A53686:686
The Doctrine of Justification by Faith
The doctrine of justification by faith through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, explained, confirmed, & vindicated by John Owen ...
London: printed for R. Boulter, 1677
Chapter 11: The nature of the Obedience that God requireth of us. The Eternal obligation of the Law…
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.
3ly, Conscience bears witness hereunto. There is no Good nor Evil required or forbidden by this Law, that upon the Discovery of it▪ any man in the World can persuade or bribe his Conscience not to comply with it in Judgment, as ⟨p. 347⟩unto his concernment therein. It will accuse and excuse, condemn and free him, according to the sentence of this Law, let him do what he can to the contrary.
3ly, Conscience bears witness hereunto. There is no Good nor Evil required or forbidden by this Law, that upon the Discovery of it▪ any man in the World can perswade or bribe his Conscience not to comply with it in Judgment, as ⟨p. 347⟩unto his concernment therein. It will accuse and excuse, condemn and free him, according to the sentence of this Law, let him do what he can to the contrary.
In brief it is acknowledged, that God by virtue of his supreme Dominion over all, may in some Instances change the nature and order of things, so as the Precepts of the Divine Law shall not in them operate in their ordinary efficacy. So was it in the case of his command unto Abraham to slay his Son, and unto the Israelites to rob the Egyptians. But on a supposition of the continuance of that order of things which this Law is the preservative of, such is the intrinsic nature of the Good and Evil commanded and forbidden therein, that it is not the subject of divine Dispensation, as even the School-men generally grant.
In brief it is acknowledged, that God by virtue of his supream Dominion over all, may in some Instances change the nature and order of things, so as the Precepts of the Divine Law shall not in them operate in their ordinary efficacy. So was it in the case of his command unto Abraham to slay his Son, and unto the Israelites to rob the Aegyptians. But on a supposition of the continuance of that order of things which this Law is the preservative of, such is the intrinsick nature of the Good and Evil commanded and forbidden therein, that it is not the subject of divine Dispensation, as even the School-men generally grant.