Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulness of sin. The life…Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulnesse of sinne. The life…

Now then to make some use of all this which hath been said: This shows the ignorance and absurdity of those men who cry down preaching of the Law, as a course leading to despair •nd discontentment, though we find by Saint Paul that it leadeth unto Christ. To preach the Law alone by it self, we confess is to pervert the use of it; neither have we any power or commission so to do (for we have our power for edification and not for destruction.) It was published as an appendant to the Gospel, and so must it be preached; It was published ⟨p. 389⟩in the hand of a Mediator, and it must be preached in the hand of a Mediator; It was published Evangelically, and it must be so preached: But yet we must preach the Law, and that in its own fearful shapes: for though it were published in Mercy, yet it was published with Thunder, Fire, Tempests, and Darkness even in the hand of a Mediator: for this is the method of the Holy Ghost, to convince first of sin, and then to reveal righteousness¹ and refuge in Christ. The Law is the forerunner that makes room, and prepares welcome in the Soul for Christ. I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations ²shall come, saith the Lord; to note unto us that a man will never desire Christ indeed, till he be first shaken. As in Elijah his vision the still voice came after the Tempest, so doth Christ in his voice of Mercy follow the shakings and Tempests of the Law. First the Spirit of Elijah in the preaching of repentance for sin, and then the Kingdom of God in the approach of Christ and evidences of reconcilement to the Soul. And the reason is, because men are so wedded to their sins, that they will not accept of Mercy on fair terms, so, as to forsake sin withal; as mad men that must be bou•d before they can be cured, so are men in their lusts; the Law must hamper and shut them up, before the Gospel, and the spirit of liberty will be welcome to them. Now this is Gods resolution to humble the soul so low till it can in truth and seriousness bid Christ welcome upon any conditions: His Mercy▪ and the blood of his Son is so precious and invaluable, that he will not ca• it away where no notice shall be taken of it; but he will make the heart subscribe experimentally to that Truth of his, That it is a saying worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners.