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…

And howsoever this of it self be not a demonstrative argument to establish the perpetuity of the Law against any Antinomian, yet it may prevail with any reasonable man. Hence Law-givers, that have laboured the stability of their laws, caused them to be engraven in Brass, or ^aMarble: so Pliny, lib 3•. ca. 9. speaks of brassie tables ad perpetuitatem monumentorum: & Plato, as Rhodoginus reports, lib. 25. cap. 2. thought that Laws should be written in tabulis cupressinis, quod futuras putabat aeterniores, quàm aereas. It is true, there is also a mystical signification, which is not to be rejected, because the Apostle alludes to it that hereby was signified the hardness of the Jews heart, which could not easily receive that impression of the Law. Hence the excellency of the Gospel doth appear, in that it is by grace wrought in the hearts of men. But yet this is not so to be understood, as if God did not in the old Testament, even then write his Law in the hearts of men. Therefore that Promise of the Gospel mentioned by Jeremiah is not to be understood exclusively, as if God did not at all write his Law in their hearts, but comparatively.

And howsoever this of it selfe be not a demonstrative argument to establish the perpetuity of the Law against any Antinomian, yet it may prevaile with any reasonable man. Hence Law-givers, that have laboured the stability of their lawes, caused them to be ingraven in Brass, or ^aMarble: so Pliny, lib 3•. ca. 9. speakes of brassie tables ad perpetuitatem monumentorum: & Plato, as Rhodoginus reports, lib. 25. cap. 2. thought that Lawes should be written in tabulis cupressinis, quod futuras putabat aeterniores, quàm aereas. It is true, there is also a mysticall signification, which is not to be rejected, because the Apostle alludes to it that hereby was signified the hardness of the Jews heart, which could not easily receive that impression of the Law. Hence the excellency of the Gospel doth appear, in that it is by grace wrought in the hearts of men. But yet this is not so to be understood, as if God did not in the old Testament, even then write his Law in the hearts of men. Therefore that Promise of the Gospel mentioned by Jeremiah is not to be understood exclusively, as if God did not at all write his Law in their hearts, but comparatively.