountain-head 
 of Antinomianism ; on all which. Burgess, Rutherford, and others, may 
 be heard. 
 
 Query V. — If it be peculiar to believers to be free of the commanding 
 power of the law, as a covenant of works ? 
 
 Though our saying we cannot comprehend how the covenant of works, 
 as such, continues to have a commanding power over believers, that 
 covenant form of it being done away in Christ with respect to them, 
 gives no sufficient foundation to this query, since we affirm nothing con- 
 cerning any but believers, whose freedom from the commanding power 
 of that covenant, the query seems, as much as we do, to allow of; we 
 answer affirmatively : for, since it is only to believers the Spirit of God in 
 Scripture says, " Ye are not under the law," the main import of which 
 phrase is, subjection to the commanding power of it, as a covenant, — 
 " but under grace ;" and since they only are, by virtue of their union 
 with Christ, actually freed from being under the law, by Christ's being 
 made under it, i. e. under its command, as above, as well as under its 
 curse for them ; and since, according to our Confession, it is the peculiar 
 privilege of believers, which, therefore, believers have no interest in, not 
 to be under the law as a covenant of works, to be justified or condemned 
 thereby, we can allow no other, besides believers, to be invested with that 
 immunity. 
 
 All unbelievers within, as well as without, the pale of the visible 
 church, since they seek rightousness only by the works of the law, and 
 are strangers to the covenant of grace, we always took to be debtors to 
 the whole law, in their own persons. And this their obligation, under 
 the DO, or commanding power of that covenant, we took to be inviolably 
 firm, till such time as by faith tlicy had recourse to him who is " the 
 
APPENDIX. 333 
 
 end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth ;" else we 
 thoug-ht, and do still think, if their obligation to the command of that 
 covenant be dissolved, merely by their living under an external Gospel- 
 dispensation, they would be cast quite loose from being under any co- 
 venant at all, contrary to the common received doctrine of the I'rotestant 
 churches, namely, that every person whatsoever is in and under one or 
 other of the two covenants of works and grace ; nor could they, unless 
 they be under the commanding power of the covenant of works, be ever 
 found transgressors of the law of that covenant, by any actual sin of 
 their own, nor be bound over anew under the covenant-curse thereby. 
 
 The covenant of works, it is true, is, by the fall, weak and ineffectual, 
 as a covenant, to give us life, by reason of our weakness and disability to 
 fulfil it, being antecedently sinners, and obnoxious to its curse, which no 
 person can be, and yet at the same time have a right unto its promise. 
 Hence, for any to seek life and salvation by it now, is no other than to 
 labour after an impossibility ; yet does it nevertheless continue in full 
 force, as a law requiring of all sinners, while they continue in their natural 
 state, without taking hold, by faith, of Christ and the grace of the new 
 covenant; requiring of them, we say, personal and absolutely perfect obe- 
 dience, and threatening death upon every the least transgression. From 
 the commanding power of which law, requiring universal holiness in such 
 rigour, as that, on the least failure in substance, circumstance, or degree, 
 all is rejected, and we are determined transgressors of the whole law; be- 
 lievers, and they only, are freed, as we said above. " But to suppose a 
 person," says Dr. Owen, " by any means freed from the curse due unto sin, 
 and then to deny that, upon the performance of the perfect sinless obe- 
 dience which the law requires, he should have right to the promise of 
 life thereby, is to deny the truth of God, and to reflect dishonour upon his 
 justice. Our Lord himself was justified by the law; and it is immutably 
 true, that he who does the things of it, shall live in them." " It is true,'' 
 adds the same author, "that God did never formally and absolutely re- 
 new, or give again this law, as a covenant of works, a second time ; nor 
 was there any need that so he should do, unless it were declaratively only. 
 And so it was renewed at Sinai ; for the whole of it being an emanation 
 of eternal right and truth, it abides, and must abide in full force for ever. 
 Wherefore, it is only so far broke as a covenant, that all mankind having 
 sinned against the command of it, and so by guilt, with the impotency 
 to obedience, which ensued thereupon, defeated themselves of any inte- 
 rest in its promise, and possibility of attaining any such interest, they 
 cannot have any benefit by it. But as to its power to oblige all mankind 
 unto obedience, and the unchangeable truths of its promises and threat- 
 enings, it abides the same as it was from the beginning. The introducing 
 of another covenant, (adds he again on the same head,) inconsistent 
 with, and contrary to it, does not instantly free men from the law as a 
 covenant ; for, though a new law abrogates a former law inconsistent 
 with it, and frees all from obedience, it is not so in a covenant, which 
 operates not by sovereign authority, but becomes a covenant by consent 
 of them with whom it is made. So there is no freedom from the old 
 covenant, by the constitution of the new, till it be actually complied with.i 
 In Adam's covenant we must abide under obligation to duty and punish-' 
 ment, till by faith we be interested in the new. 
 
 From all which it appears to be no cogent reasoning to say, if the un- 
 believer be under the commanding power of the covenant of works, then 
 would he be under two opposite commands at once, viz. to seek a perfect 
 
334 APPENDIX. 
 
 righteousness in his own person, and to seek it also by faith in a surety ; 
 for, though the law requires of us now, both active and passive righteous- 
 ness in our own persons, and likewise, upon the revelation of Jesus Christ 
 in the Gospel, as Jehovah our righteousness, obliges us to believe in and 
 submit to him as such, yet, as it is in many other cases of duties, the law 
 requires both these of us, not in sensu composito, as they say, but in sensu 
 diviso. The law is content to sustain and hold for good the payment of 
 a reasonable surety, though itself provides none ; and wills us, being in- 
 solvent of ourselves, cheerfully, thankfully, and without delay, to accept 
 of the non-such favour offered unto us. But till the sinner, convinced 
 of his undoneness otherwise, accept of, use, and plead that benefit in his 
 own behalf, the law will, and does go on in its just demands and diligence 
 against him. Having never had pleasure in the sinful creature, by rea- 
 son of our unfaithfulness, it can easily admit of the marriage to another 
 husband, upon a lawful divorce, after fair count and reckoning, and full 
 satisfaction and separation made for all the invasions upon, and violations 
 of the first husband's honour; but, when the sinner, unwilling to hear of 
 any such motion, still cleaves to the law, its first husband, what wonder 
 the law in that case, go on to use the sinner as he deserves ? In short, 
 this pretended absurdity, at worst, amounts to no more than this, — Make 
 full payment yourself, or find me good and sufficient payment by a 
 surety, till which time I will continue to proceed against you, without 
 mitigation or mercy. Wherefore, the unbeliever is justly condemned by 
 the law, both because he did not continue in all things written in the 
 book of the law to do them, and because he did not believe on the name 
 ' of the Son of God. 
 
 Query VI. — // a sinner, being justified, has all things at once that is 
 necessary for salvation? And ^personal holiness, and progress in holy 
 obedience, is not necessary to a justified persons possession of glory, in 
 case of his continuing in life after his justification ? 
 
 ^,j^_ — The ground of this query, marked out to us, is, in these words 
 of holy Luther, — " For in Christ I have all things at once, neither need I 
 any thing more, that is necessary unto salvation." And to us it is evi- 
 dent, that this is the believer's plea, viz. Christ's most perfect obedience 
 to the law for him, in answer unto its demand of good works for obtain- 
 ing salvation, according to the tenor of the first covenant, which plea the 
 representation alleges to be cut off and condemned by the Act of Assem- 
 bly. But, without saying any thing of the old Popish reflection on the 
 doctrine of free justification by faith, without works, as it was taught by 
 Luther and other reformers, or the hardship of having this question put 
 to us, as if we had given ground of being suspected for enemies to Gos- 
 pel holiness, which our consciences bear us witness, is our great desire to 
 have advanced in ourselves and others, as being fully persuaded, that 
 without it neither they nor we shall see the Lord ; we answer to the first 
 ])art of the query — 
 
 That, since a justified person, being passed from death to life, trans- 
 lated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, 
 and blest with all the spiritual blessings in Christ, is, by virtue of his 
 union with him, brought into and secured in a state of salvation ; and 
 therefore, in the language of the Holy Ghost, actually, though not com- 
 pletely saved already; and since, in him, he has particularly a most per- 
 fect law-binding, and law-magnifying righteousness, redemption in his 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 blood, even the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, access, acceptance, 
 wisdom, sanctification, everlasting strength, and, in one word, an over- 
 flowing, ever-flowing fulness, from which, according to the order of the 
 covenant, he does, and shall receive whatever he wants ; hence, according 
 to the Scripture, in Christ all things are his and in hira he is complete./ 
 Considering, we say, these things, we think a justified person has in] 
 Christ at once all things necessary to salvation, though of himself he hasl 
 nothing. 
 
