An additionall LECTVRE.

THe service and Ministery of the Angels about the promulgation of the Law, will much make to the honour of the Law; for we never read of Laws enacted by so sacred and August a Senate as the Moral Law was, where Jesus Christ accompanied with thousands of Angels, gave these precepts to the people of Israel: We read of three solemn services of the Angels; the first was, their singing at the Creation of the world, Job 38. 7. for by the morning stars, are meant the Angels: The second was at Christs birth, when they cried, Glory be to God, &c. and the third may be this in the promulgation of the Law. For the unfolding of the words, know that the Apostle in the former part of the Page  165 chapter, brings many arguments to prove, that we are not justified by the Law, and that the promise and eternall life could not come by it Now lest this discourse should seem derogatory to the Law, he doth here, as in other places upon the like occasion, make an objection: To what use then is the Law and v. 21. Is that Law against the promises? Which he answers with great indignation, God forbid; and to the former objection, he answereth in my Text, showing the end of the Law, that is, not the end of the Law absolutely in it self, but of the delivery at that time; it was added because of transgressions, to convince the proud and hypocriticall Iews of their wickedness, and thereby to seal that righteousness of Christ. He doth not here take all the manifold uses of the Law, but that which was accomodate to his present scope. This use he doth illu∣strate from the circumstance of duration; It was to be till the coming of Christ, whereby you see, that the Apostle meaneth not the Morall Law, as a rule of life (for that is eternall as is to be shewed) but the Regiment, or Mosaicall Administrations in the Ceremoniall part thereof: and there is nothing more or∣dinary with Paul, then to take the Law Synecdochically, for one part of the Law; which rule if observed, would Antidote against Antinomianisme: In the next place he commends this Law by a seasonable, and fit digression from a two-fold Ministerial cause, one proxime and immediate, the Angels; the o∣ther remote, by the hand of a Mediator: some indeed think this is added for the debasement of the Law, and to difference it from the Gospel, because the Law was given by Angels, but the Gospel immediatly by Christ: but I rather take it for a commendation, lest he should have been thought to have condemned it, for you know his adversaries charged this upon him, Act. 21. 21. That he spake against the Law: Now though the Apostle doth extoll the Gospel infinitely a∣bove the Law, yet he always gives the Law, those titles of commendation which are due to it; now in what sense the Law is said to be ordained by Angels, is hard to say. That you may the better understand this place, compare with it, Act. 7. v. 53. Who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels Heb. 2. 2. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast, &c. Deut. 33. 2. The Lord came from Sinai with ten thousands of Saints, from his right hand went a fiery law for them: though this seemeth to refer to the people of Israel, rather then the Angels: But the Septuagint interpret it of Angels: In the Greek we have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which is as much as command, sanction, and ordaining, as Rom. 13. 2. The ordinance of God; so then the sence of the places put together amounts to thus much, That Iesus Christ, Act 7. 38. Who is the Angel that spake to Moses in the mount, and the same which appeared to him in the bush, ver. 35 being accompanied with thousands of Angels, did from the midst of them, give Moses this law, and Jesus Christ is here called the Angel, because of his outward apparition like one. The Sanctuary did express this giving of the Law; for their God sate be∣tween the Cherubims, and from the midst of them uttered his Oracles, for Moses was commanded to build the Tabernacie, according to the pattern as he saw in the Mount, and that is the meaning of the Psal. 68. 8. The chariots of God are twenty thousand Angels, the Lord is in the mi•st of them, Sina• is in •he ho∣ly place: So a learned man, Deiu, interpreteth it; that is, God doth in the Sanctuary from the Cherubims, deliver his Oracles, as he did the Law on Page  166 Mount Sinai from between Angels, and thus you have this fully explained. In the next place, you have the remote cause, by the hand of a Mediator. Some understand this of Moses, that he was the Mediator in giving the Law between God and the Iews, and so that Text, Deut. 5. 5. where Moses is said to stand between the Lord and them, may seem to confirm this interpretation; and Moses indeed may be said to be a Mediator typically, as the sacrifices were types of Christs blood, and as he is called, Act. 7. 35. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a Redeemer, though Beza, and our English Bible renders it a deliverer.

