Firft Commandment:·- 5~ - ------~--~----~~~ ~ f Circumaifion as* many of them did, yet after t}:le Evangelical • lz.~te \ King d[ Adi .h ·o:>., ~oc1rine WlS co~fitmmate, and thcApoftles fcnt UJ.toall1!hc1\~~.rld i~,~~;. 1,~-6~·/Jffi~t;.;!~,?~~; to prc:tch it to cvc~y Creature, they by the Holy qh,~.rt dcterrruflc, h/llt1e bun a Chr~fli411, 1 a tb,.e in th.1t firft Cot,nCll of tbe Church, That . the Gentdes lhould by ht was ~inrum1ftd.accDra'ms t;. no means be burthened with any of thofc Inwofitions: but a..s they tlu . ~~nd ~I hi1 jr.fl In/fr:,;tr. were heretofore by the ;ftws themfelves c.oncluded to be \n a f.1fe :~~~~/ tht },Ame J ofep.m~ Condition, even as many of them as worflupped the true God, a)ld obfcrved the Commandments of Noah; fo now the Apoftles,Dccrecto prelc;v.G.ti-~1? in the fame Uberty ; and therefore wnte u~to tpem, That they !hould ll~f lil)lJec\ thcmfelvcs to the dogmatizing Commandmc~ts of falfe Tcayhc,·s, whorcq,mrcd .then\ to be circmnci(ed, and to keep the Ceremomal Law; ~ut th?t from as .IllfL!lY:r~.p.s. be~ lievcd, nothing more was required than only to abftam fr?m .Meat. of!crc~r.o ~~pls~ and from Blood, and from Things ftrangled, a?dfromFormca~Ion; t: c. 1(as Jud~c!ous . Mr. Hoolur very probably interprets it) from mce!l:uous Marnages Withm prohi~1ted £:&!ef. Pol. Degrees. And all thofe .comm~nds laid upon tliem by th,c Apoftlcs, arc the very hb. <t· Precepts of 'Noah. But Circumcifion, and other Obfervances of th~ , )' - Ceremonial-Law, they were not obliged to; * yea, they were . Tht Rta~n whJ the Gcr.• obliged not to Obferve them, as being Subverlions of their Souls, ~~~~;t~:: 1~t~ft:~h-~h~~:; .A&1s I)· 2.4. An.d theTefore we lind that {he fame holy Apoftle :ht &dit'f.l ing · J ~ ws tmght la !TJwho himfelf circumcifed Timothy, becaufe he was the Son of a 'Jr-ur [Jt, d~ it., 1 filpfffe w .1s this, e{i when he writes to the Gmriles, he tells them exprelly~ That ~~~~fb~rtlyitJ(_ naprmdt,:to_~ if" 'they be circumcifed, Cbrift fhall profi~ them nothing, G1l· 5· 2. ~5,:~~-~;,;e;~bt;';,r 1je~: \ ~r~h~ w1ld havt rta ~thu MDtivt taptrfo<~dt tlum to fo&mit la thtfe Obfirvtmm, wnltfi it "flJtrt an O~iiin~,_ thAt tbq Wm 'Rmjf11r; in thtm{t!.-.mfor tbtir 1uj1ifleation btfm GDJ, Which 'IUJ inlttd ta HJIUII.IIfllhl De12t.h t[Chrij], ~:"(J:i ovtrthraw tbe £a11J1datim •f tht G~fptl. And thus we fee how far and in what fenfe the Ceremonial Law is abro,gated, Thirdly, As concerning the Judicial Law; and thofe Precepts which wer~ given Ill . .the 'Jews for the Government of their Civil State, that Law IS not at all alwogat;ed; not to us, fdr it was never intended to oblige us. Neither indeed is it 1;l.t al) n~ccffap ry, rhat the Laws of every Nation Ihould be conformed to the .Iraws which the )'enu lived under; for doubtlcfs, each State bath its liberty to frame fi1ch Con.fti~utio~s as may beft ferve to obtain the ends of Government: j\nd thcre~orc, altU~gh the Punifhment of Theft were ordained by God l1imfclf to be f0Q1eti.mcs a do ubi~, fomC:. timesa fourpfold,fometimesa five-f0ld Reftitution,yet arc our Laws not to be condem- E1:t:l n. ned, which ordilin the Penalty of this Tra.nfgreilion to be no lefs thaq. Death; for 1. t· the Reafi1n and Neceffity of our Nltion is the beft Rule and .Meafure for thofe Laws by which they at·e to be ~overned. NciLhcr is the Judicial Law abrogated to the ']ms; for though now in their fcattcrcd St~te the Laws ccafc to be of force, becaufe they ccafe to be a Body Politique, yct _wcre their Difpcrfion again colleCted into one Rcpublick,moft probal)lythefame N:ttional Laws would bind them now, as did informer times, t'-Vhen they were a ha:g~ py and ftouri!hiug Kingdom. Fourthly_, As concerning the Moral Law, of w~ch I_.am now tre:tting, that is partJy .;tbrogated, partly not; abrogated as to fome of 1ts Circumftanccs but not as to any thing of its Snbftance, Authority, and Obligation. , . Fir:fl, The Moral Law is abrogated to Believers as it was a Covenant of \V arks~ For God in Man's firft Creatlon wrote this I.:tw in his heart, a.nd.added this SanCtion unto it, If thou daft this, thou fhalt live; if not, thmi lhalt die the Dcith. . Now all Mankind finning in 1-dam, and thet:eby cont:aB:ing an ~ttcr !~potency <)f obeyiqg that La"':, that we might not all_penfh accordu~g to the r~gorous Sentence ofit, God was grac10ully pleafed to enter mto another Covenant WJth us, promHi ng a Saviour to rcl?air onr loft and. decayed ~ondition, and Eternal L1fe upon th\! i.:alier Terms .of Fatth and Evangelical Obedwnee, . Indeed all thofe who either never heard of Jcf~s Chrift,_ or do rejeCt him, arc ftill under the Law as a Covenant; and therefore t~Clr B.ftat~ IS _mort w~etched and deplorable~ for being Tracfgreffors of the L::1w, tncre rcf!la1ne~h nothmg for them, but a certain fearful loOking for of Wrath and fiery Indignation to devour them as the .Adverfaries ofGod: but thofewho are true Believers, arc under a better Covenant, even the Covenant df Grace wherein God , bath
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