You ought alſo to confider the End why I have Communica- ted of my Light unto you 3 it is in part the fame with that of Men, when they light up a Candle in a Room, which is to ſhew Lighr to all choſe thar are in the Room 3they do nor uſe ro light ir up ro hide it under a Veflel, or a Buſhel : So I have not Com- municared my Truths, or my Grace unto you, meerly for your wn uſe, bur for ochers uſe. Ir is ſaid of John ( by our Saviour ) he was a burning and ſhining Light : So is every true Miniſter of rhe Goſpel, yea, and every true Chriſtian 3 not only a burning Light, burning with Love ro God, and Zeal tor God, and Love r2, and Zeal for the Souls of others, but alſo a ſhining Light, Communigating his Light to orhers, both by In/tru&on, and an Holy Converſation. Ochers pretended Candles were never of God's hghcing.
16 Let your light ſo ſhine before men, that they may * ſee your good works, and glorihe your Father
which 1s 1n heaven.
Our Saviour now plainly tells us, what he intended by the Compariſons before mentioned. Ler che Light of that Docirine which you received from me, and the Light of your Holy Con- verſation ( the latter by the following words ſeemeth to be here Principally. intended ) | So ſhine before Men, ] be fo evident and apparent. unto men. | that they may ſee your good works : ) All ſorts of Good works, whatſoever I have Commanded, or ſhall Com- mand you, and as I Command you, and in Ovedience to ſuch Commands, otherwiſe they are no Good works. | And glorifie your Father which is in Heaven. ] You are not in your good Actions to aim art your ſelves, ro be ſeen of Men, as 37atth. 6. 1. nor meerly at doing good to others; the Good works, Tit. 3. 14+ are t0 be maintained for neceſſury uſzs, ) but having a Primary and Prin- cipal reſpec to the Glorifying of your Father for, Fohn. 15. 8. Here- in is my Bather glorified, if you bear much fruit : Not that we can add any thing to God's Efſential Glory, but we may predicare and manifeſt his Glory. Which how we can do by Good works, if they proceed from meer Power, and Liberty of our own Wills ; nor from his ſpecial Efficacious Grace, is hard to underſtand. Our Father is ſaid to be in the Heavens; becauſe rtho* his Effencial Preſence filleth all places, yer he is pleaſed there more than. any where to manifeſt his Glory and Majeſty.
17 Think not that I am come to deſtroy the Law or the Prophets,: I am not come to deftroy, but to fulfil.
There are ſo many Adverſaries, Jews, Papiſts, Socinians, Ana” baptiſts, Antinomians, &c. that make their Advantages of this Text, for che 'Eſtabliſhing their ſeveral Errors, that ic would require a Volume to vindicare it from their ſeveral Exceptions thoſe who defire SatisfaQtion may read Spanhemins Dub. Evang. 12.3. Dub.10s, C3c. The plain Senſe of rheText is this : It would have been a great Cavil with the Fews eſpecially, ( who had a great Reverence tor the Law ) if either our Saviour's Enemies amongſt them could have perſivaded People, that Chriſt came to deſtroy the Law and the Prophers ; or his own Hearers had entertained from his Dif- courſe any ſuch Apprehenfions. Our Saviour defigning im his tcllowing Diſcourſe, ro give a more full and ftrift Interprera- tion of the Law, than had been given by the Phariſees and other Jewiſh Doors, prefacerh thar Diſcourſe, with a Proteſtation againſt his coming to deſtroy the Law, and averring that he came to fulfil ir. It is maniteſt by his following Diſcourſe, that he Principally ſpake of che Moral Law, tho! he alſo fulfilled the Ce- remonial Law, he being the Antitype in whom all the Types of thar had their Complement, and real Fulfilling and Accomplithment, Saith he, I am not come to Deſtroy, and put an end to the Moral Law ; Iam come to fulfil ic, not co fill it up, as Papiſts and S$0- cinians contend, adding any new Preceprt to it, but by yielding my ſelf a Perſonal Obedience to ir, by giving a fuller and ſtrifter Interpretation of it, than you have formerly had, and by taking the Curſe of ir ( ſo far as concerneth my Diſciples ) upon my ſelf, and giving a juſt Sarisfation ro Divine Juſtice for ir. The greareft Obje&tion urged againſt Chriſt deſtroying parc of the Law, and adding new Precepts to the Moral Law, is that abour che Change of the Sabbath ;, bur rhis is none, if we conſider char the Moral Law required no more than one Day of ſeven to be kept as a Day of Holy Reſt ; not this or that particular Day, tor the particular Day, the Jews learned ir from the Ceremonial Law, as Chriſtians learn theirs from Chriſt's, and che Apoſtles Prafice : Nor is it any Obje&ion againſt this, chat rhe Seventh Day from the Creation 1s mentioned in the Law, to thoſe who know how ro diſtinguiſh berwixr the Precept and the Argument ; the Se- venth from the Creation is not in the Precept, but in the Argu- ment. Fw in Six Days, &c. Now there is nothing more ordina- ry than to have Arguments of a particular Temporary Concern- ment uſed to inforce Precepts of an Eternal Obligarion, where the Preceprs were firſt given to that particular People, as ro whom thoſe Arguments were of force ; an inſtance of which is in the firſt Commandment, as well as in this. As on the other fide, Arguments of univerſal Force are oftannexed ro Pre- ceprs, which had bur a particular Obligation upon a particular People for a time. Thus in the Ceremonial Law, we otren find It as an Argument to inforce many Ceremonial Precepts : For 7 am the Lord thy God.
18 For verily I ſay unto you. Till Heaven and Farth paſs, * one jor, or one tirtle ſhall in no wiſe paſs from the Law, till all be fulfilled.
Amen I ſay unto you ;, fo it is in the Greeh; a Phraſe, as ſome obſerve, never uſed, but by God and Chriſt himſelf, who 1s the
Amen, the Faithful and True Witneſs, Rev. 3. 14. Tho' the Servants
of God have ſometimes uſed ir, as an Adverb of wiſhing. Ir is by moſt concluded a form of an Oath, God by it Swearing by his Truth and Faitl:tulneſs, { till Heaven and Earth, &c. | That 1s, the Law is the certain and unchangeable Will of God concern- ing reaſonable Creatures, and ir ſhall never be altered in the leaſt
S MATTHEW.
Chap, | title; nor e7er be aboliſhed 3 you may therefore b [ come into the World upon no ſuch Rs, — thar
19 * Whoſoever therefore ſhall break one of thep; ' leaſt Commandments, and ſhall reach men fo, he ſha i; gee be called the leaft in the Kingdom of Heaven: hy E