But many interpreters understand it of Christ, that he was the Mediator in the Law, and indeed the words following seem to approve of this; for saith the Apostle, a Mediator is not a Mediator of one, that is, of those that are one in consent, and accord, but of those that dissent; now Moses could not be truly and really a Mediator between God, and the people of Israel, when God was angry with them for their sins. Besides, the Law, as is to be shewed, is a Covenant of grace, and Christ onely can be the Mediator in such a Co∣venant by way of Office, because he only is Medius in his nature. Beza in∣deed brings Arguments against this interpretation, but they seem not strong enough to remove this sense given, neither doth this phrase, by the hand (which is an Hebraisme) denote alwaies ministery and inferiority, but sometimes power and strength, but more of this in the explication of the doctrine.

Obser. It was a great honour put upon the Law, in that it was delivered by Christ, accompanied with thousands of Angels: There was never any such glorious Senate, or Parliament, as this Assembly was, wherein the Law w•• enacted, Iesus Christ himself being the Speaker: and by how much the m••• glory God put upon it, the greater is the sin of those Doctrines, which do d•¦rogate from it. Indeed though Christ gave the Law, yet the Apostle make the preheminency of the Gospel far above it, because Christ gave the Law one∣ly in the form of an Angel, but he gave the gospel when made man, whereby was manifested the glory not of Angels, but of the onely begotten Son of God. how carefull then should men be, lest they offend, or transgress that Law, which hath such sacred authority. It is a wonder to see how men are afraid to break mans Law, which yet cannot damn, but tremble not at all, in the of∣fending of that Law-giver, who is only able to save, or destroy. For the o∣pening of this consider: First, that Iesus Christ is the Angel that gave this Law, as the chief captain of all those Angels that did accompany him: For Act. 7. 35. It is the same that appeared to Moses in the bush, God the Father hath committed the whole Government and guidance of the redemption of that people of Israel into the hands of Christ: Hence Isa. 6. 3. 9. he is called the Angel of the Covenant, because he made that Covenant of the Law, with his people on mount Sinai: This is the Angel, that Exod. 33. 2. God said he would send before them to drive out the Nations of the land, and v 14. there he is called the face of God, or his presence which should go before them, and you have a no∣table place, Exod. 23. 20. I will send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place, which I have prepared: beware of him, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him: by this it is clear, that it was Iesus Christ who was subservient to the Father, in this whole Page  167 work of Redemption out of Aegypt. Grotius in the explication of the Deca∣logue judgeth it a grievous errour, to hold that the second person in the Trinity was the Angel who gave this Law, and indeed all the Socinians deny this, be∣cause they say, Christ had no subsistency before his Incarnation: some Papists also think it to be a created Angel; but he must needs be God, because this Angel beginneth thus in the promulgation of the Law, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Aegypt. Neither wil that serve for an answer, which Grotius saith, that the Angel cals himself the God that brought them out of Aegypt, because he is an Embassador, and speaks in the name of the Lord: for were not the Prophets Gods Embassadors, yet their language was, Thus saith the Lord, they never appropriated the name of Iehovah to them∣selves, whereas this Angel is called Iehovah, and 1 Cor. 10. 9. The Iews are said to tempt Christ, because he was the Angel that did deliver them by Moses.

It is disputed, whether, when any Angel appeared who was also God, that it was also the Son of God; so that in the Old Testament, the Father, and the Holy ghost never appeared, but the Son only; Austin thought it a question worth the deciding, when he spent a great part of his second book of the Tri∣nity in handling of it. Many of the ancient Fathers thought that it was the Son onely that appeared, so that all the apparitions which were to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses; the God that spake then, they understand to be the Son, and this was done they say, as a preludium to his Incarnation: But some of those Ancients give a dangerous, and false reason, which was, because they held, the Father only was invisible, and so apply unto the Father only that text, No man hath seen God at any time, so that they thought the Son might be seen, but not the Father, which passages, the Arrians did greedily catch at afterwards.

