[3.] It is granted that man continued not in the observation of this law, as it was the ride of the covenant between God and him. The covenant it was not, but the rule of it ; which, that it should be,
Mi ON JUSTIFICATION.
was superadded unto its being as a law. For the covenant com- prised things that were not any part of a result from the necessary re- lation of God and man. Wherefore man, by his sin as unto demerit, may be said to break this covenant, and as unto any benefit unto himself, to disannul it. It is also true, that God did never formally and absolutely renew or give again this law as a covenant a second time. Nor was there any need that so he should do, unless it were declaratively only, for 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 thus far broken as a covenant, that all mankind having sinned against the commands of it, and so, by guilt, with the impotency unto obedience which ensued thereon, defeated themselves of any interest in its promise, and pos- sibility of attaining any such interest, they cannot have any beriefit by it. But as unto its power to oblige all mankind unto obedience, and the unchangeable truth of its promises and threatenings, it abideth the same as it was from the beginning.
(2.) Take away this law, and there is left no standard of right- eousness unto mankind, no certain boundaries of good and evil, but those pillars whereon God hath fixed the earth are left to move and float up and down like the isle of Delos in the sea. Some say, the rule of good and evil unto men is not this law in its original consti- tution, but the light of nature and the dictates of reason. If they mean that light which was primigenial and concreated with our natures, and those dictates of right and wrong which reason origin- ally suggested and improved, they only say, in other words, that this law is still the unalterable rule of obedience unto all mankind. But if they intend the remaining light of nature that continues in every individual in this depraved state thereof, and that under such addi- tional depravations as traditions, customs, prejudices, and lusts of all sorts, have affixed unto the most, there is nothing more irrational ; and it is that which is charged with no less inconvenience than that it leaves no certain boundaries of good and evil. That which is good unto one, will, on this ground, be in its OAvn nature evil unto another, and so on the contrary ; and all the idolaters that ever were in the world might on this pretence be excused.
(3.) Conscience bears witness hereunto. There is no good nor evil required or forbidden by this law, that, upon the discovery of it, any man in the world can persuade or bribe his conscience not to comply with it in judgment, as unto his concernment therein. It will accuse and excuse, condemn and free him, according to the sentence of this law, let him do what he can to the contrary.
In brief, it is acknowledged that God, by virtue of his supreme dominion over all, may, in some instances, change the nature and order
THE OBEDIENCE REQUIRED BY GOD. 245
of things, so as that the precepts of the divine law shall not in them operate in their ordinary efficacy. So was it in the case of his com- mand unto Abraham to slay his son, and unto the Israelites to rob the Egyptians. But on a supposition of the continuance of that order of things which this law is the preservation of, such is the in- trinsic nature of the good and evil commanded and forbidden there- in, that it is not the subject of divine dispensation; as even the school- men generally grant.
10. From what we have discoursed, two things do unavoidably ensue : —
(1 .) That whereas all mankind have by sin fallen imder the penalty threatened unto the transgression of this law, — and [the] suffering of this penalty, which is eternal death, being inconsistent with acceptance before God, or the enjoyment of blessedness, — it is utterly impossible that any one individual person of the posterity of Adam should be justified in the sight of God, accepted with him or blessed by him, unless this penalty be answered, undergone, and suffered, by them or for them. The hixaio)ij.ct rov ©sou herein is not to be abolished, but established.
(2.) That uato the same end, of acceptation ivith God, justification before him, and blessedness from him, the righteousness of this eter- nal law must be fulfilled in us in such a way as that, in the judg- ment of God, which is according unto truth, we may be esteemed to have fulfilled it, and be dealt with accordingly. For upon a suppo- sition of a failure herein, the sanction of the law is not arbitrary, so as that the penalty may or may not be inflicted, but necessary, from the righteousness of God as the supreme governor of all.
11. About the first of these, our controversy is with the Socinians only, who deny the satisfaction of Christ, and any necessity thereof. Concerning this I have treated elscAvhere at large, and expect not to see an answer unto what I have disputed on that subject. As unto the latter of them, we must inquire how we may be supposed to com- ply with the rule, and answer the righteousness of this unalterable law, whose authority we can no way be exempted from. And that which we plead is, that the obedience and righteousness of Christ imputed unto us, — his obedience as the surety of the new covenant, granted unto us, made ours by the gracious constitution, sovereign appointment, and donation of God, — is that whereon we are judged and esteemed to have answered the righteousness of the law. " By the obedience of one many are made righteous," Rom. v. 19. " That tlie righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us," Rom. viii. 4. And hence we argue, —