?'he IntroduEion to theÈpifle to the Romans. and increafeth it, and doth not mortifie and overcome it. t ì. That the LawwaS given ta another end, than to juftifie theSinner by itsbare Works even toconvince Menof Sin, and the need of Grace, and as aSchoolmafter to lead them to Chrift, who is the Endof the Law. ta. That Pardon, Juftification, andSalvation muff needsbe God's free gift to the Guilty and Condemned, and not the reward ofMeritoriousWorks of the Law; nor can any pretend the Title ofInnocency or Debt. 13. That Chrift is deftgned to gather a more large and excellent Church than the JewifhNation, evenaCatholick Church through all the World, and that more fpiritual and holy ; into which the Jews, ifthey will believe, fhall be all graffed, Whichwill be to them a higher Privi- lege than to liveunder the Mofaicic Police. 14. That the Jewifh Lawwas fo operous, fhadowy, burdenfom, and terrible, that it is part ofthe Office of a Saviour todeliver men from it, and to bring them under a far better Law and Covenant of Grace. By many fuch Arguments he confuteth the Jews, andJudaizing Chriftians. III. How he confuteth theCenforious Dividers, who agreed inthe effentialsofChri ftianity, but differed about ComeJewifh Rites and alfo the Erroneous, that inclined toLicentioufnefs, and unjuft Separation from the Orthodox, will be fufficiently (hewn in the particularExpofitions. IV. But theApoftle deniethnone of thefe followingTruths, butimplieth'fome, and exprefly allerteth others of them, as .concefÏions s s. According to the Promife made to Abraham, the ¡fraelites were a holy Nation, and a peculiar People, feparated toGod out of all the World. a. God's Government hrfc fettled over them was eminently a Theocracy, theSupre- macy being exercifed by extraordinary Revelation, by Angelical or Signal Notices, andby. Prophecy. 3. Their Law was eminently Divine, the Law of God; their Princesbeing but Eye- cutioners, and not having power of Legiflation, to add, abrogate, or diminifh. 4. This Lawwas wholly Political; that is, The Rule of the Subje&s Obedience, and the Rewards and Puniftments, to be exercifed by God as Supreme, and by Magi- ftrates as his Officers, in the Government of that People, as a Holy Commonwealth. Even the Decalogue and Ceremonies were fuch Laws ofPolitic. 5. But this Law fuppofed the Law of Nature, and the antecedent Law ofMercy made to fain Mankind in Adam and Noah, and the ípecial promife made toAbrandru, and all the Nations of the Earth in his Seed: And the Jews ought not to have fepa ratedany part of their Law from thefe, which were as its very Life and Soul, and principally refpe&ed things fpiritual, and heavenly, and everlafting. 6. TheLaw prefuppofing thefe, and being given to men that had Immortal Souls,`. and bound to know fo much, Both not much mention fuch matters of the Life to come; as being prefuppofed; and Mojes adding fpecially the diftinguifhingLaws of Jewifh' Government. 7. Thebreach even of a Political Law, where' God Was the Legiflator, deferved fu tore everlafting Punifhment, though as Men were the officialExecutioners, it was but corporal Punifhìnent that ir infli&ed. 8 TheSacrifices wereQbfignationsof thatLaw ofGrace which was elder than'Mojer, and fo they fhould have been underftood. p. The fincere keeping of that Law, while it was in fore, was the Material part of the Jews Obedience as theywere under theLawof Grace. to. Even the Decalogueit Pelf, as Mofaical and Political,delivered in-Stone to the Jews only is done away with all the ref( by Chriff, their peculiar Commonwealth being ended : But as it is, I. the Law of Nature, z. and the Law of Chrift, it Ilill conti- nueth. There are threeControverfies that I will here briefly (peak to, rather thanby in- ferred Annotations afterwards. I. Whom Paul defcribeth in the firft and fecond Chap* ters. II. What Law it isthat he fpeaketh of. III. How he meaneth, that Faith is im- pared to Righteoufnefs and Juftihcation. I. A late Writer bath laboured hard to pperfwade u§, that Rom. s.-and a great part of the Epiftles fpeak of the Gsáofficks, which have ufuallybeen othcrwifeexpound -, çd. Of this Chapter I think otherwife, (andof ma other Texts) becaufe, t. The Philofophers, and other Heathens, were fo much more potent, numerous and famous Adverfaries to Chriflianity, that we have great reafon to fufpe&, that Paul doll) not fo much pafs them by, to peltat a fe v Hereticks, as thisWriter imagined.
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