ZHE PREFACE. LIiftorical part of Learning ; fo that what one of his School-mafters fore- toldof him that hewouldbe literiirum lumen, was verifiedin thofe Col- ledgeExercifes, wherein this Light began to íhine betimes, and tocafé his Rayes bothfar and neer ;, andwhat a Reverend PrelatePaidof himin his Funeral Sermon, maqvifibly appear to any Eye, in this great Herculean Labour, that thofe things which feldome meet in oneMan, were inhim in ahighdegree, Scientia magna, Memoria major, yudicinm maximum, at Induftria infinita -, His knowledge was great, his Memory greatter, his Judgement exceeded both, but his Labour and Induftry was infinite, and went beyondthem all. For theSubject, it is the Decalogue, or thofe Ten Words, inwhich Godhimfelf hath epitomized the whole dutyof Man, which havethis Priviledge above all otherparts of Scripture, that whereas all the reft weredivinely infpired, but God made uleofProphets and Apoftles, as his Exod 32. (5. Pen -men, hereGod was his own Scribe, or Amanuenfis, here was Digit & 31, ult. Dei, for the writingwas thewriting of God. Thefe are the Pandeets of the Laws of Nature, the Fountains from all humane Laws ought to be derived : the Rule and Guide of all our AEtions, whatfoever Duties are varioufly difperfed through the wholeBook ofGod, arehere collated into a briefSum ; whatfoever is needful for us to do in Order toSalvation, may be reduced hither ; for this is tótumHominis, theConclufion orti fhot ofall Ecciel 12.13. (faith solomon) tofear God andkeep his Commandments ; and theApoftle tells us, to the fame purpofe, that Circumcifion, ávaileth nothing, nor Un- circumcifion, but thekeeping of the Commandments ofGod, And there- fore,as faith,Philo that thejews ufed to refer all that they found in the Law ofMofes to thefe ten Heads, (as thePhilofophers reduced all things to the tenpredicaments,) not that they were all literallycomprized there, but becaufe for memories fake, they might be reduced thither ; fo hath the Chriftian Church reduced all the dutiesof a Chriftian to the fameHeads, which thebathenlarged, and made more comprehenfi ve, as partakingofa greater meafure of the Spirit than they had, and aimingat a higher de- greeof perfeetion in allChriftian Vertues. There is inded a generationof men fprung up, fuchas St. alugaftine wrote againft long fine, in his Bookcontra advertarium lets ¿¢ propheta- rum, that under colourofaffectingCods free Grace in mans Saltation, and er s affectingChriftianliberty, would abrogate the whole moral Law, as if it J 3 3. wereworthy ofnobetter entertainment among Chriftians, than 7ehoiakim See the fourth gave to7eremies prophecies, pieces, whenhe cut the roll in and threw it eedditiouOnere- dua4144,58. into the fire. And how far the tenets and principles of fome others (who would feemto abhor fuchopinions) have promoted thefepernicious do Crines, I (hall not need to fliew ; fure I am, that while fome teach: that the Gofpel confifts properly of promifes only, that the moral Law is no part of the conditionof the fecondCovenant, nor the obfervation of it ( thoughqualified in the Gofpel) required now in order to Salvation, that the promifesof theGofpel areabfolute, and that Faith is nothing elfe but an abfoluteapplication of them, or an abfolute relying uponChrift for the attaining of them, without the conditionsof repentance and newobedi- ence ; that Chrift came onlyto redeem, not to giveany Laws tothe world that after aman is inChrift, though he fall into the groffeft fins, which are Rom. z. i, z. damnable in aman unregenerate,yetheis ftill,quoad prafentemftatum,inthe RateofSalvation, andthough he may lore thefenfe and feeling, yet hecan never
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