 To the second part of the query we answer, that personal holiness, and 
 justification, being inseparable in the believer, we are unwilling, so much 
 as the query does, to suppose their separation. Personal holiness we 
 reckon so necessary to the possession of glory, or to a state of perfect 
 holiness and happiness, as is the morning light to the noon-day warmth 
 and brightness, — as is a reasonable soul to a wise, healthy, strong, and 
 full grown man, — as an antecedent is to its consequent, — as a part is to 
 the whole ; for the difference betwixt a state of grace and of g\ory, we 
 take to be gradual only, according to the usual saying, " Grace is glory 
 begun, and glory grace in perfection." So necessary, again, as motion is 
 to evidence life, or in order to walking, not only habitual, but actual 
 holiness and progress in holy obedience, one continuing in life, we are 
 clear, are so necessary, that without the same none can see the Lord. 
 And as it is not only the believer's interest, but his necessary and indis- 
 pensable duty, to be still going on " from strength to strength, until he 
 appear before the Lord in Zion ;" so the righteous, we believe, " will 
 hold on his vv^ay, and he who is of clean hands will grow stronger and 
 stronger:' for though the believer's progress in holy obedience, by rea- 
 son of the many stops, interruptions, and assaults he frequently meets 
 with from Satan, the world, and in-dwelling corruption, is far from be- 
 ing alike at all times, yet " the path of the just," though he frequently 
 fall, will be " as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the 
 perfect day." Though he may, at times " become weary and faint in his 
 mind," yet shall he, by waiting on the Lord, " renew his strength, and 
 mount up as with eagles' wings," &c. But still the believer has all this 
 in and from Christ: for whence can our progress in holiness come, but 
 from the supply of his Spirit ? Our walking in holy obedience, and ever)' 
 good motion of ours, must be in him, and from him, who is the Way and 
 the Life, who is our head of influences, and the fountain of our strength, 
 and who " works in us both to will and to do." " Abide in me," says he, 
 *' and I in you. For without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide 
 not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." 
 
 But if the meaning of the quer)' be, of such a necessity of holy obedi- 
 ence, in order to the possession of glory, as imports any kind of casualty, 
 we dare not answer in the affirmative ; for we cannot look on personal 
 holiness, or good works, as properly federal and conditional means of ob- 
 taining the possession of heaven, though we own they are necessary to 
 make us meet for it. 
 
 Query VII. — Is preaching the necessity of a holy life, in order to the 
 obtaining of eternal haj)piness, of dangerous consequence to the doctrine of 
 free grace ? 
 
 Ans. — The last of the two clauses of the eighth act of Assembly, being 
 complained of in the representation, is the first and main ground of this 
 query. And ere we make answer to it, we crave leave to explain our- 
 selves more fully as to the offence we conceive to be given by that act ; 
 
336 APPENDIX. 
 
 namely, that, in opposition to, and in place of the believer's plea of 
 Christ's active righteousness, in answer to the law, demanding good 
 works, for obtaining salvation accordingto the tenor of the first covenant, 
 cut off, as we apprehend, by the fifth act ; ministers are ordered, in the 
 eighth act, to preach the necessity of our own personal holiness, in order 
 to the obtaining of everlasting happiness. As also, that our inherent 
 holiness seems to be put too much on the same foot, in point of necessity, 
 for obtaining everlasting happiness, with justification by the surety; 
 which the frame of the words, being as follows, will well admit, viz. " Of 
 free justification through our blessed Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, re- 
 ceived by faith alone ; and of the necessity of an holy life, in order to 
 the obtaining of everlasting happiness." Moreover, that the great fun- 
 damental of justification is laid down in such general terms, as adver- 
 saries will easily agree to, without mention of the surety's righteousness, 
 active or passive, or the imputation of either ; especially since a motion 
 in open Assembly for adding the iew, but momentous words,' — imputed 
 Hghteousness, was slighted. And, finally, that that act is so little adapted 
 to the end it is now given out to have been designed for, viz. — a testi- 
 mony to the supreme God of our glorious God and SaA'iour Jesus Christ, 
 and against Arianism, especially since not the least intimation or warn- 
 ing against that damnable heresy is to be found in the act itself, nor was 
 made to that Assembly, in passing of it. 
 
 To the query we answer, that we cordially and sincerely own a holy 
 life, or good works, necessary, as an acknowledgement of God's sove- 
 reignty, and in obedience to his command : for this is the will of God, 
 even our sanctification ; and, by a special ordination, he has appointed 
 believers to walk in them : necessary, for glorifying God before the world, 
 and showing the virtues of him who hath called us out of darkness into 
 his marvellous light : necessary, as being the end of our election, our re- 
 demption, effectual calling, and regeneration ; for " the Father chose us 
 in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy; 
 the Son gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, 
 and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works ;" and by 
 the Holy Spirit are we created in Christ Jesus unto them : necessary, as 
 expressions of our gratitude to our great Benefactor ; for being bought 
 with a price, we are no more our own, but henceforth, in a most peculiar 
 manner, bound, in our bodies and in our spirits, which are his, to glorify, 
 and by all possible ways, to testify our thanksgiving to our Lord Re- 
 deemer and Ransomer ; to him " who spared not his own Son, but gave 
 him up to the death for us all ;" to him " who humbled himself, and 
 became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, for us :" neces- 
 sary, as being the design, not only of the world, but of all ordinances and 
 providences ; even that as " he who has called us is holy, so we should 
 be holy in all manner of conversation : necessary, again, for evidencing 
 and confirnjing our faith, good works being the breath, the native off- 
 spring and issue of it : necessary, for making our calling and election 
 sure ; for they are, though they have no plea, yet a good evidence for 
 heaven, or an argument confirming our assurance and hope of salvation : 
 necessary, to the maintaining of inward peace and comfort, though not 
 as the ground and foundation, yet as effects, fruits, and concomitants of 
 faith : necessary, in order to our entertaining communion with God even 
 in this life; for, " if we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in 
 darkness, we lie, and do not the truth :" necessary, to the escaping of 
 judgments, and to the enjoyments of many promised blessings; particn- 
 
