Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the moral law and the covenants, from the…Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the morall law and the covenants, from the…

Now that these interpretations, much agreeing in one, may the better be assented to, consider some parallel places of Scripture: Galat. 5. 23. speaking of the fruits of the spirit, Against such there is no law; The Law was not made to these, to condemn them, or accuse them: so that what is said of the actions and graces of the godly, may be applied to the godly themselves. You may take another parallel, Rom. 13. 3. Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil: Wouldst thou not be afraid of them? do no evil. And thus the Apostle, to show how the grace of love was wrought in the Thessalonians hearts, I need not (saith he) write to you to love, for you have been taught of God to ⟨p. 55⟩do this: His very saying, I need not write, was a writing; so that these expressions do hold forth no more, then that the godly, so far as they are regenerate, do delight in the Law of God, and it is not a terror to them. And if because the godly have an ingenuous free spirit to do what is good, he need not the Law directing or regulating; it would follow as well, he needed not the whole Scripture, he needed not the Gospel that calls upon him to believe, because faith is implanted in his heart. This rock cannot be avoided: And therefore upon this ground, because the godly are made holy in themselves, the Swencfeldians did deny the whole Scripture to be needful to a man that hath the Spirit: And that which the Antinomian doth limit to the Law, It is a killing letter, they apply to the whole Scripture; and I cannot see how they can escape this argument. Hence Chrysostom that spake so hyperbolically about the Law, speaks as high about the Scriptures themselves, We ought to have the Word of God engraven in our hearts so, that there should be no need of Scripture: And Austin speaks of some, that had attained to such holiness that they lived without a Bible. Now who doth not see what a damnable and dangerous position this would be?

Now that these interpretations, much agreeing in one, may the better be assented to, consider some parallel places of Scripture: Galat. 5. 23. speaking of the fruits of the spirit, Against such there is no law; The Law was not made to these, to condemne them, or accuse them: so that what is said of the actions and graces of the godly, may be applyed to the godly themselves. You may take another parallel,