Works of John Bunyan: THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAW AND GRACE UNFOLDED. 500

 

[Further Arguments.] I could have spoken more fully about this, but it would have been more engaging. I would have spoken what I had to say with as much brevity as possible. But before I pass it, I will, besides this, give you an argument or two more for further clearing this, that the substance of the law delivered on Mount Sinai was delivered by the Lord to man in the garden. As, first, "death reigned over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression"—that is, though they did not take the forbidden fruit as Adam did, but had the transgression been no other, or had their sin been laid to the charge of none but those that did eat of that fruit, then those that were born to Adam after he was shut out of the garden had not had sin, in that they did not actually eat of that fruit, and so had not been slaves to death; but, in that death did reign from Adam to Moses, of from the time of his transgression against the first giving of the law, till the time the law was given on Mount Sinai, it is evident that the substance of the Ten Commandments was given to Adam and his posterity under that command, "Eat not of the tree that is in the midst of the garden." But yet, if any shall say that it was because of the sin of their father that death reigned over them, to that I shall answer, that although original sin be laid to the charge of his posterity, yet it is also for their sins that they actually committed that they were plagued. And again, saith the Apostle, "For where no law is, there is no transgression" (Rom 4:15). For "sin is not imputed when there is no law; nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses." saith he (Rom 5:13,14). But if there had been no law, then there had been no transgression, and so no death to follow after as the wages thereof; for death is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23) and sin is the breach of the law; an actual violation in our particular persons, as well as an actual breach in our public person (1 John 3:4). 4

Again, there are no other sins than those against that law given on Sinai, for which those sins before mentioned were punished; therefore, the law given before by the Lord to Adam and his posterity is the same as that afterward given on Mount Sinai. Again, the conditions of that on Sinai and that in the garden are all one; the one saying, "Do this and live," the other saying the same. Also, judgment was denounced against men of both kinds; therefore, this law appeared to be the same as that on Mount Sinai.

Again, the Apostle speaks of two covenants—to wit, grace, and works—under which two covenants are made: some under one and some under the other. Now this to Adam is one, therefore that on Sinai is one, and all one with this; and that this is a truth, I say, I know, because the sins against that on Sinai were punished by God for the breach thereof before it was given there; so it doth plainly appear to be a truth; for it would be unrighteous with God for to punish for that law that was not broken; therefore it was all one with that on Sinai.

Now the law given on Sinai was for the more clear discovery of those sins that were before committed against it; for though the very substance of the Ten Commandments was shown in the garden before they were received from Sinai, yet they lay so darkly in the heart of man, that his sins were not so clearly discovered as afterward they were; therefore, saith the Apostle, the law was added (Gal 3:19). Or, more plainly, given on Sinai, on tables of stone, "that the offense might abound,"—that is, that it might the more clearly be made manifest and appear (Rom 5:20).

Again, we have a notable resemblance of this at Sinai, even in giving the law, for the law was given twice on Sinai to signify that. Indeed, its substance was given before. Secondly, the first tables that were given on Sinai were broken at the foot of the mount, and the others were preserved whole to signify that though it was the true law that was given before, with that given on Sinai, it was not so easy to be read and to be taken notice of, in that the stones were not whole, but broken, and so the law written thereon somewhat defaced and disfigured.

[Object.] But if any object and say, though the sins against the one be the sins against the other, and so in that they do agree, it does not appear that the same is the same Covenant of Works with the other.

Answ. That which was given to Adam in Paradise you will grant was the Covenant of Works; for it runs thus: Do this and live; do it not and die; nay, "Thou shalt surely die." Now, there is but one Covenant of Works. If I prove that that which was delivered on Mount Sinai is the Covenant of Works, all will be put out of doubt. Now that this is so, it is evident—

1. Consider the two covenants are thus called in Scripture, the one the administration of death, and the other the administration of life; the one the Covenant of Works, the other of grace; but that delivered on Sinai is called the ministration of death; that, therefore, is the Covenant of Works. "But if," saith he, "the ministration of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious" (2 Cor 3:7).

2. The Apostle, writing to the Galatians, doth labor to beat them off from trusting in the Covenant of Works. Still, when he comes to give a discovery of that law or covenant—he laboring to take them off from trusting in it—he doth plainly tell them it is that which was given on Sinai (Gal 4:24,25). Therefore, that which was delivered in two tables of stone on Mount Sinai is the very same thing that was given before to Adam in Paradise, they running both alike; that in the garden saying, Do this and live; but in the day thou eatest thereof—or dost not do this—thou shalt surely die.

And so is this on Sinai, as is evident when he saith, "the man which doeth those things shall live by them" (Rom 10:5). And in case they break them, even any of them, it saith, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the (whole) book of the law to do them" (Gal 3:10). Now this being thus cleared, I shall proceed.