But this is certain, the second Person is no more visible, or mutable then the first; only it may be doubted, whether all those administrations and ap∣paritions which were by God in the Old Testament, were not by the second Person: indeed, in the New Testament, that voice from heaven, This is my welbelou Son, must needs be from the Father immediatly: It hath been very hard to know when the Angel that appeared hath been a created one, or in∣created, the Son of God. Tostatus gives this rule, when the things communi∣cated in Scripture, as done by an Angel, are of small consequence or be∣longing to one man, or a few men, then it is a created Angel; but if they be matters of great concernment, or belonging to many people, then it is by an increated Angel; he enumerates many examples, which are not to my pur∣pose, neither may we be curious in determining of the former question. Let the use of this be to take heed, how we cry down this Law, which God hath so honoured, either by Doctrines, or Practises. We may live down the Law, and we may preach down the Law, both which are a reproach to it; and the Law is of such a perpetuall, immutable obligation, that the very being of a sin is in this, that it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a transgression of the Law, so that if there be no obligatory power of the Law, there can be no sin. If the Heathen thought politicall Laws, were the wals of a City, and it were no advantage to Page  168 have fortified wals, and prostrated laws; how much more is this true of Gods Commandments: Those three things which are required in a Law giver, au∣thority, wisdom, and holiness, were transcendently in God, therefore every sin hath disobedience in it, because it is against authority; folly in it, because it's against wisdom; and injustice in it, because against righteousness.

In the next place, it's worth the observing how Paul in this place, and so in his other Epistles is still carefull so to bound the doctrine of the Law and the Gospel, so as neither may incroach upon each other, from whence floweth this Doctrine.

That the Law ought so to be preached, as that it should not obscure the Gospel, and the Gospel so commended, as that there may be no destruction to the Law.

This was Pauls method in all his Epistles, which he diligently observed: Indeed, it hath been very hard so to give both their due, that either the prea∣cher, or the hearer, hath not thereby been inclined to make one prejudiciall to the other: Not but that the Gospel is to be preferred, and that in divers respects, but when it is so extolled that the Law is made useless, and unprofit∣able, this is to go beyond lawfull limits; and how difficult it hath been to hit the mark here, appeareth in that the Iews, Papists, Arminians, Socinians, and generally all Heretiques have advanced the Law, to the eclipsing of the Gos∣pel, and there have been few who have extolled the Gospel to the prejudice of the Law.

To proceed therefore regularly, we will shew when the Law is preached pre∣judicially to the Gospel, and when the Gospel to the Law.

In the first place, the Law is then stretched too far, when the works of it are pressed to justification, whether these works be the fruits of grace, or ante∣cedaneous to grace, it is not much difference to this point; and this is that dangerous doctrine of the Law, which the Apostle in his Epistle, doth so ve∣hemently withstand, and for which, he is not afraid to charge the teachers thereof, with apostacy from Christ, and such who make Christ, and all his suf∣ferings in vain. And this is indeed to be a legall Preacher, insomuch that it is an high calumny to charge Protestant Preachers, with the odious accusation of legall preachers; for he is not a legall preacher in the Scripture sence, which presseth the duty and works of the Law but that urgeth them for justification, and that righteousness which we must rely upon before the Tribunall of God: and thou mayst justly fear it is thy unsanctified & corrupt heart, which makes thee averss from the Law in the former sence.