APPENDIX. 337 
 
 iarly there is a irecessity of order and method, that one be holy before he 
 can be admitted to see and enjoy God in heaven ; that being a disposing 
 mean, preparing for the salvation of it, and the king's highway chalked 
 out for the Redeemer to walk into the city: necessary, to adorn the Gos- 
 pel and grace our holy calling and profession : necessary, further, for the 
 edification, good, and comfort, of fellow-believers : necessary, to prevent 
 offence, and to stop the mouths of the wicked ; to win likewise the un- 
 believing, and to commend Christ and his ways to the consciences : neces- 
 sary, finally, for the establishment, security, and glory of churches and 
 nations. Though we firmly believe holiness necessary upon all these and 
 more accounts, and that the Christian ought to live in the continued ex- 
 ercise of Gospel repentance, which is one main constituent of Gospel holi- 
 ness, yet we dare not say a holy life is necessary in order to the obtaining 
 of eternal happiness ; for, to say nothing of the more gross sense of these 
 words, (manifestly injurious to the free grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 by faith in whose righteousness alone we are appointed to obtatin salva- 
 tion, from first to last,) which yet is obvious enough, though we are far 
 from imputing it to the Assembly ; we cannot, however they may be ex- 
 plained into an orthodox meaning, look upon them as wholesome words, 
 since they have at least an appearance of evil, being such a way of ex- 
 pression as Protestant churches and divines, knowing the strong natural 
 bias in all men towards seeking salvation, not by faith in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, but by works of righteousness done by themselves, and the danger 
 of symbolizing with Papists and other enemies of the grace of the Gospel, 
 have industriously shunned to use on that head ; they choosing rather to 
 call holiness and good works necessary duties of the persons justified and 
 ■saved, than conditions of salvation ; consequents and effects of salvation 
 already obtained, or antecedents, disposing and preparing the subject for 
 the salvation to be obtained, than any sort of causes, or proper means of 
 obtaining the possession of salvation ; which last honour, the Scripture, 
 for the high praise and glory of sovereign grace, seems to have reserved 
 peculiarly unto faith ; and rather to say, that holiness is necessary in them 
 that shall be saved, than necessary to salvation ; that we are saved, not 
 by good works, but rather to them, as fruits and effects of saving grace ; 
 or that holiness is necessary unto salvation, not so much as a mean to the 
 end, as a part of the end itself ; which part of our salvation is necessary, 
 to make us meet for the other that is yet behind. 
 
 Wherefore, since this way of speaking of holiness with respect to sal- 
 vation, is, we conc'eive, without warrant in the Holy Scripture, dissonant 
 from the doctrinal standards of our own and other reformed churches, as 
 well as from the chosen and deliberate speech of reformed divines treat- 
 ing on these heads; and since it being at best hut propositio male sonans, 
 may easily be mistaken, and afterwards improved, as a shade or vehicle, 
 for conveying corrupt sentiments, anent the influence of works upon sal- 
 vation ; we cannot but reckon preaching the necessity of holiness in such 
 terms to be of some dangerous consequence to the doctrine of free grace. 
 In which apprehension we are the more confirmed, that at this day the 
 doctrine ctf Christ, and his free grace, both as to the purity and efl&cacy 
 of the same, seems to be much on the wane, and Popery, with other dan- 
 gerous errors and heresies destructive of it, on the waxing ; which cer- 
 tainly calls aloud to the churches of Christ, and to his ministers in parti- 
 cular, for the more zeal, watchfulness, and caution, with reference to the 
 interests of truth ; and that especially at such a time, cum hereticis nee 
 nomina habeamtis communia, ne eorum errorifavere videamur. 
 
 Q 
 
338 APPENDIX. 
 
 If in any case, certainly in framing acts and standards of doctrine, there 
 is great need of delicacy in the choice of words ; for the words of the 
 Holy Ghost in Scripture, under which we include such as in meaning and 
 import are equivalent to them, being an ordinance of divine institution, 
 for preserving the truth of the Gospel, if these be once altered or varied, 
 all the wisdom and vigilance of men will be ineffectual to that end. And 
 it is well known, by costly experience to the churches of Christ, that 
 their falling in with the language or phrase of corrupt teachers, instead of 
 serving the interest of truth, which never looks so well as in its own 
 native simplicity, does but grieve the stable and judicious, stagger the 
 weak, betray the ignorant, and, instead of gaining, harden and open the 
 mouths of adversaries. And that it is said in a text, " They do it to ob- 
 tain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible," will not warrant the 
 manner of speech in the queiy ; for the word, in the original, signifies 
 only to receive or apprehend, being accordingly rendered in all Latin ver- 
 sions we have seen, and in our own translation in the verse immediately 
 preceding, viz. " One receiveth the prize ;" and though the word did 
 signify to obtain, in the most strict and proper sense, it could not make 
 for the purpose, unless it were meant of the believer's obtaining the in- 
 corruptible crown, not by faith, but by works. And that an ill chosen 
 word in a standard may prove more dangerous to the truth, than one not 
 so justly rendered in a translation, with several other things on this head, 
 might be made very evident, were it not that we have been, we fear, 
 tedious on it already. 
 
 Query VIII. Is knowledge, belief, and persuasion, that Christ died for 
 me, and that he is mine, and that whatever he did and suffered, he did and 
 suffered for me, the direct act of faith, whereby a sinner is united to 
 Christ, interested in him, instated in God's covenant of grace ? Or, is that 
 knowledge a persuasion included in the very essence of that justifying act 
 of faith? 
 
 Ans. The query, it is evident, exceedingly narrows the import and de- 
 sign of the Representation in the place referred to ; for there we assert 
 nothing positively concerning the passages relating to faith, but remon- 
 strate against condemning them, as what to us seemed to hurt the appro- 
 priating act of faith, and to fix a blot upon the Reformation, reformed 
 churches, and divines, who had generally taught concerning faith, as in 
 the condemned passages ; all which we might say, without determining 
 whether the persuasion spoke of in the query was the very direct and 
 formal act of justifying faith, yea or no. But now, since the query is 
 put so close, and since the matter in question is no other than the old 
 Protestant doctrine on that head, as we shall endeavour to make appear, if 
 the Reverend Commission, we humbly conceive, cannot take it amiss, 
 we, in the first place, inquire into the true sense and meaning of this way 
 of speaking of faith, that we are now questioned about. 
 
 The main of the condemned passages the query refers to, runs not in 
 the order therein set down, but as follows : " Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved ;" that is, " Be verily persuaded in your 
 heart that Christ Jesus is yours, and that you shall have life and salvation 
 by him ; that whatever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he did 
 it for you :" being in matter the same with what has been commonly 
 taught in the Protestant churches, and, in words of the renowned Mr. 
 John Rogers, of Dodham, (a man so noted for orthodoxy, holiness, and 
 the Lord's countenancing of his ministry, that no sound Protestants in 
 
 
APPENDIX. 339 
 
 Britain or Ireland, of what denomination soever, would, in the age wherein 
 he lived, have taken upon them to condemn as erroneous) definition of 
 faith, which we have as follows : " A particular persuasion of my heart 
 that Christ Jesus is mine, and that I shall have life and salvation by his 
 means ; that whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he 
 did it for me." Where one may see, though the difference in words be 
 almost none at all, yet it runs rather stronger with him than in the 
 Marrow. 
 
 In which account of saving faith, we have, first, the general nature of 
 it ; viz. a real persuasion, agreeing to all sorts of faith whatsoever ; for it 
 is certain, whatever one believes, he is verily persuaded of. More parti- 
 cularly, it is a persuasion in the heart, whereby it is distinguised from a 
 general, dead, and naked assent in the head, which one gives to things that 
 no way affect him, because he reckons they do not concern him. But 
 with the heart man believes here; "If thou believest with all thine 
 heart," says the Scripture. For as a man's believing in his heart the 
 dreadful tidings of the law, or its curse, imports not only an assent to 
 them as true, but a horror of them as evil ; so here, the being per- 
 suaded in one's heart of the glad tidings of the Gospel, bears not only 
 an assent unto them as true, but a relish of them as good. 
 
 Then we have the most special nature of it, viz. an appropriating per- 
 suasion, or a persuasion, with application to a person's self, that Christ is 
 his, &c. The particulars whereof are, first, that Christ is yours; the 
 ground of which persuasion is the offer and grant of Christ as a Saviour 
 in the word, to be believed in for salvation, by all to whom the Gospel is 
 made known. By which offer and setting forth of Christ as a Saviour, 
 though before we believe, we wanting union with him, have no actual or 
 saving interest in him, yet he is in some sense ours, namely, so as it is 
 lawful and warrantable for us, not for fallen angels, to take possession of 
 him and his salvation by faith ; without which, our common interest in 
 him as a Saviour, by virtue of the offer and grant in the word, will avail 
 us nothing. But though the call and offer of the Gospel, being really 
 particular, every one, both in point of duty and in point of interest, ought 
 to appropriate, apply, or make his own the thing offered by believing, 
 they having good and sufficient ground and warrant in the word so to do ; 
 yet is it either neglected and despised, or the truth and sincerity of it 
 suspected and called in question, until the Holy Spirit, by setting home 
 the word of the Gospel, with such a measure of evidence and power as is 
 effectual, satisfies the convinced sinner, that, with application to himself 
 in particular, " it is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that 
 Jesus Christ came to save sinners," and enables him to believe it. Thus 
 the persuasion of faith is begot, which is always proportioned to the 
 measure of evidence and power from above that sovereign grace is pleased 
 to put forth for working of it. 
 
