A41521:175
A discourse of the true nature of the Gospel demonstrating that it is no…
A discourse of the true nature of the Gospel demonstrating that it is no new law, but a pure doctrine of grace : in answer to the Reverend Mr. Lorimer's Apology / by Tho. Goodwin ...
London: printed by J. Darby, 1695
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But let us see if Cyprian gives his Vote for my Learned Brother. It is true, that he speaks frequently in his 11th Epistle of the Law of the Gospel; but it is certain, that as he wrote this Epistle to complain of, and to rectify the Relaxation of Discipline in the Churches, that those who had fallen into great, and notorious Sins, were yet re-admitted into Communion before they had given any Testimony of their Repentance; so by the Law of the Gospel he means only that due Discipline, which ought to be observed in all the Churches of Christa.
- aGoulartii notae in Cyprian. Epist. 11. pag. 33. oper. Cyprian. Edit. Goulartii, Genev. 1593.
When Cyprian also speaks of a new Law which was to be given, he writing against the Jews, and proving the Abolition of their Ceremonial Worship, means no more by the new Law than what Justin Martyr did; that is, a new Doctrine, and Institution of Grace: And this the very words of Cyprian, cited by my Learned Brother, wherein he calls this new Law, Another Administration, and that by it the old intolerable Yoke of Legal Observances was removed, do evidence.
When Cyprian also speaks of a new Law which was to be given, he writing against the Jews, and proving the Abolition of their Ceremonial Worship, means no more by the new Law than what Justin Martyr did; that is, a new Doctrine, and Institution of Grace: And this the very words of Cyprian, cited by my Learned Brother, wherein he calls this new Law, Another Administration, and that by it the old intolerable Yoke of Ligal Observances was remov'd, do evidence.
The next Father, who is forced to come in to give witness to this new Law, is Augustine: But what he says will not at all serve the Cause. For in that his Discourse of Grace and Free-will, his Design is to prove against the Pelagians, that Man by the best use of his natural Powers, cannot obey the Precepts of the Moral Law; but that the Grace of the Gospel is absolutely necessary to strengthen a Christian to that Obedience which be pays; tho imperfectly, to the old Law as the Rule of his Actions. And that great Light of his Age makes the Difference between the new and old Law to be this that the old Law consisted wholly in Precepts and Commands, and so was a killing Letter to the Sinner; but the Nature of the Gospel is to promise, and give Grace: