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

Ay, but the Law (will they object) was given to Man in Innocence, and therefore only tied him to such Acts of Obedience as were proper to that Condition; and therefore such Duties which result from Man's being a Sinner, such as Faith and Repentance, were not enclosed within the compass of this Law. Yes, but they were, and that for the same Reason as such Duties which arise from the present Relations which Men bear to one another, which are the Consequents of Adam's Fall, are comprehended in the Precepts of the Moral Law. By this a Slave is obliged to perform Service to his Master; and yet if Man had not sinned, there had been no such thing as Slavery. By this also Judges are bound to do Justice in punishing Malefactors, and yet in Man's Primitive State of Integrity, there were no Rogues and Villains, nor any need of Judges or Sheriffs.

Ay, but the Law (will they object) was given to Man in Innocence, and therefore only tied him to such Acts of Obedience as were proper to that Condition; and therefore such Duties which result from Man's being a Sinner, such as Faith and Repentance, were not inclos'd within the compass of this Law. Yes, but they were, and that for the same Reason as such Duties which arise from the present Relations which Men bear to one another, which are the Consequents of Adam's Fall, are comprehended in the Precepts of the Moral Law. By this a Slave is obliged to perform Service to his Master; and yet if Man had not sinned, there had been no such thing as Slavery. By this also Judges are bound to do Justice in punishing Malefactors, and yet in Man's Primitive State of Integrity, there were no Rogues and Villains, nor any need of Judges or Sheriffs.

This is strange indeed (it will be said) to deny the Gospel to be a Law commanding Faith and Repentance, when nothing is more frequently inculcated and earnestly urged in the Sermons of Christ, and the Writings of the Apostles, than that Sinners should repent, and should believe on him. 'Tis readily confessed; but yet from what hath been argued, it must be owned, that these are Precepts of the Law made use of by the Gospel, and encouraged by its Promises. We are not presently to fasten every thing on the Gospel, strictly taken, as it is the Word of Salvation which we find in the Books of the New Testament; and because Christ and his Apostles give us Rules of Holiness, immediately name the Gospel a New Law. For after this rate of Reasoning, we may infer too that it is a Book of Lives, because the Life and Death of our Saviour, and the Acts of the Apostles, are recorded in it; that it is the Levitical Law, because the Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, insists on so many Particulars of it. That it is the Ceremonial Law, because the said Apostle circumcised Timothy,