The law unsealed

The General and undoubted Reason of all sins and miscarriages amongst men, is the neglect ⟨image 15⟩of the Holy and Perfect Rule of Obedience, or of the Law of God, without a recourse unto a Diligent Conscientious Attendance thereunto, without a due Sense of the• Authority of God therein; and of the Account which they must shortly give of their regard unto it; there can be no just Expectation of the Re-introduction of the Power and Glory of Religion. And many ways there are, whereby men are diverted from the due Consideration of, and holy complyan•e with this Rule.

The General and undoubted Reason of all sins and miscarriages amongst men, is the neglect ⟨image 15⟩of the Holy and Perfect Rule of Obedience, or of the Law of God, without a recourse unto a Diligent Conscientious Attendance thereunto, without a due Sense of the• Authority of God therein; and of the Account which they must shortly give of their regard unto it; there can be no just Expectation of the Re-introduction of the Power and Glory of Religion. And many wayes there are, whereby men are diverted from the due Consideration of, and holy complyan•e with this Rule.

First, False and Corrupt Interpretations of the Law, do countenance many in Various Lusts; and the neglect of Mani old Duties. The Pharisees of Old representing the Design and Sense of the Law, as regarding Outward Acts and Practices only, laid an Axe to the Roo: of all True H liness and Religion in the Apostatizing Church of the Jews. Under a Pretence of Establishing a false Legal Righteousness, they destroyed the […] Righteousness of the Law. And these things go together always. Those who plead for a Righteousness of their own, as it were by the Works of the Law, do constantly by False Glosses and Interpretations destroy the Spirituality, and all Animating Principles of the Law it self. For, rightly to understand the Sense of the Law, and to seek for Righteousness by it, or as it were by i Works, are altogether Inconsistent: whereas therefore, many men, partly by their Natural Blindness, are not able to discern the Spiritual Sense of the Law, and partly out of their Dislike of, and Enmity unto it, will not comply with the Light which is tenderd unto them, they have sought by False interpretations to Accommodate the Law it self unto their own Lust and inclination. So evidently was it with the Pharisees of Old. Nor are the Present Apprehensions of many about those things much different from theirs. For such Expositions of the Law are embraced, wherein there is little Respect unto the Spiritual frame of the Heart, or the Internal Actings of the Adverse Principles of Sin and Obedience: The Extent of the Commandment is also by many exceedingly strained, nor will any thing scarcely be allowed to be Commanded or Forbidden in it, but what the Letter doth plainly express. And it is evident how such Apprehension, will insensibly weaken the Sense of a Necessity of Universal Mortification, and abate the Diligence of the mind in endeavouring after a renewed Spiritual Frame of Heart; by such means a Declension from all true Holiness and Piety will be effectually promoted. For, when men once begin to satisfy themselves in the outward Duties of Divine Worship and Righteousness, which if alone, are but a dead Carcass of Religion, they will not long abide in a Conscientious Observation even of them.