2. The Law is used derogatory to the Gospel, when Christ is not indeed ex∣cluded from justification, but Christ and works are conjoyned together, and this is more sugred poison then the former: Now this was the doctrine of those false Apostles among the Galatians, they did not totally exclude him, but yet they did not make him all in all: but God doth not approve of such unequall yoking. It is equall impiety to preach no Christ, or an half and imperfect Christ; and therefore as those were cursed Doctrines which take away any of his natures, so also are those which diminish of his sufficiency. There is but one Mediator, and as God will not give his glory to another, so neither will Christ that of his Mediatorship to any other; so that, as God is jealous of his Page  169 honour, when men give it to fools, no less is Christ, when men give it to the works they do. And this makes the way of justifying Faith so difficult, be∣cause it is so inbred in mens hearts, to have something of their own, and so un∣willing are they to be beholding to Christ for all.

3. Then is the Law preached prejudicially to the Gospel, when it is made of it self instrumental to work grace. It cannot be denied, as is hereafter to be shewn, that the Law is used by God to begin and increase grace, but this cometh wholly by Christ. It is not of the Law it self, that this spirituall vertue is com∣municated to men. Even as when the woman touched the hem of Christs garment, It was not efficacy from the hem, but from Christ that wrought so wonderfully in her. It is one thing to say grace is given with the preaching of the Law, and another thing by the Law; so that the Gospel must be acknow∣ledged the onely fountain both of grace justifying, and sanctifying, for as in natural things, if no Sun did arise, every creature would lie dead, as it were in its own inability to do any thing there would be no naturall life, or growth; so if the Son of righteousness do not arise with healing, no Law, or Ordinance, could ever be beneficiall to us.

In the second place, the Gospel may be extolled to the ruin of the Law; and that first, when it is said to bring a liberty not only from the damnatory po∣wer, but also the obligatory power of it: How well would it be if the An∣tinomists, in all their Books and Sermons, while they set up grace and the Gospel, would make to themselves this objection with Paul, Do we then make void the Law? God forbid. Certainly if you take away the condemning power, and the commanding power of the Law, there will not so much remain of it, as did of Jezebels corps, when the dogs had gnawn it. Therefore stand fast indeed in the liberty of the Gospel, but study again, and again, whether that be Gospel-liberty, or prophane Licence that thou pleadest for: certainly, he that sets up the Gospel in a scripture way, and not a fancy-way, will go no fur∣ther then the bounds of the Scripture; do not use Gospel-grace as a cloak for thy more secure and loose walking. I tell thee, there is a great danger in those expressions, I have had enough of the Law; the time was, I dared not omit time of prayer: I was strict on the Sabbath day, and in all family duties, but now I understand my liberty better. Oh, know this is a Gospel of thy own making, Free-grace of thy own minting. I deny not, but that the people of God may by the Devil be kept among the Tombs, as that Demoniack was in sad thoughts, and slavish fears, which are opposite to the promise: I grant al∣so, that a Minister may as unseasonably press the Law upon some humbled Christians, as if the Samaritan had taken salt instead of oil, and poured it into the wounds of that man of Jericho. But for all this, the unskilfulness of the Physitian, may not derogate from the medicine; and as there is a time, when the Law may be unseasonably preached, so also there may be a time, when the promises should not be prest.

2. Then is the Gospel, or grace set up contrary to the Law, when Christians are wholly taken off from humiliation for sin, or from the threatnings that are in the Law. What a dangerous expression is that of an Antinomian, that the Law hath no more to do with a believer, then the law of Spain, or France Page  164 with an Englishman; There is nothing more ordinary, even in the New-Testament, then to awaken Believers with sad, and se∣vere threatenings. Take heed therefore, lest that condition, which thou so blessest thy self in, by Gospel light, be not worse, and more dangerous, then that wherein thou groanedst un∣der the Law. I speak not this, as if the people of God ought not to seek for a spirit of adoption, and to strive for an Evan∣gelicall temper, which certainly is most heavenly, and holy; but to take heed of temptations, and being drunk with this sweet wine. Let therefore from hence, both Ministers and people make an harmonious accord of the Law and Gospel in their practical observations. If on the Mount of transfiguration, Christ was in glory, and Moses in glory, and yet both together with∣out any opposition; so may the Law be a glorious Law, and the Gospel a glorious Gospel in thy use, and to thy apprehension.