 The next branch of the persuasion is, " That you shall have life and 
 salvation by him, namely, the life of holiness as well as of happiness ; 
 salvation from sin as well as from wrath, not in heaven only, but begun, 
 carried on here, and completed hereafter ; — the true notion of life and 
 salvation, according to the Scriptures, and as Protestant divines are wont 
 to explain it. Wherefore this persuasion of faith is inconsistent with an 
 unwillingness to part with sin, a bent or purpose of heart to continue in 
 it. There can be little question, we apprehend, whether this branch of 
 the persuasion belongs to the nature of justifying faith; for salvation 
 being above all things in a sensible sinner's eye, he can never believe any 
 
 Q 2 
 
340 APPENDIX. 
 
 tiling to his satisfaction, without he sees ground to believe comfortably 
 concerning it. Few therefore will, we conceive, differ from Dr. Collins, 
 laying it down as a conclusion on this very head, namely, that " a Chris- 
 tian cannot have true, saving, justifying faith, unless he doth, (I do not 
 say, unless he think he doth, or unless he saith he doth, but, unless, he 
 doth) believe, and is persuaded that God will pardon his sins." Further, 
 this being a believing on the Son for life and salvation, is the same with 
 receiving of him, (as this last is explained by the Holy Spirit himself, 
 John i. 12,) and likewise evidently bears the soul's resting on Christ for 
 salvation ; for it is not possible to conceive a soul resting on Christ 
 for salvation, without a persuasion that it shall have life and salva- 
 tion by him, namely, a persuasion of the same measure and degree as 
 resting is. 
 
 The third branch of the persuasion, " that whatsoever Christ did for 
 the redemption of mankind, he did it for you," — being much the same, 
 in other words, with these of the apostle — " Who loved me, and gave 
 himself for me ;" and coming in the last place, we think none will ques- 
 tion but whosoever believes, in the manner before explained, may and 
 ought to believe this in the like measure and in the same order. And 
 it is certain, all who receive and rest on Christ for salvation, believe it, if 
 not explicitly, yet virtually and really. 
 
 Now, as this account of justifying faith runs in terms much less strong 
 than those of many eminent divines, who used to define it by a persua- 
 sion of God's love, of his special mercy to one's self, of the remission of 
 his sins, &c ; so it is the same for substance and matter, though the 
 words be not the same with that of our Shorter Catechism, viz. " A re- 
 ceiving and resting upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is offei-ed to us 
 in the Gospel :" where it is evident the offer of Christ to us, though 
 mentioned in the last place, is to be believed first ; for till the soul be 
 persuaded that Christ crucified is in the Gospel set forth, offered, and ex- 
 liibited to it as if expressed by name, there can be no believing on him. 
 And when the offer is brought home to a person by the Holy Ghost, there 
 will be a measure of persuasion that Christ is his, as above explained. 
 And that receiving, or believing in, and resting on him for salvation, can- 
 not be without some measure of persuasion that one shall have life and 
 salvation by him, was said already. But more directly to the query. 
 
 We answer, 1st, Since our reformers and their successors, such as 
 Luther, Calvin, Melencthon, Beza, Bullinger, Bucer, Knox, Craig, Mel- 
 vil, Bruce, Davidson, Forbes, &c., — men eminently endowed with the spi- 
 rit of truth, and who fetch their notions of it immediately from the foun- 
 tain of the Holy Scripture ; the most eminent doctors and professors of 
 theology that have been in the Protestant churches, such as Ursinas, 
 Zanchius, Junius, Piscator, RoUock, Danaus, Wendelinus, Chamierus, 
 Sharpius, Bodius, Parens, Altingius, Triglandii, (Gisbertus and Jacobus) 
 Arnoldus, Maresius; the four professors of Leyden, viz. Wallaus, Rive- 
 tus, Polyander, Thysius ; Wollebius, Heidegerus, Essenius, Turrentinus, 
 SiC. ; with many eminent British divines, such as Perkins, Pemble, Wil- 
 let. Gouge, Roberts, Burgess, Owen, &c. ; the churches themselves of 
 Helvetia, the Palatinate, France, Holland, England, Ireland, Scotland, in 
 their standards of doctrine ; all the Lutheran churches, who, in point of 
 orthodoxy on the head of justification and faith, are second to none; the 
 renowned synod of Dort, made up of eminent divines, called and com- 
 missionate from seven reformed states and kingdoms, besides those of 
 the several provinces of the Netherlands ; since these, we say, all of them 
 
APPENDIX. 341 
 
 stand for that S'pecial Jiducia, confidence, or appropriating persuasion of 
 faith spoken of in the condemned passages of the Marrow, upon which 
 this query is raised ; the synod of Dort, besides the minds of the several 
 delegates on this head, in their several suffrages anent the Five Articles, 
 declaring themselves plainly both in their final decisions concerning the 
 said articles, and in their solemn and ample approbation of the Palatine 
 Catechism, as agreeable to the word of God in all things, and as con- 
 taining nothing that ought either to be altered or amended ; which Cate- 
 chism being full and plain as to this persuasion of faith, has been com- 
 mented upon by many great divines, received by most of all the reformed 
 churches, as a most excellent compend of the orthodox Christian doc- 
 trine, and particularly by the Church of Scotland, as the Rev. Mr. Robert 
 Wodrow lately told his Majesty King George, in the dedication of his 
 history ; and since we, with this whole church and nation are, by virtue 
 of the awful tie of the oath of God in our national covenant, bound ever 
 to abhor and detest the Popish general and doubtsome faith, with all the 
 erroneous decrees of Trent ; among which, in opposition to the special 
 fiducia of faith therein condemned this is established ; being by Protest- 
 ants, so called, mainly for their denying and opposing the confidence and 
 persuasion of faith, with application to one's self, now in question ; by 
 which renunciation our forefathers, no doubt, pointed at, and asserted to 
 be held and professed as God's undoubted truth and verity, that particu- 
 lar and confident, or assured faith, then commonly known and maintained 
 in this Church, as standing plain and express in her standards, to the 
 profession and defence of which they in the same covenant promising and 
 swearing by the great name of the Lord our God, bound themselves 
 and us : and since the same persuasion of faith, however the way of speak- 
 ing on that head is come to be somewhat altered, was never by any judi- 
 catory of a reformed Church, until now, denied or condemned : considering 
 all these things, we say, and of what dangerous consequence such a judi- 
 cial alteration may be, we cannot, we dare not consent unto the condemna- 
 tion of that point of doctrine ; for we cannot think of charging error and 
 delusion in a matter of such importance upon so many Protestant divines, 
 eminent for holiness and learning ; upon the Protestant churches ; and 
 upon our own forefathers, so signally owned of the Lord ; and also on 
 the standards of Protestant doctrine, in this church, for nigh an hundred 
 years after her reformation : else, if we should thus speak, we are per- 
 suaded we would offend against the generation of his children. Nor can 
 it ever enter into our minds, that the famous Assembly of Westminster 
 had it so much as once in their thought, to depart in this point from the 
 doctrine of their own, and of this church, which they were all of them 
 by the strongest ties bound to maintain ; or to go off from the synod of 
 Dort, which had but so lately before them settled the Protestant principles 
 as to doctrine ; and by so doing yield up to Socinians, Arminians, and 
 Papists, what all of them have a mortal aversion to, namely, the special 
 fiducia, or appropriating persuasion of faith, which Protestant divines 
 before and since that time contended for to their utmost, as being not 
 only a precious truth, but a point of vast consequence to religion. And 
 we are sure, the Assemblies of this Church understood, and received 
 their confessions and catechisms larger and shorter, as entirely consis- 
 tent with our confessions and catechisms before that time, as we have 
 already made evident in our representation, from the acts of Assembly 
 receiving and approving the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. 
 
