EVANGELISTA, a Minister of the Gospel.
NOMIST, a Legalist.
ANTINOMISTA, an Antinomian.
Ant. Why, then, sir, it seems that those who were saved amongst the Jews, were not saved by the works of the law?
Evan. No, indeed; they were neither justified nor saved, either by the works of the moral law, or the ceremonial law. For, as you heard before, the moral law being delivered unto them with great terror, and under most dreadful penalties, they did find in themselves an impossibility of keeping it; and so were driven to seek help of a Mediator, even Jesus Christ, of whom Moses was to them a typical mediator: 14 so that the moral law did drive them to the ceremonial law, which was their gospel, and their Christ in a figure; for that the ceremonies did prefigure Christ, direct unto him, and require faith in him, is a thing acknowledged and confessed by all men.
[14] That is a type, he being to them a typical Mediator.Nom. But, sir, I suppose, though believers among the Jews were not justified and saved by the works of the law, yet was it a rule of their obedience?
Evan. It is very true, indeed: the law of the ten commandments was a rule for their obedience; 15 yet not as it came from Mount Sinai; 16 but rather as it came from Mount Zion; not as it was the law or covenant of works, but as it was the law of Christ. The which will appear, if you consider, that after the Lord had renewed with them the covenant of grace, as you heard before, (Exodus 24 at the beginning) the Lord said unto Moses, (verse 12), "Come up to me into the mount, and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law that thou mayest teach them"; and after the Lord had thus written them the second time with his own finger, he delivered them to Moses, commanding him to provide an ark to put them into; which was not only for the safe keeping of them, (Deut 9:10, 10:5); but also to cover the form of the covenant of works that was formerly upon them, that believers might not perceive it; for the ark was a notable type of Christ; and therefore the putting of them therein did show that they were perfectly fulfilled in him, Christ being "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," (Rom 10:4). The which was yet more clearly manifest, in that the book of the law was placed between the cherubim, and upon the mercy-seat, to assure believers that the law now came to them from the mercy-seat; 17 for there the Lord promised to meet Moses, and to commune with him of all things which he would give him in commandment to them, (Exo 25:22).
[15] The obedience of the believing Jews.
[16] That is, in the sense of our author, not as the covenant of works, but of the twofold notion or consideration under which the ten commandments were delivered from Mount Sinai.[17] From an atoned God in Christ, binding them to obedience with the strongest ties, arising from their creation and redemption jointly; but not with the bond of the curse, binding them over to eternal death in case of transgression, as the law or covenant of works does with them who are under it, (Gal 3:10). The mercy-seat was the cover of the ark, and both the one and the other type of Christ. Within the ark, under the cover of it, were the tables of the law laid up. Thus was the throne of grace, which could not have stood on mere mercy, firmly established in Jesus Christ; according to Psalm 89:14, "Justice and judgment are the habitation [marg. 'establishment'] of thy throne." The word properly signifies a base, supporter, stay, or foundation, on which a thing stands firm, (Ezra 2:68, 3:3, Psa 104:5). The sense is, O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Psa 89:19), justice satisfied, and judgment fully executed in the person of the Mediator, are the foundation and base which thy throne of grace stands upon.
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