A discourse of the true nature of the Gospel demonstrating that it is no…

Adam also by his Fall having, according to the Assertion of Arminius, broken all Ties and Bonds of Obedience, if before the Promulgation of the Gospel or new Law to him, he had blasphemed God, had sworn and forsworn, had dissembled kindness to his Wife with the deepest Oaths, while he had nothing in his Heart but Thoughts of Malice, and Designs of Revenge against her for betraying him to ruin, had most barbarously murdered her, and afterward killed himself, he yet had not sinned in all this; because before the new Law given, he was obliged to no Duty. Believe this who will, for my part I cannot.

Adam also by his Fall having, according to the Assertion of Arminius, broken all Ties and Bonds of Obedience, if before the Promulgation of the Gospel or new Law to him, he had blasphem'd God, had sworn and forsworn, had dissembled kindness to his Wife with the deepest Oaths, while he had nothing in his Heart but Thoughts of Malice, and Designs of Revenge against her for betraying him to ruin, had most barbarously murder'd her, and afterward kill'd himself, he yet had not sinned in all this; because before the new Law given, he was oblig'd to no Duty. Believe this who will, for my part I cannot.

And now, what is the Ground of this desperate Assertion? Why truly only this, That because the Law once broken, there were no longer any Promises made to the Obedience of a Sinner; therefore the Covenant between God and Man was entirely vacated, and so the Sinner was no longer bound to obey, till a new Law came with other Precepts of Faith, and making Promises to lower degrees of Duty; and then upon this new Account the Creature stands bound again. Now all this is founded upon one grand Mistake; which is, that our Obedience to God is established upon his Covenant with us; and that the only Tie upon us, are Promises or Threatenings: Whereas our Duty to God immediately results from the infinite Greatness of his Being, which is therefore supreme, and hath an undoubted Right to command, and from the unalterable Relation of a Creature to his Maker. So that Adam, as soon as he had Existence, was presently bound to obey God in all that he would command him, tho he had made no Promise to him of any Reward. And if God had placed him in a dismal Desert, instead of settling him in Paradise; if he had sharpened his Life with Sorrows and Miseries, in the room of those Blessings and Comforts which he enjoyed, yet he might have commanded him all that he pleased, and it would have been his Duty to have paid a ready Obedience. And this clears the Difficulty lying in our way, that tho the Law made no Promises to Sinners, as the Gospel doth, yet that hinders it not from commanding and engaging them to repent; for by what I