 Answer 2d, It is to be considered, that most of the words of the Holy 
 Ghost, made use of in the Old and New Testament, for expressing the 
 
342 APPENDIX. 
 
 nature of faith and believing, do import the confidence or persuasion in 
 question ; and that confidence and trust in the Old Testament are ex- 
 pounded by faith and believing in the New ; and the same things attri- 
 buted to the latter, as were wont to be attributed to the former; that 
 diffidence and doubting are in their nature acts and effects contrary to 
 faith; that peace and joy are the native effects of believing; that'tlie 
 promises of the Gospel, and Christ in his priestly office therein held forth, 
 are the proper objects of justifying faith ; that, faithfulness in God, and 
 faith in the believer, being relatives, and the former the ground of the 
 latter, our faith should answer to his faithfulness, by trusting his good 
 word of promise for the sake of it ; that it is certain a believer in the ex- 
 ercise of justifying faith does believe something with reference to his own 
 salvation, upon the ground of God's faithfulness in the promise ; that no 
 other person whatsoever does or can believe ; which if it be not to this 
 purpose, that now Christ is and will be a Saviour to him, that he shall 
 have life and salvation by him, we are utterly at a loss to conceive what 
 it can be ; that persuasion, confidence, and assuredness, are so much at- 
 tributed to faith in the Scripture, and the saints in Scripture ordinarily 
 express themselves in their addresses to God in words of appropriation ; 
 and finally, that according to our Larger Catechism, faith justifies a sinner 
 in the sight of God, as an instrument, receiving and applying Christ, and 
 his righteousness held forth in the promise of the Gospel, and resteth 
 thereupon for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting one's per- 
 son righteous before God for salvation; the which, how faith can do without 
 some measure of the confidence, or appropriating persuasion we are now 
 upon, seems extreme hard to conceive. Upon these considerations, and 
 others too long to be here inserted, we cannot but think, that confidence, 
 or trust in Jesus Christ, as our Saviour, and the free grace and mercy of 
 God in him as crucified, offered to us in the Gospel for salvation (includ- 
 ing justification, sanctification, and future glory,) upon the ground and 
 security of the divine faithfulness plighted in the Gospel promise ; and 
 upon the warrant of the divine call and command to believe in the name 
 of the Son of God ; or, which is the same, in other words, a persuasion 
 of life and salvation, from the free love and mercy of God, in and through 
 Jesus Christ, a crucified Saviour offered to us, upon the security and 
 warrant aforesaid, is the very direct, uniting, justifying, and appropria- 
 ting act of faith, whereby the convinced sinner becomes possessed of 
 Christ and his saving benefits, instated in God's covenant and family ; 
 taking this always along, as supposed, that all is set home and wrought 
 by the Holy Spirit, who bring Christ, his righteousness, salvation, and 
 whole fulness, nigh to us in the promise and offer of the Gospel ; clearing 
 at the same time our right and warrant to intermeddle with all, without 
 fear of vitious intromission, encouraging and enabling to a measure of 
 confident application, and taking home of all to ourselves freely, without 
 money and without price. 
 
 This confidence, persuasion, or whatever other name it may be called 
 by, we take to be the very same with what our Confessions and Cate- 
 chisms call accepting, receiving, and resting on Christ offered in the 
 Gospel for salvation ; and with what polemic and practical divines call 
 " Mducia specialis misercordicp," "fiducial application," " fiducial appre- 
 hension," " fiducial adherence," " recumbence," " affiance," " fiducial ac- 
 quiescence," "appropriating persuasion," &c. All which, if duly ex- 
 plained, would issue in a measure of tliis confidence or persuasion we 
 have been speaking of. However, we are fully satisfied this is what our 
 fathers and the body of Protestant divines, speaking with the Scriptures, 
 
APPENDIX. 343 
 
 called " the assurance of faith." That once burning and shining light of 
 this church, Mr. John Davidson, though in his Catechism he defines 
 faith by a ** hearty assurance" that our sins are freely forgiven us in 
 Christ ; or, a pure persuasion of the heart that Christ by his death and 
 resurrection hath taken away our sins, and clothing us with his own per- 
 fect righteousness, has thoroughly restored us to the favour of God ; which 
 he reckoned all one with a " hearty receiving of Christ offered in the Gos- 
 pel for the remission of sins ;" yet in a former part of the same Catechism 
 he gives us to understand what sort of assurance and persuasion it was 
 he meant, as follows : " And certain it is," he says, " that both the en- 
 lightening of the mind to acknowledge the truth of the promise of salva- 
 tion to us in Christ, and the sealing up of the certainty thereof in our hearts 
 and minds, (of the which two parts, as it were, faith consists,) are the 
 works and effects of the Spirit of God." In like manner, in our first 
 Confession of Faith, Art. 3. 12, it is called, " An assured faith in the pro- 
 mise of God, revealed to us in his word ; by which faith we apprehend 
 Christ Jesus, with the graces and benefits promised in him." — "This 
 faith, and the assurance of the same, proceeds not from flesh and blood." 
 And in our first Catechism, commonly called Calvin's Catechism, faith i 
 is defined by a " sure persuasion" and " steadfast knowledge" of God's 
 tender love towards us, according as he has plainly uttered in his Gospel, 
 that he will be a Father and Saviour to us, through the means of Jesus 
 Christ. And again, faith which God's Spirit worketh in our hearts, as- 
 suring of God's promises made to us in his holy Gospel. In the Sum- 
 mula Catechismi, or Rudimenta Pietatis, to the question, " Quid est 
 fides.'" the answer is, "Cum mihi persuadio deum me omnesque sanctos 
 amare, nobisque Christum cum omnibus suis bonis gratis donare ;" and 
 in the margin, "Nam in fide duplex persuasio, 1. De amare Dei erga, 
 nos; 2. De Dei beneficiis quae examore fiuunt, Christo nimirum, cum 
 omnibus sui bonis," &c. And to that question, " Quomodo fide percipi- 
 mus, et nobis applicaraus corpus Christi crucifixi.'" the answer is, "Duni 
 nobis persuademus Christi mortem et crucifixionem non minus ad nos 
 pertinere quam si ipsi nos pro peccatis nostris crucifixi essemus. Per- 
 suasio autem haec est verae fidei." From all which it is evident, they 
 held, that a belief of the promises of the Gospel, with application to one- 
 self, or a confidence in a crucified Saviour, for a man's own salvation, is 
 the very essence of justifying faith ; or, that we become actually pos- 
 sessed of Christ, remission of sins, &c., in and by the act of believing, or 
 confidence in him, as above explained. And this with them was the as- 
 surance of faith, which widely differs from the Antinomian sense of the 
 assurance or persuasion of faith, which is, that Christ, and pardon of sin, 
 are ours, no less before believing than after ; a sense which we heartily 
 disclaim. 
 
 Whether these words in the query, viz. " Or, is that knowledge a per- 
 suasion included in the very essence of that justifying act of faith ;" be 
 exegetic of the former part of it, or a new branch of the query ; we an- 
 swer, that we have already explained the persuasion of faith by us held 
 and do think, that in the language of faith, though not in the language 
 of philosophy, knowledge, and persuasion, relating to the same object, 
 go hand in hand in the same measure and degree. 
 
