3. " The law" under the Old Testament doth immediately refer unto the law given at mount Sinai, nor is there any distinct mention of it before. This is commonly called "the law" absolutely; but most frequently " the law of God," " the law of the Lord ;" and sometimes " the law of Moses," because of his especial ministry in the givmg of it : " Remember ye the law of Moses my seiwant, which I commanded unto him," Mai. iv. 4. And this the Jews intended by " the law."
■i. Of the law so given at Horeb, there was a distribution into three parts. (1.) There was D^^^n n-i.C'j; ,_Deut iv. 13, " The ten words;" so also chap. x. 4 ; — that is, the ten commandments written upon two tables of stone. This part of the law was first given, was the foun- dation of the whole, and contained that perfect obedience which was
286 ON JUSTIFICATION.
required of mankind by tlie law of creation ; and was now received into the church with the highest attestations of its indispensable obligation unto obedience or punishment. (2.) ^''ipQ, which the LXX. render by 5/xa/w/iara, — that is, "ju-ra," "rites," or "statutes" but the Latin from thence, " justificationes," ("justifications,") which hath given gi'eat occasion of mistake in many, both ancient and modern divines. We call it "the ceremonial law." The apostle terms this part of the law distinctly, No'/>t,o; hroXuiv h UyiMasi, Eph. ii. 15, "The law of commandments contained in ordinances;" that is, consisting in a multitude of arbitrary commands. (3.) '^''^It'^ 'P, which we commonly call " the judicial law." This distribution of the law shuts up the Old Testament, as it is used in places innumerable before; only the D''"i3"in riTi^y^ — " the ten words," — is expressed by the general word nnin'_"the law," Mai. iv. 4.
5. These being the parts of the law given unto the church in Sinai, the whole of it is constantly called '^']W ^ — " the law," — that is, the instruction (as the word signifies) that God gave unto the church, in the rule of obedience which he prescribed unto it. This is the con- stant signification of that word in Scripture, where it is taken abso- lutely; and thereon doth not signify precisely the law as given at Horeb, but comprehends with it all the revelations that God made under the Old Testament, in the explanation and confirmation of that law, in rules, motives, directions, and enforcements of obedience.
G. Wherefore i^T^, — "the law," — is the whole rule of obedience which God gave to the church under the Old Testament, Avith all the efficacy wherewith it was accompanied by the ordinances of God, including in it all the promises and threatenings that might be motives unto the obedience that God did requu-e; — this is that which God and the church called "the law" under the Old Testament, and which the Jews so called with whom our apostle had to do. That which we call "the moral law" was the foundation of the whole; and those parts of it which we call " the judicial and ceremonial law," were peculiar instances of the obedience which the church under the Old Testament was obliged unto, in the especial polity and divine worship which at that season were necessary unto it. And two things doth the Scripture testify unto concerning this law : —
(1.) That it was a perfect, complete ride of all that internal spiri- tual and moral obedience which God required of the church : " The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple," Ps. xix. 7. And it so was of all the external duties of obedience, formatter and manner, time and season; that in both the church might walk " acceptal^ly before God," Isa. viii. 20. And although the original duties of the moral part, of the law are often preferred before the particular instances of obedi-
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ence in duties of outward worship, yet the whole law was always the whole rule of all the obedience, internal and external, that God required of the church, and which he accepted in them that did believe.
(2.) That this law, this rule of obedience, as it was ordained of God to be the instrument of his rule of the church, and by virtue of the covenant made with Abraham, unto whose administration it was adapted, and which its introduction on Sinai did not disannul, was accompanied with a power and efficacy enabling unto obedience. The law itself, as merely preceptive and commanding, administered no power or ability unto those that were under its authority to yield obedience unto it; no more do the mere commands of the gospel. Moreover, under the Old Testament it enforced obedience on the minds and consciences of men by the manner of its first delivery, and the severity of its sanction, so as to fill them with fear and bondage; and was, besides, accompanied with such burdensome rules of outward worship, as made it a heavy yoke unto the people. But as it was God's doctrine, teaching, instruction in all acceptable obedience unto himself, and was adapted unto the covenant of Abraham, it was accompanied with an administration of effectual grace, procuring and promoting obedience in the church. And the law is not to be looked on as separated from those aids unto obedience which God administered under the Old Testament; whose effects are therefore ascribed unto the law itself See Ps. i., xix., cxix.