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1. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience 1written in his heart; and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual 2obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and 3threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it.
2. God also gave a law to Israel, his elect nation under the Old Covenant; which was 4delivered to them from Mount Sinai in 5Ten Commandments and written in two tables; the four first containing their duties towards God, and the other six containing their duties towards man.
3. Besides these Ten Commandments, this law also contained many statutes and ordinances, partly of worship 6prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers instructions 7of moral duties; and partly of judicial matters; but all being appointed only to the time of reformation, were by the coming of Jesus Christ, the true Messiah and only Lawgiver, who was furnished with power from the Father for that end, 8fulfilled and taken away.
4. This does not leave God’s people 9without a law, however, for in this age they are 10bound by the Law of Christ; the obligations of which are expounded in the New Testament scriptures.
5. Moreover, the law of the Old Covenant has a use in this age as a schoolmaster; in that it reveals 11the sinful pollutions of human nature, hearts, and lives; so as examining themselves thereby men may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin, 12together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ and the perfection of his obedience; it is likewise useful to the regenerate to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of it serve to shew what even their sins deserve and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse and unallayed rigor thereof. The promises of it likewise show them God’s approbation of obedience and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof.
6. Neither are the forementioned uses of that law 13contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it; the spirit of Christ subduing 14and enabling the will of man through it, and teaching him to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God requires in this age.
- Genesis 1:27; Ecclesiastes 7:29 ↩︎
- Romans 10:5 ↩︎
- Galatians 3:10,12 ↩︎
- Romans 2:14,15 ↩︎
- Deuteronomy 10:4 ↩︎
- Hebrews 10:1; Colossians 2:17 ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 5:7 ↩︎
- Colossians 2:14,16,17; Galatians 3:24-25; Ephesians 2:14,16 ↩︎
- Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:24-25; Hebrews 8:1-13 ↩︎
- John 13:34; 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 ↩︎
- Romans 6:14; Galatians 2:16; Romans 8:1, 10:4 ↩︎
- Romans 3:20, 7:7 ↩︎
- Galatians 3:21 ↩︎
- Ezekiel 36:27 ↩︎