 It is evident that the confidence or persuasion of faith for which we 
 plead, includes, or necessarily and infallibly infers consent and resting, 
 together with all the blessed fruits and effects of faith, in proportion to 
 the measure of it. And that we have mentioned consent, we cannot but 
 
344 APPENDIX. 
 
 be the more confirmed in this matter, when we consider, that such a 
 noted person as Mr. Baxter, though he had made the marriage consent 
 to Christ, as King and Lord, the formal act of justifying faith, as being- 
 an epitome of all Gospel obedience, including and binding to all the du- 
 ties of the married state, and so giving right to all the privileges : and 
 had thereby, as well as by his other dangerous notions about justification, 
 and other points connected therewith, scattered through bis works, cor- 
 rupted the fountain, and endangered the faith of many ; yet, after all, 
 came to be of another mind, and had the humility to tell the world so 
 much ; for Mr. Cross informs us (Serm. on Rom. iv. 2. p. 148,) that Mr, 
 Baxter, in his little book against Dr. Crisp's errors, says, " I formerly be- 
 lieved the formal nature of faith to lie in consent^ but now I recant it. 
 I believe," says he, " it lies in trust : this makes the right to lie in the 
 object ; for it is, I depend on Christ as the matter or merit of my pardon, 
 my life, my crown, my glory." 
 
 There are two things further, concerning this persuasion of faith, that 
 would be adverted to : one is, that it is not axiomatical, but real ; that 
 is, the sinner has not always, at his first closing with Christ, nor after- 
 wards, such a clear, steady, and full persuasion that Christ is his, that his 
 sins are forgiven, and he eventually shall be saved, as that he dare pro- 
 fess the same to others, or even positively assert it within himself; yet^ 
 upon the first saving manifestation of Christ to him, such a persuasion 
 and humble confidence is begotten, as is real and believing, and particu- 
 lar as to himself and his own salvation, and which works a proportion- 
 able hope as to the issue ; though, through the humbling impressions he 
 has of himself and his own guilt at the time, the awe of God's majesty,, 
 justice, and holiness on his spirit, and his indistinct knowledge of the 
 doctrine of the Gospel, with the grounds and warrants of believing there- 
 in contained, he fears to express it directly and particularly of himself. 
 The other is, that whatever is said of the habit, actings, strength, weak- 
 ness, and intermittings of the exercise of saving faith, the same is to be 
 said of this persuasion in all points. From all which it is evident, the 
 doubts, fears, and darkness, so frequently to be found in true believers, 
 can very well consist with this persuasion in the same subject ; for though 
 these may be, and often are in the believer, yet they are not of his faith, 
 which in its nature and exercise is as opposite to them as light is to dark~ 
 ness, the flesh to the Spirit ; which though they be in the same subject, 
 yet are contrary the one to the other. Gal. v. 17. And, therefore, faith 
 wrestles against them, though with various success, it being sometimes- 
 so far overcome and brought under by the main force and much superior 
 strength of prevailing unbelief, that it cannot be discerned more than 
 the fire is when covered with ashes, or the sun when wrapt up in thick 
 clouds. The confidence and persuasion of faith being in many, at first 
 especially, but as the grain of mustard-seed cast into the ground, or like 
 a spark amidst the troubled sea of all manner of corruption and lust, 
 where the rolling waves of unbelieving doubts and fears, hellish tempta- 
 tions and suggestions, and the like, moving on the face of that depth, are 
 every now and then going over it; and, were there not a divine hand and care 
 engaged for its preservation, would effectually extinguish and bury it. 
 What wonder that in such a case it many times cannot be discerned? yet 
 will it still hold so much of the exercise of justifying faith, so much per- 
 suasion. Yea, not only may a believer have this persuasion and not 
 know it for the time, (as say Collins, Roberts, Amesius, and others, who 
 distinguish the persuasion from the sense of it,) but he, being under the 
 
APPENDIX. Mb 
 
 power of temptation and confusion of mind, may resolutely deny he has 
 any such persuasion or conscience ; while it is evident to others at the 
 same time, by its effects, that he really has it : for which, one may, among 
 others, see the holy and learned Haliburton, in his " Inquiry into the 
 Nature of God's Act of Justification," p. 27. And if one would see the 
 consistence of faith's persuasion with doubting, well discoursed and il- 
 lustrated, he may consult Downham's " Christian Warfare." But we — 
 Answer, Sdli/, There is a full persuasion and assurance, by reflection, 
 spiritual argumentation, or inward sensation, which we are far from 
 holding to be of the essence of faith ; but this last, being mediate, and 
 collected by inference, as we gather the cause from such signs and effects 
 as give evidence of it, is verj- different from that confidence or persuasion, 
 by divines called the assurance of faith. " Sanctification," says Ru- 
 therford, "does not evidence justification, as faith doth evidence it, 
 with such a sort of clearness, as light evidenceth colours, though it be no 
 sign or evident mark of them ; but as smoke evinces fire, and as the 
 morning star in the east evinces the sun will early rise, or as the streams 
 prove there is a head-spring whence they issue, though none of these 
 make what they evidence visible to the eye ; so doth sanctification give 
 evidence of justification, only as marks, signs, effects, give evidence to 
 the cause." He calls it a light of arguing and of heavenly logic, by which 
 we know that we know God, by the light of faith, because we keep his 
 commandments. . " In effect," says he, " we know rather the person 
 must be justified, in whom these gracious evidences are, by hearsay re- 
 port or consequence, than that we know or see justification, or faith it- 
 self, in abstracto ; but the light of faith, the testimony of the Spirit by 
 the operation of free grace, will cause us, as it were, with our eyes, to see 
 justification and faith, not by report, but as we see the sun-light." Again 
 he says, '* We never had a question with Antinomians touching the first 
 assurance of justification, such as is proper to the light of faith. He 
 (Cornwall) might have spared all his arguments to prove that we are 
 first assured of our justification by faith, not by good works, for we grant 
 the arguments of one sort of assurance, which is proper to faith, and 
 they prove nothing against another sort of assurance, by signs and ef- 
 fects, which is also divine." Further, as to the difference between these 
 two kinds of assurance : the assurance of faith has its object and founda- 
 tion without the man, but that of sense has them ivith'm him. The as- 
 surance of faith looks to Christ, the promise and covenant of God, and 
 says, " This is all my salvation ; God has spoken in his holiness, I will 
 rejoice ;" but the assurance of sense looks inward at the works of God, 
 such as the person's own graces, attainments, experiences, and the like. 
 The assurance of faith giving an evidence to things not seen, can claim 
 an interest in, and plead a saving relation to a hiding, withdrawing God. 
 Zion said, " My Lord hath forgotten me ;" and the spouse, " I opened to 
 my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone." So 
 he may be a forgetting and withdrawing God to my feeling, " and yet to 
 my faith, my God and my Lord still," says holy Rutherford ; " even as 
 the wife may believe the angry and forsaking husband is still her hus- 
 band." But, on the other hand, the assurance of sense is the evidence 
 of things seen and felt. The one says, " I take him for mine ;" the 
 other says, "I feel he is mine." The one says with the church, "My 
 God, though he cover himself with a cloud, that my prayer cannot pass 
 through, yet will hear me ;" the other, " My God has heard me." The 
 one says, " He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his 
 
346 APPENDIX, 
 
 righteousness ;" the other, "He has brought me forth to the light, and I 
 do behold his righteousness." The one says, " Though he should kill 
 me, yet will I trust in him ;" the other, " He smiles and shines on me, 
 therefore, will I love him and trust in him." 
 
 Upon the whole, we humbly conceive, were the nature and grounds of 
 faith's persuasion more narrowly and impartially under the guidance of 
 the Spirit of truth, searched into and laid open, it would^ instead of dis- 
 couraging weak Christians, exceedingly tend to the strengthening and 
 increase of faith, and consequently have a mighty influence on spiritual 
 comfort, and true Gospel holiness, which will always be found to bear 
 proportion to faith, as effects do to the efficacy and influence of their 
 causes. 
 
 Query IX. — Wfiat is that act of faith, hy which a sinner appropriates 
 Christ and his saving benefits to himself^ 
 
 Am. — Tiiis question being plainly and fully answered in what is said 
 on the immediately foregoing, we refer thereto, and proceed to the tenth. 
 
