Queffions, and Cafes ofConfeience Chap. io' cries out with the Apoltle, Rom. 7. 12. The Law is holy and good, though jam carnal: He loves his Copy, though he can but fcribble after it. Thirdly, had believers been free from this dire.Live power of the Law, Paul would never have perfwaded them to love upon this ground Becaufe its the fulfilling of theLaw, çal.S.13)1+ Ob. flut the Law written in tf;eheart and the fpirit,is therule of [,fc; there- fore not the written Law ? Arfm. Firft, the Law w. itten in the heart, is called a Law, not in refpe& of perfeft <iire Lion, ( which is ellential to the rule) but in refpe& of :nibhty and effe&ual operation, there bin a powerin it as of a thong Laweffe;}.ttally, and fweetlycompelling to the obedience s?f-the Law. Secondly,for the fpirit,he is indeed theprinciple of our obedience,wherebywe conform unto the rule, but not the rule it fclf. Only this is true, 1. That the Spi it enclines the heart to the obedience of the rule. 2. It illuminates the minde many titres tofee it by fecret fhinings of prevent- ing, as well asbrings things to remembrance which we knewbefore. 3. It a&s themalio fo:netimes : as when we know not what to pray, it prompts us. 'Korn, 8. z6. when we knownot what to fpeak before our adver- faries, it gives it in to us, M,rr. so. 19. when we knownot whither or how to go, its avoice behinde us, and leads us to the fountain of living waters, .lfa. 30. 21. Rev. 7. 57. But all there quickening as proves it not to be a rule by which we ought to walk, but only by meanes of which we come towalk , and areenclined, directed, and enabled to walk according to the rule. Fourthly, the Spirit of Godwhich endited the Scriptures, and this Law,is in the Scriptures, and in theLaw as well as in the Believers heart, and therefore to forfake or reje& the Scriptures,, or this written rule, is to forfake and reje& the fpirit fpeaking in it as ourrule ; nay, it is to forfake that Spirit, which is the Suprearn Judge, according to which all private ffirits, nay, all the aelings, di- &ates, movinbs and fpeakins ofGods Spirit in us, are tobe tried, examined, and judged, as ¡fa. 8.ao. Johns. 39. For which the menof Brre h werecorn-. mended, AFL 17.11. Ob. Thedifference between the Old and New Teflament is this: That of Mofes was a c.11inifleryfrom without, but that of Chrill from within, and thereforethe letter of the Scriptures is not a Law to aChriftian, but the Law writ- ten in their hearts} crc ? Anfw. if this be the difference between the difpenfation of the Old and New Teftament Miniltry, thenwe may all borne our Bibles as ufeleffe : and then its a marvel why the Apoftles preached, or why they wrote the Gofpel for af- ter-times ; that men mi_ht believe, &c. as it is, John Zo. ? 1. 1 iohn 5.13. For either their writingandpteachingwas not an external Miniftry, which is contrary to fence : or it was not Ch rifts Miniflry, which is bláfphemous : where- as Chriftin the Spirit, leads us to Chriain the letter ; the Spirit within to the Word without, by which we fhall be judged at the laftday, John 12.48. and therefore certainlywe are tobe regulatedby it now. Ob. But thefaithful receive an llnllian of the Spirit, which teacheth them all rhinos ? Anjic. This teaching is either immediate or mediate : If immediate, why lothSt. John tell them that he writ to them, that they might hereby know that they hadeternal life, 1 John 5,13. But ifmediate,,towit,by the Word exter- nally preached, or writ, then that external word is fill to be our rule, which the anointinc. of the Spirit helps usto know : when therefore he faith, i itohn 2. 27. that brin > tau ht of the Spirit, they need not that any man fhould teach them , he fpeaks not of the immediate teaching of the Spirit, but explainshis meaning ip the words following; Te need not that any man fsauld reachye«,. (Le.
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