01 COMMUNION 'ZCIZI'h der it, in refne& of obedience. "Take away then the end, and you deffroy the means, if Clnitl were not incarnate, nor madeunder the law for him- felf, he did not yield obedience for himfelf, it was all for us, for our good, let us now look forward and fee what influence this hath in our acceptation. 3. Then, I fay, this perfe& compleat obedience of Chrift to the law is reckoned unto us. As there is a truth in that, Theday thou eatefl thora (halt die ; death is the reward of fin, and fo we cannot he freed from death, but by the death ofChrift, Heb. ii. 13, 14. fo alfo is that no lets true, Dothis and live, that life is not to be obtained, unlefs all he done, that the law requires. That is 1E11 true, If thou wilt enter into lif keep thecommand- ments, Matt. xix. 17. they muff then be kept by us, or our furety, Nei- ther is it of any value which by fame is obje&ed, that if Chrift yielded perfed obedience to the law for us, than are we no more hound to yield obedience, for by his undergoing death the penalty of the law, we are freed from it. I anfwer ; how did Chrift undergodeath ? Merelyas it was pe- nal. How then are we delivered from death ? Merely as it is penal. Yet we mutt die dill, yea as the left conflift with the effe&s of tin, as a paffage to. our father we muff die. Well then, Chrift yielded perfed obedience to the law, but how did he do it ? Purely as it flood in that conditional, Do this and live, he did it in the ftrength of the grace he had received, he did it as a means of life, to procure life by it, as the tenant of a covenant. Are we then freed from this obedience? Yes, but hose far? from doing it in our own flrength, from doing it for this end, that we may obtain life everlafting. It is vain that feine fay confidently, that the mud yet work for life, it is all one, as to fay, we are yet under the old covenant, hocfac & vives, we are not free from obedience, as a way of walking with God, but we are, as a way of working to come to him, of which at large af- terwards. Rom. v. 18, 19. By the righteoufnefs ofone, thefree gift came upon all men unto julfifrcation of life, by the obedience of' one many Jhall be made righteous, faith the Holy Ghod. By his obedience to the law, are we made righteous, it is reckoned to us for righteoufnefs. That the paflìve obedi- ence of Chrift is here only intended, is falfe. (t.) It is oppofed to the difobedience of Adam, which was alive. The Swy.iv,y.0 is oppofed wv.ir n.tatt, the righteoufnefs to the fault. The fault was an altive tranfgretlion of the law and the obedience oppofed to it muff bean alive accomplilhment of it. Betides obedienceplaced tingly in its own nature denotes an a&ion, or adions conformable to the law ; and therein carne Chrift not to dedroy, but to fulfil the law, Matt. v. 17. that was the detign of his coining ; and fo for us ; he carne to fulfil the law for us, 1fa. ix. 6. and born to us, Luke ii. tr. This an was in thát,will of the father, which out of his infinite love he came to accomplift. It can- not clearlybe evinced that there is any funi thing in propriety of fpeech, as paffive obedience, obeying is doing ; to which palfion or fuffering can- not belong, I know it is commonly called fo, when men obey until they Puffer ; but properly it is not fo. So allo Phil. iii. 9. And be found in hint not having my own righteoufnefs which is of' the law, but that which is through thefaith ofChr, the righteoufnefs which is ofGod by faith. The righteoufnefs we receive is oppofed to our own obedience to the law, op- pöfed to it, not as fomething in another kind, but as fomething in the fame kind, excluding that from fetch an end which the other obtains. Now this is the obedience of Chrift to the lase. Himfelf thereby being made to us righteoufnefs, t Cor. i. 3o. Rom.
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