 Query X. — Whether the revelation of the Divine ivill in the word, 
 affording a warrant to offer Christ imto all, and a warrant to all to re- 
 ceive him, can he said to he the Father's making a deed of gift and grant 
 (f Christ unto all mankind ? Is this grant made to all mankitid by sove- 
 reign grace ? And whether is it absolute or conditional ? 
 
 Alls. — Here we are directed to that part of our representation where 
 we' complain that the following passage is condemned, viz. " The Father 
 hath made a deed of gift or grant unto all mankind, that whosoever of 
 them shall believe in his Son, shall not perish ;" and where we say, 
 " That this treatment of the said passage seems to encroach on the war- 
 rants aforesaid, and also upon sovei-eign grace, which hath made this 
 grant, not to devils, but to men, in terms than which none can be ima- 
 gined more extensive ;" agreeable to what we have already said in our 
 representation. We answer to the first part of the question, that by the 
 "deed of gift or grant unto all mankind," we understand no more than 
 the revelation of the Divine will in the word, affording warrant to offer 
 Christ to all, and a warrant to all to receive him ; for although we believe 
 the purchase and application of redemption to be peculiar to the elect, 
 who were given by the Father to Christ in the counsel of peace, yet the 
 warrant to receive him is common to all. Ministers, by virtue of the 
 commission they have received from their great Lord and Master, are 
 authorised and instructed to go preach the Gospel to every creature, i. e. 
 to make a full, free, and unhampered offer of him, his grace, righteous- 
 ness, and salvation, to every rational soul to whom they may in provi- 
 dence have access to speak. And though we had a voice like a trumpet, 
 that could reach all the corners of the earth, we think we would be bound, 
 by virtue of our commission, to lift it up, and say, " To you, O men, do 
 we call, and our voice is to the sons of men. God hath so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in 
 liim should not perish, but have everlasting life." And though this 
 " deed of gift and grant, that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not 
 perish," &c. is, neither in our representation, nor in the passages of the 
 book condemned on that head, called a " deed of gift, and grant of 
 (Jhrist," yet, being required to give our judgment in this point, we think, 
 that agreeable to the Holy Scripture, it may be so called, as particularly 
 appears fronj the text last cited, John iii. IG, where, by the giving of 
 
APPENDIX. 347 
 
 Christ, we understand not only his eternal destination by the Father to 
 be the Redeemer of an elect world, and his giving him unto the death 
 for them, in the fulness of time, but more especially a giving of him in 
 the word unto all, to be received and believed in. The giving here can- 
 not be a giving in possession, which is peculiar only unto them who actu- 
 ally believe, but it must be such a giving, granting, or offering, as war- 
 rants a man to believe or receive the gift, and must therefore be anterior 
 to actual believing. This is evident enough from the text itself : he gave 
 him, " that whosoever believeth in him should not perish," &c. The con- 
 text also, to us, puts it beyond controversy : the brazen serpent was 
 given, and lifted up as a common good to the whole camp of Israel, that 
 whosoever in all the camp, being stung by the fiery-serpents, looked 
 thereunto, might not die, but live. So here Christ is given to a lost 
 world, in the word, " that whosoever believes in him should not perish," 
 &c. And in this respect, we think, Christ is a common Saviour, and his 
 salvation is a common salvation ; and it is " glad tidings of great joy 
 unto all people," that unto us (not to angels that fell,) this Son is given, 
 and this Child is born, whose name is called Wonderful, &c. Isa. ix. 6. 
 
 We have a Scripture also to this purpose, John vi. 32, where Christ, 
 speaking to a promiscuous multitude, makes a comparison between him- 
 self and the manna that fell about the tents of Israel in the wilderness, 
 says, " My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven." As the 
 simple raining of the manna about their camp is called a giving of it, 
 (ver. 31,) before it was tasted, or fed upon ; so the very revelation and 
 offer of Christ is called (according to the judicious Calvin on the place) 
 a giving of him, ere he be received and believed on. 
 
 Of this giving of Christ to mankind lost, we read also, 1 John v. 11, 
 " And this is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal life, and 
 this life is in his Son." This giving in the text is not, we conceive, a 
 giving in possession, in greater or lesser measure, but a giving by way of 
 grant and offer, whereupon one may warrantably take possession, and 
 the party to whom is not the election only, but lost mankind ; for the 
 record of God here must be such a thing as warrants all to believe on 
 the Son of God. But it can be no such warrant to tell, " that God hath 
 given eternal life to the elect ;" for the making of a gift to a certain 
 select company of persons, can never be a warrant for all men to receive 
 or take possession of it. This will be further evident, if we consider that 
 the great sin of unbelief lies in not believing this record of God, — " He 
 that believes not hath made God a liar," says the apostle, ver. 10, " be- 
 cause he believes not the record that God gave of his Son ;" and then it 
 followeth, ver. 11, " And this is the record, that God hath given to us 
 eternal life," &c. Now, are we to think that the rejecting of the record 
 of God is a bare disbelieving of this proposition, " That God hath given 
 eternal life unto the elect ?" No, surely ; for the most desperate unbe- 
 lievers, such as Judas and others, believe this ; and their belief of it adds 
 to their anguish and torment. Or do they, by believing this, set to their 
 seal that God is true ? No ; they still continue, notwithstanding of all 
 this, to make him a liar, in " not believing this record of God," that to 
 lost mankind, and to themselves in particular, God hath given eternal 
 life, by way of grant, so as they, as well as others, are warranted and 
 welcome ; and every one to whom it comes, on their peril, required by 
 faith to receive or take possession of it. By not receiving this gifted and 
 offered remedy, with application and appropriation, they fly in the face 
 of God's record and testimony ; and therefore do justly and deservedly 
 
 i 
 
348 APPENDIX. 
 
 perish, seeing the righteousness, salvation, and kingdom of God, was 
 brought so near to them, in the free offer of the Gospel, and yet they 
 would not take it. The great pinch and strait, we think, of an awakened 
 conscience, does not lie in believing that God hath given eternal life to 
 the elect, but in believing or receiving Christ, offered to us in the Gospel, 
 with particular application to the man himself, in Scripture called " an 
 eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of the Son of man." And yet, 
 till this difficulty be surmounted, in greater or lesser measure, he can 
 never be said to believe in Christ, or receive and rest upon him for salva- 
 tion. The very taking or receiving must needs presuppose a giving of 
 Christ ; and this giving may be, and is, for the most part, where there is 
 no receiving ; but there can be no receiving of Christ for salvation where 
 there is not revelation of Christ in the word of the Gospel, affording war- 
 rant to receive him, and then, by the effectual operation of the Spirit, 
 persuading and enabling the sinner to embrace him upon this warrant 
 and offer. " A man," says the Spirit of God, John iii. 27, " can receive 
 nothing, except it be given him from heaven." Hence Mr. Rutherford, 
 in his " Christ Dying and Drawing," &c. page 442, says, that " repro- 
 bates have as fair a warrant to believe as the elect have." 
 
 As the second part of this question, i. e. " Is this grant made to all 
 mankind by sovereign grace ? and, Whether is it absolute or condi- 
 tional ?" we answer, that this grant, made in common to lost mankind, 
 is from sovereign grace only ; and it being ministers' warrant to offer 
 Christ unto all, and people's warrant to receive him, it cannot fail to 
 be absolutely free ; yet so as none can be possessed of Christ and his 
 benefits, till by faith they receive him. 
 
 Query XI. — Is the division of the law, as explained and applied in 
 the Marroiv, to be justified, and which cannot be rejected ivithout burying 
 several Gospel truths ? 
 
