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'ts
THE
DITFEREVCE
EETWP.EW
THE
fniSC.
IIr.
P
Object.
But
is
it
a
righteous thing with
God
to
give
man a
law which
cannot
be
fulfilled,
or
perfectly obeyed
by
him
?
Answ.'
I.
It
is
righteous to
give
innocent man a
law,
'which
at
first he
.was
well
able
to
fulfil
:
and
this
law
continues
in its
force and demands,
though man
bath
lost
his
innocency, and
by
his
wilful crimes
hath
ren-
dered
himself unable to
fulfil this
law.
The
sin
of
the
creature, and
his
own
rendering himself unable
to
fulfil
his
Maker's
law,
doth
not
make void
the
law
of
his
Maker,
and abolish its commands.
Simile.
Suppose
a servant
bath an
order
from his
Master to carry
a message
to his
neighbour,
if
instead
of
going into the
neighbour's
house
whither
he was sent,
he
goes
into
an
alehouse or tavern, there
drowns
his
senses and
his
natural
powers
in
liquor,
that
he
hath
so,
weakened
himself,
that
he
can
neither
walk
nor
speak
he can
neither
go
to the place where
he was
sent,
nor
deliver
his message
:
I
would ask,
doth
his
master's com-
mand
cease,
or
is his
command abolished
?
and
is
his
authority
at
an end in
this
instance, because
his
servant
bath rendered himself incapable
of
fulfilling'
it,
either
with
his
feet or
his
tongue?
This
would he
an
easy way
to
cancel
a master's
laws
and
commands,
if
the wicked-
ness
of
a
servant could
have this effect.
Now
apply this to the
case between
God
and
man,
and
see
whether
God
may
not
be
justified
in
continuing
his
law
in
its
perfection
of
demands, though man
hath
lost,
or
weakened
his
power to
obey.
Surely
the moral
law
of
God
stands in
force,
requiring perfect obedience both
of
men and
devils,
and
all
intelligent
beings, how
feeble
and
impotent
soever
they have
made themselves
by
their
own
crimes
:
for
it
is
a law
that
arises from the
nature
of God and
the
creature, and from the relation that
is
between them
;
and therefore
it
is
an everlasting
law.
Answ.
2.
But God
is
still
farther
to
be
justified
in
this
matter
:
for
though man hath weakened himself
by his
fall,
he
bath not
utterly
lost
his
natural
powers,
his
na-
tural
ability
of
obeying the
law.
He
has an
understand-
ing, he has a
freedom
of
will,
to choose good and
refuse.
evil
;
but
his will is so
obstinately
bent
upon
sin,
vanity,
and
folly
;
and
his passions
are
grown
so
headstrong,
that
he
will
not
give
himself the trouble
to
subdue them