Gadsby's Questions About the Law
William Gadsby
(1773-1844)
William Gadsby was the pastor of the Strict Baptist church in Manchester, England, for 38 years. Today, he is best known for his hymnbook, A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship (better known as Gadsby's Hymns), which he describes as a "selection of hymns [written by Gadsby, Hart, and others] free from Arminianism and sound in the faith." In my opinion, it remains the best collection of sovereign grace hymns ever compiled. In his day, he was also known for his preaching. He preached nearly 12,000 sermons. He also traveled over 60,000 miles, often by foot and helped start forty congregations. The following article is excerpted from his work, The Present State of Religion. I think that anyone might profit from it, but if you happen to think that the Ten Commandments are the believer’s rule of life, you might try answering Gadsby’s questions. Can you?
Dear Sir, Friend G. informs me you wish me
to write to you, and inform you what law it is that I say the believer
is in no sense under. I therefore write to say (though I cannot help
thinking you must know) that it is the law given to Moses on Mount
Sinai, commonly called the moral law, or ten commandments, recorded in
Exod 20, and hinted at, with its curses annexed to it, in Deut 27. This
is the law I intend, and do venture to say that the believer in Christ
is in no sense whatever under it; so that it is not a rule of life to
that man who is led by the Spirit. As you promised to answer me if I
should write to you, I will propose to you a few questions, and I hope I
shall do it in the fear of God, and shall expect you to answer them in
plainness of speech; and,
1st. If the law is the believer's rule of life, I shall thank you to
tell me what is intended by the letter written by the apostles and
elders, and sent to the believing Gentiles, as recorded in Acts 15, and
shall expect you to explain the chapter.
2ndly. I hope you will tell me what the apostle means in the first six
verses of Romans 7, where he says that the believer is dead to the law,
and free from the law; and let me know how that law can be his rule,
when he is as dead to it, and as free from it, as a woman is from her
husband when she has buried him. Should you be disposed to say that the
believer is dead to it as a covenant, not as a rule of life; you will,
no doubt, point to those scriptures which make a distinction between the
law as a covenant and as a rule of life; for unless you do this, you
will not move me.
3rdly. You will have the goodness to inform me what is intended by the
first four verses of Romans 8; and let me know how it comes to pass that
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of
death, and yet that the law of death (called in another place the
killing letter) is my rule of life; and how is it that it is my rule of
life after it has killed me, and I am made free from it?
4thly. You will read 2 Corinthians 3, and let me know how it is that the
administration of death, written and engraven on stones, is the living
man's rule of life, and how this can be consistent with what he observes
in verse 11, where he says “it is done away,” and in verse 13, where he
says “It is abolished.” Now, my dear son, you are to tell me how that
law which is done away and abolished still remains the believer's
perfect rule of life.
5thly. You will also show me how it is that the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, that when faith is come we are no longer under a
schoolmaster, and yet that this schoolmaster is our rule of life after
faith is come (Gal 3:24,25).
6thly. You will inform me how it is that if we be led by the Spirit we
are not under the law, and yet that the law is a perfect rule of life to
that man who is led by the Spirit (Gal 5:18). There are many things in
the Epistle to the Galatians which you will find worthy of your
attention in this business. I hope you will read the whole.
7thly. I shall expect you to tell me how it is that the hand-writing
which was against us, and contrary to us, is taken out of the way, and
nailed to the cross (as Col 2:14) and yet remains a perfect rule of
life. Should you be disposed to say that the ceremonial law is here
intended, you will tell me how that law, which was the gospel in its
day, came to be against the believer, and what there was in it contrary
to him.
8thly. You will be sure to inform me how it is that that law which is
not made for a righteous man is the righteous man's rule of life (I Tim
1:9).
9thly. As Christ was made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law (as Gal 4:4,5) you will say how it comes to pass that they still
remain under it in any sense that Christ was made under it, seeing he
was made under it to redeem them from under it.
10thly. But as whatsoever the law says, it says to them who are under
the law (as Rom 3:19) and as the believer is not under the law (as Rom
6:14; Gal 5:18) you will inform me what the law says to them who are not
under it.
11thly. If the law contains the whole revealed will of God, as to matter
of obedience, as Fuller and others have said, you will let me know upon
what ground you prove that unbelievers have no right to be baptized, and
partake of the Lord's supper, seeing that what the law says it says to
them that are under it; and if it contains the whole of obedience it
must require unbelievers to be baptized. You will be sure to reconcile
this, if you can.
12thly. You will inform me how it is that while men contend for the law
being a perfect rule of life to believers, and call those ill names who
do not, they can and do, openly, knowingly, and designedly, break the
fourth commandment every week. You will inform me whether doing every
sort of work on the seventh day is walking according to that rule which
says, Thou shalt not do any work, no, not so much as kindle a fire (Exod
35:3).
13thly, and lastly. You will inform me how it is that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Rom 10.4) and
yet that the believer, who is got to the end of the law at once, namely,
by faith in Christ, must come back again, and begin at the beginning, by
taking it for a perfect rule of life.
It does appear that most teachers think there should be a distinction
made between the sheep and goats, but does it not appear that the
greatest part of preachers, in this day, are attempting to give to the
goats what belongs to the sheep, and to the sheep what belongs to the
goats? For when on the one hand they address the unconverted, they tell
them that it is their duty to look to Christ, and believe in him, and
that they are warranted to offer them all the blessings of the gospel,
thus making the gospel the unconverted man's rule of faith and practice;
they, on the other hand, send the sheep to the law of works, and tell
them that their comfort depends upon their walking according thereunto.
And when any poor soul is in darkness, through the power of the world,
the flesh, or the devil, instead of pointing them to Christ, and telling
them that it has pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell, they tell them to “remove the cause, and the effect will cease”;
and thus the goats are sent to the law of life, and the sheep to the
killing letter. But there will be a reckoning day by and by; and a
thousand to one but some of these men will be proved to have got over
the wall. Thus, my dear Sir, I have proposed a few plain, simple
questions, and shall expect you to come to the point in your answers,
and it shall be my prayer to the great Head of the church that God will
be with you. Waiting your answer, I remain,
Yours, tried, and condemned, upon the evidence of Diotrephes, by the
Associated Ministers,
LOVE-TRUTH
Manchester, Aug. 8, 1806
It has been 200
years, and I know of no one who has been able to best Gadsby on these
questions.
Peter Ditzel
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