 Am. — We humbly judge the tripartite division of the law, if rightly 
 understood, may be admitted as orthodox ; yet, seeing that which we are 
 concerned with, as contained in our representation, is only the division of 
 the law into the law of works and the law of Christ, we say, that we are 
 still of opinion, that this description of the law is carefully to be main- 
 tained ; in regard that by the law of works we, according to the Scripture, 
 understand the covenant of works, which believers are wholly and alto- 
 gether delivered from, although they are certainly under the law of the 
 ten commandments in the hand of a Mediator. And if this distinction 
 of the law, thus applied, be overthrown, and declared groundless, several 
 sweet Gospel-truths must unavoidably fall in the ruins of it. For in- 
 stance, if there be no difference put between the law as a covenant, and the 
 law as a rule of life to believers, in the hand of Christ, it must needs 
 follow, that the law still retains its covenant- form with respect to be- 
 lievers, and that they are still under the law in this formality, contrary 
 to Scripture, Rom. vi. 14, and vii. 1 — 3, and to the Confession of Faith, 
 chap. xix. sect. 6. It would also follow, that the sins of believers are 
 still to be looked upon as breaches of the covenant of works, and con- 
 sequently, that their sins not only deserve the wrath and curse of God, 
 (which is a most certain truth) but also n)akes them actually liable to 
 the wrath of God, and the pains of hell for ever, which is true only of 
 them that are in a state of black nature ; Less. Cat. quest. 19, and con- 
 trary to Confess, of Faith, chap. xix. sect. 1. It will likewise follow, 
 that believers are still to eye God as a vindictive and wrathful Judge, 
 
APPENDIX. 349 
 
 though his justice be fully satisfied in the death and blood of their blessed 
 Surety, apprehended by faith. These and many other sweet Gospel 
 truths, we think, fall in the ruins of the foresaid distinction condemned 
 as groundless. 
 
 Query XII. — Is the hope of heaven and fear of hell to he excluded 
 from the motives of the believer's obedience? And if not, how can the 
 Marroiv be defended, that expressly excludes them, though it should allotv 
 of other motives ? 
 
 Ans. — Here we are referred to the third particular head, wherein we 
 think the Marrow injured by the Assembly's act, which for brevity's sake 
 we do not transcribe : but agreeable both to our representation and the 
 scope of the Marrow, we answer, That taking heaven for a state of end- 
 less felicity in the enjoyment of God in Christ, we are so far from think- 
 ing that this is to be excluded from being a motive of the believer's obe- 
 dience, that we think it the chief end of man, next to the glory of God ; 
 Psalm Ixxiii. 25, " Whom have I in heaven but thee .'" &c. Heaven, in- 
 stead of being a reward to the believer, would be a desolate wilderness to 
 him, without the enjoyment of a God in Christ. The Lord and the 
 Lamb are the light of that place. God himself is the portion of his peo- 
 ple ; he is their sheild and exceeding great reM'ard. The very cope-stone 
 of the happiness of heaven lies in being " for ever with the Lord, and in 
 beholding of his glory ;" and this indeed the believer is to have in his eye, 
 as the recompence of reward, and a noble motive of obedience. But to 
 form conceptions of heaven as a place of pleasure and happiness, without ., 
 the former views of it, and to fancy that heaven is to be obtained by our ' 
 own works and doings, is unworthy of a believer, a child of God, in re 
 gard it is slavish, legal, mercenary, and carnal. 
 
 As for the fear of hell being a motive of the believer's obedience, we 
 reckon it one of the special branches of that glorious liberty wherewith 
 Christ hath made his people free, that they yield obedience to the Lord, 
 not out of slavish fear of hell and wrath, but out of a child-like love and 
 willing mind. Confess, chap. xx. sect. 6". " Christ hath delivered us out 
 of the hands of our enemies, that we might serve him without fear, in 
 holiness and righteousness, all the days of our lives," Luke i. 74, 75. A 
 filial fear of God and of his fatherly displeasure, is worthy of the believer, 
 being a fruit of faith, and of the spirit of adoption ; but a slavish fear of 
 hell and wrath, from which he is delivered by Christ, is not a fruit of 
 faith, but of unbelief. And in so far as a believer is not drawn with love, 
 but driven on in his obedience with a slavish fear of hell, we think him, 
 in so far, under a spirit of bondage. And judging this to be the Mar- 
 row's sense of rewards and punishments with respect to a believer, we 
 think it may and ought to be defended. 
 
 And this doctrine, which we apprehend to be the truth, stands sup- 
 ported not only by Scripture and our Confession of Faith, but also by 
 the suffrages of some of our soundest divines ; for instance Mr. Ruther- 
 ford : — " Believers," says he, " are to be sad for their sins, as offensive to 
 the authority of the Lawgiver and the love of Christ, though they be not 
 to fear the eternal punishment of them ;" for sorrow for sin, and fear for 
 sin, are most different to us. Again, says the same author, " ser\'ile 
 obedience, under apprehension of legal terror, was never commanded in 
 the spiritual law of God to the Jews, more than to us." Durham, (loco 
 citato) " The believer (says he) being freed from the law as a covenant, 
 his life depends not on the promise annexed to the law, nor is he in dan- 
 
 :r| 
 
350 APPENDIX. 
 
 ger by the threatenings adjoined to it, both these to believers being made 
 void through Christ." And to conclude, we are clearly of Dr, Owen's 
 uiindanent the use of the tiireatenings of everlasting wratli with reference 
 unto believers, who though he owns them to be declarative of God's 
 hatred of sin, and his will to punish it, yet in regard the execution of 
 theiij is inconsistent with the covenant, and God's faithfulness therein, 
 says, " The use of them cannot be to beget in believers an anxious, 
 doubting, solicitous fear about the punishment threatened, grounded on 
 a supposition that the person fearing shall be overtaken with it, or a per- 
 plexing fear of hell-fire ; which, though it ofttimes be a consequence of 
 some of God's dispensations towards us of our own sins, or the weakness 
 of our faith, is not any where prescribed unto us as a duty, nor is the re- 
 generating of it in us the design of any of the threatenings of God." His 
 reasons, together with the nature of that fear, which the threatening of 
 eternal wrath ought to beget in believers, may be viewed among the rest 
 of the authorities. 
 
 These are some thoughts that have offered to us upon the queries, 
 which we lay before the Reverend Commission with all becoming deference, 
 humbly craving, that charity, which thinketh no evil, may procure a fa- 
 vourable construing of our words, so as no sense may be put upon, nor 
 inference drawn from them which we never intended. And in regard the 
 tenor of our doctrine, and our aims in conversation, have, though with a 
 mixture of much sinful weakness, been sincerely pointed at the honour 
 of the Lord Jesus as our king as well as priest, as our sanctification as 
 well as our righteousness, we cannot but regret our being aspersed, as 
 turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and casting off the obli- 
 gation of the holy law of the ten commands ; being persuaded that the 
 damnation of such as either do or teach so, is just and unavoidable, if 
 mercy prevent it not. But now if, after this plain and ingenuous declara- 
 tion of our principles, we must still lie under the same load of reproach, 
 it is our comfort, that we have the testimony of our conscience clearing 
 us in that manner, and doubt not the Lord will in due time bring forth 
 our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-day. We 
 only add, that we adhere to our representation and petition in all points ; 
 and so much the rather that we have already observed the sad fruits, and 
 bad improvement made of the Assembly's deed, therein complained of. 
 
 These answers, contained in this and the preceding pages, (viz. of the 
 manuscript given in,) are subscribed at Edinburgh, March 12th, 1722 
 years, by us, 
 
 Messrs. JAMES HOG, Carnock. 
 
 THOMAS BOSTON, Etterick. 
 JOHN WILLIAMSON, Invere.sk. 
 JAMES KID, Queensferry. 
 GABRIEL WILSON, Maxton. 
 EBENEZER ERSKINE, Portmoack. 
 RALPH ERSKINE, Dunfermline. 
 JAMES WARDLAW, Dunfermline. 
 HENRY DAVIDSON, Galashiels. 
 JAMES BATHGATE, Orwel. 
 WILLIAM HUNTER. Lilliesleaf. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Balne, Printer. 
 Gracechurch-Street, London. 
 
Seminary Speer Library 
 
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